Page 2 of Building My Pack

Just as I reach the door and step through, my face comes inches from smashing into a chest. I breathe deeply, suddenly swaying on my feet as the scent of a summer rainstorm washes over me. In slow motion, I notice the hand extending toward my arm as though to steady me in the storm at the same time I lift my gaze to the face of none other than the devil himself.

“Fancy running into you here, Bryce Hartley,” he teases with a slight growl under his words.

Squeezing my thick thighs together as tight as possible, trying to tell that thirsty alpha-loving hussy between my legs that this man is off limits, I smirk back at him. “Santiago Cooper. I could say the same thing for you.”

His head tilts back with his laugh, and I’m graced with the view of his bare throat before giving way to the perfectly-trimmed, dark-brown beard covering his jawline. It isn’t until I find myself aware that I’m staring at his lips do I realize he’s dropped his chin back down. The hair above his top lip that leads down into the beard and the small patch beneath his bottom one twitch as one side of his mouth pulls up into a half smile. Then my eyes lock with his blue-green ones, and he visibly swallows as the air seems to get caught in my lungs.

Someone calling his name behind me has his gaze lifting, breaking us both out of the spell. Not bothering to wait for pleasantries, I tuck tail and rush away as fast as I dare without breaking out into a full sprint around the corner. Pressing my back against the wall, I cover the thundering pound in my chest with my hand.

What the in the fudge sundae was that?I’ve never reacted so strongly toward an alpha before and most certainly not that one, which I met months ago and didn’t feel this way. Sure, he’d smelled nice, but that doesn’t even begin to compare to the cookies that baked in my oven just now. With my eyes closed, I rub two fingers across my forehead to try and ease the ache forming behind my brows. Then, as if the butterflies in my stomach needed any more juice, a new voice might as well have just invited them over for free energy drinks.

“Hey there, you feeling okay?” it asks.

Theitbelonging to none other than Santiago’s business partner. Kennedy Kane. A big, hulking beast of a man that I’ve yet to have the pleasure of meeting. Until now, that is.

“I’m fine, just fine,” I barely manage to squeeze out without stammering. “Had one too many flutes and need the ladies room.” The embarrassment of admitting bodily functions to a sexy alpha definitely takes a backseat to the humiliation of possibly throwing myself at him. Not just from the leftover feelings from Santiago either. Kennedy is his own form of delectable alphaness. Where the former’s scent made me want to strip naked and go for a wild run in the rain, the latter has my mouth watering with its tease of coffee and chocolate.

Seriously, Bryce?What the hecking heck is wrong with me?

He pops a thumb over his shoulder as he says, “I believe it’s that way.”

“Thanks,” I reply before skirting around him and holding in a deep breath until I’m on the safe side of the restroom door. Doesn’t matter, though. I think it’s going to take a lot more than a few minutes to get both of their scents out of my head. As I set about doing my business, I can’t help but wonder if my body is starting to become immune to the suppressants I’ve been on for years. Something that shouldn’t ever happen considering the meds are fine-tuned and tweaked to suit me personally as I age. Definitely an issue I need to take up with the doctors on my next appointment.

Studying my reflection in the mirror, I’m aghast to find a pink flush to my neck and cheeks that almost matches the same shade as my dress. There also may or may not be a tiny bit of moisture above my top lip, clearly broadcasting how much I’d been fighting instincts to escape the alphas. I think about wetting a paper towel and using it as a cold compress against my bright-pink skin but decide against it so that I don’t accidentally drip water onto my dress.

I glare at myself in the mirror, “Don’t forget why you’re here, Bryce. Tonight is your night, and no beta or alpha, no matter how nice they look and smell, is going to mess this up. Get it together.”

The small pep talk helps straighten my spine as I take a deep breath and let it out, willing the color to disappear from my skin. Compartmentalizing has always been one of my biggest strengths. Locking away the feelings stirred from the alphas and the ridiculous twinge of guilt deep inside which hasn’t gotten the memo that we have no one to be guilty for anymore, I close that box up tight and store it for later. Running my fingers through the roots of my hair to give it a little fluff, I let myself slip into my Bryce Hartley persona that buyers see the moment I step into a house.

With determination in the clack of my heels on the floor, I make my way back out into the hall. If I hadn’t shut my emotions down, the sight of Kennedy waiting outside the door might’ve just done me in for the night.

His grey suit is open in the front and parted behind the hands stuffed in his slacks, showing off the matching vest underneath. “Hope you don’t mind that I stuck around to make sure you were alright.”

“Not at all. I appreciate it,” I tell him in a cool tone as we start walking back towards the banquet hall. I’ve got myself on lockdown, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate how tall he is and the way he practically dwarfs me. In my peripheral, I admire his soft, dark hair that waves back away from his face like it’s been perfectly styled to do so. His entire appearance is Clark Kent personified. From the tight fit of the jacket around his biceps down to where his slacks stretch around the tree trunks that anyone has the audacity to call thighs. Not to mention his jawline is sharper than a shard of glass. Hey, just because I’ve put on my professional face, doesn’t mean I can’t respect the beautiful specimen of man at my side.

“Are you nervous about your speech?” he asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I shrug with a half lie ready on my lips, “Not really. I’m pretty good at public speaking.”

Visibly shuddering, he says, “You are the goddess of it all then, huh?” I try my best not to trip over my own feet at his choice of words. Luckily, he saves me from making it awkward since I don’t take compliments well. “I’m the biggest nerd you’ll ever meet and despise stepping foot on a stage.”

At my huff of a laugh, he smirks down at me, admitting, “No, it’s true. I’d much rather be at home playing Dungeons and Dragons on my computer than be at one of these things. I even still have all my Magic cards saved from where I played and collected them for years.”

The last part of that is said behind his hand in a whisper like he’s truly ashamed to be confessing it to anyone. That’s what has a laugh bubbling out of my chest before I can stop it. Then his lips pull up into a smile that has his eyes wrinkling in the corners, and I know if I don’t run as fast as I can away from him, I’ll be right back in the same mindset that I was before stepping into that bathroom.

Would that really be such a bad thing? Not like I’ve got anyone waiting at home for me anymore. Would it be so bad to fall into the bed of a big, bad alpha for just one night?

Instead of kicking up the dust in my hurry to run, I tell him, “Does it make me a nerd, too, if I tell you I was on the debate and chess team in high school?”

He absentmindedly licks his lower lip as he nods. “That does make you a nerd, actually, but it also explains why you’re so comfortable with public speaking, too. But the real deal with being a nerd is glee or drama club. If you were in either of those, it’d be an open-and-closed case.”

“Neither of those actually, but I was on the yearbook committee, if that counts,” I admit at his teasing.

This earns me another grin from him. “Definitely counts. More comfortable behind the lense than in front of it, which, I’m going to be honest, wouldn’t do you justice tonight. You look beautiful.”

“Thanks,” I say, dipping my chin and allowing my hair to cover the side of my face closest to him. And here we go. Compliments and awkwatacos.

“There you are,” a voice I recognize calls out in front of us. It almost stops me in my tracks, but I pull myself together and put one foot in front of the other as I glance back up, and Santiago adds, “I was wondering where you’d gotten off to, and imagine my surprise when I come to find you in good company.”

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