Page 187 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“How’s Cole doing?” Stormy asked. “I can’t really tell by watching. All I see is fur and teeth.”

“I think he’s doing okay. He’s—” I paused mid-sentence as Langston flipped Cole over and clamped his teeth to his throat. That ended the exercise, and they started over. “Okay, well, he’s a bit rusty, that’s all.”

“It’s good that he’s taking this seriously, though. Right?” Stormy asked. “He could have easily been egotistical and decided being a pack alpha was all he needed to beat Kyle. This training is probably good for him.”

It was good for him. It also showed that he had grown in the last few days. The fact that he was allowing Langston to help get him back into fighting shape said a lot. Trent and Langston were both skilled fighters from their time in the military and would be instrumental in getting Cole ready to take on Kyle. Cole hadn’t allowed his ego to get in the way. In fact, he’d approached Langston to help him, much to my surprise.

“I’m proud of him. He’s a better man than he was before. When we were younger, I mean,” I added, glancing at Stormy. “He’s gonna come out of this okay. This will help.”

“I never thought I’d see stuff like this,” Stormy said. “This is all sort of surreal. It doesn’t seem like real life. I can’t imagine what you guys are going through. I don’t even have a mate involved in all this, just friends, and I’m stressed out.”

I could still remember the cuts and bites Cole had on him when he came back from North Crest. Yeah, it was stressful, and thewhole thing did seem a bit like a dream. Unfortunately, every day I woke up, my son was still in a madman’s clutches.

The men took a break, chugging from water bottles. In a span of a minute, Langston cast three different glances toward Stormy, who was completely oblivious as she played with Shiloh. He pulled his shirt off, revealing his lean, toned body, then sent another look at Stormy as he tossed the shirt aside. I bit the inside of my cheek hard to keep from snorting.

Langston, obviously disappointed he couldn’t catch her attention, went back to work with Trent and Cole.

“Hey,” I said, nudging Stormy.

“Huh?” She glanced up from digging a rattle toy out of Shiloh’s bag.

Deciding it was time to get to the heart of the matter, I decided not to beat around the bush. “What do you think of Langston?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean?”

Dear lord. Stormy was one of the smartest people I knew, but when it came to stuff like this, she could be dumb as dirt.

“Langston, Stormy. What do you think of him? You know?” I nudged her with my elbow and gave her an exaggerated wink.

Finally catching on, she looked out into the backyard, where Langston was showing Cole some sort of wrist lock. She eyed him for a moment, then glanced back at me.

“I mean, he’s hot. Like, super-hot. We’ve talked about this. Why? Are you trying to set him up with someone?”

“Holy fucking shit, Stormy,” I blurted, then slapped my hand to my mouth and looked at Shiloh.

Stormy waved me off. “It’s fine, she’s not talking yet. What are you so worked up about?”

“What doyouthink ofLangston? In a romantic sort of way?”

“God.” She laughed. “He’s cute, charming, and smart, but a guy like that wouldn’t be into someone like me.”

I wanted to tell her that any guy in his right mind would be interested in a woman who was beautiful, funny, smart, and built like a lingerie model, but I didn’t. Instead, I decided on the subtle approach, even though that hadn’t worked in the past.

“I think you’d be surprised.”

Stormy smiled sadly and shook her head. “I doubt it. I’m a single mother, recently widowed, and living with my mother. Those aren’t the kind of things men are looking for in a woman.”

“Immature men wouldn’t, but a real man would. You need to remember that,” I said.

The way Langston was drawn to Stormy was making me question if something more intense was going on. Could Stormy possibly be his fated mate? If that was the case, I had no doubt Langston would take matters into his own hands soon enough and tell her how he felt. He’d be leaving to take over the pack from his father when all this was over, so he didn’t exactly have a lot of time. Still, it would be nice if I could get Stormy to see how special she was. I didn’t like that she was so dismissive about herself.

“I’m up for a surprise, but doubt it’ll come in a package likethat,” she said, pointing at a sweaty Langston.

Letting it go for now, I returned my attention to the guys. It didn’t take long for me to get a really good sense of just howmuch Cole’s skills had deteriorated. Back in high school, his pack mates would get together all the time and practice fighting and learning tactics. They’d done it as a fun way to exercise, but Cole had received additional training because he was the heir to the pack. I could still remember how formidable he’d been back then.

Now, though? It looked like he hadn’t practiced in years.

Trent lunged forward in his human form and kicked out, sweeping Cole’s canine legs out from under him. In his wolf form, Langston leapt onto Cole’s back and latched his teeth onto his neck again before backing off and shifting back.

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