Page 46 of Conner's Luna

"I don't want her frightened," I snap out.

Dad laughs. More of a mean chuckle, really. "She seem frightened of you?"

"No," I grumble. My wolf flops down and covers his snout with his tail. He's a little embarrassed about how the little human isn't intimidated by him. Of course she hasn't seenhim, exactly. She was scared of me for point-o-two seconds before she beaned me with a textbook. Then she crashed her car into a pole, though. I wonder how long she would be afraid of my wolf? Another half-second, maybe?

"Then relax. She's a CH Scholarship recipient. Xander is the donor. He can meet with her if he wants to."

"You're gonna pretend it's about the scholarship? She's already nervous that she's gonna lose it."

Dad grunts, "Nah. She's brilliant. Why is she afraid of losing the damn scholarship?"

"Trey's fucking pack keeps throwing up roadblocks. She thinks she needs more extracurriculars and they won't let her join anything."

"Assholes. Why do they give a rat's ass about this little girl? She piss in that infant-dick's Wheaties?"

"Don't know," I fib. I don't need to hear a lecture about respecting Trey and Bailey's mate bond. Fuck that. The longer I can keep that info from Dad the better.

"Find out," Dad barks back.

I growl. "Dad, what is Uncle Alex going to talk to Bailey about?"

"He just wants to read the human girl that Braxton keeps talking about."

"Braxton keeps talking about Bailey?" I ask, my wolf and me on high-alert. Apparently, my brother hasn't gotten the message about Bailey and who she belongs-

Shit.

"He seems to like her. There's something about this female, Con. I know you're busy, but stick close to her, yeah?"

Perfect. I'm planning to. Now I just have to keep my idiot younger brother away from my- away from Bailey.

My wolf is in my head, watching me walk the streets, pacing with me. His head lifts and his lip curls.

All of this bullshit could have been resolved over the summer. If Lydia hadn't rejected me. If everything had just been the fucking fairytale it's supposed to be.

I wouldn't have met Bailey.

My wolf growls abruptly, shaking out his fur. Canines flash.

I won't let Trey hurt Bailey. She's our friend. She's not a threat to Lydia, anyway. If Lydia comes back to us, then Bailey will just keep on being her sweet, wonderful self. So... we get Lydia if she comes to us. No more chasing her for now. I need Trey to back off her security.

It's only a slight shift in my plan. Trey is already jealous of the attention that Bailey gets, I can tell. If he thinks I've truly moved onto Bailey he'll let his guard of Lydia go lax. Not enough to put her in danger from the psycho out there, but enough that I can get close to her.

I have to swallow my own bile at the thought ofgiving up,even temporarily.I am an alpha and Lydia is mine.

My wolf growls. He's pissed at the thoughts running through my head. I flinch from the reverberation. I have to be careful. He's not quite sane, the fucker, and here I am deciding to stay away from our mate.

Being around Lydia is so utterly painful, but being away from her induces anxiety and panic that I can't stop. My wolf feels like he's being torn in two and having Bailey thrown into his life isn't exactly helping.

Maybe Braxton is right and I shouldn't spend so much time with Bailey.

The ringing of my cell takes a moment to register. I glance at the screen and see two missed texts from Braxton and "Honeysuckle" flashing across the screen. I answer right away.

"Bails?"

"C-Conner?" she sniffles.

I feel my blood ice over when I hear the tears in her voice. "What's wrong, babe?" I'm already moving, my feet taking me in her direction before I even know where she is.

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