Page 2 of Forbidden Virgin Mate

I groan inwardly. Of course he knows her. He brought all these cakes here for her.

"Yeah. I'm her brother, Zack."

As his words register, my head begins to swim. I'm vaguely aware that he's still talking, but my brain can't catch up. He looks nothing like Saffy, which I hadn’t seen coming at all. I try to pull myself together and focus on his words.

"So, you're at the college, too?” Zack asks. “Are you the teacher she mentioned? Tanya?"

It's now or never, so I paste a smile on my face before replying, "Yep, that's me." I nod as I smile, hoping I don't look like a complete idiot.

"Wow,” Zack says. “I gotta say, you don't look like any teachers I remember."

I almost gasp as his eyes flicker down me appreciatively. I want to say all I'm thinking about is how much I hate him, my mind racing with thoughts of revenge, but all I can do is reflect the heat in his eyes. My wolf is practically howling her interest.

Damn. I seriously need to get a grip.

Zack appears to hear someone shouting, and I turn to see where he's looking. Saffy is waving at him frantically, gesturing to the boxes. I guess her meaning, and Zack rolls his eyes and starts unpacking them quickly. "My work is never done, apparently," he says with a chuckle.

I remain frozen for a minute as I watch this strong, rugged man try and fail to arrange platters of beautiful cakes. "Do you need a hand?" I ask, grabbing one of the platters just before it crushed the frosting on the tray below.

Zack cringes, flustered at the scene in front of him. The expression only makes him look more attractive. "Yes, yes, please. I don't know why Saffy isn't here. She should be sorted by now."

I quickly take the cakes out of the boxes. The stall is already getting lots of interest from people passing by, and almost as soon as the cakes are out of the packaging, Zack has to start taking money from customers. I can't help but laugh as he does his best despite clearly knowing nothing about cakes. I wrap the customers’ orders as he handles the register.

"What's Saffy doing, anyway?" I ask after a customer walks away.

Zack scans the crowd momentarily. "She's helping set up a surprise. But she needs to get her ass over here so I can go do my part."

"That sounds interesting. Very secretive, but interesting." I laugh, wondering what the surprise could be.

I'm about to ask when a huge man walks over to us. My wolf immediately recognizes the presence of an alpha, so I take a step back, busying myself with the remaining cakes and not wanting to draw his attention. Having grown up away from Silverstar, other wolves still make me nervous. As nice as Mateo is to me, my wolf struggles to be in his company for very long without feeling intimidated or worried that he’ll see through my reason for coming back.

"Why are you running a cake stall?" the alpha asks Zack, breaking into a mischievous grin.

I look between the two imposing men and can’t help but smile, too. It's true. Zack looks completely out of place here.

"Don't you start. Saffy's left me hanging—"

Zack starts to answer, but the alpha cuts him off. "That's my fault. She's keeping Quinn distracted, something about needing flowers. You ready?"

They're clearly talking about the surprise, and I can't help noticing the alpha—Diego, I think—looking strangely nervous. Zack scans the crowd again, obviously looking for Saffy.

"Erm, you go if you need to," I say to Zack. "I can stay here with the cakes until Saffy gets here."

"Thank you,” Diego says to me. “Come on, Zack!”

Zack looks at me with gratitude in his eyes, mouthing, "Thank you."

He's obviously under pressure from his alpha. Besides, I feel more comfortable hiding behind this cake stand than pretending to mingle with the crowd. Plus, this whole encounter with him has been a bit of a win as I've now met my enemy in person.

Even if he wasn't quite what I was expecting.

Zack hands me the cash wallet and starts to walk away with Diego. Suddenly, he spins on his heels and comes back to the table.

"Forget something?" I ask.

"Only your number," he says with a grin, then groans. "Sorry, that was cheesy. Look, you're new in town, right? You helped me out here. Let me take you out for a drink?"

I freeze, not knowing what to say or do. My heart is pounding, but then I hear Diego yell Zack's name impatiently.

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