Page 26 of The Denver Alpha

Suddenly my wolf is clawing so insistently at the inside of my chest that I feel like I’m going to be sick, a wave of nausea hitting me like a damn slap in the face. I break the kiss, pulling back and cupping a hand over my mouth.

“What’s wrong?” Tobias asks, eyes rounded in concern.

I shake my head, forcing back the overwhelming sick feeling. “I’m so sorry,” I mutter from behind my palm. “I’m not feeling well all of the sudden…”

I shoot to my feet, stumbling away and sucking in a deep lungful of air.

“Are you okay?” Tobias probes, standing up and approaching me from behind, setting a hand on my shoulder.

I shake my head, spinning to face him while my cheeks burn in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened,” I say. “Maybe it’s the keg beer? I don’t know. I’m just really nauseous. I think I need to head back to the packhouse…”

Without missing a beat, he nods in understanding, stepping forward to offer me a hand. “Want me to walk you?”

I shake my head quickly. “No, I’ve got it,” I say, already feeling a little bit better on my feet and now just thoroughly embarrassed. “I’m sorry…”

Tobias shakes his head, holding up his hands. “Don’t worry about it, Juliet. I’m not going to take it personally that you’re sick.”

I suck in a breath, wishing the ground would just open up beneath my feet and swallow me whole.

“You sure you can get back on your own?”

“Yeah,” I say, wrapping my arms around myself. “I’m good. I’ll just see ya tomorrow or something. Around the packhouse.”

“Sure,” Tobias says, concern still evident on his face as he watches me carefully.

I can’t get out of here fast enough. Not only am I mortified, but what in the actual hell is going on with my wolf?! I cringe as I spin around, taking off down the forest path in the direction we came. I don’t really want to face everyone else back at the party right now, but I’m also not familiar enough with these woods to navigate my way back to the packhouse through them rather than retracing my steps on the street.

Though maybe I should try.

My mind won’t stop racing, but I just keep my head down and walk, hoping this was some weird, one-off incident that’ll blow over. Otherwise, my big plans for taking advantage of my freedom and spreading my wings in Denver just went up in flames.

11

Squeezing my eyes closed, I try to focus. I’ve never had this problem before. It’s probably just stress. I’ve had a lot going on lately and I haven’t been sleeping well.

Focus, Cole.

I conjure up an image in my mind. Blonde hair, perky tits. An ass to die for. She’s a sweet little girl nextdoor type, my go-to fantasy. She sinks to her knees and stares up at me, batting her lashes and blinking her big blue eyes. Those eyes start to change though, beginning to look familiar. Her tongue darts out to wet her lips as they tip into a devious smirk, and suddenly she’s not just a random dream girl, but the vision of someone very, very real. Someone off-limits. Still, the thought of her is the only thing that has inspired any blood flow down south for the last twenty minutes, so I let myself picture Juliet, even though I shouldn’t be.

“What’s going on with you tonight, baby?” Rosie’s voice breaks through the fantasy forming in my mind, shattering it in an instant.

I heave an annoyed sigh, pushing back in my desk chair and tucking my semi-hard dick into my pants as I grumble expletives under my breath. It’s fucking embarrassing, not being able to get it up. My stomach’s churning like something I ate didn’t agree with me and my wolf is unusually agitated. It has to be stress, and now this situation is only adding to it.

Rosie reaches for the edge of my desk and hauls herself to her feet, planting her ass on the desktop as she swipes saliva from her lower lip with a thumb. “I’m sorry, am I doing something wrong?” she asks, blinking at me. She tucks her fingers underneath the hem of her skirt, tugging it up her thighs. “Do you want to fuck instead?”

“No,” I growl, zipping my fly and fastening the button of my pants, face burning with humiliation. “It’s fine.”

Except nothing’s fine. It hasn’t been for days, for a week. Or months if I’m being honest with myself. I’ve been restless, uncomfortable in my own skin, itching for somethingmorebut not knowing what that something is. If I was teetering on the edge before Juliet got here, then she shoved me right off it.

She makes me feel unhinged.

Out of control.

And then, in a misguided effort to snatch some semblance of that control back, I told the guys they couldn’t touch her- which backfired spectacularly.

But I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong. It’s not my place to exert control over Juliet, so I begrudgingly revoked the rule the following day and replaced it with some bullshit about being respectful. That should’ve been the end of it, except ever since, I’ve been driving myself crazy thinking about what she’s been getting up to. Wondering who she’s letting touch her now that there’s no rule to the contrary. Watching her touch herself while hiding out in the woods like a goddamn creep.

I squeeze my eyes closed and scrub a hand over my face, shaking my head in an attempt to banish my intrusive thoughts. I blink my eyes open to see Rosie staring at me expectantly, awaiting further instruction.

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