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12
Serena
“Fuck,” I mutter as I trip over a tree root protruding from the earth, coming down hard on a knee. I catch my upper body with both hands, skinning my palms as they slide across the hard-packed dirt of the forest floor. I’m tired and sweaty and exhausted, tears of frustration springing to my eyes as I struggle back to my feet. I’ve been out here for hours, trying my damndest to figure out where Reid and I first ran into each other the other night. Trying to retrace my steps, though at this point that exercise seems pretty fucking useless.
It doesn’t help that I don’t know this terrain at all. I tried my best to study the map of the six-pack territory in Reid’s office last night, but I didn’t want to linger in there too long and risk getting caught- and it’s a lot different looking at something on paper than it is actually trying to navigate it on foot. The territory borders are fairly
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Alpha Reid 13
REIDI look up from the open refrigerator as I hear the front door of the packhouse swing open, my wolf instantly perking up as Serena breezes through.“Hi!” she greets brightly, her delicious scent practically slapping me in the face as she pushes the door closed behind her. She’s wearing leggings and another one of those cropped hoodies that shows a tantalizing strip of her flat stomach- this one is light blue, the same hue as her eyes. Her hair is pulled back in two French braids, and I can’t help but crack a smile as I recall a joke that Theo used to crack about pigtails being used as ‘handlebars’.“Hey,” I call back to her, reaching for a bowl in the fridge filled with fruit. I select a juicy looking red apple and step back, the refrigerator door swinging closed as I step over to the sink to rinse the piece of fruit. “How’d it go?”I had some pack business to
Alpha Reid 14
SERENAThe moment his lips descended on mine, I was a goner.Damn him. Damn him and those ice blue eyes that seem have a way of staring straight through to my soul, threatening to steal my secrets.Damn the way his smile makes my heart stutter in my chest and his touch makes my skin smolder beneath his capable hands.Damn those soft lips and that demanding tongue that skillfully moved against my own and robbed me of every last ounce of resolve.Damn him for ruining me for all other men, because I know I can’t have him, and as long as I live nobody else will ever begin to compare to Reid Raines. I bring a hand up to my lips as I lay on my bed, tracing my fingers over them while my eyes slide closed and my mind drifts back to that moment between us in the forest- the moment when we both finally succumbed to the pull of the mate bond. In the days since it snapped in, we&rsquo
Alpha Reid 15
SERENA“So I’m thinking we should do an actual girls night,” Quinn suggests, eyes wide with excitement.After training this morning, the five squad leaders slipped away for another meeting. I headed to the dining hall to grab some lunch and was immediately accosted by Quinn, who ushered me over to sit with her and the other alphas’ mates. I appreciate that the girls are trying to be welcoming, but it isn’t exactly easy to hang out with them- they’ve all clearly forged this close bond with one another, while I’m just the weirdo on the outside looking in.“Because that worked out so well last time?” Fallon laughs, tearing the crust off of her grilled cheese sandwich and dunking it into her tomato soup.“Yeah, what if the guys insist on tagging along again?” Brooke sighs from her seat next to her sister. She follows suit in dunking a piece of crust into
Alpha Reid 16
REID What the hell is this girl doing to me? I’ve never struggled so much to remain calm and composed. Nobody has ever pushed my buttons like Serena does, and I’m starting to think she knows exactly what she’s doing; that it’s a game to her and she enjoys getting a rise out of me. It’s the subtle things that give her away- her sly glances, her little smirks. The way her eyes betray her as both a sinner and a saint. The ridiculous thing is that as much as it drives me crazy, the way she challenges me like nobody else does also turns me the fuck on. There’s something about her fire that I can’t get enough of, something about the way she pushes me to the brink of losing my shit that gets my dick hard. That’s sick, right? But as I glance over at her in the passenger seat, her head lolling sideways to gaze in my direction, her blue eyes lock with mine and I know that while Serena may not have been what I expected, she’s exactly who I was waiting
Alpha Reid 17
SERENA “So I’ve gotta know… what’s the boy scout like in the sack?” Quinn asks leaning toward me and waggling her eyebrows. “What?!” I blurt, cracking up into laughter while Brooke gasps and leans over to whack Quinn on the arm with the back of her hand. The three of us are lounging atop the large king-sized bed in Brooke and Theo’s room in the squad barracks. Reid dropped me off here at the complex about twenty minutes ago, and we parted ways with a kiss that I swear I can still feel on my lips, like they’re bruised from our hot and heavy goodbye. The more things progress between us, the stronger the bond becomes and the more right it feels. Every touch, every kiss, makes this so much harder. I don’t want to do this. “So I guess this isn’t the kind of sleepover where we have pillow fights in our underwear and braid each other’s hair?” I chuckle, tucking my legs underneath myself and arching a
Alpha Reid 18
REID“What kind of bug?” I ask, gripping the steering wheel as I drive down the forest road that connects the six-pack territories, on my way to the complex to pick up Serena.“It’s a fucking virus or something, I don’t know. IT has been on it since they found it this morning,” Gray replies, and I can hear the irritation in his voice as it comes through the speakers of my car. “They’re still working on it, but what they have figured out is that it was specifically designed to corrupt certain types of programs. They say it was aimed to take down our border security.”“And?” I bark, flexing my fingers around the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white.“And it’s a good thing that we’ve got some smart fuckers on our IT unit, because whatever server the virus was planted on is separate from the one that houses our security system. I gu
Alpha Reid 19
SERENA Did I really think I’d get away with it? Maybe. Admittedly, I didn’t really think things through, I just saw an opportunity and seized it. Of course it isn’t a far stretch for people to assume it was me, and they’re not wrong. I deserve to be yelled at. I deserve to be punished. Not protected. While Reid’s noble to stand up for me, I don’t deserve an ounce of his kindness, not after what I did last night. I couldn’t sleep afterwards- I snuck back into bed with the girls and spent the whole night agonizing over what I’d done, wondering what consequence my actions would have on these people who have been nothing but nice to me. When Reid said that whatever was on the thumb drive didn’t work, I nearly sobbed in relief. But then I realized that probably means I’ll have to try it again, and I’m not sure if I can. Even if I wasn’t currently the prime suspect, I almost didn’t go through with it the first time… how am I
Alpha Reid 20
REID The sound of screams wakes me from a dead sleep. I should be used to it by now- it’s a nightly occurrence with Serena sleeping in the room next door. I’m not, though, and each night of sitting by and doing nothing to intervene or comfort her is worse than the last. My wolf whines and paces, desperate to get to our mate and console her. If only I could fight her demons for her, find some way to rid her of the nightmares for good. Laying here and doing nothing while she suffers is excruciating, even moreso tonight than usual. Maybe it’s because we just fucked. Probably not the smartest move, given the state of everything, but it’s not like I set out after her with the intention to strip her naked on the lawn and give her the business. I can’t say I have any regrets, though, because that sex was fucking next level. I don’t know if it’s her or the bond or the chemistry between us that was always bound to combust, but just thi
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