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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
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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
Alpha Reid 21
SERENA As soon as I see Astrid standing in the kitchen, I know I’m screwed. I’ve avoided her for this long, but I suppose it was only a matter of time before I couldn’t anymore. I bet Fallon put her up to this, hoping Astrid could use her psychic powers on me to get the dirt. And since I’m basically grounded to the packhouse right now like a misbehaved teenager, I don’t have a good excuse to get out of this sit-down with her. The two of us head out to the patio and get comfortable on the sectional- well, as comfortable as I can possibly get considering I’m just a ball of anxious energy right now. The morning air has a chilly bite to it, and I wrap my hands around the paper coffee cup to warm them, trying my best not to look super fucking guilty in front of the one person who could blow my cover right now. I’m obviously failing at it because she’s watching me carefully, studying my every move as she sips her latte. “So…
Alpha Reid 22
REID After seeing Brock and Astrid out, I glance through the big picture window in the back of the packhouse to see that Serena’s still out on the patio. She’s curled up on the sectional with her knees pulled into her chest, brow furrowed, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. I’m not sure what she talked about with Astrid, but she’s obviously deep in thought, so I decide to leave her be for now. We need to talk, but it can wait a little longer. I stroll into the kitchen instead, grabbing the rest of the latte that Astrid brought for me and carrying it over to the sink to pour it down. As I go to pop the lid off, though, it catches on one side and I wind up splashing it all of the front of my white button-up shirt. Fucking great. I curse under my breath, pouring rest of the offending beverage down the sink and tossing the cup before I head upstairs to change. On my way to my bedroom, I pass by the door to
Alpha Reid 23
REID“So that’s all of it,” I sigh, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees and scrubbing a hand over my face.After Serena spilled her guts to me on the floor of my office, I asked the guys if we could meet up so I could disclose everything to them. I didn’t want to put her on the spot and make her rehash everything, so Brock offered up his place for us to gather and she stayed behind at my packhouse. Knowing I was dropping a bomb, I wanted to approach my friends with this before taking it to the six-pack council so we could get on the same page- and in the hopes that they’ll stand by me when I do have to break it to the council. As of right now, I’m still not sure how that’s going to go.It’s not just the five of us tonight- all of my friends brought their mates along since they’re also close to this situation, and because we’ve been trying to bring Chase int
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