Chapter 06

KARA

"You've got to be shitting me!" I peered up at the scoreboard perched outside the pack house.

Orion: 0

Miles: 1

"Kara," my father cut me a chastising glare which was more playful than anything else, "don't let your mother hear that."

Alpha Killian Sommers might have been a scary, malicious man to the rest of the world but to me, he would always just be my dad. He was the one to tuck me into bed at night. The one to sing to me when the thunder roared too loudly or streaks of lightning lit up my room too brightly. He held me the first time I shifted for as long as my wolf would allow him and trained me as best as he could when he noted my exceptional tracking instincts. I had fond memories of my father so it made sense why this entire situation felt like one hard slap in the face. He had blindsided me and took advantage of the years of trust he built with me.

"Of course not, she'd just blame you anyway," I quipped but my tone didn't hold the bite I wanted it to.

An exasperated sigh deflated my father's ramrod posture, "I know yesterday's game didn't go as planned. It actually finished far quicker than I anticipated," my father sounded impressed by Miles, "and, I am sorry that it came to this. From the moment your mother found out she was expecting, I knew your happiness would mean everything to me. Your safety has always taken precedence over ours. If we're not around anymore..."

"If you're doing this for my safety, what if the same Alpha you choose for me jeopardizes my life and the lives of every one of the Blood Wolves?" My heart bled for my father.

On some level, I sympathized with him. An air of melancholy had permeated us for a long time and this was the result of it. This was my father's solution to bring a drop of joy back into our lives. It rendered me speechless that all his worry had been over who would take over the pack and take care of me.

"An Alpha's duty is to protect his pack. A mate's duty is to protect his mate. Once he takes the position and completes the bond, his only compulsion will be to protect and serve," the certainty weaving into his words and thoughts may have helped him sleep at night, however, I remained restless.

"I know you think you know what you're doing, Dad, but there's something not right with those two. I can feel it. Did you know Miles' wolf first came to him at the age of ten?"

Dad tried and failed to keep the shock from ghosting over his eyes, "How did you learn this piece of information?"

"Miles himself decided to share it last night when he found me," I supplied.

"So, you're at least getting to know one of them," the satisfied twitch of his lips had me suppressing the urge to release a growl, "maybe you can get to know the other one," he gestured behind me with a tip of his chin before lowering his voice to a whisper, "and if you want to know more about why his wolf emerged so early, all you have to do is ask him, Kara."

"Alpha Killian," it was too early for Orion's sunny disposition, and yet, I could hear the smile in his words and almost picture a skip in his step as his long legs ate up the distance between us, "marvelous work on the scoreboard just don't get used to seeing Miles as the winner. I have a good feeling about the next game."

"We will see about that, Alpha Orion," returning his attention to me with a press of his lips to my forehead, my father said, "I have some work to do, Kara. Think about what I said."

"She's already done her thinking and refuses to get to know them," Lex piped sardonically in my mind.

I had never been more grateful that only I could hear her.

"You're becoming a pain in the ass and I'm unfortunately stuck with you so cut it out," I chided her.

"You clearly don't have a conscience so here the fuck I am doing the job for you," Lex growled. Her sarcastic nature used to be one of my favorite things about her.

"I expected to lose last night."

I whirled on Orion until we were toe to toe with one another, my eyebrow cocked in question.

A single-shoulder shrug and a warm smile greeted me, "I'm not as good as him. That's obvious. We all have our weaknesses and that's one of mine. I'm so bad I actually found myself snared in a trap. Imagine my surprise when Miles let me down last night."

"Your brother helped you?" These brothers confused me.

"The game was technically over, so yeah. There's no need for hostility. Our mother would be very disappointed in us if we ever became hostile toward one another," his sullen demeanor seemed so unlike him but it was a testament to how close he and his brother were to their mother, "Miles is just a big, grumpy teddy bear. I promise, his bark is far worse than his bite."

"Does that apply to you, too?" I propped out a hip and crossed my arms over my sports bra-clad chest, pinning Orion under my scrutiny.

It was then I decided to take a measured inhale of Orion's scent, comparing it to Miles'. Whereas Miles was freshly mowed grass and something spicy, Orion was sandalwood and something balmy—coconut. Wetness gathered in my mouth and my throat worked with the insane urge to taste his skin.

Was I seriously salivating over a dude I barely knew? Fuck my life.

Orion's full lips peeled back. Unlike the ominous shiver that wracked my body when Miles smiled, I felt a sense of calm and ease under Orion's cheeky grin.

"I have no bark, Kara, but I have one hell of a bite."

Fuck. The way he rolled my name off his tongue shouldn't have sounded as delectable as it did. He claimed my name as if he owned it, owned me, and I couldn't bring myself to muster feelings of hatred for it when my stomach dipped and my palms grew clammy.

I schooled my features so he wouldn't decipher my insane thoughts, "What do you want Orion?"

"To touch you," his blunt honesty had me physically stumbling back a step, putting enough room between us to fit an entire wolf if needed.

"Your brother seems to understand boundaries better than you do," I grimaced.

"I was born to be an Alpha. Following orders isn't exactly intertwined in my DNA," Orion admitted with a tight smile, "I respect your request, but I will not do you the injustice of lying by saying it's easy to abide by it. I find honesty helps build a steady foundation for any type of relationship. Friendship and otherwise. You're afraid that my brother or I could be your mate. I find it harder to believe that possible when not a single member of the Greystone pack has found their Goddess-given mate. From what I've learned, none of the members in your pack has either."

I hadn't dreamt of finding my mate. As a pup, we knew the chances were slim, and choosing a mate sounded far better than being tied to someone you barely knew just because some deity chose it.

"Have you ever thought about finding your mate?" I wondered aloud but instantly regretted it when I realized it sounded awfully a lot like me trying to get to know him.

Orion must have sensed that too because his smile grew twice the size, splitting his face in half, "My wolf, Diesel, has always wanted to find our fated mate. He emerged when I turned sixteen. It was only then that the thought remotely intrigued me. Before then, I knew I'd have to pick someone who could handle the pressure of being a Luna. Someone I knew wouldn't resent me for placing so much responsibility on her shoulders."

So only Miles had an early shift. This was becoming a stranger by the second.

"Diesel must not be very happy about you being here then."

"He's fucking livid," Orion's chuckle rocked his frame, "and so is Timber."

"Timber?"

"Miles' wolf," Orion clarified, "I thought he would have told you that. The man uses the least amount of words he can in a day, I swear."

"He seemed talkative enough last night. Maybe you don't know him as well as you think," I accused.

"Miles speaks when spoken to. He never avoids questions, not unless he feels like they're too personal to share. Like you asking about his first shift for example," Orion's knowing smirk injected a shot of trepidation up my spine.

The chill of panic that followed almost had me running for the cliff I dubbed as my safe place.

"You know about that?"

I wanted my voice to carry on a strong note but what I wanted never seemed to matter. This revelation reared a dormant instinct in me to run but I had never run from a situation before and I wasn't about to start.

Orion scrubbed a hand over the stubble coating his jaw—a nervous tick I deduced from the last two times he had done it in my presence, "He told me only what he thought I needed to know."

"He warned you not to open your big mouth and spill the tea before he got the chance to, you mean," reading between the lines was my specialty. When you grew up with a strict mother, you learned that reading between the lines would help you get away with almost anything. It also helped grow my astute deduction skills.

This time, Orion chortled. It was a loud, joyous sound. His cheerfulness was contagious, I noted, as the wolves in close proximity perked and mirrored the smile that never left Orion's chiseled face.

A wisp of wind had a curl form his perfectly coiffed hair falling onto his forehead. The gleam of his green irises spilled heat inside me, bathing me in overwhelming elation. Ecstasy held no power when compared to this man's propensity to be a walking ball of sunshine.

Though I had a feeling, just like sunshine was warm and welcoming from afar, up close one would get incinerated by the heat. If I got too close to Orion, how badly would I get burned?

"Nevermind all this," Orion's laugh died down, yet, his skin held onto it's glow, "what are your plans for the day? I thought I could tag along."

"You really don't have to," I really didn't want him to.

I began marching toward the treeline. I had border patrol in the next half an hour and from there, I planned to go into town again. Orion tagging along would just make me feel miserable.

"Or maybe he might cheer you up. Give the guy a chance. I don't think anyone can be miserable around him," Lex urged, forgetting that I could sense her real thoughts.

"You're just excited to play with a new wolf. Don't forget my no-touching rule," I grumbled.

"I know I don't have to," Orion had no trouble meeting my pace, his stride long enough to give him the illusion of a casual stroll when, in fact, we were basically jogging.

"You're just going to get in my way," I argued.

"You can't avoid us forever, Kara."

Again, the way he uttered my name had my sure-footed steps stumbling. I became clumsy around these brothers and I didn't like it.

"Why? Because I'll be stuck with one of you eventually?"

"Exactly," his agreement had me seeing red.

I curled my fingers into tight fists until my nails dug into my calloused palms. Focusing on the pain was better than focusing on the way my fingers formed a perfect fist that would meet even perfectly with his left eye.

I never believed violence was the answer but I desperately wanted to punch something and Orion's flawless face was an appealing target.

"Why don't you both just quit the damn games," I didn't mean to shout. All the pent-up rage bubbled and rose.

Orion's unabashed honestly was the flame that lit my fuse, and now a volcanic eruption was about to take place.

"Because, Kara, you're one of us. You deserve to be the Alpha of this pack. And no one but Miles and I can help you achieve that. It's time you let us help you."