4. Chapter Four
Chapter Four
EMILY
I hate alphas. It doesn’t matter if they’re a future alpha, current alpha, former alpha, or just alpha-blooded. I hate them all. Alphas are cocky, conceited, controlling, and cruel. Every last one.
“You know, future alpha Harrison…” I have an entire speech ready for this arrogant son of a bitch who somehow knows my name.
I don’t care if he’s the future alpha of my new—and only—friend.
He needs to be put in his place. And since I can’t do that with my alpha, I have to settle for dishing it all out on this jerk.
“You can’t just expect everyone to fall at your feet and—” I reel back, his question catching up to me. “Wait, what did you say?”
He laughs. It’s a soft laugh. An attractive laugh.
Is that a thing? Attractive laughter?
“I asked if there’s still a troll under the bridge.”
I stare at him, utterly confused. It’s been years since I believed there was a troll living under the bridge. Only members of my pack—Lupine River—know about the creature concocted by my overactive imagination.
Except…
The male in front of me is suddenly much younger, with untied shoes, dirt stains on his knees, messy brown hair, and a crooked half smile. He’s telling me to climb onto his back, holding my hand as we walk through the forest, and teaching me to catch blackberries in my mouth.
That little boy—the one I thought I had imagined after he disappeared and I never saw him again—is the only non-Lupine River member I ever told about the troll.
The memories fade until all that’s left is the male in front of me. The male who is definitely not a little boy anymore but who has the same crooked half smile, the same slightly too long hair, and the same kind brown eyes he did eleven years ago.
I clap my hand over my mouth and lean forward, meeting him halfway across the table’s top. “Is it really you?”
“It’s really me, Emily.”
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry or hide under the table. “After you disappeared that day, I convinced myself you were a figment of my imagination.”
“I promise you, I am absolutely real.” He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear as if to prove his point.
“But where did you go? I turned around to get your name, and you were already gone.”
“I had to get back to your packhouse foyer before my dad knew I’d left. He told me not to go outside, and we were in the forest longer than I realized.”
So like an alpha, to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Even as a kid.
“Why was your dad at Lupine River?”
“He came to meet with Alpha Justin and offer him assistance and guidance, since Alpha Justin was barely eighteen and had only recently taken over the pack.”
That’s why I never saw him again. Alpha Justin refused help from any of the packs. Not even from the Silver Ridge alpha, whose pack shares a border with ours.
Alpha Justin has very rigid ideas on how an alpha should run their pack.
In Lupine River, we keep to ourselves. Anyone who isn’t a member is an outsider, and outsiders are not welcome.
He almost didn’t let us go to the public high school down the mountain with the humans and the other three packs this year after our pack school shut down.
I’m not sure what changed his mind, but three days ago he announced that we’d be attending.
It’s the first time I’ve left Lupine River since my parents died when I was five.
Brad—his light-blue eyes glittering with trouble—leans in front of Harrison, shoving him out of the way. “Not to interrupt this joyous reunion—”
“You’re literally interrupting,” Harrison mutters.
“—but I’ve been dying to know what you were about to say to my best friend earlier.”
Harrison’s annoyance flips instantly to teasing curiosity. His brown eyes take on the same sparkling glint of mischief that’s in Brad’s gaze.
I feel my blush all the way to the tips of my ears. “Oh, well, I uh—That’s not… it’s not… I wasn’t—”
“I believe she said, ‘You can’t just expect everyone to fall at your feet.’” Harrison rubs his chin, pretending to think it over, as if he isn’t exactly sure what I said.
My blush deepens, and I once again have the urge to hide under the table.
Brad taps his chin too, mimicking Harrison. “Yes, but there was more. She also said ‘and’ but she never finished her thought.”
Harrison snaps his fingers. “You’re right! She did say ‘and.’” He leans back in his chair, arms crossed, a smug little grin on his face. “And what, Emily? What else were you going to say?”
“Brad!” Stephanie kicks him under the table, and he yelps. “Stop teasing her! They’re not assholes, I promise,” she adds, turning to me. “Well, not always. Right now, I’m not so sure.”
Brad withers under her glare. “I’m sorry.”
She huffs and tightens her blonde ponytail. “We’ll see how sorry you really are at training later.”
Brad perks up, and I swear his wolf swirls in his eyes, delighted with Stephanie’s challenge.
I subtly glance between them. Stephanie told me earlier that she thinks Brad is her mate. Not that she hopes he is. No, she’s almost one hundred percent convinced that in three years, when they’re both twenty-one, they will be mates.
I wonder if that’s possible. For a shifter to feel part of the mate bond before they’re old enough to actually know.
According to our lore, it’s not possible, but…
but if two souls are destined for each other from the start, who’s to say they wouldn’t feel part of that connection before they’re supposed to?
The mate bond is magic, and there’s so much about magic that we don’t understand, that we never will understand.
My gaze slides to Harrison. He too watches Brad and Stephanie and their not-so-subtle flirting with a contemplative expression that I bet matches mine.
Stephanie told me she hasn’t voiced her suspicions to Brad, but based on the way he smiles at her and the way Harrison watches them, I’m guessing Brad’s come to the same conclusion and told Harrison.
Stephanie takes a sip of her latte. Harrison frowns at her cup, then his eyes flick to me and that frown deepens.
“You didn’t order anything?”
“I didn’t want anything.”
He leans forward, brow arched. “You didn’t want anything, or you didn’t want to buy anything?”
How many times is this male going to make me blush today?
“Don’t worry”—he winks—“I’ll get you something.” He’s out of his seat before I can protest his generosity. “What do you want? Wait, don’t tell me. Let me guess.” He considers me for a moment. “Something sweet?”
“You don’t have to get me anything.”
“It’s the least I can do to make up for being an asshole.”
“You helped me cross the bridge and didn’t make fun of my wild imagination. I know you’re not an asshole.”
That smug grin returns. “Then let me do it because I want to, Em.”
Something loosens inside me when he calls me “Em.” No one has ever given me a nickname before, but he calls me “Em” like he’s been doing it his entire life.
Harrison turns away, and before he can take one step, I blurt, “Yes.”
He glances over his shoulder at me. “Yes what?”
“Sweet. I… I’d like something sweet.”
His smug grin grows before he saunters away towards the register.
My gaze is glued to his confident swagger.
He’s all alpha as he moves through the coffee shop.
Everyone is aware of his presence. His aura is locked down tight, but there’s no doubt that he’s a powerful male who could take anyone down with little effort.
And for whatever reason, he’s being kind to me.
I spin in my seat as he glances at me after ordering. I can’t let him know I was watching him. I don’t want him assuming things. Or getting the wrong idea. I just find him interesting.
Yeah. That’s it.
“Here you go.”
Harrison is right next to me, holding a cup. I must have been lost in my thoughts for longer than I realized.
He wiggles the cup a little. “White chocolate with a little vanilla and a hint of cinnamon.”
I reach for it, but I’m distracted by the time on the clock hanging behind the counter of the coffee shop.
“Oh no.” I jump from my chair. “I have to go. The vans from the pack will be at the school in ten minutes, and if I’m not there—”
“I can give you a ride to your pack,” Harrison offers.
“No. Thank you, but no.” I grab my backpack and head to the door. “It was wonderful to see you again, Harrison.”
I barely make it three steps before everything in my backpack tumbles to the floor. Everything, including the envelope of money I have hidden in there.
My heart races. For a moment, I’m frozen in place with fear. If anyone from my pack is here, if anyone sees it…
“Let me help.” Harrison drops to the floor as quickly as my books.
I launch into action. I can’t let him find that money either. What if he thinks I stole it?
He stacks the books and journals and papers near him, and I do the same, scooting closer to where that envelope is.
We both reach for it at the same time, but he grabs it first. A gaping pit forms in my stomach as he recognizes the green bills inside, exposed by the now-bent flap.
He tests the weight and density of the envelope, and his brow arches in a silent question when he realizes there’s a large sum of money held within.
I snatch it from him and shove it in my backpack with everything else, avoiding his eyes. He edges closer to me, and I hold the bag open so he can place the stack he created inside.
“I won’t tell anyone.” He fiddles with my temperamental zipper, coaxing it into finally closing correctly. “But you shouldn’t be carrying that much money around in a backpack with a broken zipper.”
I nod, not trusting myself to say anything. I know my backpack is not the best place to keep my money, but it’s the only way I can guarantee it won’t be found in my room while I’m at school. This way, at least, I always know where it is.
“What are you saving it for?” He keeps his voice low and leans in closer, so our conversation stays private.
“To buy a car when I turn eighteen.” The lie leaves me too easily. Too quickly. My voice is too high-pitched for it to be believable.
The severe straight line of his lips tells me he doesn’t buy it. “How much do you have?”
“Not enough.”
Not enough to run. Not enough to hide myself, to create a new identity and disappear completely.
“When is your birthday?”
“December twenty-seventh.”
“How do you earn the money?”
“I save a portion of my pack allowance every month.”
He somehow knows that’s not the entire truth. “And?”
My volume drops even lower with my shame. “Our warriors don’t like to do certain chores. Some will pay omegas to—”
A barely restrained growl from Harrison knocks me back on my heels. I clutch my backpack to my chest like a shield, unsure what specifically I said that angered him so much.
“Don’t do that anymore. Okay?” He keeps eye contact with me until I nod, then he stands. “Brad,” he barks. “You need a tutor for math, right?”
“Yeah, but Stephanie already said she’d—”
“Emily’s going to tutor you too.”
“I don’t know if I need—” Brad’s eyes go hazy. He frowns, then sighs. “Fine. Emily can tutor me too.”
I jump to my feet. “You don’t even know me. What if I’m terrible at math?”
“Em.”
There’s that nickname again. The one that warms me from the inside out. The one that softens me and has me questioning my view of the world.
Harrison shakes his head and rubs his temples. “Just take the job. Let us help you.”
He knows. Somehow, he knows that the money is my escape fund. And instead of threatening me or exposing my planned rebellion to my alpha, he’s offering to help me save. To help me escape.
Maybe there are some decent alphas in our world. Or at least one decent alpha.