Maybe they’ll use the opportunity to showcase Brylee too…
Her reticence to talk to us earlier this afternoon takes on new depth as I wonder what other plans her parents might have for her.
We’re her scent matches.
But what if they don’t think we’re good enough?
Ferocity, the kind I’ve only known in battle previously, boils beneath my skin. I’m fully aware that my musk heats and drifts from my pores, filling the air, as the need to fight, the need to prove myself, comes over me.
Alpha pheromones swarm through me, and it’s a damn good thing this hallway is dark and empty.
Some unwitting alpha might find himself on the wrong end of my fist otherwise.
Because no matter what her parents think, we are claiming Brylee.
We want her, and she wants us.
That picnic and everything since have proven it.
I don’t care if it’s a slow road to win her over, only that those parents of hers don’t provide a roadblock.
Her soft blonde hair, those cheekbones, and that expression she gets when her shyness wears off fill my vision.
She. Is. Ours.
My breath is harsh, coming in short spurts, as I imagine squaring off against them. That’s why I slam my hand a little too hard into the light switch on the corner when I reach it.
But it doesn’t seem to matter. The switch doesn’t do a thing.
So the bulbs are burnt out?—
I peer around the corner and notice the lights down the next hall are also dark, only the ancient arrow slits in the walls breaking up the gloom that seems endless.
The back of my neck prickles with suspicion as I see some vague silhouettes opening a door at the far end.
I glide sideways, into the deeper shadows near the wall as I start to follow them with quiet deliberation.
My gut says something is off.
Of course, it could be stupid students sneaking off for some illicit fun—but I don’t think it is.
There’s something too bulky about those figures—those men don’t look like they’re wearing tuxes. Unless my mind is playing tricks, some look like they’re in bulletproof vests.
My heartbeat picks up, and goose bumps rise on my skin.
It could just be guards doing a sweep for the queen.
But why would they be in total darkness?
Why not carry a flashlight?
Something’s not right.
If they are just doing a sweep, there wouldn’t be a cluster of them. Which means something is wrong.
A million possibilities start to stack up, but all my wondering tumbles to rubble as I near a bathroom door and step into a cloud of scent.
HER SCENT.
