AllFreeNovel
Share Us
An ominous vibe hangs in the air.
I don’t know if it’s a scent or an instinct, or maybe the mansion’s just haunted, but as soon as my toes touch the ground, my muscles lock like I’m dangling at the edge of a hell portal.
“You’re not allowed to use the front door. Your room’s in back.” Craig stomps toward a huge garage filled with candy-colored cars but doesn’t go inside. He walks around on the grass, pausing when I don’t follow. “You’re not fooling anyone.”
I’m just trying to breathe, trying to understand what has my body shivering, on the verge of a full-on meltdown. Craig can go sit on one of his alphas for all I care. “I’m not trying to fool anyone.”
Craig snorts. “Like you won’t be climbing into Atlas’s lap in thirty seconds? This scared act isn’t going to work. Nobody’s going to chase you. The guys don’t even want you here. They’re only putting up with you because of their dads. I give it a week before you’re slinking back to the hole you came from.”
What is it with low-tier betas feeling the need to put me in my place? I know my place. Better than they do.
I would LOVE to slink back to my hole. It’s comfy there, with books and snacks instead of beta bastards and asshole alphas.
I’m pissed enough to shake off whatever aura makes the mansion feel so foreboding. I sling my duffel across my shoulder and follow Craig onto the grass, keeping a few feet of buffer between us. “Just show me where to put my stuff. I don’t need to meet the pack.”
“You’re meeting them,” he huffs. “They need to lay down the law.”
I shiver. I mean, I’m expecting these guys to be assholes, but I have a feeling they’re going to surprise me with new levels of bullshit.
It takes a while to walk around the massive property. Craig points to two metal doors in the ground, like the storm cellars I’ve only seen in movies. “That’s your room.”
Fine. Sure.
Like I said, a hole in the ground sounds fantastic right now.
I drop my duffel and keep following. Craig leads us away from the house, back toward the sprawling gardens. That’s a word I don’t use too often, unless I’m sprawling on my bed in my pajamas reading shifter romances.
This place is insane. It’s so green.
I’m gaping at the flowers when pressure tingles between my shoulder blades. I turn to find the house looming behind me.
A figure stands at the third-floor window.
A shadow that makes my ribs squeeze and my skin burn.
But the curtain flutters and they’re gone.
“Don’t look at the house. Don’t even think about the house.” Craig snatches my arm, dragging me behind him, and this time, I can’t catch my feet, can’t shake free of his angry fingers.
He drags me to a fancy gazebo, dropping me on the steps. I stumble, hands landing on the floor, knees banging the stair.
Four big alphas stare down at me like the cockroach who just skittered in through a crack under the door to ruin their tea party.
I’m upwind, so I’m not choking on them yet, but when the pack leader steps forward, every muscle in my body locks.
He’s built for ripping tires in half, with the broadest shoulders I’ve ever seen, a thick barreled chest, and rugby thighs that taper down into combat boots. His toes stop a few feet in front of my face.
If he were anyone else, I’d lie here and let him enjoy his dominance play until I could slink away and make sure I never cross his path again.
But this alpha has too much control over my fate, and thanks to Craig, I already look so fucking weak.
I scramble to my feet, climbing the stair.
I can’t meet them at eye level, because holy tall, all four of them, but I can at least look them in the eye. Or I could if I could look away from the pack leader.
It’s a full-body experience when an alpha gives you his attention.
Not just a look, but their full attention.
