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“He’s not in love with me,” I mutter, curly hair swishing in front of my face as I shake my head. “Maybe a long time ago, but not anymore.”
“We’ll see,” Roxy drawls, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly in the ghost of a smirk. “Well, anyway, welcome to the dorms. I’m right down the hall if you need anything. Room one-twelve.” She steps closer, reaching out to touch my arm. “Even if you just wanna drink wine and talk shit about our mutual ex,” she adds with a wink.
I can’t help but laugh. “Thanks, I appreciate that,” I say, following her as she starts toward the door. “I honestly can’t believe how cool you’re being about this. I’m not sure I would be if the roles were reversed.”
She pauses in the doorway, turning to me with a shrug. “Well, life’s short, right? I feel like this whole thing with the hunters is a huge wakeup call as to how short it can really be.”
I nod sadly in agreement.
“Besides, there are plenty of other alphas to go around,” Roxy continues. “And speaking of, you wouldn’t wanna put in a good word for me with your brother, would you?” She grins conspiratorially, waggling her eyebrows.
I stifle a giggle, nodding again. “I’ll see what I can do.”
After Roxy leaves, I finish unpacking my suitcase, tucking my things away in the closet and drawers. Then I immediately strip the bed and carry the linens to the laundry room, planning to wash them twice after Roxy’s visit reminded me what she and Madd likely got up to while twisted in those sheets. The thought of my first love being intimate with someone else makes my stomach hurt, but I suppose I can’t blame him for moving on. It’s not like I waited around for him all this time.
I would’ve been a fool to.
I stuff the bedding into the washer, start the cycle, and then, not really knowing what to do with myself, I start wandering around the complex with the hope of running into Avery or Lo. I don’t wind up seeing either of them, but instead find myself gravitating toward the back of the building, where I find and climb the old utility ladder up to the roof.
Madd and I originally found it by accident when we were kids, hanging out at the complex in the summertime while our parents trained up the new recruits. During a game of hide and seek with the other squad leaders’ kids, the two of us stumbled upon the ladder and headed up, turning giddy when we realized it provided roof access. For some reason, we didn’t tell the others about it- not even Avery- and from that point on, the two of us would sneak off to the roof to watch the squad train on the practice field, stealing private moments together before we even fully realized why we wanted them.
I grip onto the rusty rungs, making the familiar ascent for the first time since I was a teen. When I’m halfway up, it occurs to me that this ladder probably isn’t the safest after so many years of disuse, but I still continue to the top, thankful that it holds my weight. I hop off the ladder onto the roof once I reach it, dusting my palms off on my leggings and glancing around.
The view’s the same, yet different. The trees are more mature, the foliage thicker, but it’s still peaceful and serene up here, a little slice of privacy in an otherwise crowded setting. It’s the perfect place to get away and be alone for a while, and I’m glad I wound up wandering this way and remembering it existed.
I smile to myself in contentment, stepping over to skirt around the big air conditioning unit that blocks the view to the practice field…only to find I’m not alone up here after all.
13
A plume of white smoke curls from the end of the joint pinched between my fingers as I hold it out in front of me, watching the paper curl and burn to ash. I don’t smoke often these days, but I indulge once in a while when I need a little something to take the edge off. And after unloading the shipment from Chicago and getting everything set for the squad to start training with firearms tomorrow, I definitely need something to help me relax.
The Denver pack has been on lockdown since their brush with the hunters last week, but just because there hasn’t been another incident doesn’t mean they aren’t still out there, watching and waiting. Taking drastic measures like procuring and training with guns only makes the threat feel that much closer, like they’re breathing down our fucking necks, the shit just waiting to hit the fan.
The waiting’s the worst part. If it were up to me, I’d rally our squad to take the fight tothem, see howtheylike to be hunted for a change. But there are too many variables; too many lives hanging in the balance. The safest thing for my pack and the entire alliance is to stay hidden. They can’t kill us off if they never find us, right?
But we have to be prepared in case they do, and that’s where the guns come in. We’ve gotta fight fire with fire if there’s a chance in hell of us coming out of this unscathed.
I lift the joint to my lips again, dragging in a deep inhale and holding the smoke in my lungs as I drop the roach to the ground and grind it beneath my heel. Then I gaze out over the practice field from my perch on the roof of the squad complex, exhaling slowly and letting the breeze whisk the smoke away.
I haven’t been up here in a while. When I lived at the complex, I’d hide out up here regularly, but these days I hardly get a moment to myself. Between running my pack and heading up the squad, there’s always something I’m being pulled away to deal with.
Not that I’m complaining. Leading is what I was born to do; it’s in my blood. And though I’m still getting the hang of it, my dad says my instincts are spot-on thus far. He says I’m a natural.
High praise, coming from the esteemed Alpha Gray.
I slide my palms behind me on the concrete ledge I’m perched upon, leaning back to rest on my elbows. The ledge runs down the entire length of the roof in the middle, and I watched the squad training on the field countless times from this exact position before I was finally old enough to join them. I wasn’t alone back then, though. Sloane was always beside me, chattering in my ear about whatever was on her mind while I hung on every word like the sun shined out of her ass.
My inner wolf suddenly perks up, right before I hear the scuffle of footsteps behind me, and I know it’s her before I even turn to look over my shoulder. For one, my wolf and I are decidedlynoton the same page when it comes to Sloane Masters- he’s always fucking delighted when she comes around- and for two, nobody else would climb that rusty old utility ladder to hang out on the roof.
When I turn, our gazes lock, and Sloane stops in her tracks with her green eyes rounded in surprise. “Sorry, I didn’t think anyone would be up here…”
Seeing her on this roof is so familiar that for a second, I feel like I’ve been thrown into a vivid flashback and it’s a seventeen-year-old Sloane standing there, her wild curly hair blowing in the breeze. It hits me so hard that my chest aches for the kids we used to be, for the carefree days and nights we shared before everything turned to shit.
I can’t look at her without remembering, and every time I do, it feels like a knife to the heart.
“Run along,” I grumble, turning away to gaze out over the practice field again.
I grind my molars, pushing all those old feelings as far back in my mind as they can go, but then I hear the light patter of her footsteps against the concrete moving closer rather than retreating. I swing my gaze back around to see her approaching the ledge in pair of black high-waisted leggings and a lavender crop-top, my eyes immediately drawn to the sliver of her tan belly showing.
