He bought his lips dangerously close to my ear. Volcanic breath huffed out in a slow, controlled stream as he let out a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a growl. The sound was like a shot of fire in an icy room. “I’m every girl’s type, Princess.”
My brain went static-y, and I couldn’t decide what I wanted more—to lean in closer or knee him in the nuts.
Shit. What had I done…?
Chapter Four
Slade
Kensey left the music room lighter, no doubt feeling better about her situation—which I didn’t get. This would blow up in her face. Her dad wouldn’t move on to her sister, Amanda. When we fell apart, he’d force her to fall in line and shack up with the bastard of his choosing. But that was her problem. I made a deal, and I’d honor it. How it turned out on her end was her mess to deal with.
We agreed to hammer out the rest of the details at lunch—our soft debut—to which she was late.
“Why are you standing outside the cafeteria?” Lupe, a member of my pack, asked in a purring voice. She sauntered up and wrapped an arm around my waist.
“Waiting on someone.” I didn’t look her directly in the eye.
“Sure you are. You’re waiting on me.” She stepped around and positioned herself right in front of me and giggled, moving her body in a way that stirred the most primal parts of my wolf. As if of their own accord, my hands gripped her waist, fingers knotting into the thin material of her shirt as instinct took over. She responded by bringing her lips to my ear, lingering for a moment before taking the edge of my lobe between her teeth and tugging hard. “I’m bored. Let’s go play.”
Even though I knew better, I kept making the mistake of playing with Lupe. I wasn’t under the delusions that there were feelings involved. I’d used her to distract myself from my shitty life, and she’d used me as well, the same way she did everyone else. I hated myself a little each time it happened. Every time she came to me, I swore I’d send her away.
I never did.
Today had started with Gavin taking a swing at me because his beta had screwed something up. I was in a bad mood, and Lupe would have been just the thing to take me away from it all for a while—except I’d made a deal with Kensey. I doubted we could sell the couple angle if I was caught shoving my tongue down some other wolf’s throat.
With a reluctant growl, I took a step back, and when she made a move to follow, I held up my hand. “Sorry. Waiting on someone else.”
“Someone else?” Her demeanor changed in an instant. From sexy to furious in zero point one seconds. Typical Lupe. The girl was like a tornado. Unpredictable and violent, yet mesmerizing to watch. She left destruction in her wake wherever she went, but holy shit was it a sight to see. “Who the hell is worth passing me up for?”
The answer came about three seconds later when Kensey rounded the corner. “Hey.”
“You’re late,” I said, trying to ignore the heat I felt coming from Lupe.
“Sorry.” Kensey’s cheeks flushed as she not-so-subtly glanced between Lupe and me. “Hi. Lucy, right?”
Kensey’s tone was nothing but genuine. The girls didn’t travel in the same social hemisphere. But Lupe took the mistake as an insult. “Lupe, bitch.” She took a step toward Kensey. She was several heads taller and far more imposing than Kensey’s slight form. “Now back off.”
Kensey’s eyes widened, and her mouth fell open. The shock only lasted a few seconds, though. She was the type of wolf that would waltz right up to the biggest and baddest and pull his hair just to get a reaction—all without breaking a sweat. “Back off? What the hell is your—”
I stepped between them. “Okay, time to chill.” I turned back to Lupe. “Kensey and I are—”
“A thing,” Kensey finished for me. She leveled her gaze at Lupe, the corner of her lip hitching in what could only be described as a triumphant grin.
“A thing,” Lupe repeated. She laughed and made a move to grab my hand. “Let’s go, Sl—”
I sidestepped her and took Kensey’s hand. It was warm and soft and felt better than I wanted it to. “It’s not a joke.”
The fury in her eyes faded, replaced by something akin to amusement. “Oh, I see. You’re almost eighteen now. Daddy has you whoring yourself out to our betters.” She shrugged. “Whatever. Call me when you get bored.”
She sauntered away slowly, and as soon as she was around the corner, Kensey let out a whistle. “You forgot to tell me you had a girlfriend.”
“Lupe isn’t my girlfriend.”
“Fine. Your bitch with benefits—whatever.” She glowered at me but didn’t pull her hand from mine. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“We messed around a few times. There’s nothing solid between us.”
“I don’t care what you do with her—or anyone else—behind closed doors, Slade. Just don’t screw this up.”
“I promise, I’m 100 percent committed to our fake relationship.”
She hesitated, glancing from me to our joined hands, then back again. With a sigh, she inclined her head toward the cafeteria. “Can we really do this?”
My fingers tightened around hers. “Let’s find out.”
I dragged Kensey to the middle of the room, and when she realized where we were heading, she tugged hard against my grip.
“Slade, no. Not like this. What are you—”
“Gotta go all or nothing, remember? Really sell this thing? Might as well jump in with both feet, hunny.”
She grumbled something, still struggling against my grasp, but I didn’t let go or slow down. If we were going to do this, there was no point in easing in. We needed to know right up front what we’d be up against. There was no better place to do that than in the PIT.
Besides, it was fun as hell watching her squirm. This was her idea—time to embrace it.
Through the rest of the room and out the door to the courtyard. The moment we hit the bottom of the steps, all eyes were on us. The air thickened, and the silence that fell across the crowd was eerie and stale.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, tense.
The chatter started a few seconds later.
“Is that Kensey Deaton with Slade McAlister? That’s one way to piss Daddy off!”
“I heard he stole the principal’s car.”
“He’s killed six wolves this year alone. She’s crazy!”
“Look at that Deaton bitch. She’ll do anything to get attention.”
“Did you know he ate one of the science lab test mice? Bit it in half right there in front of the whole class!”
“McAlister,” a voice boomed from the back of one of the clusters. Aden, Kensey’s brother, shoved through the crowd a moment later. He stalked toward us, a tall figure swathed in crisp jeans and a crisp black button down that probably sported a designer label. He jabbed a finger in my direction. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I think you’ve got the wrong idea, man.” I couldn’t help grinning as I let go of Kensey’s hand and threw my arm around her shoulder. “This is 100 percent voluntary. In fact, she likes it when I—”
Aden’s face flushed with anger, and he narrowed his eyes. “Come to me, Kensey.”
“Slade is right,” she said, leaning into my arm. Her heartbeat launched into an uneven, erratic pounding. “It’s not what you think. He’s not making me be here.”
The anger in Aden’s eyes flared then turned to disgust. His gaze lowered to our intertwined hands, and the corner of his lip curled up. I was familiar with the look. It’s the same one I got wherever I went. “Now I get it,” he said, lifting his head and narrowing his eyes at Kensey. “This is taking your rebellious streak a little far, don’t you think?”
For a minute, I worried she’d freeze. Aden was older—by two and a half minutes—and had always bullied her on behalf of their dad. He was one of the few people I’d ever seen her back down from.
Thankfully, she’d changed.
“Rebellion is purple hair and goth makeup, A
de.” She rose onto her toes and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “This is called dating.”
That shut the smug fucker up. His mouth fell open as a whisper rolled through the crowd. This section of the courtyard was mostly wolves. All the school-aged pack members congregated, mingling in relative peace. All except for mine. Members of the McAlister pack stayed mostly to the parking lot and basement. Like dirty cockroaches, we kept to the dark, scurrying around and freaking everyone out. If the others could step on us and be done with it, they would.
“Dating?” Aden spit on the ground. It just missed the toe of my worn boots. Good thing, too. I would have made him lick it off. “No. You’re not dating this piece of shit.”
“Oh, I think I am.” There was a gleam of defiance in her eyes and a definite challenge in her voice. It was bright and it was bold, and a part of me wondered exactly how far she would go to prove to them that she couldn’t be tamed. It was one of the things I’d always admired about her. She refused—even at a young age—to conform to our society’s unfair standards. She’d bucked them at every turn, going from precious pack daughter to the not-so-dirty-little-secret of the Deaton clan. “And really, it’s none of your business.”
Aden’s face turned scarlet, and he made a move to seize her wrist, but Kensey was quicker. She shrugged from my grasp and danced out of reach. Her brother snarled, clenching his jaw and taking a deep breath.
“Do that again, and I’ll rip your arm off.” Just beneath the skin, my wolf rumbled, itching to be set free. She wasn’t really mine, but the wolf in me didn’t care. It only needed the slightest hint of confrontation to try and force its way to the surface.
“I think everyone here would love to see you try,” Aden countered. He sauntered a step toward me, and in turn, I stomped one toward him.
“Whoa.” Kensey positioned herself between us, arms coming up to shove us both back. “This is not going to happen. Both of you get your shit together.”
“She’s right.” Aden straightened and took a step back. His gaze never left mine. “This isn’t the place. But I’m more than happy to move the party elsewhere.”
I’d lost my shit over much lesser taunting—and he knew it. “I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors, Deaton. Pushing me is dangerous.”
“I know all about your dysfunction, McAlister. Heard that you’re borderline feral. Maybe you should—”
A familiar itch writhed beneath my skin, and the ache that signaled an oncoming shift bloomed deep in my gut. I started for Aden just as Kensey turned to face me.
“Slade!”
The others were talking, making half-hearted attempts to whisper their surprise/justification/horror. They’d all seen it. There was no way to miss it. The first part of the body that changed as a wolf commenced the shift was the eyes. I didn’t hear them, though. The only thing I was able to focus on was Kensey—and the horrified flicker in her eyes.
Making a show of it, she slowly reached for my hand and navigated through the small crowd toward the building, towing me behind. My wolf, while still restless, calmed just enough to let me keep control.
Oh. Yeah. This had the potential to get real interesting.
Chapter Five
Kensey
We’d pulled up in front of my house in Slade’s ancient van fifteen minutes ago. Neither of us had spoken since the PIT. But we couldn’t sit here all day. My father was home, and eventually he’d come out and drag me through the front door. No doubt Aden had been on the phone with him before we even got inside the building.
“You gonna tell me what the hell happened back at school?”
“Aww. What’s wrong, Princess? Worried about your brother?”
“Worried about you.” The words slipped out before I could even think. Crapcrapcrap. “I mean, our arrangement. You could have screwed things up before we even got started. So…?”
He gripped the wheel tight, causing his knuckles to turn pale as paper. “Your brother started running his mouth and almost got his throat torn out. That’s what happened.”
“You started to—”
“Turn?” He snorted. “Let me fill you in on something, Princess. You made a deal with the devil.”
He was exaggerating. He had to be. He had a bad reputation, but it couldn’t be that bad. “You didn’t really eat one of the science lab mice, did you?”
“There’s a reason most people leave me alone, Kensey. I have control issues. Most of the time, there’s no real line between me and the wolf. If you hadn’t stopped me, I would have attacked Aden. It doesn’t take much to set me off.”
“No, you wouldn’t have.” There was no way he could have that little control over his wolf. “If that’s the case, you would have outed our entire community by now. Randomly attacked everyone who pisses you off—which I imagine is a great many people over the course of a single twenty-four hours…”
“Like I said, most people are smart enough to leave me alone. If I feel it coming on, I get the fuck out of Dodge. Sometimes it takes me an hour to calm down; sometimes it takes days.”
Days? That might explain all his absences from school.
“So…” Slade tapped the dashboard hard with his pointer finger. “You gonna back out? Because they’re not gonna make it easy on you. I’m probably not going to make this easy on you…”
I nodded and unbuckled my seatbelt. I was crazy to do this after what I’d seen today at school, but I didn’t have much of a choice. Slade was my only hope. “I can hack it. Can you?”
He shrugged again. “Long as you plan on keeping your end of the deal.”
“Freedom. This isn’t going to be easy for you, either. You know that, right?” I peeked at the house. “My family isn’t going to be happy.”
“Wasn’t that the main reason you asked me?” His voice dropped, and the muscles in his jaw twitched. Just once.
Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I looked away. When he worded it like that… “Yeah.”
“Then don’t concern yourself with my delicate feelings. I know my place in our world.”
I opened the door and slid out as a ripple of anger raced through me. Just before slamming it, I bent and looked him in the eye. “Yeah? Well I know mine, too. You know the big difference between us, Slade? I’m determined to change things—not run away.”
…
I managed to grab a snack and make it upstairs and through most of my math homework before my father came to find me. He slipped into the room without knocking, and judging by the set of his jaw and the way his lips were pressed hard into a thin line, he’d been given the happy news.
“I’ll give you this.” He pulled the chair away from my desk and settled in. “You’re smart. Just like your mother was.”
I considered ignoring him, but I wasn’t that brave. Instead, I set my pen down and flashed my most practiced, innocent grin. “Whatever do you mean, Daddy?”
“I’m not amused by this, Makensey.” He folded his hands in his lap. “End this game, and we can get on with things. I’ve already chosen a suitable male for you. I’ll—”
My mouth fell open. “You can’t do that.” I jumped off the bed. The motion sent the pen over the edge. It bounced to the floor and rolled until it hit the toe of his designer shoes. Perfect and shiny—I used to pretend they were evil mirrors when I was younger. “I did as I was told. I picked someone. The rules say that you can’t choose for me unless I refuse.”
He didn’t move an inch. Not a stiffening of his shoulders or a twitch of his lip. After the longest moment of my life, he said, “This is a farce. No doubt you chose the worst possible mate to dissuade me from following through.” Standing, he smoothed the front of his shirt and adjusted his tie. Never a hair out of place for Samuel Deaton. “But know this. In two months, you will be claimed. So if you do not wish to sully yourself—and this pack—I would rethink your actions before the announcement ceremony this weekend.”
“Announcement ceremony?” We hadn’t done one of those in decades. It was a
tradition modern packs had done away with.
He grinned. “Oh, yes. You see, if you insist on moving forward with this humiliating gesture, we’re going to do things the old fashioned way and have a full Courting. And if Slade McAlister steps out of line once—and I think we both know that he will—you forfeit your right to choose. I’ve already arranged a suitable back-up. Surprisingly, there were quite a few young wolves interested, despite your…” He frowned, lips twisting like he’d just sucked on something sour. “Lack of respect for yourself and our ways.”
“And who is it you’ll be disappointing when things work out with Slade?”
“Carter Pennington.”
I gasped. The Penningtons were the snobbiest, most stick-up-their-asses pack in the coalition. Carter’s father, Michael, had been up my father’s ass for as long as I could remember, always pushing the two of us together. He served as my father’s advisor on the council, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised he’d managed to weasel his son to the front of the line.
My father turned and left the room as quietly as he’d come in, and I fought back the chill his words left in their wake. I’d had doubts about Slade and me being able to pull this whole thing off. It’d be hard enough to deal with his issues while convincing everyone that our relationship was real. But add the status-hungry Penningtons to the mix? And an actual Courting?
This was going to complicate things.
Chapter Six
Slade
I tried to ignore it, but the knocking at the front door persisted. A large portion of the pack came and went at all hours of the night. Sometimes the idiots forgot their keys. I flung open the door, fully intending to knock the shit out of whoever had been pounding for the last five minutes. My wolf was irritated, not to mentioned unsatisfied by how I’d left things with Aden earlier. It wouldn’t take much to nudge it over the edge.