Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Humans.
Basic. Fragile. Nothing.
I should be all over Casey Muchmore, the alpha she-wolf of the senior class. My wolf should want to breed her to preserve the best genes. Instead, he’s after a girl I can’t have.
And with my defect, I need the most optimal female in the pack as my mate.
As the car pulls away, Pearls rolls down the window, and her dark auburn hair blows back. I can’t see her face, but I would swear she’s looking my way.
Maybe thinking about my threat.
Wondering how I will deliver the pain. And the pleasure.
I know exactly the way I want her–on her knees. Face turned up, mouth open for my cock.
I want her sorry for ever coming here.
Sorry for not dropping to her knees for me sooner.
I want her…fuck it, yeah. I want her on her back, thighs open, head back, screaming my name. I want her needy and wet and squirming beneath me for more. I want to be the guy–the only guy–who gives her pleasure. Make sure she knows who masters her body and who she needs to suck up to if she wants more.
Wilde finally turns and gives me a shove. “Move it, Oakley.”
I give my head a shake to fling away the images of Lauren that crowd my mind. What am I even thinking?
She’s a human, and I’m the alpha of this school. I shouldn’t even give the ice princess the time of day.
Not even to prove I’m her king.
Lauren
“Hi, Dad.”
When we get home from school, I find my dad as I always do–in his office, staring out the window at nothing.
I go in and kiss him on the cheek. “How was your day?”
When he turns, there’s so much misery in his expression that if I weren’t so numb, it would slay me. My dad has aged twenty years in appearance since my mom first started chemo two years ago.
He drips grief and depression.
Barely functions. Cries at the drop of a hat.
“Did you eat the lunch I left you?”
“Yeah. Thanks, honey.”
I can tell he’s lying. He usually eats two bites and throws the rest out. It’s hard to get him through the basics of life–eating, showering, working.
We’re lucky he was financially successful before our mom’s illness, or we’d be fucked right now. I don’t think he does anything all day.
Friday is the anniversary of my mom's death. It's hard to believe it's been an entire year since she took her last breath.
It's hard to believe how much pain still surrounds our family. Moving to Arizona to feel closer to her certainly didn't fix anything. All it did was isolate us from our friends. Make us even more lonely.
But I get that my dad needed a change. He believes he'll find my mom's energy here. She was the one who loved Wolf Ridge. She was always drawn to the Arizona outdoors for some reason completely unfathomable to the rest of the family.
“I bought a gun.”
My heart stops. “What?”
We suspect my dad attempted suicide after our mom’s death. There was an “accident” with sleeping pills and Scotch that resulted in him getting his stomach pumped. When he got out of the hospital, we made the plan to move here.
My dad waves toward the corner where I see a shotgun propped on end. “For that rabid wolf that tried to attack you. Fish and Game haven’t put it down. I’m going to shoot the damn thing, myself.”
“Dad, Fish and Game can handle it.” I don’t like the idea of my dad having a gun.
At all.
My phone rings.
“Go on,” my dad says. “That will be Luke.”
Luke.
The boyfriend I need to break up with. Today. Today is the day.
It has nothing to do with Abe making me feel something in chemistry class. This should have happened before I even moved here.
He calls every day at this time–I don’t even know why. It’s not like he misses me. I can tell from his Insta and all the one-sided conversations that his social life is full and rich. I think he’s just staying with me because it boosts his reputation. I was the queen at Landhower. Maybe he thinks I’m coming back. I don’t know.
Even though we talk every other day, I can't remember if I ever really cared about him. It seems like we were just together because we were supposed to be. Because I was popular, and so was he. We’re both good-looking. We run in the same circles. Good enough, right?
When my mom got sick, I lost interest in everything, including him, but he didn’t seem to mind.
I swipe my thumb across the screen to answer as I turn to walk out of my dad's office. “Hey, Luke.” I head into my bedroom and flop down on my bed.
Our conversations have gotten shorter and shorter. I literally have nothing to say to this guy. I can’t even call up the image of his face in my mind.