Page 3 of Alpha Brock
I heave an annoyed sigh, slumping onto the sofa again. “Just say it,” I mutter, my gaze sliding between my brother and my beta.
“I mean, it’s not Jax’s fault that he found his mate,” Brent says cautiously.
“No shit,” I bark. “Doesn’t mean I can’t be fucking bitter about it.”
Jared sighs, leaning forward so that his elbows are resting on his knees. “You could fall in love again, you know. I know after Anna, you won’t go the chosen mate route, but you’ve gotta have faith that your fated mate is out there somewhere waiting for you.”
“To have faith, you have to believe,” I grumble, shaking my head. I take a long pull from my beer bottle, swallowing it down before flopping my head over the back of the sofa and staring at the ceiling. “I don’t believe in any of that anymore.”
CHAPTER TWO
Astrid
I squint against the sunlight spilling in through the floor-to-ceiling windows in the hallway as I step out of my bedroom, stretching my limbs. It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day in Denver, but I can’t fully appreciate it until I get my morning coffee. And speaking of, I can already smell it brewing. I breathe in deeply as I pad barefoot down the long hallway, following my nose to the packhouse kitchen.
“Good morning!” I chirp as step through the doorway, finding my brother Cole and his beta Sam, perched in their usual seats at the table closest to the coffee pot. I reach up to sweep my unruly curls into a messy bun as I approach them, securing my hair atop my head with an elastic.
Upon my entry, Sam shoots up from his chair, tossing a smile my way as he heads for the coffee pot on the counter and starts pouring me a cup. By the time I reach the table he’s back, holding the mug out in my direction.
“Thank you,” I breathe, taking the coffee from his hands greedily and bringing it to my lips. The hot liquid warms my insides as I swallow it down, my eyes sliding closed. “Mmm…”
Sam chuckles, slipping an arm around my shoulders and dropping a kiss atop my head. “Morning, lovely,” he murmurs, his voice still gravelly from sleep. He steps back over to his chair, sinking down onto it as I take my usual seat at the end of the table between Cole and Sam, sipping on my coffee.
Despite all the craziness that happened last night, it’s nice to wake up to the same ol’ morning routine I’m used to- sitting with Cole and Sam and sipping coffee in my pajamas in the packhouse kitchen. Given the impending attack from the shadow pack, we’re dealing with some pretty heavy shit right now. Our defenses need to be shored up and big decisions need to be made. We’ve always had a motto in this house, though: the worries of the day can wait until after we’ve had our morning coffee.
“How’d you sleep?” Sam asks, picking up his own cup. As he looks over the top of it at me, a wisp of steam curls in front of his face.
I sigh, leaning back in my chair and pulling a leg up underneath me. “About as well as you two did, I’m guessing.” I dart my eyes between the two of them, not missing how heavy their eyes look this morning. During our pack’s full moon run last night, we were alerted to multiple border breaches- scouts from the shadow pack infiltrating our territory. Needless to say, we were all a little too amped up to get much sleep after that.
“Maybe you should’ve taken me up on that offer to cuddle,” Sam teases, waggling his brows and flashing me a devilish grin.
“Maybe,” I snort, and my brother rolls his eyes beside me.
The dynamic between Sam and I would probably seem a bit strange to an outsider, like we’re a little too close. Too familiar. And in a lot of ways, that’s probably true. Cole, Sam, and I grew up together in the packhouse, and the three of us were basically raised like siblings. My brother Cole is five years older than me, Sam two years younger than him. My father was the alpha of our pack, and Sam’s was the beta, hence the cohabitation. As children, the three of us played together, got into mischief, and fought with one another. I always looked at Sam like another brother…until I didn’t.
When we were teenagers, I suddenly started to see Sam differently. He was my first crush, with his bright blue eyes, golden hair, and sharp jawline; broad-shouldered and boyishly handsome, a dead ringer for Sebastian Valmont from the movie Cruel Intentions. It turned out I wasn’t the only one whose feelings had shifted, and we endured an entire year of ‘will they, won’t they’before actually admitting our feelings for one another and dating.
A year in, I turned eighteen and the full moon confirmed that Sam and I weren’t fated mates. Up until that point, we’d convinced ourselves that we were, so the realization was a huge blow- we didn’t know how to get past it, so we broke up. A couple of years later, though, we drifted back together again and dated for another year. It was easy to do, because things with Sam have always been comfortable, familiar. That second round lasted until I was twenty-one, when we mutually split, deciding we were better off as friends.
I’d like to say it was completely over between us after that, but in the three years since, we’ve slipped up and slept together a few times. What can I say? Old habits die hard, and it’s almost too easy to fall back into something that’s so familiar- especially when you live under the same roof. Despite our slip-ups, the two of us have an understanding and we don’t expect anything more from one another. So yeah, to an outsider, this thing between Sam and I might seem weird- but for us, it works.
“Have you heard back from Alpha Gray?” I ask, sliding my cup onto the table as I turn to my brother.
“Mm,” he nods, swallowing down a gulp of coffee. He turns his dark eyes to me. “He called shortly after you went to bed last night. They’ve agreed to send their warriors here to fight.”
A sigh of relief slips past my lips as my head falls back. “Oh thank god.”
“Do we know how many?” Sam asks, sitting up straighter and leaning his elbows onto the tabletop.
“Over a hundred,” Cole supplies. “And they’re going to take in our pack members that can’t fight so we can get them out of the territory and out of harm’s way.”
I quirk a brow. “Really? That’s so…generous.”
Sam brings a hand to his chin, squinting. “Too generous?”
Cole cracks the hint of a smile. “You two are far too suspicious for your own good.” His gaze slides between Sam and me. “Hasn’t it ever occurred to you that they needourhelp, too? We know how large the shadow pack has grown… let’s face it, neither of us stand a chance unless we join forces.”
I grab for my coffee mug again, wrapping my hands around it and shrugging my shoulders. “I guess that’s true. And I’ve never picked up any weird vibes from them… then again, I’ve only met Theo and Brooke, and what was going on between them at the time overshadowed anything else.”