Trey
I STEP straight into the walk-in cooler. Maybe it will chill me the fuck out. Seriously, I am not going to make it through this night. Sheridan Green dressed like a playboy bunny hopping around Fight Club?
My wolf is growling.
He wanted me to claim her back in high school, and I never did. Every damn time we had sex he wanted to mark her. But we were just kids, and she had a bright, shiny future waiting for her. I wasn't about to saddle her with my sorry ass before she even graduated high school.
Probably the only reason I didn't go moon mad was because I was still growing. My hormones weren't those of a fully grown male yet. I didn't reach this height and size until long after she left for Stanford.
Long after she got us thrown out of the pack.
I have a full-on boner from our interaction back there, but my chest's tight, too.
Being this close to her, seeing how her wolf still responds to mine-it makes the loss of her so fresh. She was beautiful as a teenager and she's a fucking knockout now. Like a thirteen on a scale of ten.
I pop the top off a beer-yes, it is a Wolf Ridge pale ale-with my teeth and guzzle half of it down.
Jared walks in and stops when he sees me, then leans a broad shoulder against the walk-in door and chuckles. "You gonna survive this?"
"Fuck, no," I spit out.
He jerks a thumb toward the club. "Did you hire her?"
I chug the rest of the beer and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. "I was kidding! I didn't think she'd take me up on it. I also told her to get the fuck out and never come back, but she didn't take that part seriously, did she? Fuck."
Jared's expression grows serious. "What's she doing here?"
I meet his eye. "You know."
"Spy?"
I nod. Emmett Green has been sending spies since the day he threw us out on our asses. Hell, Garrett's second, Tank, was originally a spy send by Alpha Green. He didn't think we'd survive on our own. Big packs brainwash you to believe that-shifters have to stick together or they won't survive-that kind of bullshit.
The Wolf Ridge pack never imagined we'd land on our feet. But all the young pups left with us-they'd follow Garrett to hell and back. After the charges were reduced to misdemeanors, we moved to Tucson. Garrett got us work flipping houses. We put in sweat equity and started making money fast. Once Alpha Green saw we were a success, he ponied up investment capital. Now Garrett owns half the real estate downtown. Take that Wolf Ridge brew-fucks.
"She's got her eye on Fight Club?"
"Says she can shut me down."
"What a bi-" Jared swallows the rest of the word when he sees my expression.
Even after everything, I never let them talk shit about her. In fact, she became an untouchable subject around me.
She may have ruined our lives, but I know her actions were born of pain. I ruined her first. She was only fighting back the one way she could.
And while part of me is still pissed off that she didn't know me better-didn't keep believing that I'd never willingly hurt her-I know that's bullshit. I made damn sure she'd walk away from me and never look back.
So I guess we're probably even. Or at least I thought we were.
But her showing up here and throwing her weight around-squeezing her body into that depraved fucking outfit?
I have to question her motive. Is she looking for revenge? Or does she just want to rub my nose in what I missed? Because I sure as hell don't get the peace and reconciliation vibe from her. Unless this is foreplay to her and she's hoping we can wipe the slate clean with an epic fuck session.
Well, if so, I'm in. My wolf's been in since the moment she breezed into town.
I toss the empty beer bottle into a recycle bin and walk past Jared. He thumps me on the back. "Stay strong, man."
Yeah, right.
Resisting Sheridan's an impossibility. At this point, it's just a matter of how soon I get her pinned beneath me. And whether this time she'll escape my mark.
TWELVE YEARS AGO
Sheridan
I HAVEN'T SEEN Trey all week, which is beyond strange. He's never given me any reason to feel insecure about him. About us.
In fact, since that night on the beach when I made the first move and plunked down beside him at the fire, all his focus has been on me. That doesn't mean he doesn't hang with his buddies, Garrett and Jared, but that's usually if I'm too busy.
This week, though, he's been working on motorcycles and hanging out at Garrett's every day after school. He told me he wouldn't be able to give me a ride home today when I ate with him at lunch, and he's been distracted and quiet-not that he was ever Mr. Talkative.
It's Friday night and I text him after dinner. A bunch of kids are going up on the mesa to drink and hang out. It's the usual weekend scene and if he and I don't do something just the two of us, we often meet there.
Me: You heading to the mesa?
Trey: Nah, I have some shit to do.
My stomach knots because I sense the lie straight through the screen. He's never lied to me before. Never been anything but up front. Why would he? Does this have something to do with selling dope for Garrett? Maybe they're in trouble. I've never liked that Garrett, Jared and Trey are the pot dealers for Wolf Ridge and the nearby 'burbs like Cave Creek and Scottsdale. It's sort of that thing we've tacitly agreed not to speak of.
Yes, they are wolves, which means human dealers and potheads would have a hard time hurting them, but a bullet to the head would still kill a wolf. And they're not above the law, either.