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Chapter 6 - Skye

The floorboards creaked as I paced from the front door to the balcony in two seconds. I groaned with the wood, slamming my heels

against the worn rugs, folding my arms behind my back, and then shrugging out of the position as I stared at the fields. My job—the place where I was

supposed to be right now—was functioning fine without me today, according to Jada.

But I couldn’t shake the feeling of needing to be over there.

I flinched against the afternoon light. I had classes tonight and a pile of homework to turn in that needed to be read through and corrected. If I didn’t do well, then I wouldn’t pass, and if I didn’t pass, then I wouldn’t graduate. And then where would I be? On the field forever without properly being able to handle any of the farm animals?

“Gods, I don’t know why I chose to do this,” I grumbled as I

scratched my scalp. I paced back toward the door. “It’s not like I don’t know what I’m doing.”

After my parents had passed away, I threw myself headlong into taking care of everything around me. Emmett too. He needed tending and I needed tending—so we did that for each other. I had hope that we would

always do that for each other, even after I’d moved out and slid my

stubborn behind into one of these studio flats Blake had installed in the middle of the neighborhood.

Easier living, he had said. Sharing space wasn’t always desired for pack members, so he had a house converted into four independent

apartments. Laurencia was across the hallway, which couldn’t have been more obvious with the herbal scents floating through the air. Below my feet was the quiet schoolteacher who kept to herself, Francine. She was a bit of a nut for country music, but she rarely spoke a word, and she never

complained about my stomping feet.

I had to wonder why. Was she nonconfrontational? Did she see her country music as revenge? Eh, it was hard to say.

None of that was particularly important this afternoon as my brain was swimming with the anatomy of pigs while I thought back to two days ago when Troy had impressed my helicopter older brother. Of course the two of them got along. They were the same age and they both seemed to love picking on me. Men did that with each other. They thought it was cute or something. I noticed it in the older guys at the dive bar who chose to

criticize me as a form of flirting.

My thighs twitched when I thought about the stables. Going there

wasn’t an option either. I hadn’t been able to walk in there without my body having an uncontrollable reaction to the lingering scent of tobacco. That

was Troy’s scent—and that was what had overpowered me when he kissed me. While I wanted more, I knew better than to give in to that sort of thing.

Alphas are supposed to be enticing, I thought. That’s how they get a mate. That’s how they reproduce. That’s how they keep their packs going.

I wasn’t stupid. Blake matched me with Troy to make sure the Bravecrests continued to expand. It was probably something they had

discussed behind the scenes. Emmett being Emmett, I was sure he’d been part of the picking process too. All that talk about Blake “hearing” a name from someone’s heart had to be horse cocky.

Nobody could do magic like that. Not even Laurencia. Although that definitely didn’t stop her from trying.

“It’s just to progress the packs. That’s all,” I kept saying. “I’m just a means to an end.”

I sighed my way into the kitchen area to prepare tea. Everything felt simple here. That was the nice thing about living in a studio. My rent was my job, the place was kept up pretty well, and I knew both people in the building. The fourth apartment had been empty for the past month. That

was fine too.

As soon as I had the kettle on the stove, I wandered back to the balcony window. Light flooded the field and illuminated the tiny figures

shifting about. A couple of cranes flew overhead. Tigers darted around the edge of the forest. Wolves ran about in pairs—I had to assume some of them were mates.

Our pack land was great for exploration. We could shift and run about at will. Before Blake was alpha, it was far more restricted—and I guess that was for a good reason with our pack at risk. Now that the

Gilberts were dispersed as a threat, we were able to roam more freely. It was nice.

Two knocks at the door doubled my agitation. That was probably Laurencia again. She had been bugging me for the past week about my new mate and various potions that could help us get to mating a lot quicker. And by mating, she meant fucking.

Which I didn’t need help with. From anyone.

Another couple of knocks inspired me to move. I groaned my way to the front door for the millionth time and swung it open. “What do you need? What?”

Troy’s amused expression should have distracted me because it was a handsome smile, but it only made me want to tear his eyes out.

I sighed. “Oh, it’s you.”

“The exciting saga continues, my dear.”

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling as if any of the gods would spare me. “I thought you were busy today.”

“What gave you that impression?” “You haven’t texted me.”

Forget how annoyed I sounded about it. If anybody was going to call me their mate, then they should at least act like it. Troy had been

generous with his affection, that much was true, but he hadn’t exactly been acting the part. He kept hesitating. He kept giving me this pondering look that told me he was expecting something else to happen.