“Comfort food?” He stole one chip from her plate and closed his eyes. There were some
benefits to being human. Taste was one of them. This was decadent. But if he wanted
his future, he couldn’t get fat.
“Yep.” She took a sip of her drink, and he watched as her mouth came around the straw.
“Why not? They usually fawn over their legacies.” And after his father’s phone call,
it was everything he could do not to curse himself for not coming to Earth as a female
werewolf with a Lambda legacy.
He could hardly believe the number.
Thirty million dollars
….
“It’s complicated.” She looked away, and his heart clenched.
Oh, what the hell. Just die already, Kieran
.
Why was his human host taking so long to fade away? He had no doubt about his own
strength and ability. So what the hell was the deal with this human?
Just die
.
A pause, then the word
“No”
resonated through his mind. He jumped in his seat. Unacceptable. His human shouldn’t
respond. Ever. Somehow he’d deal with it later, one way or another, but right then,
he needed to focus on the hottie across the table.
“So uncomplicate it. If you don’t like the house, don’t pledge there.” Except if she
didn’t, the little plan he’d concocted would be for naught.
“My mother is the legacy. I thought, I mean, I knew her history might be a problem,
but I didn’t realize the huge amount of hate I would receive.”
He leaned forward. How far should he tip his hand? Seeing the waiter, he got the man’s
attention. “Vodka tonic.”
The man asked for his identification, and he showed it. Being twenty-two had its perks
in a college town where they carded everywhere. He didn’t drink, but it was useful
for other people to think he did. He stared at Alexandra’s drink. “What are you having?”
She ran a hand through her blonde hair. “A Shirley Temple.”
“Oooh. Hot.”
She laughed, covering up her mouth to stop some of the sound. Why did she hide her
amusement? They were in a public place. Why not laugh as loud as she could? Was it
he who didn’t understand her, or did no man understand a woman ever?
The waiter returned with his drink, and he passed it over to her. “Here, it’s for
you.”
“I’m not twenty-one.”
He leaned forward. “Do you always do everything you’re told, Alexandra? It’s one drink.
Most of your classmates have been drunk every weekend since they got here. You have
the look of a woman who needs to relax. Have at it.”
She shook her head. “I need my head clear.”
Damn it
.
“Okay.” He smiled even though he didn’t know why he did so. He should be fuming. What
the fuck was up with these human emotions? “What went wrong? What went right?”
She shook her head. “Look, you’ll never understand it. I wish I could tell you. I
could really use a friend. I’ve even contemplated getting in touch with this help
line just to get some good advice. Frankly, I’m at a loss.”
He needed to get this woman talking—“so I can help”—no, so he could make thirty million
dollars and finally have his father tucked away in his back pocket. She was his key
to getting what he desired. One way or another. He would take down the family of Lambda’s
bitch president, do his father that favor, and then Kieran’s future endeavors would
be funded. No more figuring out how to pay for his world domination. One way or another,
he’d always have what he needed. He had a game plan. Alexandra would get him what
he wanted.
Kieran leaned forward. “I know you’re a werewolf.” Her eyes widened, and she gasped.
A delayed reaction.
Interesting
. “Don’t be afraid. I’ve always known about all of you. And no one has ever been outed
or hurt based on my knowledge. So, let’s cut through the bullshit. You need Lambda
so you can be a member of a pack.”
She picked up his drink, then, and took a large sip. Disgust in himself flooded his
blood stream, and goose bumps popped up on his skin. He ignored the sensation and
focused on the goal. The first step in world domination went through Alexandra O’Henry,
and he might even be able to make her life better before he left her alone.
“How do you know?” Her hand shook. “I thought humans never knew. My mother said humans
don’t know.”
He raised his hand and smiled. “I told you. You’re in no danger. I’m a…man…who knows
things. I promise. I don’t care if you go all furry under the full moon. I think it’s
fascinating, actually. The hows and whys of the transformation might be interesting
to hear about some time. But I think you need to get past your shock so we can talk
about what happened and figure out what you’ll do next.”
She stared at him, red rimming the outside of her eyes. “I want to shift. I’m wishing
it was a full moon so I could tear you to shreds.”
“Sorry, princess, three full weeks until then, and by the time the pretty ball of
cheese rises, you won’t wish to claw out my eyes anymore. You’ll want to drop to your
knees and thank the stars you ran into me.”
Alexandra snarled, and it was a sight to behold. He wished he had a camera to capture
her feral beauty. The way her blue eyes dilated, the way the red in her cheeks made
her look alive; no longer defeated, but all woman and a creature of danger wrapped
up in a pretty little package.
“You need the sorority, the feeling of pack. I’d like you to get what you want. And
I think you can help me get what I need. We can be…partners.” He hadn’t quite thought
of his plan in those terms, but, hell, the idea had merit.
“What do you mean? What can my getting into Lambda possibly do for you?”
“Smart question.” He liked the way her mind worked. “I need Mellee Martin. Well, I
want information about Mellee Martin, something to make her father, Senator Campbell
Martin, shake in his boots and give up his presidential bid.”
“Why do you care if he runs for president?”
“I’ll tell you what.” He sat back. Her scent, all vanilla and roses, made him dizzy.
He needed to stay focused. “You can keep some of your secrets, and I’ll keep some
of mine. I don’t need to know what your mom did. Okay? Just tell me what happened
today, and we’ll see what we can do. Or better yet, what I can do since you’re obviously
doing all you can already. Start talking. Then when the time comes, you’ll give me
info on Mellee. Straight out trade.”
“Well.” He could see from the way she bit her lip she wasn’t comfortable with his
proposal. Still, she kept talking, which had to be a good sign. “Since you mention
it, she’s really the one who was the problem. She told me she would make my life hell,
and I should go away. The other girls, well, they were okay. Friendly even. But Mellee’s
venom. I’ve never heard anything akin to it.”
He drummed his fingers on the table. “Did she actually say ‘hell’? Did she use
that
word?”
“She spelled it. You know. H-E-Double sticks. The whole nine yards.”
Mellee’s outburst was too precious for words. “I know a little bit about hell. You
can take my word on this. Nothing she could ever do to you would be anything close
to hell. She’s a spoiled, pampered, pack princess, and by the time we’re done with
her, she’ll rue the day she ever bothered you.”
“Kieran….” she sighed.
“Look, I get this is hard for you, but if you let her, Mellee Martin will ruin this
for you. Or you can take charge of the situation, and we both get what we need.”
Nothing frustrated Kieran more than indecision. He could read her difficulty. It was
written all over face—in the way she couldn’t quite meet his eye, in the way she kept
scratching at her head. They were all nervous tics he guessed she didn’t even know
she possessed.
But he didn’t have time for nonsense. Part of him—
the particular part that is seriously starting to piss me off
—longed to give the poor girl a hug, show her some alternatives to the bitchy Lambda
house, and maybe take her on a date or twelve. But doing so wasn’t on the agenda,
and Kieran knew how to get what he needed.
“This is a one-time offer, sweetheart. You tell me yes, or I leave, and I never come
back. You tell me no, and I never offer again. You tell anyone I offered this to you,
then I deny it, and I ruin your reputation here. Forget Lambda; no one will ever even
acknowledge you on campus. I’m really popular. You know it. I know it.” He paused
and put his hand, which had fisted for no apparent reason, into his pocket. “What’s
it going to be? I get you a pack. You get me Mellee.”
She stared up at him, and her throat clenched when she visibly swallowed. “Okay.”
“Okay as in you understand what I’m telling you, or okay as in you take the deal?”
Alexandra took another long pull of his drink from the straw. “Okay, I want the deal.”
“Smart girl.”
“But I have a stipulation.”
He groaned. “No can do, baby cakes. This is a take it or leave it situation. We do
it my way, or it all ends here.”
“I’m afraid I have to insist on this, or I can’t do it. I just can’t.” She shrugged.
“Take it or leave it.”
“So, the wolf has a backbone. Nice to see.” Why did he feel proud of her? This was
getting ridiculous. “What are your terms?”
Alexandra pointed her finger right at him. “You don’t use one more stupid nickname
for me. Not one. No sweetheart. No honey. No princess. Certainly no baby cakes. Not
one. You use one more of those terms or anything similar, and I’ll back out of this
and find a way to screw you. Get it?”
Well, then
.
***
Her roommate snored in the next bed while Alex watched the slow tick of the clock.
Why couldn’t she sleep? She groaned and tossed in her bed for the hundredth time.
It felt as if she had sold her soul to the devil.
Why did I say yes to his ridiculous idea?
Because it was better than her own idea, the one where she stayed in her room for
the next four years and spent the rest of her life living in her mother’s basement.
She rolled over and pulled out the card she’d been carrying around for over a year.
It seemed silly to still be hauling it around everywhere she went, but ever since
her father had slipped it in her jacket—an incredible moment of parental caring in
an otherwise horrible track record from the man—she’d come to think of it as her good
luck charm. Someone to call if she should find herself completely alone.
After rising, she walked out into the hall, careful to not wake her roommate. The
industrial carpeting irritated the bottom of her feet, and she leaned against the
wall. At three a.m. on a Tuesday night, most people would be sleeping. But not Alex,
not since she’d agreed to help Kieran take down Mellee Martin’s family.
She stared down at the card. The ROAR Hotline. She pulled her cell phone out of her
pocket and texted the number on the other side. Someone had to tell her what to do,
and if this desperate step made her even more pathetic, she had to live with it.
Hello
. It seemed a dumb text, but she sent it without thinking too much about what she
said. When texting perfect strangers in the middle of the night to ask for assistance,
a greeting seemed in order.
Hello, Alexandra
. The reply came fast, and she gasped. How the hell did whoever answered her know
who she was?
No. No. No. She stood up and went back into her room, turning off her phone. Maybe
they had some kind of caller ID. But her cell phone was registered to her mother.
There was a logical explanation. She crawled back under the covers and forced her
eyes closed. Hell would bang down her door the next day. Another Rush event. More
smiling and God knew what skirmishes she’d have to face with Mellee.
She certainly couldn’t do it exhausted. Somehow she had to sleep. She dug deeper under
her covers. How had whoever had been on the opposite end of the phone known her name?
***
The rest of Rush Week went by in a blur. Soon, she found herself wearing a white dress
and standing in a circle while she held a lit candle. The sisters sang and offered
each one of the potential pledges a hug before handing them their bid to pledge Lambda.
Despite her best attempt to stay stoic, tears swam in her eyes.
She’d craved this for so long it almost didn’t bother her when Mellee skipped hugging
her. Almost. She stared at the back of Mellee’s head and suddenly didn’t feel so bad
about the deal she had struck with the ever stranger Kieran.
With weeks, maybe months left ahead of her of pledging, she couldn’t let her guard
down. Before the end of the evening, she was surrounded by her fellow pledges in sleeping
bags on the basement floor of her new sorority house. Everyone giggled and laughed
as they sipped champagne. None of them seemed to hate her or resent her presence there,
at least not yet.
They were supposed to get to know one another, so they could go through the next few
months as pledge sisters, and then, maybe someday, be part of the same packs. A cohesive
pledge class got through the process a lot faster. The more divisive the class became,
the longer the sisters would drag out the day to initiation. Or so they said. With
everyone’s schedules, Alexandra suspected they had the end written in bright red letters
on a PDF document somewhere.
One of the other new pledges, Livie, a girl with brown hair and glasses, said something,
and Alex laughed. They were taking turns around the circle talking about themselves.
Alex would be up next.
Truthfully, she had no idea what she would to say. Not in the slightest. They’d all
had interesting lives, funny times with a pack. She supposed she had a couple of amusing
anecdotes about the time her mother and she had snuck into a movie theater to see
the cartoon movie
Up
and had gotten caught. Her mother had sweet talked the police.
But that was about it.