Kiss Of The Alpha : A YA Paranormal Romance

Chapter 61: Chapter 61

Heather

Jason cleared his throat when we got to my door. "I’ll be here."

I stepped inside alone, and slammed the door in his face. The threat under his words totally wasn’t appreciated. I kicked off my flip-flops and collapsed on my bed.

As messed up as it was, being in trouble made me feel better about what I’d done to Callista. Because in the real world, anyone who rips out someone’s throat should seriously be put in jail. Or a mental hospital. Or something.

Serena tapped on the bathroom door connecting our rooms before peeking in. "People are in a frenzy, and some wolf is guarding your door. What the hell is going on?"

"You’re asking me?" She knew I didn’t understand anything at this place.

She walked over to my desk and clicked a track. A crowd screaming over a live recording of an Eric Morillo mix boomed over the speakers. Serena settled down next to me. "Tell me exactly what happened," she said softly.

"Callista’s dad is here. He called for some sort of a tribunal?"

Serena jumped up so fast I almost fell off the bed. "No freaking way!" she whisper shouted.

"He’s of the opinion that Mr. Langdon has lost control of the entire school, especially of me and Brent."

All of the color drained from Serena’s face and she sat down hard on the bed. "That’s not good. What you did was no big deal. I mean people get into fights all the time here. Even the Seven

that—it’s normal for new weres." She was quiet for a second and then got up to pace. "It’s gotta be more than just that. Mr. Langdon and Mr. Hoel have been fighting for years. They hate each other."

"Why?"

"Brent didn’t tell you about his parents?"

"He said they died."

Serena nodded. "Mr. Hoel has always been kind of against hiding ourselves from humans."

I snorted. "Kind of obvious from his lecture."

"I know, right? The guy is a total dick."

I grinned. "Totally."

"Back in the day—Mr. Hoel, Mr. Langdon, and Mr. Laurent, Brent’s dad, were total BFFs. But one day Mr. Hoel got into it with a bunch of humans. He managed to get drunk—which is way hard with our metabolism—at some biker bar and called Mr. Laurent to go pick him up. By the time Mr. Laurent got there, the fight was in full swing. The only saving grace was that Mr. Hoel didn’t shift. Mr. Laurent had brought his wife. They tried to pull him out of the fight, but then one of the humans grabbed the shotgun that the bar owner stored just behind the bar. Close-range headshot will kill anything. Mr. Hoel ran. Brent was an orphan. Mr. Langdon never forgave Mr. Hoel for being a moron. They fought over Brent’s custody a bit, and animosity just skyrocketed from there." She scrunched her nose. "Mr. Hoel has been trying to undermine Mr. Langdon’s place in the pack for a while now. He’s such an asshole."

I stifled a groan. "And I played right into his hand."

"Not your fault." She paused. "I can’t believe he’s actually going for it. I mean he’s been trying to get a foothold with the Seven for years. But this..."

I was starting to feel nauseated. "It might not be all that complicated. I did kind of attack his daughter."

She shook her head. "No. This is way fucked up. Especially after the whole vampire thing. He might be using you as an excuse, but this isn’t about you. This is bigger." She headed for the door.

"Wait. Where are you going?"

"Recon. We need more info."

"Good thinking. Keep me in the loop?"

"What am I? New?" She winked. "I’ll be back in a few."

As I sat alone in my room, panic built inside of me, making the wolf rise closer to the surface. I closed my eyes and tried to do the breathing Brent had showed me. I listened to the sound of the air flowing as it entered and left my body. My mind began to wander. I thought about the first time I’d seen Brent. The intense pull that I felt between us. The day I first saw him. His sexy smile. The day I first heard his voice. I had way too many feelings about him. Mad. Attracted. Angry. Obsessed.

I pictured him pacing in Mr. Langdon’s tiny cabin. Back and forth. Back and forth. His scent—woods, grass, dirt, and something spicy, something just Brent—filled me.

The vision of him grew sharper as my mind focused. His muscles rippled under his shirt as he paced. Heat warmed my body at the sight. Trent and Mr. Langdon were talking at the dining table. Brent reached the end of the room and paced back toward me.

It took me a second to register the tingle that started in the bottom of my stomach and rippled through my body.

"Heather?" he said.

I opened my eyes and jumped off the bed.

What the hell was that?

We’d linked. I’d done it again.

I decided that I had to try and lay back down. Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto started playing. It took a second for it to click that it was coming from my cellphone.

I grabbed it from the desk, but didn’t recognize the number. "Hello?"

"Was that you? Were you here?" Brent said.

"I think so. Hey, how did you get my number?"

"From Presley. Heather. Stay on topic. I could smell you. How did you do it?"

This was embarrassing. "I uuhh...I was thinking of you."

"You were?" I could almost hear his grin.

"Don’t get a big head about it."

"I’m going to hang up now, and you’re going to do it again. Okay? This time try talking to me."

"Can’t we just—" My phone beeped. "—talk on the phone?" I rolled my eyes. Seemed we were doing fine talking before he hung up.

I closed my eyes, and thought about Brent. The way he looked after he chased me through my backyard. The tingles came, threatening to overtake me. This was way too intense.

I reached for my cell phone and dialed. He picked up on the first ring. "I need time to—"

"Just do it, Heather." The phone beeped in my ear.

Did he just hang up on me? Again. What a jerk! Why couldn’t we just talk on the phone like normal people?

My stomach rumbled. It’d been forever since breakfast. I caught the scent of bread. In the corner of the room, tucked beside my desk, was a silver mini-fridge. It was fully stocked with all the essentials.

I’d totally forgotten Serena was going to set me up with it. A smile spread across my face. I actually had a real friend, and now I totally owed her one. Going downstairs to get food would’ve been a pain if the girls were still in the common room. And then there was Jason...

I grabbed a carton of whole milk, and made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And then made three more. I wasn’t quite sure where all the food was going. Rationally speaking, I was pretty sure I physically couldn’t fit three sandwiches and a half-gallon of whole milk in my stomach. But I ate until the cavernous pit was full, and then settled back down on my bed.

I breathed in and out slowly as I thought of Brent and the way he smelled. The way he made me feel.

Then it happened again. My stomach dropped like I was falling two hundred feet. My body turned into one giant tingling mess and I couldn’t get enough air. The next thing I knew I was in Mr. Langdon’s cabin.