He groaned and fell into the lounger next to me. “Coach is trying to kill us in preparation for the new season. Apparently, you have to hit rock bottom before you can rise as superstars. And you should know that I never give up. I’ll find the perfect nickname, sunshine, even if you’ll also always be a pretty girl. From the moment I saw your white wolf, that was a given.”
This alpha was a smooth operator, and his charm wasabsolutely working on me. As my cheeks pinkened, I quickly said, “You’re the sunshine one, golden boy. That’s not going to work on me.”
He wrinkled his nose and then shrugged. “You’re probably right. I’ll cross it off the list.” He lifted his hand and made an imaginary strikethrough on an imaginary piece of paper.
It was far too easy hanging out with Kellan, and I found myself asking questions, despite my desire to remain detached. “What position do you play in hockey? I mean, I know absolutely nothing about the sport except that you use a stick to hit a black disc looking thing, but I assume you have positions.”
He chuckled, snatching up some of the fruit I hadn’t eaten yet. “I play center. I like to hit theblack discand score as many goals as possible. I’m actually the leading scorer of the league.” He popped a piece of apple in his mouth, and never lost his confident grin even as he chewed.
“If you’re waiting for my shock to show, it’ll be a while,” I told him dryly. Kellan hadhead jockwritten all over him. “Outside of your scoring prowess, is your team any good?”
His handsome features brightened, and I was really regretting all the wine. I needed my wits about me to fight the overwhelming attraction I felt toward Kellan. Even worse, how much I genuinely enjoyed his company. “The Celtic Wolves are the best. We’ve won the Shifter Cup for the last three years straight.”
Shit, they were good. “Hopefully I’ll get to see you play.”
No, Emme! What in the fricking frack is wrong with you?The more I tangled us together, the harder it would be to leave with all parts of me intact.
Kellan looked so happy, though, that my regret over that slip of tongue faded. “I can’t wait to see you in the stands, wearing my jersey. Finley will lose his shit, and I tell you, riling that bear is one of my favorite pastimes.”
Finley was a bear. The final alpha I hadn’t had a chance to meet yet. I briefly debated asking what Slade’s beast was, before deciding it was better not to know.
“Speaking of,” Kellan continued, “why didn’t you answer the group chat?”
I tilted my head, wondering if I’d misheard him. “The what?”
His smile grew wider, flashing a lot of white teeth until he looked like the Big Bad Wolf come to eat me. “Where’s your phone?”
Oh shit.After Hunter told me about the phone this morning, it had completely fled my mind. “I never went anywhere,” I said quickly, half-panicked. “He said to contact him only if I was going somewhere.”
Kellan shook his head like I was a weirdo. “You might want to grab it and chime in so that Daddy Alpha doesn’t lose his shit. He’s a little overprotective. Of all of us, but you… yeah, fair warning. He’s going to be all over you in a way that will have you questioning your morals.”
“Because I’ll want to murder him?” I suggested sweetly.
An odd expression tugged at his features. “Well, that’s one way to look at it.”
“Are you suggesting I might be into his domineering, stalking ways?”
Kellan shrugged, and I was starting to think he’d lost his mind. Sure, I’d never really had the opportunity to explore my sexual preferences or kinks, but after what happened to Mom, there was no way I’d be into any sort of control or dominance.
After being alone most of my life, I had no desire to be controlled, in or out of the bedroom. Not even by powerful, sexy alphas.
No,especially notby powerful sexy alphas.
Chapter
Seventeen
Istared at the sleek, black phone which looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie set a hundred years in the future. There weren’t even any buttons, and I had no idea how to work it. After a few minutes of pressing the screen, it turned on, and I found it was already fully charged with five apps on the main screen.
One of which was for messages, with a tinythirteennext to the curved symbol.
Thirteen messages already?
I opened it and immediately found the group chat titled:
*Alpha Quads Unite to Woo our Omega*
That title had Kellan written all over it, which was further confirmed by the first message in the thread.
