She rolls her eyes, still smiling, and then pushes off the couch. “Come on, Mr. Irresistible,” she teases. “Want some ice cream? I’ve got this mint chocolate chip that’s going to blow your mind.”
“Mint chocolate chip?” I raise an eyebrow, feigning skepticism. “You might’ve just earned yourself some serious points, Lakelyn.”
“Yeah, yeah. You can thank me later,” she says with a wave of her hand, heading to the kitchen.
I watch her go, the lightness of the moment settling into a comfortable rhythm. And for once, I’m not thinking about everything that went down earlier. I’m just... here. With her. And that feels kind of perfect.
CHAPTER 25
Dean
Landon throwshis head back with another laugh at something Dee says, and I hide behind my beer bottle, trying to force a smile. Normally, she’s hilarious, and her antics would pull me in, but after everything that happened with Chad in my car, it’s all I can think about. The way his body responded to mine, the hesitation in his eyes—he brushed me off because of fear, not because he didn’t want me. I can feel it all the way down into my gut.
Dee’s voice cuts through my thoughts, her Southern drawl sharp and playful. “Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, Landon! You just winked so hard at that girl, I thought your face was gonna stick that way!”
Landon grins, his shoulders shaking with another laugh. He leans in closer, teasing her back. “If you’re lucky, maybe it will. Then you’ll be stuck with me.”
She swats at him, half-amused, half-flustered. “Please, you’re more trouble than a screen door on a submarine, and that’s sayin’ something!”
I can't help the small grin that cracks at her absurdity, but my mind drifts back. To Chad. To Lakelyn. To the weight of everything unsaid between us.
We belong together. I can feel it in my gut. The three of us—Lakelyn, him, and me. And if that’s the case, I need to find a way to bring it up to Landon. I need to ask him to court his sister, because that’s what I’ll be doing.
My heart rate picks up at just the idea of the two of them as my pack. Me. The alpha that never wanted a pack, that was convinced his scent match rejected him because he didn’t want me. I take another swig of the beer to avoid entering the conversation. The memories of the past look different tonight, and I let them drag me back.
His lips crash against mine, and I lose it—completely. His taste floods my mouth, his scent wrapping around me, sinking into my skin, branding itself on my soul. I can’t breathe, can’t think—just him. The months of holding back, biting my tongue, stopping myself from crossing that line, they dissolve in an instant. Gone. It’s like something inside me snaps, unleashing a force I don’t know how to control. A growl rips from my chest, so raw it startles even me, but I’m too far gone to care.
I slam him against the fence, harder than I mean to, but I need to feel him, need him pinned beneath me, boxed in. He’s mine. He’s been mine all along, and I’m done waiting for him to figure that out. His whimper cuts through the haze, high and soft, and it sends a shock of pure electricity through me. My body presses harder, grinding against him, trying to ease the pressure that’s been building for months. My skin burns, desperate for friction, for release.
His fingers go to my shorts, freeing my heated skin to the cool evening air. Then his fingers wrap around me, and I see stars. My knot starts to swell, and the need to claim him in every single way possible grows with it.
Everything about him—his scent, his heat, the way he trembles beneath me—it drives me out of my mind. My teeth ache, an unfamiliar hunger clawing at me. I don’t know what I’m doing, don’t understand what’s happening, but all I can think about is marking him, claiming him. My mouth is at his throat before I even realize it, my lips grazing his skin. His pulse races under my tongue, and the need to sink my teeth in is overwhelming.
He gasps my name, barely more than a whisper, but it’s lost to the storm in my head. I’m seconds from biting down, from making him mine forever, when rough hands yank me backward.
“What the hell are you doing?” my dad’s voice booms, shaking through the fog, but I barely register it. I thrash, still reaching for him, my eyes wild, my instincts screaming. I need him.
Two betas pull me back, gripping my arms hard enough to bruise. “Let me go!” I snarl, fighting them with everything I have, but their hold is too strong. My heart pounds in my chest, rage and desperation flooding every nerve. I can’t lose him, not now. Not when I was so close.
I catch one last glimpse of him against the fence, his wide eyes staring back at me—confused, scared, needy—and then I’m dragged away.
“Dean, you okay, man?” Landon asks, lifting a brow at me.
I blink, realizing I missed whatever he just said. “Yeah, yeah,” I mumble, taking another sip, trying to hide the flush creeping up my neck. “Just... thinking.”
“Oh, I know that look on your face,” Dee says. “Ally got that look while she was falling in love.”
I blink hard, trying to shake off the memory, the intensity of it still buzzing under my skin like a live wire.Falling in love?Dee’s words hit me like a slap, but I smother the reaction, takinganother long pull from my beer. My mind scrambles to find an anchor, anything to ground me and pull me out of the fog of those old memories, but her words dig in. I know exactly what she’s talking about. And it’s true.
“Ally’s head over heels, huh?” I say, forcing a teasing grin that feels fake even to me. I lean back in my chair, making a show of stretching like I’m just relaxing. Landon’s gaze flicks between us, the corner of his mouth twitching like he knows something’s up but doesn’t quite care enough to press.
Dee, though? She narrows her eyes, cocking her head to the side. “Yep, and you’ve got the same look. Don’t try to deny it. That’s the ‘I’m thinking about someone special’ face.” She tosses a fry in Landon’s direction and giggles when he catches it midair, like this is all just fun for her. “Cheese on a cracker, Dean, just admit it. You’re smitten.”
I laugh, but it’s too tight, too controlled. “You’re nuts. Not everything’s about falling in love, Dee.”
“Maybe not,” she says, raising her hands in surrender, but there’s a twinkle in her eyes. “But you can’t fool me. You’re thinking aboutsomeone.”
I’m not sure what to say to that, so I just shrug, playing it off. “I think about a lot of things. Not my fault you all jump to conclusions.”
