We start walking, and I’m acutely aware of everything. The crunch of our footsteps in the snow. Our breaths creating clouds in the cold air. How he shortens his stride slightly to matchmine. The protective way he positions himself between me and the street.
“Tonight was good,” he says after a moment.
“Yeah,” I manage. “It’s been a while since I had such a fun night.”
“You fit.”
I glance up at him, breath hitching. “What?”
“With us.” Jasper isn’t looking at me, but there’s a flush high on his cheeks. “You fit well. It’s rare. Finding someone who just… clicks with all of us. Especially with Slater.”
My pulse stutters at his implication. “I had an incredible time,” I murmur, but the words come out breathier than I intended. Too soft. Too honest.
“Perfect.” He finally looks down at me, and itburns. The heat in his gaze curls through me, fierce and focused, like I’m the only thing in his world right now. “Because we should do it again. Soon.”
Oh.
Oh, no.
My head nods before my brain can catch up. I want to say yes. Ihavesaid yes. And now my body is thrumming with the anticipation of a future I was never meant to have.
We walk in silence, but it’s not comfortable anymore. It’scharged. Every step echoes with tension. His arm brushes mine, and it’s electric. My skin tingles where he touched me. I swear I can still feel it minutes later.
I shouldn’t be here.
Ishouldn’t feel safewith him. Or warm. Or giddy like I’ve just been asked on my first real date.
Because none of this is real.
I’m lying to all of them.
And yet… I lean just slightly toward him. I catch his scent and let it linger. I imagine what his mouth would feel like pressed tomine, what it would be like to fall into that reckless comfort and let someone else hold me up for once.
I’m getting too close.
I’m alreadytoo close.
This will blow up in my face. Iknowit will. I’m not here to find comfort. I’m here to find dirt. To finish what I started. To expose exactly the kind of privilege these Alphas might embody without even trying.
I can’t afford to want him. Or them.
But I already do.
10
JASPER
I’ve been thinking about Anita nonstop since I met her at the apartment yesterday.
That’s not normal for me. I don’t do obsession. I don’t lie awake replaying conversations or imagining how someone would look in my bed. But Anita? She got under my skin from day one, and it’s only gotten worse since.
Now I’m walking her home through snow-dusted streets, just the two of us, and it’s taking every ounce of control I have not to pin her against the nearest wall and taste the grin on her mouth.
She’s shivering beside me, arms wrapped tightly around herself like she’s trying to hold herself together.
“Here.” I’m already peeling off my coat, like instinct made the decision for me.
“I’m fine?—”
