“Yeah right,” he scoffs. “You're the last person who needs to push people away. You reallyarea reject. At least the rest of us are here for real reasons. Why are you here, anyway?”
“None of your business, Walker.”
She's sitting in a double swing in one of the alcoves across the courtyard. The male, Walker, is standing in front of her, making a huge show of looking down at her. It's an intimidation tactic – make yourself look bigger so your adversary is too nervous or afraid to stand their ground. Most of the people who use that shit tend to be the smallest people in the room.
I'm not saving her this time, not that I think she needs saving from that guy. He's annoying, but she's the daughter of an alpha and will inherit more power than that beta will ever know. She might be positioned physically lower, but she might as well be royalty looking down her nose at a peasant.
“It's okay. You don't have to say it out loud. We all know, anyway. You should be careful who you insult, Genie. You're going to need help at some point while you're here. You wouldn't want to piss off the wrong person.”
As weak as a threat from some unknown and unimportant beta is, it's still a threat. And while Genie isn't my Luna, she's supposed to be. Walker's snide tone and disrespectful behavior grates against me. Instinct has my feet itching to walk over there and put myself in front of her and makes my fist ache to connect with his jaw.
But I don't.
She isn't my Luna. She's just a girl. And she can handle herself against one pissy beta.
“Got it,” she says, lifting her hand to give him an exaggerated thumbs up. “Now run along back to your friends so you can lie about how scared I was of you.”
I stab my tongue against the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. She's more sure of herself since the last time I saw her, I'll give her that.
Walker glares down at her for another second or two then stalks off down one of the paths leading into the trees. Genie's chest rises as she huffs, but her eyes meet mine almost instantly. Her chin raises a degree as she holds my gaze.
A staring contest it is, then. I looked away last time because my priority was Cross. Cross isn't here now and we can stare at each other until someone's eyelids fry off. She isn't my Luna and I don't have to defer to her. Walker was right about one thing. She's here with the rest of us, so that means she's no better than the rest of us.
Neither of us look away until Cross's scent heralds his arrival.
“What are you doing?” he asks. Then he notices Genie. “Oh.”
She doesn't look away, and neither do I. I don't even know why it's so important to me to be the last one to drop my eyes, but it is. If she was a male, we'd already be fighting.
“Parker, really, what are you doing?” Cross tries again.
“She doesn't get to win this time.”
“This time?” he asks. “Just drop it. Why do you care?”
“I'm not sure, but I do.”
He sighs, and I can feel him staring at me. “They're serving lunch. Aren't you hungry?”
“Yes.”
“Come on, then.”
“No.”
“Parker.”
“Cross.”
“This is making it worse.”
Dammit. It probably is. But she shouldn't get to win all the time.
My wolf stirs inside me and I can feel his laughter. At me. He's laughing at me.
“Parker,” Cross snaps. “That's enough. You can stare at her again later if you still want to. You need to eat.”
That pulls me out of it and I glare at him. “I don't want to stare at her.”
