“I'm not sure. I don't know her schedule.” A fact I intend to change today.
He folds his note and tucks it into his back pocket. “I'm going to run by her room and see if she got a note, too. I'll see you later.”
Every nostril flares when I walk through the door of my class. I didn't change my clothes or shower on purpose. I want everyone at this facility to smell Genie and Parker on me.
“Busy night?” Jonathan sneers as I walk past the table he's slouching behind.
“What do you think?” I ask and sit down.
He doesn't answer, and instead moves on to something more intrusive and irritating. “What was the point of rejecting her if you were just going to fuck around with her anyway? Or is that the point? Fuck around with her, flaunt her, ruin her for anyone else, and then run off with your boyfriend to fuck up your pack? Like, why put her and everyone else through all that?”
Several reactions slam into me all at once and they all result in anger. But I can't act on it. If I fight with him outside of Middle Ground, I'll be removed from the program. I hadn't intended to challenge anyone while I'm here, but he just changed my mind. I take a deep, calming breath and roll my neck before responding to any of the things he said.
“You have your own problems, Jonathan. Worry about your own pack, and don't talk about Genie at all. She isn't your concern.”
“She isn't yours, either,” he laughs. “You rejected her, and you didn't claim her last night. She's fair game and you know it.”
My wolf leaps to the surface and I have to hold onto my control with both fists to stop myself from shifting. “She's mine.”
“Does she know that?” Jonathan taunts. “You can say she's yours all you want, but she's unclaimed. You didn't mark her. You're not her mate or her Alpha, you're just some guy who stuck his dick in her one night.”
The windows vibrate with my snarl and the only thing that stops me from launching myself at him are the other alphas in the room. They step between us and crowd around me to keep me back.
“Let it go,” someone says in my ear. “This is what he wants. We all know she's yours until she isn't. Ignore him.”
If I stay here in this room, there will be no ignoring him. I shove away from all of them and stalk out the door. I'm going to the gym to run this rage out of my system. I can't afford to do something violent and stupid. I can't allow myself to be goaded into an altercation. I need to be here because she is here. I need to prove myself to my pack.
I repeat all of those things with every step I take until my feet are on the treadmill. Normally I would want to run through the grounds, but I don't think the risk of running into someone in my current state is a good idea. So I will run here in safe solitude until I feel like I can breathe again.
Chapter Thirty-one
Parker
Genie is standing in front of her door when I find her, staring at the envelope. There were envelopes taped to other doors, which makes me feel better.
“What does it say?” I ask, stepping up beside her.
“I don't know,” she says. “Other people got them. I just... I don't know. I'm going to open it. Did you get one?”
“We both did. Cross has a leadership presentation tonight with the other alphas. I have been invited to a small group hunt.”
She glances at me. “Small group hunt?”
I shrug.
“Are you going?”
I shrug again. “I don't have anything else going on, and I'm a little,” I clear my throat, “restless.”
She ignores my comment about being restless. “I'm not going on a hunt tonight. I don't care how small the group is.”
I draw in a breath of her scent. She smells like Cross and me, but she also smells like a female wolf approaching heat. “That's probably a good idea.”
“Stop smelling me.”
“Can't help it. Want me to open your note?”
She stares at the crisp, white envelope while she contemplates. Finally, she rips the envelope off the door and opens it. I watch her brows lower as she reads, then she hands it to me and puts the code in to open her door. I follow her unspoken invitation and step into her room after her. I don't look at the note until the door shuts behind me.
