MATED TO TWO RIVALS ALPHAS

ER

ome into view. Gravel shifts under the tires. I keep my han

nd of Eric's voice still in my ears. Tonight the windows are open, and the a

"You can still change your mind,

"You drove two h

just be a bonus." She studies my face the

m h

have right now. The rest

the mirror. The back is open. The slit on one side is higher than anything I would have worn b

thirty seconds without my shoulders shaking. They were more worried that I flinched when someone moved too fast in my side vision. My body was so sore after the first three weeks, in places I could never have thought woul

says something stupid, I'm allowed to sp

ot

he thresho

lows their gaze and the hush moves outward in uneven rings until it reaches me and the music seems too loud. I keep wa

ays my name like a que

on vanishes. He politely leaves the others and starts moving towards me, his long strides covering the space between us rapidly, as if nothing had change

soap he has used for years. When he steps

says. "Really good.

nks,

shoulder a second longer

The trainers were n

Good. You needed people w

he way I am holding myself, the fact that I am not looking at the floor. For

she says. "You finally look

answer. "I just stopped

Albert's arms close around me without ceremony. He holds on lo

me," he sa

a

cuts through th

uest of

tu

her red dress bright against his side. For one second his face is exactly as I remember it from a year ago-confiden

his shoulders changes. Hazel'

he name comes out qu

keep my voice even.

sure you'd make it. You were alwa

ed to

keeps catching on details, the line of my shoulders, the way I am not lo

different,

is a lon

e and do the exercises until my legs could no longer support me and the echo of his speech would lose some of its sharpness. I did not practice to please th

Eric asks. "Ju

and. The champagne is cold against my palm. "I'm c

push further. Hazel watches the exchange with the tight attention of someone

shifts before I he

he younger wolves glance toward the doors and then find

cent before

armed stone with a hint of rain. I am so glad to see that after being sil

nds had brushed his dark hair backward, and now the scar that runs along his jaw seems a lot more prominent in the lights than it was in the tree-shadowi

rward. "Alpha Jax. This

hout looking away from me. "Your mot

er smile careful. "We are building b

e rest of the room feels farther away. He ignores Eric

irthday,

n than I planned to over the past twelve months-the way he stood, the fact that he already knew who I was, the calm way he

dn't be he

then the dress, then back to my eyes. There is no rush in it. "You lo

er than a compliment would

fore. "That's enough. She's Blood Moo

temperature of the air seems to drop a degree. "She i

s sides. Hazel has gone

under my ribs when I see Eric is still there, quieter than it used to be but

guest," I say.

outh moves in the smallest suggesti

the double doors at the far end

e. Several wolves near the back wall shift their weight as if the floor has tilted. Viktor's he

as just crossed