The Denali Wolves: The Alpha and the Assassin

1.6

BECCA DROPS the flat iron beside me and spins my chair around to face the mirror. “I’m done,” she announces as I blink away the surprise.

My hair, usually curly, now comes down in straight, platinum silky strands hanging all the way past my waist. I sported a smokey eye, sexy red painted lips that I’d never dreamt of wearing till tonight, and a light dousing of blush on the apples of my cheeks. Another person is staring back at me. And she's beautiful.

“Leo wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off of you when he sees you,” Becca says. “Even though I wish you’d dump the dumb f**k but beggars can’t be choosers.”

I rolled my eyes. “Are you forgetting that you’re the one who begged me to get out and find a boyfriend? And when I do, you’re not happy.”

“Yeah, because I meant Rory from Math class, not Leo from s*x Ed,” she deadpanned.

I snort.

“I like Leo, Becca and he’s been good to me. I think if you gave him a chance, you’d really like him.”

She sighs, picking an invisible thread from her dress. “I doubt it, but I’ll behave.”

“That’s all I’m asking.”

Becca purses her lips. “Whatever, let’s go. Mikey is picking us up in a bit.”

“Who the hell is Mikey?”

Becca grinned. “My new boyfriend.”

“The football player? When did that happen?”

It wasn’t possible for her to grin even wider. “During study hall, in the Janitor’s closet.”

“Oh my god, Becca!” I gasped in disbelief. “Then, what happened to that guy you were seeing that day you were helping out Mom and me at the store?”

Her nose scrunched up. “He likes feet."

I burst out laughing, unable to stifle it anymore.

Suddenly, mom appeared, peering around the doorframe. She eyed us both, pursing her lips in distaste at Becca’s outfit. “Guys, there’s a boy in a truck blasting rock music and scaring the chickens. Is he here for you or should I get the rifle?”

Becca’s eyes widened. “Don’t worry Mrs. Griffin, he’s with me. He’s taking us to the party,” she assured her.

“Oh. Well, be careful out there, girls, especially with him. That boy looks like he doesn’t know his left from his right.” I chuckled. Becca, however, didn’t look impressed. Mom stepped into the room, eyeing us up. “You two look great. But Becca, I’m gonna get my camera and when I get back I expect you to be wearing more clothes.” Mom gives her a stern look and then disappears down the hall.

I hold in a snicker when Becca groans. She gives me a dirty look, “You better not be enjoying this.” Then she throws on a hoodie.

___________________________

We reach the Alpha’s Keep before we know it.

The Keep is a huge fortress melded into the ridge of the largest ice-capped mountain on the map. Every stone is an evil square of tall towers and columns, built as if the castle itself was a part of the mountain. It was beautiful and so didn’t deserve the hell these wolves were going to put it through all in the name of ‘fun.’

We walked up the driveway and up the dozens of steps littered with beer bottles and plastic cups leading up to the front door. A couple was already making out on the open floor landing when we got there and we had to unceremoniously hop over them to finally get inside.

As soon as we arrive, we’re crowded by a gang of his and Becca’s friends. The football team fists bump Mikey and there’s so much I could do to try to squeeze my tiny, 160-centimeter frame through the horde of broad-shouldered lackeys surrounding him and Becca, the new ‘It’ couple, it seems.

Mikey is a hammerhead football player who’s dumber than a box of screws, but I guess Becca doesn’t like him for his philosophical views on things. He is ginormous compared to his teammates, with broad shoulders and arms thicker than my thighs. He's also really handsome, in that rugged manly-man type of way. Not my type, but I can still see the appeal... if he doesn’t open his mouth, that is.

I’ve seen Mikey around the school halls a couple of times, one of the many men lusting over Becca, but this is the first time I’ve actually spoken to him. Though it had only been a polite ‘Good Night’ in greeting when I was getting into the car that were two words more than we usually say to one another.

I elbow my way through the crowd, losing Becca in the five seconds we were there. I don’t panic though. After Becca threatened Ben publically in the hallway, everyone kept their distance. I still get cold looks, but I’ve not been assaulted in a while, so I take it as a win.

I make it to the kitchen unscathed and I’m grateful when I notice I’m the only one there except for a couple making out against the counter, but I ignore them as I maneuver around the modern space to prepare a sandwich and a drink.

Someone was gracious enough to put the cooler and the drinks in the living room, so now the kitchen was as dry as a Virgin’s cunt.

I pause.

Did I really just say that?

In my mind, nonetheless.

I gotta stop hanging out with Becca. I’m practically turning into her. I never use the C-word.

Shaking the thought from my head. I grab my finished sandwich and try to balance my drink from the neck of the bottle as I start my search for Leo.

He’s supposed to be here somewhere...

Knowing Leo, he’s probably in the process of drinking the party dry, and I being the most responsible of us three, would end up having to drive him home.

Where is he?

After almost twenty minutes of wandering around looking for him, I'd finished both my sandwich and my drink, and I’m tip-toeing on the brink of being bored out of my mind by the time I got the idea to try looking for him in the upstairs rooms, even though it’s restricted to most party-goers and Becca would pop a vein over someone screwing in her room.

Along the hall of the Alpha’s Wing, I notice light streaming from a door left ajar and voices coming from inside. My eyebrows scrunch up when I recognize Leo’s voice. What the hell is he doing in Becca’s room? If he trashes it as some sordid prank, I’m going to kill him.

He promised me he was going to be on his best behaviour. I stomp over there but come to a halt when I hear... Becca?

I inch towards the door, watching my step and keeping as quiet as possible.

I peek through a slit in the door and, to my surprise, there they are. Becca and Leo having a normal conversation. And by normal, I mean they were not ripping each other’s throats open. I’m about to barge in and congratulate them on not arguing for once in their lives when I’m knocked breathless the moment Leo grips her neck suddenly, presses her against the wall, and smashes his lips against hers.

Everything around me came to a crashing halt.

I hear my heart in my ears, and feel the tears burning past my eyes even before my brain can comprehend what the hell is going on... Leo... and Becca...? I can’t breathe.

I can’t—

Something in my chest clenches and it takes everything in me to not collapse from the pain.

I back away. This can’t be happening.

But no.

He’s right there, his body pressed against hers, arms caging her against the wall, mouth matching hers in a passion he had never—not once—shown me.

And she, my best friend, my sister, the girl I would give my life for, reciprocates with a fierceness only meant for one person and one person only. Her mate.

Not Leo.

Not my Leo.

The same Leo she’d hated for the past eighteen years.

I can’t hold it in anymore. I let out an ugly sob that breaks their kiss and has their heads whipping towards the door.

I bolt.

“Mase?”

I don’t see anything as I push and shove my way through the crowd at the bottom of the stairs. I don’t see any of them, I don’t even hear the music thumping through the room, shaking the frames on the wall. Everything meshes together in a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes that I don’t register.

“Watch it, Psycho Girl!” Someone yells after me but I ignore them, my sights pinned to the door. Once I get it open and that cool air hits my skin, I can finally breathe again. But it’s not enough. I stumble down the stairs, past couples making out, the baseball team gambling at the bottom of the stairs, and drunkards throwing up in the bushes.

“Hey, beautiful, wanna come back to my place?"

“Dude, that’s f*****g Massie Griffin.”

“Oh s**t, really. You know, for a killer, she’s kinda hot.”

Their laughing manages to penetrate the haze I’m suspended in, and the pain hits me all over again. I wanted to scream, I wanted to yell, ’I’m innocent!” for the whole pack to hear, but no one would listen. No one would even care.

I make it to the curving driveway when a blinding light appears seemingly out of nowhere, frying my retinas and causing me to stumble back from the visual assault.

I heard a car door opening and then my world came to a standstill for the second time tonight.

The most intoxicating scent has my attention in a chokehold. I know that scent. I’ve lived with his smell engrained in my head. I wouldn’t be able to forget it even if I tried and to be honest, I would never want to.

He steps past the light, his hulking form illuminated by the harsh glow of the car lights behind him. I could just about make out his features and it was all I could do not to melt in a puddle at his feet.

He looked just as I remember, six feet of strong shoulders and sharp features with eyes the colour of the Raging Seas. Dark, violent, and a wonder to any man with a penchant for danger and unmasked curiosity about what lies beneath its swirling depths. Nero brought out that part of me. It is that part of me that I am most afraid of. The part that wants to dive headfirst into danger, f**k the consequences. It is that part that always gets somebody killed. And I can’t give him another reason to hate me like everybody else. Not him.

“Massie?”

I shivered. Even his voice had changed. It deepened and had a husky lithe to it even as he said my name.

He stepped closer and my heart accelerated. Everything grew to an undistinguishable mumble around me. All my senses were attuned to him and how he watched me. As if it was the first time he had seen me.

Was it awe?

No.

That’s not it.

I blinked. It was not awe at all. It was worry tilting his brows down and twisting his lips into a slight frown.

“Massie? Is that you?” He took a step closer. "What are you doing out here?”

Then it all came rushing back again. The pain of Becca’s betrayal, the heartbreak, the loneliness... It is all too much so I did what I was starting to get good at.

I run.