Love or Leave (#1 of the Grey pack)

sugar

Derek’s P.O.V.

“Huh.” Jason brought out, almost choking on his sip of beer himself, so he coughed once, in order to cover it up. He looked at me while I only gave him the look to ‘solve his own mess’, but his grin just magically reappeared on his too-good-looking face. Probably making 95% of the girls in this group standing in front of him dampen their panties. He took off his cowboy hat, placing it down on the bar as he looked back at the soon-to-be-married girl.

“And you are sure that your soon-to-be-husband will agree with this little game that you are playing?” He asked the girl, seeing how her cheeks now weren’t just a deep pink, but slowly turned into a lobster red. She could match Jeremy’s hair for the rest of the night, easily. She licked her lips, looking nervous as hell, as Jason took a step forward in her direction. And I wondered if the man would actually be considering kissing her right now. But to my surprise, he turned around and squatted down, pointing at his back.

“Jump on! I’ll take you for a ride, missy!” He yelled at the girl, and as all of her friends started to cheer and scream, she jumped on Jason’s back, who started to run around the bar like a freaking maniac. I had no idea what was going on in his head at the moment, but I really believed that the girl would remember this moment for the rest of her life. Married to another guy or not.

Once Jason had released her, the girls went back on their way to the dance floor. The entire Ranch House was filled with the smell of bear, cheap cologne from guys who were hoping to get laid tonight, sweat from people who were dancing too much, and right now, whiskey, as I was practically pressing my nose into my glass, hoping to relax my wolf, Pitch, who clearly didn’t like the stench in this place. He was tossing and turning in my head so badly that it made me feel restless as well.

Calm down, boy.

~You better get another drink so we might forget how to use our noses.~ He huffed back at me, which actually made me laugh. I tried to cover it up by emptying my glass and placing it back on the bar. We already had a lot to drink and I knew I needed to back off just a little from the booze because the alcohol was messing with my wolf and my senses. I looked to my right, towards the side of the dancefloor, where a pretty little thing was standing, hands on her hips and looking all sorts of beautiful. She had light brown hair, and the tips of her hair were even lighter in color, almost a blonde, as they fell over her shoulders. She had big dark blue eyes and heart-shaped lips. She was holding both hands on her hips as she was trying to look intimidating. She was quite petite, even while wearing cowgirl boots. She wore a jeans skirt and a brown top that fitted her teeny tiny body perfectly, probably to match the boots as they were the same color. And she was looking as if she was ready to spit fire any second now. Which made her look even sexier.

Fuck me.

And just by seeing her, my picker had done the picking. For once in a really long time! Maybe that’s why it took me a couple of seconds to see that she was actually fighting with a guy, standing in front of her, and before I even knew what I was doing, my feet were moving and I was stepping right toward her.

“Leave me alone!” I heard her yell in a sexy, high-pitched voice. A voice that I would love to hear as it would scream my name, as I would make her come over and over and over again. Her forehead frowned, making the cutest little V between her eyes as she was trying to look angry. It only made me harder. Yup, my picker was working just fine right now. Or I was just too damn drunk to care.

“Is there a problem?” I asked, looking more at the guy than her. I had no idea if these two knew each other. I didn’t know if they were a couple, friends, or complete strangers. Whatever it was, I wasn’t backing away now. I wanted her. f**k, my wolf even wanted her as he growled along with me. Shaking his head because the alcohol had made him woozy.

“Back off!” The guy yelled at me, the smell of alcohol hitting me square in the face.

Yup

drunk as hell!

“Why don’t you leave the lady alone and go home? You’re drunk.” I stated, looking at the fool. He was about my size and he wasn’t skinny or anything like that. But he was a human, making it so that I could break him like a twig if I really wanted to. Even though I knew that I couldn’t really do that. Not here and not now. I was playing the human tonight as well, after all. No wolf. And letting him out right now would make people start asking questions, questions that would put my entire pack in danger. And I doubted if my Alpha would approve of me picking a fight with some drunken douche over here. But if this guy was harassing a woman, and I didn’t even care what woman, he would pay. The fact that it was now the girl who my picker had chosen, only made my anger boil harder. So I might not start a fight right now, there was no way in hell that I was backing down either. And when the little prick placed his hands on my chest and pushed me back, I knew it was showtime.

The effort on the fucker’s part almost made me laugh. He was so soft in strength that it was almost amusing to me. And I had to think back on this episode that I once saw on TV about lions. How, during mating season, the males would fight, and the winner would claim the female. I was nowhere a lion. Hey, I even hated cats. But I would easily fight him if that meant that I was walking away with the cute little teeny tiny thing that was standing at the side, looking at the both of us while she screamed at the fucker to stop. That her eyes opened up wide in wonder, as she looked at me, only boosted my own ego.

She likes what she sees!

Thank God for that.

Seeing how this cute little thing was eyeing me, I knew I had to do something. Call it my raging hormones infused with alcohol, but the caveman inside of me wanted to show off. Show this pretty little thing that I would be able to protect her. That I was the strongest out of the bunch. That doofus in front of me didn’t have s**t on me. I knew I couldn’t punch him, since it would literally break him in half by doing so. So I needed to do something, anything. Scare him off or make him piss his pants while I was at it. So, I quickly took the two full steps up to him, as I grabbed him by the neck, and pulled him so close to me that our noses were almost touching. Maybe my fingers were pressing his throat shut just a bit too hard, but right now, I honestly didn’t care.

“Next time I see you annoying a woman, lay your hands on her or even look her way, I will cut off your balls and feed them to you. Understand?” I asked him, seeing how his face, which had been red when I had grabbed him, slowly started to turn purple under my grip, so I released my fingers just a little. I wanted to scare the fucker off, not murder him in cold blood. In order to enjoy the cute little thing standing on the sideline, I needed to stay out of jail for the rest of the night. The fucker who I had in a death grip, mumbled as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t because I was blocking his throat, so I pushed him away, seeing how he formed a fist and took a full swing at me.

Could I dodge the attack from his fist?

Hell yes.

Would I?

No…

I would be able to turn away, using my wolf speed, something that I simply could not do inside this room filled with humans, with so many eyes looking at me right now. It was as if the music had even stopped playing, so the entire Ranch House was looking at the fight that was about to happen. Because the fucker raised his fist, and I just let it happen, I let him punch me, right on my f*****g nose, and I felt it break under his stupid knuckles.

Great

Just my f*****g luck

Goddamnit

Right when I was contemplating my next move, Jason and Jeremy were at my side, ready to stop whatever was about to happen here next. But as our luck would have it as well, some guys had already grabbed ahold of the ‘drunken boy’, as they were pulling his ass outside, probably making sure that he wasn’t getting back inside either. For once, coming here often enough had its perks. For once, I was the lucky one and on the receiving side of things, especially when the cute little thing popped back up in front of me, her eyes looking worried, as she looked at me. Giving me her undivided attention.

Hell yes!

“Oh my God, I am so sorry!” She yelled at me, once the music had started to play again. And it was the first time that I was able to look at her, without her looking angry, or while her eyes were looking at another man who was annoying her.

Fuck me!

She is drop-dead gorgeous!

Even more beautiful than I had imagined…

I tried breathing through my nose, but it was swelling up pretty fast, preventing me from using it, and I f*****g hated it! I wanted to know what this pretty girl smelled like, what her scent was like. I imagined it would be something pretty darn sweet, just like her. Or maybe even spicy, because f**k, she sure as hell was spicy and fierce. She was everything, all wrapped into a gorgeous little teeny tiny package.

“That’s OK,” I told her, nodding as I reached up to feel my nose, thank God it wasn’t standing crooked, or I would have had to go back to the Grey pack, so our pack doctor could pop it back in its place in order to heal up better. Apart from it hurting like a motherfucker at the moment, I would be healed back up just fine in a couple of hours by my wolf's power. I might have a black eye or two tomorrow, but other than that, I was feeling just peachy. Especially when this minx was still standing in front of me, still giving me her undivided attention. Giving me those ocean eyes.

Yes!

Hell yes!

“Are you OK?” I asked her, seeing how she seemed shocked by my question.

“You are the one with the broken nose, you tell me.” She answered me, as she placed her hands back on her waist, which made me laugh. I could tell she was no easy target, she was a little tiger, she was able to stand her ground and I thought it was hot as hell to watch. Even though I really, really, really wanted to grab her and pull her flush against me. Protect her from the big bad world out there, as I would bury myself deep inside of her until she would scream my name.

“I’m doing just fine, sugar,” I told her, seeing how her eyebrows raised just a little.

Oh, did she like that little nickname?

Good job, Derek.

Ten points for you.

“Shouldn’t we put some ice on that or something?” She asked me, which made me frown. I was so lost in her beauty, that I had totally forgotten about my broken nose. So once I remembered it again, I just shrugged.

“I’ll just go outside, some fresh air will be enough,” I told her, giving her a smile.

Please, come outside with me

Please, come outside with me

I nodded at her as if I was telling her goodbye, as I turned around and started to walk away from her, taking teeny tiny steps as slow as I possibly could before I heard her speak.

“Do you want me to join you?” She then asked me, making it impossible for me to get rid of my growing grin.

BINGO!

I won!

So I turned to look at her, nodding my head.

“Sure thing, sugar,” I told her, as I leaned forward to grab her hand before I started to step through the crowds and out of the Ranch House. I believed I saw her waving at some girls from the bachelorette group that had joined us at the bar earlier tonight, making me wonder where the hell she had been, back when Jason had taken the bride-to-be for a ‘cowboy ride’. But I didn’t care, all I felt was how amazingly perfect her little hand felt in mine. And the tingles that ran up my arm as I held her.