Page 19 of Alpha Games

“I don’t know.” The sound of his gruff voice made me choke on a sob. “I’m just a little lonesome. Got no one to eat ice cream with at night.”

I dried my eyes, picturing him sitting in his favorite recliner and eating sherbet straight from the plastic tub. “We can’t have that. Let me grab a snack from the vending machine.”

*

I nodded to a new shifter with a bushy auburn beard and faded tattooed forearms who stood in the hall as I hurried back to my hotel room with arms loaded full of snacks and my phone pressed to my ear.

“What else have you been watching instead ofMating Season?”I dropped my snack hoard onto the bed.

“They had a shifter bake-off show,” Papa told me. “It was only one special episode, but I’ve been craving some carrot cake since I saw what them rabbits did with it.”

“I’ll make you carrot cake when I get home,” I laughed, realizing how much I needed this. All I was missing was a call from Clara and this would have been the perfect evening. Too bad phone hours didn’t go past dinner time at the prison.

“You seem happier,” my papa said.

“Do I?” I looked around the room. I was still lonely, but the thought of seeing Ranger tomorrow and the following day and maybe, possibly, going on another date might have been making me smile more.

“Can I ask your advice?” I ripped into a bag of white cheddar popcorn, not worried about it being tampered with.

“Don’t eat yellow snow,” he said in all seriousness.

I burst out laughing. “How did you knew for sure that Gram was your fated mate?”

“Now you’re asking the hard stuff.” His recliner groaned as he rocked back in it.

“If it’s too much to talk about, that’s okay.”

“I didn’t say that.” He coughed. “I guess in the beginning, we didn’t know for sure. Our wolves seemed to figure it out before we did, but you can’t get away from that pull. It sinks its claws in and won’t let go. After that, trust your instincts.”

Something tugged at my heart as I turned to look out the window. “How do you know your instincts are right?”

“You’ll definitely know once you’ve been mated and complete the bond.” He chuckled, quickly redirecting when I gagged, “I think that’s what’s wrong with the world today. Everything goes so fast and there are so many choices. The doubt creeps in when you get overwhelmed with making decisions. You ignore your instincts so much it becomes hard to trust them. And you forget that sometimes you have to take a leap of faith despite the fear.”

I smiled, still staring out the window. “Since when did you become such a philosopher?”

“I’ve had a lot of time to think being all alone out here. And where do you think you got your brains from? I’m smarter than I look.”

“Cocky much?” I sighed. “I miss you a lot, Papa. I don’t like you being lonely.”

“I’m alright. It’s not every day your granddaughter leaves the nest and you get to watch how she’s doing on TV.”

A cloud passed over the moon and I shivered, pulling the blanket up around my shoulders. “Don’t trust everything that you see or hear.”

“I don’t know about that. My eyes tell me Ranger likes you and my ears say you might have feelings for him too.”

Jeez. I didn’t think I was that obvious.

“Maybe.” There was still so much we didn’t know yet. Once we got past the physical attraction, how would the two of us even work together?

That’s right. We wouldn’t.

He was Ranger McCaw and I was…

My phone battery beeped at ten percent. I brushed over my stash of snacks on the bed as I reached for the charger. I pulled it up from the floor, cursing softly when the worn and frayed cord caught under my dirty sneakers. Groaning, I fell on my bed and squished a bag of corn chips under my back.

I was a hot mess.

“I like him,” my papa broke through my brooding self-pity. “You should bring Ranger home after the season so I can properly meet him.”

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