Page 51 of Into the Fire: Before

Yes, I’d Registered for the Census. One small concession. But that was it. No hiding for me.

Loud, and rough, and dirty, till the day I die.

As I stood—slow, already getting sore—footsteps approached. I looked over just in time to see Caine scooping up my still-rolling skateboard before turning for the parking lot.

“Hey!” I scrambled the rest of the way up, jogging after him. “What the fuck, man?”

“Go inside and drink some water,” he threw over his shoulder, never breaking stride.

I exhaled an incredulous laugh. “You’re not my alpha. Give my board back.”

He turned then, scowling like an actual gargoyle. He took a step back toward me, a fierce enough look in his eye that I halted my own approach. He pointed back toward our building. “Go inside. Drink water.”

“My—”

“You’ll get your damn board back,” he said as he pivoted and made for the parking lot again. “And put some sunscreen on.”

I stared after Caine until he approached his black SUV, tossedmy fucking skateboardin the backseat, then drove off.

What. The. Fuck.

AsIstoodinmy kitchen gulping down my third mega glass of water in thirty minutes, I was forced to admit that I was oh-for-two on thealphas told me soscale. An annoying fact that I swore was actually burrowing into my skull and eating away at my brain like a termite.

I was just coming back from popping a few headache pills when a rough knock sounded at my door. Caine stood on the other side when I opened it. Before I could say anything, he dug in the cloth tote bag in his hand and pulled out a black helmet, handing it over wordlessly.

I took it from him, looking from the helmet to Caine’s scowling face and back. “You didn’t put itching powder in it, did you?”

Caine blinked then squinted his eyes together like I’d just asked him…well, like I’d just asked him if he’d put itching powder in a bike helmet. “What? No!”

“Lice colony?”

“If you’re going to skateboard badly, you’re going to do it with safety gear,” he answered as he pulled out a packaged setof knee and elbow pads and wrist guards. “Last thing I need is your alpha slapping me with a lawsuit because ofyourpoor judgment.”

I crossed my arms, the probably-lice-ridden helmet still in hand. “And why couldn’tIsue you?”

Now I evencouldsue you, if I wanted.It was a bleak silver lining, all things considered.

“Fucking hell—fine, last thing I need is either of you suing me when you crack your head open on our property.”

“Okay.” I looked at the various gifts I held in my hands, then back at him as he dug in the bag again. He held out a huge water bottle, almost the size of a milk jug. And it waslavender.Cranky Caine Arceneaux had scanned through a shelf of water bottlesandpicked it out in a pretty color? For me?

Stuffing everything else under one arm, I grabbed it and did the same look back and forth between my landlord and the bottle in my hand before saying hesitantly, “We…havewater bottles?”

Did his scowl just get deeper?

His grip clenched on the handles of his tote. “Then you should probably use them when you’re spending hours in ninety-plus-degree heat,” he said through his teeth.

I squinted at him a little. “Because it’s a legal liability?”

He exhaled heavily through his nostrils, knee jiggling like he was anxious to leave—even though this entire bizarre encounter was of his own making. “Yes.”

I nodded slowly, turning to deposit my armful of surprise gifts onto the kitchen island behind me. When I turned back out the door, I wished I hadn’t though. I suddenly had no clue what to do with my hands. And he was still just standing there, eyebrows pinched and teeth grinding like I was the one hovering over his threshold.

“Here,” he said, reaching for my skateboard which had been standing just outside the door. “Tightened the trucks a bit too,” he said as I took it. “They were loose as shit. Would’ve been like trying to surf on a pool noodle.”

I blinked at him like a stupid owl. Caine Arceneaux, asshole landlord and potential designation bigot…just outfitted my entire stupid skateboarding dream? “Wow. Um. Thanks.”

He didn’t leave.

---