Page 11 of Alpha
My dream had felt so real that I could still feel the fur under my hands. I remembered the strange sensation of tingles when I touched the wolf. It had been a strange dream.
I shook my head, trying to rid myself of images of the dream. I knew it was created from my subconscious thoughts, and I pushed them away. Dreams weren’t really supposed to make sense, so I wasn’t going to look for something that wasn’t there.
I reasoned that it had been all the strange behavior from my first day at school that made me experience such vivid, weird dreams.
Tired and still struggling to wake up, I dragged myself into my bathroom. After a quick shower, I was feeling better but I needed my caffeine fix. While I dried my body off, my fingers brushed over my birthmark on my hip. It looked more like a tattoo, but I’d been born with it.
It was two teardrops side by side. One teardrop was bigger than the other.
I finished getting ready and went downstairs to get some coffee.
“You look awful,” Gary informed me as I walked into the kitchen. He sat at the kitchen table with a half-eaten plate of food and holding a newspaper. I just glared at him then walked over to the coffee machine and poured myself some. The rich aroma began to clear my tired and foggy mind.
“Didn’t you sleep well?” he asked as his eyes softened.
“No, I didn’t.”
The dark bags under my eyes wouldn’t allow me the white lie so there was no point in lying. Normally, I wore very little makeup, but I’d put a little more on than usual in the hopes of hiding my lack of sleep. I hadn’t been able to cover it up, though.
His eyes held mine. I knew what he wanted to know and I shook my head.
After my parents had died, I’d suffered from night terrors and after a while the night terrors had faded into nightmares. After a few months and some therapy, I began to experience the nightmares less often until a few years later they stopped completely.
It had been years since I’d had a nightmare and I could see the concern in Gary’s eyes. His first thought at the mention that I hadn’t slept well was that I’d had a nightmare about my parents. There was no way I was going to tell him about my dream. He’d think I was crazy.
“It was probably first-day-at-a-new-school nerves,” I tried to explain. I took a sip of my coffee.
“Okay,” he said. He didn’t look convinced, but he let it go.
This time I wasn’t early so I had to park my baby farther away from the school. I hitched my bag over my shoulder and walked to the entrance.
Just as I got to the front, someone stepped into my path. My eyes went to the obstacle.
He stood in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. Vibrant eyes held mine.
There was an unmistakable power in him that demanded attention, but I wasn’t your typical girl. I tilted my heard upward and held his gaze confidently, refusing to be intimidated. The truth was I felt it, but there was no way I’d show him that as my stubborn streak kicked in.
In his eyes I saw surprise at my reaction to him.
Yeah, pretty boy, I think you’ve met your match.
CHAPTER FOUR
Scarlett
I held his gaze for a few moments before he took a step closer to me. I felt an electric shiver through me as I felt my body react to him. I’d never felt that type of reaction with anybody else before.
The smell of fresh rain hit me full force. I took another deep breath but there was no mistaking that smell; it reminded me of my dream last night.
Ignoring my body’s reaction to his piercing eyes, I returned his stare without revealing the havoc he was causing me. The outside world around us disappeared into the background as we continued to glare at each other.
He might think I was one of those many girls who would be in awe of him and his devastating good looks, but he had another thing coming. It didn’t matter that he made butterflies in my stomach come alive. I was stronger than this.
I wouldn’t be one of those girls who fell at his feet and allowed him to treat me like a fleeting attraction before he moved on to another willing girl. There was that saying ‘never judge a book by its cover’ but in this case I’d bet he was exactly what I’d summed him up to be. He was arrogant and in his case the book cover had warning signs telling me to keep well away from him.
“We need to talk,” he said as he folded his arms across his chest. Dressed in dark jeans and a black shirt with a leather jacket, he looked badass—but I wasn’t scared of him. I could see from the way the material molded to his lean chest that he worked out, possibly as hard as I did.
“I don’t even know you, so why would we need to talk?” I asked as I took a step forward, placing me only a few inches away from him.
