Page 26 of Her Cruel Alpha

It was one thing to watch a test subject, but it was entirely another to watch someone I knew shift. I wouldn’t be able to think about it scientifically, but rather… sexually.

I looked up at the sky. “Why… why are you stripping?”

“Because I can reach that in my wolf form.”

I felt hot suddenly and tried to think about anything else. I was working, after all, and I needed to keep myself focused. “The lighting is terrible out here anyway to watch you shift. I would miss it.”

I heard no response, and when I looked over my shoulder, Henrik was no longer there. A light brown wolf stood where Henrik had been. He was a larger wolf with a large, fluffy tail. He had huge paws with nails that protrude at least an inch out. Any normal person would panic having a wolf so close to them.

I swallowed, feeling that heat was still coursing over me. I chewed on my lip and quickly told myself to get back to the task at hand. “Great…so… move carefully,” I offered, turning to the hill. I slowly fanned myself, knowing that my entire face was hot.

Henrik moved, jumping forward onto the cliff. He wasn’t joking when he had said he was agile before. He moved quickly, leaving no trace that he’d been anywhere. No rocks moved, no dust blew in the wind. There was hardly any sound every step he took.

I was stunned as he climbed higher, squeezing underneath a boulder and on top of another. He grew closer to the flowers, and I stared in wonderment.

He softly picked the flower with his mouth and came down the hill just as quickly as he went up. I opened my hand,and he dropped the flowers into it. I smiled, staring at them. “You handled them with a lot of care. There are no dents or rips in them. I’m impressed.”

“Well, I figured you’d need them in full condition.”

I glanced over at him as I rolled my eyes. My body froze as I took in a naked Henrik. He was pulling his pants on, and I took in his entire naked backside. Henrik was just as ripped in his back as he was in the front, and that included his ass.

My face felt hot, and I looked away, fanning my face harder now. I blew out a deep breath.

Pull yourself together, Katie. It’s just a butt. You’ve seen a butt before. I’ve seen many butts.

But not Henrik’s perfectly formed ass.

Henrik walked closer as he yanked his shirt on. “You said you needed peppermint, right?”

I quickly nodded my head, trying to pull myself together. I felt I was failing miserably. “Yes, that is correct. Mint, I need mint.”

“Which direction?” he asked, waiting for me to point. My eyes, however, stayed on his hands as he stretched his fingers and rolled his neck.

Focus, Katie, Focus!

After hunting for the peppermint, I was ready to go back to the lab. I had expected Henrik to decide he had other things that needed his attention, but he came with. He seemed eager to come to my lab, saying he had never seen it before.

Henrik looked around, taking everything in. The laboratory had always felt like a second home to me, but I had no idea how he would take it in. Sam always said it was too whiteand that everyone was too quiet, which I explained everyone here was shy of outsiders. I figured Henrik would think the same.

He paused as he stopped next to the photos that Sam had hung up. He smiled. “Did my sister hang these?”

I set my bag down and glanced at the photos. They were all of Sam and I smiling at the camera. “Yeah, she said my lab was too white and clinic-like.”

He laughed. “Leave it to my sister to spruce up a laboratory.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle because he wasn’t wrong. I set everything out, and he turned to take a seat in a chair. “So, what are you going to do?”

“Well, I’m not going to be doing anything with this stuff, but I do have a couple of experiments that I need to run.”

I started to gather everything I needed, pouring powders together in a flask. Henrik watched each step I made, asking questions the entire time. I answered but found myself losing focus each step of the way.

“What are you going to do next?” he asked as I grabbed a Bunsen burner, twirling it in my hands.

“I’m going to heat it,” I said, grabbing a pair of tongs and the flask and holding it over the fire.

“And what are you going to do with that substance?” he said as he pointed to the flask.

“I’m watching the reaction and will write it down.”

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