Page 128 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“I asked if you were coming. Or are you gonna hang around here?” Langston asked.

I really wished he’d said it in a derisive way, like I’d be an unwelcome nuisance. Instead, he was placid, letting me choose without shame in my answer. That alone pissed me off for some reason. A squeaking sound reached my ears, and it took me a second to realize it was the sound of my teeth grinding together.

“Be right there,” I said through gritted teeth.

Langston nodded and headed out the door to follow Trent.

“You okay?” Avery asked, looking at me with concern and confusion.

Could she not see how Langston was taking over? Pushing me aside? Apparently not.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Just worried about Ash, that’s all.”

She didn’t look convinced. “Okay.”

I gave her a hug and a quick kiss before hurrying outside to join the other two. Langston was climbing into the back seat. Trent was already behind the wheel and had the truck started. A deeply insecure part of myself didn’t like the idea of Langston sitting behind me. It was dumb, but I got in the back seat with him. If either of them thought it strange, they didn’t say so.

“Hit it, Trent,” Langston said.

My best friend obliged and tore off down the driveway and onto the street, heading for the nearest road that would lead us to North Crest. I had my right hand bunched in a fist on my thigh to restrain some of the fury coursing through me. I was angry at Langston and his buddies for swooping in like Batman to savethe day, but also at myself for being so irrational. It was childish and stupid. I’d been telling myself that for the last hour, yet I couldn’t get out of my own head about it.

“What’s the sitrep in this North Crest place?” Langston asked, leaning forward to address Trent.

I couldn’t help myself. I snorted. “Sitrep? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we aren’t on the front lines here, buddy. We can use normal words.”

Langston glanced at me, a faint smile on his lips. “Sorry?”

My wolf snarled deep in my head. He didn’t like the guy. Neither of us was a fan of another alpha shifter moving in on our town and our mate. Everything the guy had done since walking in Avery’s door had made me look weak and ineffectual.

“You heard me.”

“My apologies,” Langston said, and it sounded like he meant it, which, for some reason, sent me into a rage that I was barely able to contain. Rather than speaking, I merely clenched my other fist.

“Anyway,” Langston said, turning his attention back to Trent. “What about this North Crest place?”

“It’s a small town,” Trent said as he drove. “Much smaller than Harbor Mills, which is saying a lot. It might be easy for us to find that truck. We’ll see.”

“Sounds good,” Langston said, and sat back, pulling his phone out and beginning to type.

I glared at the phone in his hand, then let my eyes drift down to his leather shoes. At least four hundred dollars, if I had toguess. Why thefuckwould someone show up to a rescue mission dressed like a high-priced attorney?

“Who are you texting?” I said, the words leaping from my tongue before I could stop myself.

Maybe he was sending Avery a flowery message about how he was going to save her son singlehandedly. Maybe he was asking her to have dinner with him to celebrate. Afterward, they’d have a few drinks, then head to a hotel, and?—

I shook my head, pushing away the thoughts, and suppressed a growl.

“Just staying in contact with Zayde and Porter,” Langston said as he typed.

Stay cool.Stop thinking shit that isn’t true. The guy’s here to help. Nothing weird is going on.

Even after chastising myself, I couldn’t stop my stupid mouth. “Well, what doyoubring to the table? Maybe your friends are better equipped to handle this than you are.”

I winced, irritation burning through me for not controlling my temper and jealousy.

“What the fuck,” Trent barked, and glared at me in the rearview mirror as we sat at a red light. “I know you’re the alpha, Cole, but you’re being a goddamn dick. What’s your deal? Langston took time out of his life to travel all the fuck way down here and help save your son, but you’ve just been giving him grief the whole morning. Bro, what the hell is wrong with you?”

Shame washed across me in a hot and viscous wave. Langston kept his head down and continued texting. He was probablytelling his buddies that he was stuck in a truck with a jealous, psycho boyfriend.

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