Page 58 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“Mom, seriously, I could survive on cheeseburgers. And milkshakes. Yes, please.”

“Awesome,” Cole said, turning left at the next street.

A few minutes later, we were parked at The Burger and Shake Shack. The place hadn’t been here fifteen years ago. The sign had a big cartoon man who held a passing resemblance to Homer Simpson, shoving a burger into his mouth and dousing his head with a vanilla milkshake.

“Charming,” I said, eyeing the goofy sign.

“Yeah. It’s their thing,” Cole said. “But the food’s great. Come on.”

As we walked in, Cole’s phone buzzed. When he looked at it, he froze and frowned at the screen.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Don’t think so. Hell, I didn’t even know he had my number.”

“Who?” Ashton asked.

Cole looked up, blinking as though coming out of a dream. “Sorry. My, uh, my half-brother Dallas.”

“You’ve got a half-brother?” Ashton asked, his curiosity piqued. We hadn’t filled him in on all the Garrett family drama.

“He wants to know where I am. I’m gonna tell him we’re here. Maybe he wants to talk.” He glanced at me. “Is that okay?”

“Sure,” I said with a shrug. “The more, the merrier.”

“If it’s really important, we’ll talk outside. I don’t want to ruin your lunch like yesterday.”

“That’s fine,” I said. It would be good for Cole to mend every fence he could. Perhaps this could be a chance for him to reconnect with his brother.

He shot off a quick text, then followed us inside. The place was kind of cheesy with its retro ’90s décor, but it smelled fantastic. Cole ordered a bacon burger with blue cheese, I got a regular cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato, while Ashton chose some strange monstrosity with a fried egg, hot sauce, and nacho cheese. If he didn’t watch it, he’d have a coronary before he was twenty. Along with that, we each ordered a milkshake—two vanillas and a strawberry.

We chatted for a bit, sipping at the shakes, and when the burgers came out, my eyes nearly bugged out. Mine alone could have fed three people. If Ashton and Cole thought it was too muchfood, they said nothing as they dug in voraciously. I managed to get through about a third of mine before my stomach protested. Cole and Ash had polished off all their food, even the piles of onion rings and tater tots.

Shifter metabolism. I would have killed for it. Cole had always eaten like that, and he still looked like an underwear model.

“Cole, can we talk?”

I turned my head toward the voice, my gaze landing on a man I barely recognized. I’d only seen Dallas a few times in the past, but the resemblance to his father and Cole was there. Not like the mirror image of Cole and Ashton, but it was noticeable. A massive black eye and a split lip marred Dallas’s handsome face. Both wounds looked fresh.

A deep growl rumbled from Cole’s chest, heavy and threatening. Even though I knew I was safe in his presence, a chill of fear crept up my spine at the sound of it. Anyone hearing that would have been terrified.

“Who did that to you?” Cole snarled.

14

COLE

“Don’t worry about this,” Dallas said, waving at his face. “Can we talk outside?”

I didn’t need Dallas to tell me who did that to him. I had no doubt in my mind. That fucker Kyle. I could still see the irritated look on his face when he’d put it together that my half-brother had told me about the debt.

“Outside,” I said, and stood. I looked at Avery and Ashton. “Stay here. This shouldn’t take long.”

“Okay,” Avery said, but she and Ashton both looked worried as I followed Dallas out to the parking lot.

Once outside, I allowed some of my anger to burst out—a pressure release of sorts.

“Where is the motherfucker?” I hissed. “Tell me where he is, and I’ll give him his own goddamned black eye.”

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