Page 32 of Challenged Mate
Eight
The next morning,I sat in the middle of the grassy meadow behind the alpha’s home. My heavy eyes took in the rising sun, but its beauty did nothing to dispel the turmoil within me. Once again, I spent the night tossing and turning—haunted by visions of Asher and the desire to be near him.
The feelings were worse than the previous night. I feared they would continue to worsen until I eventually went crazy.
My emotions were only heightened by the fact my temper tantrum last night had resulted in more than a cracked screen. Thanks to my shifter strength, my phone was totally out of commission.
Now, I couldn’t even read Stephanie’s daily texts, telling me she was thinking about me. I was all alone. Again.
“I can smell your brooding all the way from town.”
I looked over my shoulder and watched Chase approach. The sun shined on his face, highlighting faint red streaks in his hair.
I noted his four-wheeler parked behind him in the driveway. I frowned. I hadn’t heard him drive up.
Chase sat beside me on the grass. I turned back to look at the sun when I felt his eyes land on me.
“You look like shit.”
I snorted, keeping my face forward. “Thanks.”
A beat passed. “What’s wrong?”
Too many things to mention.
I kept the thought to myself. “I can’t sleep.”
“Why?”
I gave him a pointed look, lifting a brow. “Do you even have to ask?”
Chase pursed his lips. “I thought things were getting better… Kayla said you seemed happier.”
That was true for the most part.
But last night had knocked my achieved happiness down a few pegs. I wasn’t in a pit of despair or anything, but I wasn’t Ms. Sunshine either.
“I’m fine,” I willed my voice to sound convincing, turning my attention back to the horizon. “I just can’t sleep.”
Chase plucked a blade of grass, twirling it between his fingers. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“Okay.”
Minutes passed. I was content to watch the sun complete its climb into the sky.
Chase seemed happy tearing grass from the ground until he said, “Kayla told me her attempt to make you angry didn’t work. I figured I could give it a shot. Want to spar?”
Honestly, I didn’t.
I wanted to go back inside the apartment and burrow into my bed, covering my head with blankets to hide away from the rest of the world.
In short, I wanted to wallow.
Growing up, I’d had plenty of days when I didn’t want to participate in whatever training my father had schedule that day. Some days, I just wanted to be a normal teenager who slept in on Saturdays and spent her summers at the pack’s lake with other shifters her age.
But training to become alpha included doing things I didn’t want to.
