Page 17 of The Breeding Cave
“Pumpkin,” she repeated, her cheeks reddening for a moment as her eyes glazed over. Then she shook her head and looked back at the menu hanging on the wall above her head. “My favorite is our pumpkin spice tea. It has a hint of cinnamon in it.”
“Cinnamon,” I hummed. “That’s your favorite, huh?”
Does she like cinnamon?
All this time, I’d thought she enjoyed Brent’s musky scent of cologne. I had a whole fucking bottle of it back at my place, which I definitely hadn’t bought because I thought that was why she was always friendly with him.
But apparently, it was because I intimidated her.
When she smiled, her cheeks rounded. “I love cinnamon.”
“I’ll take one.”
“Switching it up on my last day,” she said, twirling around and grabbing a cup. Her hair drifted over her shoulders, and her pumpkin scent flowed through the air and wrapped around every last bit of my body. “You’ll love it.”
After writing my drink order on the side with a Sharpie, she tapped the register, which seemed to be functional today, and took my payment. I stepped to the side near the older lady and watched her as she poured our drinks.
We should’ve never stayed late at the cave last night. Joseph had been outside the entire time. He never truly left the forest. But I had wanted more time with her, especially after how jealous she was when I mentioned Molly.
I clenched my jaw to suppress a smirk at the thought.
So jealous. So possessive. So feral over me.
“Any new boys I should know about, Alana?” the older woman said.
She giggled. “You love my drama, don’t you, Ms. Wilson?”
Ms. Wilson placed her wrinkly hand over Yeosin’s. “I don’t get enough anymore.”
“I’ve been seeing this guy for the past couple of days,” she said. “But it’s nothing serious.”
“Just a hookup?” Ms. Wilson said. “Is that what you kids call it these days?”
Yeosin’s face turned bright red. “Ms. Wilson, you can’t say that out loud! But, yes, something like that. I don’t think he’s interested in something serious.”
My gaze snapped up to hers, and I clenched my jaw at the words that had left her mouth. Fuck. Of course she would fucking think that because I had told her that I had chosen her for her body and couldn’t tell her the truth.
“Well, that’s his loss.” Ms. Wilson grabbed her hand. “I’m going to miss seeing you.”
“I’ll miss seeing you too,” Yeosin said. “But I’ll be back in the afternoons for tea.”
Once Ms. Wilson gave a final squeeze, she walked to the exit and disappeared in the bustling city streets. I stuffed my hands into my pockets and stared pointedly down at the counter. I didn’t want her to think that I wasn’t interested.
It had barely been two days, but nobody had ever been so possessive toward me before, and I fucking loved it. I wanted to see her like that again, wanted to see how far a sweet girl like her would go for me. The alpha of a pack needed an equally strong mate.
I had stayed away from her for so long because I didn’t think she could fill those shoes.
But last night—I growled underneath my breath, my dick hardening inside my pants—had proven that my sweet girl had something deep and feral inside her. She would lose control to protect me … not that I would ever let it get that far.
“Your pumpkin spice tea,” she squeaked from behind the counter.
When I looked at her, she was chewing on the inside of her cheek and stared at me with huge, fearful eyes. I realized that this was probably why I intimidated her. So, after relaxing my jaw, I grimaced, grabbed the tea, and took my usual spot in the corner of the shop.
I shouldn’t feel anything toward her. It was dangerous for both of us.
But I couldn’t stop now.
CHAPTER
