IN BED WITH THE WRONG ALPHA

9

ROBYN

Two days had passed, and I still had nothing.

I had tried everything short of interrogating June outright. I sat through two study sessions, one forced brunch, and an entire hour of her venting about a professor she hated, all while waiting for her to break.

All she did was offer hugs and compliments, acting all sweet.

"You okay?" she'd asked yesterday, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear like nothing had changed. "You've seemed distracted."

"Just adjusting," I'd said, forcing a smile. "A lot has happened."

She'd smiled back, and for a second I almost believed her. That was the worst part. She was good at this. Good enough that if I hadn't heard her voice through that door with my own ears, I would have handed her every secret I had without blinking.

I wasn't giving up. I just needed to be smarter about it.

I was still turning the thought over in my head as I walked down the path toward the dorms, my bag slung over one shoulder, when the sound of screeching tires broke through my thoughts.

Dust kicked up in a cloud thick enough to make me cough, and I stumbled back just as a black car skidded to a stop directly in front of me.

The passenger door swung open.

"Get in."

I waved a hand in front of my face, glaring through the dust cloud at the man leaning across the seat, one arm draped over the wheel like he hadn't just nearly run me over.

"Do you need me to get out and carry you?" Kane asked, utterly unbothered.

I rolled my eyes so hard it almost hurt and climbed in, slamming the door shut behind me. "You could kill someone driving like that."

"Noted."

He didn't sound sorry at all. Before I could argue further, he reached over and slid something across the console toward me.

It was a cream-colored card with gold foil around the edges.

"What is this?" I turned it over in my hands.

"An invite." He pulled off the curb, and the dorm buildings blurred past the window. "You're my plus one."

"Your plus one." I stared at the elegant script, at the crest stamped into the corner — the Thorne emblem, four packs bound together beneath a moon. "To what?"

"The Ascension Ball." He said it like it should have meant something to me. "Traditional celebration before a new Alpha Supreme's coronation. Every pack sends representatives. Press covers it. It's the first real look the nation gets of me before the ceremony."

My brows knit together. "I've never been to one."

That was an understatement. I had never been to any pack event. Not once. Not the summer festivals, not the border treaties, not even the smaller regional gatherings other Blue Thorne families attended every year like clockwork. My mother had kept me from all of it since the day my father died, offering nothing but a firm no whenever I asked why.

"Well." Kane's eyes flicked toward me. "That changes tonight. We need to keep the ruse going, and as the Alpha Supreme, I'm permitting you to attend."

Something in me bristled instantly.

"No," I said. "I'm choosing to go. As Robyn."

His mouth curved, like I'd said something amusing rather than defiant.

"Anything you tell yourself, sweetheart."

My stomach dropped in a way I refused to examine.

I turned to glare out the window instead, arms crossed, watching the campus give way to open road. He didn't say anything else, and neither did I.

**

We pulled up outside a boutique tucked into a quiet street lined with other expensive shops. The second we stepped inside, two women behind the counter went rigid, then leaned into each other, whispering behind their hands, their eyes darting between us.

"Alpha Supreme." They lowered their heads in greeting.

Kane nodded, unbothered, then slid a hand around my waist, pulling me against him.

"Let's give them a show," he murmured in my ear. "Bring out your best collection. Whatever you have." He turned to the women, and they scrambled.

What followed was an hour of being ushered in and out of a fitting room, dress after dress draped over my arms, until I lost count somewhere around five. Each time I stepped out, Kane was there — seated on the bench, watching with an expression I couldn't quite read.

"Turn," he said, the third time, and I did, feeling the dress sweep against my legs.

"It's fine," I muttered, already reaching for the zipper myself.

His hand got there first.

"Let me."

His fingers brushed the back of my neck as he drew the zipper up slow, far slower than necessary, and I held my breath the entire time, watching his face in the mirror instead of my own.

By the fourth dress, his hands were at my waist, steadying me as I stepped into a pair of heels, one palm against my ankle as he fastened the strap.

"That color," he said, studying me in the mirror, "does something to your eyes."

I opened my mouth to say something to break the tension coiling low in my stomach, but nothing came out.

By the fifth dress, I was in trouble.

His hand lingered at the small of my back. His voice dropped an octave every time he leaned in to adjust a strap or smooth a wrinkle at my hip, and each time, I felt it everywhere. My breath went shallow, and I pressed my thighs together like that would do anything to stop the heat pooling between them.

Goddess, this was ridiculous. He was doing his job, and here I was letting my wolf have a field day of horniness.

Then he went still behind me, his eyes darkening as a low chuckle left his lips.

"Keep it down, honey." His mouth was close to my ear now. "You can't go feral trying on dresses."

My head snapped up. "What?"

"I can smell your arousal, love." He anchored me to his body, my back flat against his chest as he stared at me in the mirror.

My stomach fell straight through the floor.

Heat flooded my face so fast I nearly swayed on the heels, and for one horrifying second I couldn't string together a single word. I just stood frozen against him, pulse thumping so loud I was certain he could hear it too, watching his gaze hold mine in the mirror with that maddening almost-smile.

"You might wanna stop drooling over me now." He ran his thumb slowly over my bottom lip before pulling away. Then, casual as anything, he turned to the attendant. "We'll take all of them."

I couldn't even get a chance to say a word before he walked off, leaving me standing there utterly undone…