IN BED WITH THE WRONG ALPHA

10

KANE

I was leaning against the car when she walked out the front door.

A cluster of students had gathered near the dorm entrance, whispering, but I barely registered them. I couldn't take my eyes off her in that dress. The wine-red one that complemented her eyes and coloring. Her hair was pinned back, a few loose strands framing her face, and the dress hung on her body like it was tailor-made for her.

My wolf went utterly still, the way he did right before a hunt.

I pushed off the car and held out the flowers I'd had Elias pick up an hour ago — white ranunculus, layered and full, because the florist had said something about them meaning "you are radiant," and I'd told her to wrap them without asking why I cared.

Robyn's brows lifted as she took them. "For me?"

"Who else would they be for?"

She rolled her eyes and buried her nose in them for a second. Then I opened the door for her, and she took my hand, sliding into the seat. We drove off.

Through the drive I could barely concentrate. I told myself the dress just complemented the Thorne crest. It was modest enough to satisfy the elders. I didn't care about any of this.

Liar, my wolf whispered, and I found no words to argue with him.

**

In no time, we made it to the venue. It was brightly lit, filled with werewolves and blinding decorations. I stepped out first, opening the door for her, and when she came out, the entire yard seemed to stop.

I walked a step behind her on purpose — better optics, the Alpha Supreme letting his woman lead into the room he was about to inherit — but somewhere between the car and the steps, I lost the thread of my own strategy.

I was watching the sway of her hips instead. The line of her spine. The way the dress moved when she walked.

Get it together, I told myself, but my mind started an involuntary battle.

Why had I chosen this dress? Why had I let her walk in wearing something that would have every man rearranging his thoughts? I was supposed to want the attention, but now all I could think of was putting my coat over her shoulders and taking her back to the car.

My mind was still in a mess when the first flash went off.

Then another. Then a dozen, all at once, a wall of white light and noise as photographers and reporters swarmed the space between us, cutting me off from her by two full strides.

"Miss Ford! Miss, over here—"

"When is the Alpha planning to marry you?"

"Is it true he's younger than you? How does that work with pack hierarchy—"

"Was this arrangement coercive? Some sources say the Alpha Supreme forced your hand—"

"We heard your mother disowned you over this relationship. Care to comment?"

"Is the Alpha using you to secure the throne?"

The questions came in a wave, overlapping, vicious, each one landing before the last had finished. I saw her spine go rigid and her hands visibly shake.

Then a man in a gray blazer grabbed her arm, and my restraint broke. My wolf surged forward before I could stop it, and I grabbed him by the collar, yanking him off her like he weighed nothing.

He fell hard on the ground, his camera clattering somewhere out of sight. The paparazzi went silent, fear crossing their eyes.

"Back off!" I roared, and they gave her a wide gap. Then I took off my jacket, placing it on her shoulders, and pulled her into the building.

The noise drowned out as the doors shut behind us. I led her down an empty hall, far from the main event. When I stopped, she stood still, not meeting my eyes, arms wrapped around herself.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine." She was already turning, already looking for an exit. "I just need a second. I'll be right back—"

"I'm not going to let you go off and cry alone."

"I'm not going to cry."

Her voice cracked exactly in the middle of the sentence, betraying her completely, and a tear slipped free before she could stop it.

I reached up without thinking and swiped it from beneath her eye with my thumb.

Her chest rose and fell hard, uneven, like she was fighting to keep the rest of it locked inside her.

"Look at me," I said.

She did, and I took in the glassy texture of her eyes.

"Let it out."

"What?"

"Whatever you're feeling. Say it. All of it." I held her gaze. "I do it sometimes. That's why I don't cry."

She stared at me like I'd lost my mind, and then she broke open like a dam.

"I hate this." Her voice shook. "I hate that everyone thinks they get a say in my life. I hate that my mother won't tell me the truth. I hate that everyone is lying to me. I hate that Leon made me feel small for a year and none of it was even real. I hate that everyone thinks I don't have a mind of my own, like I'm just someone that things happen to… like I don't get a say in my own life—"

She kept talking, and I watched her let every ugly, furious thing pour out of her without once looking away.

Then I offered her a smile, because for the first time since we'd started this arrangement, she wasn't performing for anyone. Not even for me.

Her breathing was heavy by the time she ran out of words, shoulders heaving, cheeks flushed.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"...Better," she admitted, sounding almost annoyed about it.

"Good."

My wolf had gone quiet somewhere in the middle of her shouting, and it took me a moment to notice it — the constant restless pressure at the edge of my mind, simply absent. Watching her.

I reached for her arm. "Come on. I'll be needed back out...."

She rose onto her toes before I'd finished the sentence and pressed her lips to mine.

"Thank you," she muttered, and I stood frozen in place.

This was our first real kiss. Not for a ruse. Not for revenge…