Alpha's Vet

Movie Night

Lucas POV

I can hear Jacqui’s friends arriving for the movie night. Their voices carry down the hall—laughing, chatting, dragging blankets and popcorn bowls somewhere into the lounge. I’m glad I don’t participate in these things. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not against them having fun. In fact, I prefer it this way. Jacqui and Liam deserve to enjoy their lives without constantly worrying about responsibility and war and rogues.

That’s why I work like this. That’s why I carry everything. So they can breathe.

But rogues have been spotted in the town 120 kilometers from here. Too close. Far too close for comfort—especially now… with my mate in town.

My chest tightens.

Ten minutes.

That’s how long it took before I started thinking about her again.

Better than yesterday. Barely.

Maybe if I stay another day or two away from her, the cravings will dull. Maybe my mind will clear. Maybe I will finally get some work done and stop daydreaming like an i***t.

But deep down I know… I won’t last that long. I’m already thinking of excuses to go see her.

Suddenly—

Eric.

I smell Eric approaching the house.

He was supposed to be watching her.

Lex surges up so fast I nearly lose my breath.

MATE.

“No—no, Lex, don’t—”

But I already smell her too. Sweet. Warm. Impossible.

And then I hear her voice.

She’s here.

In my house.

Before my brain can process anything, I’m out of my office, out the door, and standing in the lounge.

Everyone freezes.

My wolves rise to their feet instantly, instinctively, as if the air itself commanded it. I know I must look insane. I can’t talk. I can’t even blink. All I can do is stare at her—

my mate—

while Lex snarls inside me.

MATE. Take mate. Leave. Too many males here.

I can’t think. My mind is soup. My body is stone. She’s kneeling, fussing with the tiny dog—my rival—completely unaware of how long I’ve been standing here staring at her like I’ve forgotten how to be a functioning adult.

Jacqui recovers first. Goddess bless her.

“Lucas, are you—are you coming to join us?” she asks gently, voice wobbling with excitement and panic.

I still can’t look away from Lara. She finally glances up, eyes locking with mine… and everything stops.

I swear she can see right through me. Into the bone. Into the soul I didn’t know I had.

Eric, smart man that he is, steps forward quickly.

“Lu… Lucas,” he corrects himself after my sharp head tilt. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you know I was going to be here. It all happened so fast.”

Translation:

She unexpectedly came with Roxy. Don’t murder me.

“It’s fine, Eric,” I manage, sounding almost normal.

He hesitates, then—like a suicidal i***t—asks, “Do… Do you want to join us?”

All heads snap toward him like he’s grown a second head. Even I nearly choke.

“No. I mean—no, thank you,” I say quickly. “I still have a lot of work to do.”

And then… Jacqui smiles.

Not a little smile.

A big, bright, face-breaking smile.

She knows.

“Big brother, let me introduce you to Lara,” she says, practically vibrating.

I panic. I bow my head like a medieval monk. Who does that? What am I even doing?

“Nice to meet you,” she says softly.

Her voice.

Her voice is going to be the end of me.

“And this is Steven,” Jacqui adds. “Roxy and Lara’s friend.”

The word friend hits me like a dart to the spine. My head snaps up. Hard.

Lex growls inside me.

Too close. Too male. Too near mate.

Keep calm, Lex says, shockingly rational for once. We scare her, she run. We be big and scary already.

I hate when he’s the one making sense.

I mutter a stiff “Nice to meet you,” and then I’m out.

Gone.

Before I pick someone up and throw them out the damn window.

I close my office door behind me and lean my forehead against it, breathing hard. I can’t walk away. I can’t even think. All I can do is listen—listen for her voice, her steps, her heartbeat.

I c***k the door open, just a sliver.

And I sit at my desk like a fool, listening to her in the next room, letting the sound of her laughter settle into my bones like it’s always belonged there.

Twenty-five minutes later…

I must have replayed twenty different versions of what I should have said to her. All while pretending to work on reports I haven’t even read.

And then—

A noise.

A soft whining.

A little playful moan.

Her.

Then—

“Come on, Lucky, you need to go outside, and then we need to give you your meds. Today will be the day that you decide you want to walk. In a stranger’s house of all places.”

And suddenly the little gremlin shoots through my cracked door and barrels straight into my office like he owns the place.

MY office.

He barks at me.

Actually barks.

I glare down at him.

Lex mutters: Mate loves mutt. Do not kill mutt.

And then—

Her voice.

Right behind the door.

“O, I am so sorry! This is the first time he’s walking and he’s trying to catch up for lost time. I’ll get him out of your hair.”

She steps into my office—and the world rearranges.

Her.

Here.

In my space.

“No, come in,” I say too quickly. “The dog isn’t bothering me. I have a plate here you can use for his food.”

Damn it. Now she knows I heard everything she said outside the door. Her cheeks turn rosy.

My body reacts instantly. Not ideal.

“Thank you, but I don’t want to bother you,” she says carefully.

“You’re not a bother.”

Understatement of the century.

You’re oxygen.

“Have a seat. I’ll get someone to bring a proper bowl.”

A wolf appears with a bowl before she can question it.

And then she does something that absolutely fries my brain.

She sits on the floor.

Crisscross.

Casual.

Comfortable.

Lara POV

I shouldn’t stare.

I really shouldn’t.

But holy hell—he’s stunning. The kind of stunning that shouldn’t be legal.

Tall, broad shoulders, eyes like cut emeralds, aura blazing around him in colours I’ve only ever seen in textbooks. Power and control and something wild beneath the surface.

He is not my type.

At all.

And even if he was—he is leagues above me. Galaxies above me.

And of course Lucky chooses this moment to run into his office. And I follow. And now I’m here, sitting in front of the most intimidating man alive, pretending to be normal.

The worst part?

He’s the guy from the club.

The one I was staring at like an i***t.

I sit on the floor and let Lucky eat, cross-legged, relaxed—until he jumps like he’s been electrocuted.

“What are you doing? You can’t sit on the floor!”

I shoot upright.

“What? Why? Is something wrong? Am I sitting on something important?”

“No, it’s just…”

He struggles.

“You’re too precious to sit on the floor. Please sit on the couch.”

Precious.

Who talks like that?

“I like sitting on the floor,” I laugh, dropping back down. “You should try it. You might struggle getting up though…”

He looms over me like a mountain.

“What does that mean? Do you think I’m too old to sit on the floor?”

He is so sensitive. So intense.

And goddess help me—my entire body is tingling.

“No, I meant your size. Big guys have trouble crossing their legs.”

His jaw twitches. Then—

He actually lowers himself down beside me, trying and failing to fold those enormous legs properly. It’s adorable. If he ever found out I thought that, he’d probably combust.

Lucky climbs right into his lap.

Lucas looks horrified.

“Do you want me to take him off?” I ask, laughing so hard I almost snort.

He hesitates, then—

“No. It’s fine. He’s small. He needs rest.”

The silence that follows isn’t awkward.

It’s warm.

Comfortable.

Safe.

“So,” he says, voice calm but curious, “you work for Dr. V?”

I blink.

I never told him that.

Weird.

Maybe he overheard earlier.

I start talking—about the clinic, the cases we get, my studies, my plans. I talk far more than I normally do. Something about him feels easy. Natural.

At some point, someone silently brings me a pillow.

Luxury.

Comfort.

Warm floor.

Deep voice.

The faint scent of cedar and something darker.

I don’t even remember drifting off.

But I fall asleep in Lucas Cross’s office.