MY BULLY STEPBROTHER IS A HOCKEY ALPHA

Damien always said. "This is

f every girl in school, every wolf girl with her perfect shift and her pack rank a

I held o

rise, tying the ribbon on the bracelet box until the bow sat exactly right. I even wrote him a card,

same as always. I stepped in holding the cake box in both hands, the bracelet tuc

probably napping after morning practice. I'd wake him up with cake a

nd something low and instinctive in my chest went cold before my brain caught up. Like some part of me already knew. Lik

id. I told myself don't be that girl, Selene. Don't ru

pen his be

p fast. Bianca pulled the sheets up. Both of them stared at me and the ro

o speak. She let out a short breath that turned into a laugh, almost like she was rel

ust my name. Like tha

estion. My voice was flat, which surprised

icked, Just tired, the way you look when you've been caught doing something

his a whole t

t broken. "Don't make it a whole thing. Damien, I brought you

like she was getting comfortable for something she'd been looking forward to. "You've been

anc

you a favor. You don't have a wolf, Selene. You never shifted. Eighteen years old and

for him to deny it. To say

exactly two second

wrong," he

Bianca was cruel on purpose. Damien said it like it was just a fac

ve a wolf when we sta

"I thought maybe it would come. Most late bloo

s is my

on to something that was never going to work. You're kind and you care too much. Bu

e back to pleasant. Like we were having a normal conversation. "He told me himself. S

e him the cha

t box. Set it on the dresser by the door, very carefully, because my hands

king lot and sat with both hands on the wheel while the tears c

ng I was chosen, and the whole time I was som

til the road ran out and the music was loud enough to drown out the replay in my head. I sat at the bar a

when I

He wasn't talking to anyone and didn't look like he wanted to. There was something almost deliberately still

him. Not obviously. Just enough. The way wolves did

ecause I was tired of being the girl who was careful and quiet and

front of him.

kiss

rigid im

ound my wrist, firm and sudden, and he pulled bac

ad come to the surface and hadn't d

but enough to make clear I wasn't goin

e hell