JASON
Outside the club, Terrence looks at me quizzically. He doesn’t ask or comment, just opens the door to the Escalade and says respectfully, “Alpha Reed.”
I get in the car. “Let’s go.”
Did I come here today to prove something? I’m not sure.
Brian and Patrick are among my oldest and closes friends. I spent some time with them. Conversed with a few pack leaders that we had business dealings with. I chatted with several women, and fended off the advances of several more.
I don’t come out like this often because I don’t particularly enjoy the crowded spaces or overly loud music or all the sights and smells of so many different wolves.
But I made the effort tonight.
And when that striking she-wolf came over to talk to me, I didn’t shut her down immediately. I made small talk. Kept it nice.
But when she pressed closer, looking to set the mood for something more, I had smelled her perfume, and beneath that, the scent of her wolf.
Yes, she was beautiful. Wealthy. Cultured.
But she hadn’t stood a chance. When she came close, I wanted to push her away. Because there was one scent I craved and it was the faint soapy fragrance of another woman.
“What shall I instruct the driver?” Terrence asks carefully.
“You know where I want to go.”
When I arrive in front of the rental apartment, I squat down and take out the spare key under the mat in front of the door. Grace insists on leaving it there. That was after I refused to keep the key she offered me.
I’d either have to start carrying the stupid thing. Or break her of that habit. It was dangerous to leave the key outside.
Whilst I slept in the apartment, it was not a concern, but when she was alone…
I unlock and push open the door. The lights in the room are still on, and her slender figure is sitting next to the table. Half of her upper body is lying on the table, and her head is tilted to the side as she sleeps.
I study her face. Her skin is smooth and her expression serene. She looks so peaceful that my heart seems to slow the moment I see her.
I raise my hand and gently fiddle with the strands of hair lying over her cheeks, brushing them back and letting my fingers just barely touch her skin.
Soft. So soft.
There are women who are more beautiful. Hell, the women at the club I’d just left are actresses and alpha’s daughters, females from the most dominant packs in this city. But not a single one of them strikes me as Grace does.
It seems that I won’t get tired of looking at them even if it’s for the rest of my life. And that is one hell of a sobering thought.
A moment later, I bend down and carefully lift her from the chair.
Even though I deliberately try to be as gentle as possible, she still wakes up.
"Jay..." She opens her eyes in a daze. Her hazy, almond-shaped eyes crinkle as she smiles at me.
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