Alpha Bully (Wolf Ridge High 1)

The moon was full.

Our hormones were raging.

Kids were shifting and running and getting naked all over the place. We went all the way.

Dangerous territory for shifter teens. There’s a reason young males are subtly encouraged to sow their wild oats away from the pack, with humans.

For one thing, no kid is alpha enough to think he can face the angry daddy wolf and not suffer serious permanent consequences. Fathers are hella protective of their baby girls in this town. And fate forbid you get a girl pregnant. You can kiss any hope of finding your one true mate goodbye. You will be bound to that girl for the rest of your life, whether either of you want it or not.

That’s what happened to my parents. At least the way my mom told it to me before she abandoned us.

So yeah. I didn’t sleep for a month after it happened until Adriana told me we were in the clear.

And I’ve had nothing to do with her since.

I know she doesn’t give a shit about me, either; she was just putting on a show to raise her status even more after the crowning.

Which is why I used her to get a rise out of Pink.

And pinken she did. A pretty rose color that lit up her pale cheeks and made those dark eyes brighter. I bet if I was close enough, I would’ve smelled that same sweet arousal she leaked when she was sitting in the chair at the tattoo parlor.

I want to get rough with her.

This isn’t the cold dish of revenge some adversaries prefer.

No, there’s a blazing hot undercurrent that runs through every interaction I have with that girl.

Seeing her blush—punishing her through humiliation and her own desire—gets me hard.

And I have no plans of backing off, because I haven’t felt any kind of pleasure at all in a long time.

Since before my dad lost his job.

Before he started drinking.

After… After my mom left and my dad took consolation in a bottle. After my family slowly fell apart, the pain was like a sharp knife turning in my heart. Any way I moved, any action I took, thought I followed, I still felt it.

But this heat Pink produces in me? It flushes away some of the pain. Dulls it. No—transmutes it.

Rage and rebellion still simmer, but every time I get close to her, it’s like the excitement of a full moon. The promise of something dark and satisfying if I follow my urge to punish her by claiming her fully.

Because she’s human and there’s a natural imbalance of power—even if she doesn’t know it—I get wickedly high knowing how easy it will be to dominate her.

“Hey, kids,” Bo’s older brother Winslow strolls up with a couple of his buddies. He’s an alum of Wolf Ridge, graduated a couple years ago and works at his uncle’s body shop, where Bo and I work on weekends.

He’s a dick.

Still wishes he was in high school. He’s in full swagger mode, carrying a six-pack of beer in each hand. “Not a bad game, but you could’ve played down the first half a little more.” He tucks one six-pack under his arm and starts breaking the cans off the rings and tossing them to the football players.

Because we play against humans, half the art for us is making our wins look natural. Losing a little so when we show off, it looks like some spectacular come back. Or freak luck.

It’s stupid, but entertains the whole town. Shifters are physical creatures. Physical prowess is glorified here. Physical aggression respected. Physical punishment is the norm. You offend someone, you’ll probably get hurt. Which is no big deal, because we heal overnight.

Still, Winslow and his buddies are dangerous, especially when they’ve been drinking, and we all shift around, keeping gazes lowered and murmuring our agreement in case they came here spoiling for a fight.

“Now where are those cheerleaders?” Winslow’s buddy Ben asks. He’s definitely drunk. He tosses Adriana over his shoulder.

Fuck.

“Oh yeah, I’ll take two,” Winslow chortles and grabs the two girls nearest him and throws one over each shoulder.

The girls scream and kick. I hear some giggling. But Adriana looks like she’s really fighting. Maybe Marcy is, too, I can’t be sure.

Bo and I exchange an uneasy glance.

We can’t directly challenge these assholes. They are bigger and stronger than we are. Plus, they think they’re hot shit because they’re older, so any confrontation will be taken as a vie for a change in pack order, which will bring out violent instincts. Not a good mix when drinking’s involved.

“Hey, Ben, did you catch that Sun Devil game last week?”

He whirls to face me, making Adriana scream. She’s kicking hard and punching at his kidneys, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “Yeah, what about it?”

I’m thinking fast, trying to remember anything at all interesting about the ASU game. “That Gary Jones shows promise, don’t you think?”