Alpha Bully (Wolf Ridge High 1)

Her eyes get wet again. When a tear escapes and hops down her cheek, I brush it away with my fingertips.

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide it, though. You may think you’re a victim, but you hold all the power now.”

Her energy quiets. I swear I feel her shaking off the victim cloak right there. “What do you mean?”

I unleash a wicked smile. “I mean,” I say slowly, the glory of revenge gleaming bright for me. “If you don’t go to the authorities, you own Brumgard. You can ditch every class for the rest of the year and insist he give you an A and he’ll do it. Make him write your college essays for you. Make him nominate you for end of the year awards.”

She rolls her eyes. “That’s what you would do if you were me.”

My smile grows bigger. “Definitely. And it’s what you should do. Of course, it’ll suck for me when you’re not in class to help me with the quizzes. I never said thanks, by the way.”

Her eyebrows pop and then she blushes.

I fucking love when she blushes. I flip back into tormentor mode as quickly as that. I reach out and finger her earlobe, stroking the little flap softly.

She jerks her head away. “Fuck you, Cole.”

“Oh, I’m planning on it, Pink,” I say in a low and seductive voice.

Blushing deeper, she shoves at my chest and turns to walk swiftly back to the truck.

Chuckling, I follow.

She hops in her seat and crosses her arms over her chest. As if that will protect her from me.

I get in the truck and start it up. “I will say this, though, Pink.”

She turns at the business-like tone of my voice. I like that she already gets me—when I’m serious, when I’m dicking with her.

“One word to any parent in Wolf Ridge and a posse of dads will go down to the school and literally kick Brumgard’s ass and then get him thrown out of the school. I guarantee you that. So I’m just saying—it’s on the table, if that’s what you want.”

I speak with total certainty. Bailey may not be pack, but she’s a kid at our school. Every father in Wolf Ridge would realize it could’ve been their pup who was assaulted, and they would be out for blood. Brumgard may be a human, but they’d make him pay, anyway. And I guarantee Alpha Green would turn a blind eye to every pack rule that goes against.

Bailey rubs her tattoo—the one I want to know more about. “Okay, good to know.”

“You want me to get it rolling? I’ll do it.”

“No.” She shakes her head, still staring at her ink. “I don’t know. I just need some time to think things over. I just want to keep it between us for now.” She shrugs.

“Okay.” I pull back out onto the dirt road. “You hold the power,” I remind her.

But then I wish I hadn’t, because the look she sends me—the gratitude there—does all kinds of fucked up things with my head.

Chapter 5

Bailey

Cole pulls up in the alley behind our houses instead of on the street. I’m about to ask him why, when I catch sight of his dad standing on the back porch, staring us down with murder in his eyes.

“Fuck,” Cole mutters.

His dad looks off. Sweaty. Red-faced. Disheveled clothing and hair. He’s holding the customary beer bottle in his hand.

Chills run down my arms. Is Cole going to be in trouble for coming home with me—the enemy’s daughter—in his truck?

“Get out, Pink,” he says tightly, not taking his eyes off his dad.

I don’t wait. I dive out of the truck and jog around the far side of my house away from Cole’s house to the front door. Even though it feels like I severed a limb and left it in Cole’s cab, I’m almost grateful for the sudden parting. It saves me the awkwardness of figuring out what to say and trying to decipher what things will be like between us tomorrow.

My mom isn’t home yet which isn’t a surprise. She works late every night, sometimes until eight, trying to get the regulatory situation cleaned up at the brewery.

I pull out a box of mac ‘n cheese and put a pot of water on to boil.

And that’s when I hear it. Even though I know immediately who it is, I try to tell myself it won’t be them—not Cole and his dad yelling outside. Because I last saw them in back, and these voices are coming from the front.

I open the front door and choke on my own spit.

It’s a full-on brawl on the sidewalk. No, not a brawl. A one-sided fight with Cole’s dad on top and Cole covering his head and face and dodging the blows. Behind them, Casey screams, “Stop it!” from the flagstone steps. “Dad! Stop it!”