Page 70 of Luna Trials

“I’m not scared,” I lied. Thank the Goddess I was downwind.

“You know I’ll take care of you, right?”

Come again?

“I didn’t ask you to take care of me,” I said, a little too high-pitched in my attempt to understand what was happening.

“You didn’t have to ask.” Ranger sighed, running a hand over his head. I glanced down at his workout shorts, seeing the outline teasing me beneath the material, and forced my eyes back to his face.

“If this is what you want, I’ll find a way to make it work.” He sounded tired, unsure. Like I was causing him pain.

“If… I… want you?” I wasn’t normally the TSTL type of girl, but what he was saying didn’t make any sense.

“You want me.” He smirked.

Arrogant. Freaking. Alphas.

“Do I want you?”No.Yes.Maybe!

I didn’t know. But the way he was looking at me had heat spreading through my core and an ache building between my thighs.

“Oh, you want me.” He sniffed the air.

Damn shifters and their sense of smell.

“Biological reactions.” I shrugged it off.

Ranger’s eyes narrowed as if he didn’t understand. I was about to explain it to him when he held up his hand.

“Why are you really here, Aspen?” he asked.

The sound of my name on his tongue shouldn’t have affected me the way it did. “Why do you care?”

His pupils widened and he took a step toward me, right as his jaw flexed and he looked away. “I asked you a question.”

“I asked you one too.”

He grinned. The sight of it made my heart flutter and I got the sense he didn’t do it often.

“You’re a brat.”

“Excuse me?” He might as well have slapped me across the face. It didn’t matter that he’d said it like a term of endearment.

Those were fighting words.

My fists tightened. He smiled bigger.

A branch broke to our right and Ranger snarled, pushing me behind his back.

I shoved away his massive forearm. “It’s just the cameras.”

“Carry on.” The audio guy waved, pushing the microphone out through the trees.

“You like the cameras.” Ranger turned. His fangs were still extended as he growled down at me. I glared back up at him.

That was insult number three during this conversation and I wasn’t planning to stick around for one more.

The resort intercom buzzed to life, saving me from giving Ranger a real piece of my mind. “Luna candidates, please head to makeup. You have two hours before the second trial begins.”