Page 20 of Alpha Games
I carefully pulled out the bag of chips from under me, thanking the Goddess it hadn’t opened and sprayed crumbs everywhere. “There’s something you don’t know. It’s not on social media or anything, but Ranger is related to Lester Norman.”
I thought of how he carried himself. The dark swirl of danger clinging to him like shadows and the way his power pulsed stronger than the other Alphas. He was hot. I fully agreed with my wolf about that.
Finally.She nodded.
But we’re in over our heads.
“Horseshit,” Papa spit. “You of all people know blood isn’t everything and I’ve heard you say it a million times that even criminals deserve a second chance. Why don’t you trust your wolf on this one?”
Yeah. Why don’t you trust me?She practically stuck out her tongue.
“Okay, fine.” I ripped a piece of jerky off with my teeth. “But don’t blame me when something bad happens.”
*
He was going to die.
The buses dropped us off on top of a mountain plateau overlooking a ravine that dipped into a valley. White tents were erected and camera crews were already hard at work getting the Alpha interviews filmed.
I stood at the edge of the cliff. My shoe slipped on the dirt, sending a loose rock careening down the mountain side toward the ravine. The first obstacle was a mud pit. I didn’t know what else to call the hundreds of meters of jagged rock and quicksand like mud under the swinging ropes and trapeze ladders at least a mile high in the air.
And that was only the first obstacle.
Get away from the edge.My wolf pressed herself as far against the back of my mind as she could, squeezing her eyes shut as the wind whipped around my ears. Jesse was adamant on yanking my hair into elaborate braids this morning and now I knew why.
Welp,my wolf whispered as I took a step away from the vantage point of the mud pit death trap.I can’t say it was nice knowing him.
I swallowed down the uneasy fear of being this high up and turned back to the contestants milling about the tents. Trenton nodded to the camera team, finishing his interview. Ranger was still somewhere inside. I’d been trying to focus on Trenton this morning. It was hard when Ranger was on the same bus. Trenton and I’d sat near the front, but Ranger was like true north to my compass and kept pulling my attention his way.
Trenton walked over to me.
“How did it go?” I asked.
Did you get your last words on record?
I bit my lip, trying not to laugh at my wolf.
“Fine.” He shrugged.
“Hopefully you responded with more than one-word syllables.” I sighed. Making this deal with Alpha Derek hadn’t seemed that difficult when I’d never watched the show, but now that I knew what Molly wanted, I was wondering if I’d agreed to the impossible.
Trenton’s jaw ticked as he shoved his hands into his pockets, staring at the obstacle course below. “I’m still trying to figure out how you became the expert on dating show etiquette.”
“You and me both.” I laughed. But I guess anything could happen with the right motivation and holding my papa over my head definitely got me to jump.
“You should do that more,” Trenton said.
“Do what?” I smiled, wrapping my arms over my chest as the breeze picked up.
He dragged his hand through his hair to catch the strands whipping in his face. “Laugh.”
My smile instantly dropped. “There isn’t a lot that’s funny in my life.”
“And why is that?” Ranger’s deep voice caught me off-guard as his scent was blown the other direction and I startled, taking a step back.
“Careful there.” His large hand wrapped around my elbow, steadying me, and I looked up into his dark brown eyes. The heat from his touch warmed my entire body despite the wind.
Hello gorgeous.My wolf purred.