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Boys like Asher shouldn’t be allowed to have such nice cars. It sent a bad message to girls like Giselle. She’d want to ride around in it all the time, and given her situation, that wasn’t likely. It was nothing more than a tease. Not fair!
She came up on Asher leaning against the front grill of his truck, looking damn sexy with that devil-may-care attitude and the deadly combination of icy eyes and dark hair. Seriously, a look like that should be outlawed. The things he could do with just a glance! It made her knees weak just looking at him. And she had the pleasure of spending the next hour-ish with him. Alone. Be still, her heart. It raced as his gaze lifted and those irresistible eyes met hers.
She tried her best to keep cool, while avoiding making a scene by tripping over her own feet. “Where are we heading?” At least she managed to sound calm and collected.
Asher crossed his arms, looking as if he were planting himself in the spot. “I didn’t say we were going anywhere.”
“It’s lunch. I’m starving. Aren’t you? Full moon is coming soon.”
He shrugged. “I have control over my hunger.”
Of course he does. They all do. “Well, I don’t. I didn’t grow up with wolves. Never got the nutrition lessons.”
Slowly, almost lazily, his eyes traveled the length of her body. Not in the way she’d hoped, though. Judgmental. If a simple glance could be such; but disconcerting all the same. She might not have been rich, or even from a real family, but she was worth his time. Maybe she was reading too much into it. With the full moon’s pull so strong, she was likely reading things with too much emotion thrown in. Still, though, the silence between them was unnerving.
When he finally spoke, she’d almost forgotten the conversation, lost in her own insecurity.
“You need meat.”
“Funny how everyone keeps saying that.”
“It’s a fact, and one I can see you’re in desperate need of. You’re weak.”
“I am not!”
“Let me guess. You’re emotional, defensive, and probably exhausted right now, correct?”
A little, but she was always this way around that time of the month. Giselle shrugged.
“Too much crap food. Not enough rest, and definitely lacking in red meat... lots of it!”
“Whatever. I’m more than just a carnivore.”
“You could be vegan for all anyone cares, but the wolf is a predator and a carnivore, so deal with it.”
To hear him talk like that was odd. He should be on the junk food bandwagon with the rest of the highschoolers. But Taylor and Di had said similar things. Maybe it really was a wolf thing, and she’d never had someone to teach her the importance. “I’ll deal with my carnivorous nature when you hop in that truck and take me to a burger place.”
Asher laughed, genuinely, for what was probably the first – and maybe the last – time. When he wasn’t being a jerkoff, he was really damn cute. Especially with that super wide smile that revealed all his teeth. If she hadn’t known he was wolf, she might have thought him a vampire for the sharpness of his canines.
“You’ve got some Alpha in you, has anyone ever told you?” His tone might have been playful, but there was a serious edge to the question.
“Yeah, Martina.”
“That’s why she wants you.” He scoffed and jumped into the truck. “Get in.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. Her stomach grumbling for food and she was eager to hear what he had to say, so she was in the truck and buckling her seat belt in seconds. “Okay. Tell me what you know. What’s the deal with the family feud?”
“Bad blood between the families.”
“Obviously.”
“And lies. And rumors.” He started the truck and drove slowly out of the student parking lot.
“Again... Thank you, Captain Obvious. Details!”
“We wolves are a proud bunch... born wolves, not turned wolves. Wolf families are huge and close-knit, even in packs that spread across state lines. Multiples are common for wolf moms too; did you know that?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. “My family has two sets of twins, then me.”
That might put her off sex forever. Pregnancy was a scare most girls didn’t want to have, but multiples while still in school... or any time, for that matter, were way too much to handle. “Okay, and where are we going with this lesson on family planning?”
“Martina has no kids of her own. Don’t you find that odd?”
“I hadn’t until you just mentioned it.”
“She’s barren, and she blames my father.”
“Did your dad do something to her?”
“No!”
“So then why would she blame him?”
“Martina had a sister. She and her sister were a twin set.”
Giselle’s eyebrow lifted at that new piece of information.
“Back in the day, the packs here were working to align through marriage. Martina’s sister was promised to my father.”
“Okay, so how many packs are here in Vegas?”
“Two now, but there used to be another. Moved down to Phoenix, last I heard.”
“Okay, so two packs joining together in wedded bliss.”
He scoffed. “Not exactly. Before the marriage, it was found that the sister, Christina, had been having a secret relationship and was already carrying the other guy’s child.”
“Okay.” Giselle shrugged. Nothing shocking there. “Arranged marriages don’t work these days anyway.”
“Wolf packs are different. You do as your Alpha says, no questions asked. She defied her Alpha and betrayed our pack.”
“Can’t blame her.”
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Yes, you can. Pack law.”
Giselle scoffed. Pack law. Bunch of bull! “Good reason to stay a lone wolf then.”
“Don’t laugh at things you don’t understand.” His tone bordered dangerously on anger.
She’d touched a nerve with her comments, obviously. These things seemed so silly. Arranged marriages in this day. Who would expect any of that rubbish to work? Still, she noted his annoyance and the way he sped down the street, and decided it was better to ease up on her attitude. “Sorry, go on. So she defied the pack.”
“Yes, and insulted my family. My father, obviously, refused the marriage. It didn’t go over well with either pack.”
“Okay, so, where’s Christina now?”
“She died... unfortunately.”
Giselle had a pretty good guess how that happened. Made sense now why the two packs hated each other. “How?”
Asher shrugged. “No one really knows, but my father was blamed.”
“Well, obviously.”
Asher slammed the brakes, nearly sending Giselle through the windshield. “He didn’t do it!”
“Sorry, that was petty of me to make assumptions.” Giselle quickly backpedaled. “So that started the hatred?”
“That, and the rumor he hired a witch to curse her family so they would never have children to continue the pack line.”
“Did he?”
“No.” Asher shrugged.
“That doesn’t sound convincing.”
“Well, my father had nothing to do with that. But I wouldn’t put much past my grandfather where revenge is concerned. He’d been more disappointed about the ordeal than my dad had. And Martina being unable to have children despite the adoring husband she has is also quite odd.”
Very. But Giselle had only known the husband and wife team for roughly a month. Maybe they were just lovey dovey for show. “Okay, so the two packs have hated each other since the botched marriage.”
“That’s putting it mildly. A small war broke out, and wolves from both packs were killed. Right now we’re in sort of a cold war standoff. Neither of us are making a move, but that doesn’t mean we’re not ready to battle again. And every bad thing that happens between our families makes it worse. Like my cousin going missing during the last full moon...”
“And you blame Martina for that?”
“He was running in her territory.”
“So. Was. I.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “The entire time?”
“Most of it. I had to wait to be sure the coast was clear before I snuck out.”
“Well, eyes are on Martina. It’s not the first time she’s killed a trespasser in her territory.”
“I just don’t see that happening. She’d never kill.” No way. Martina was too sweet for that.
Asher smiled wickedly, revealing his teeth on purpose as he spoke. “You’re so sure? And how long have you known her? We’re all predators.” The way he said that sent a delicious chill down Giselle’s spine. That guy was the full package. Sex on a stick. So damn yummy, and yet, so distant and unreachable. She had to make sure she savored this little car ride together; chances were it would be the last they could share. If she signed on to be in Martina’s pack, she was as good as his enemy.
“So what’s the Alpha part of the equation?”
“She’s building her pack selectively instead of through birth. My pack are all born wolves, and we all fit together in our roles: Alpha, beta, and omega. Like a pack should be. She’s stacking the deck, and we think she’s preparing for war. No pack should have such an imbalance of power.”
“I think you might be over-thinking things. She can’t choose who she gets through foster care. Besides, have your two families ever attempted to talk peacefully?”
“No. Only the Alpha deals with another Alpha.”
“Well, then have your Alpha talk to mine. Stop this bullshit.”
“The bullshit has not even started. Stay away. My Alpha will get to the bottom of my cousin’s disappearance and punish the pack responsible.”
“Was that a veiled threat?”
“Take it as you like. But when we find out for certain it was Martina’s pack, retribution will be swift. You do not want to be part of that.”
“Oh so you’re warning me, then...”
“We’re here.” He pulled the car into the parking lot of Grinder’s Burgers. “Get your food and I’ll take you back to school.”
Despite her desire to argue with him some more, the call of freshly grilled beef wafting on the breeze had her wolf’s full attention. “We’re not done here.”
“Yes, we are. Get your food and heed my warning. I can’t say anything more.”
Giselle slipped out of the truck and headed inside. She’d get to the bottom of things, and soon – before she lost her new family, one way or the other...