3

BROOKE

“Why does it have to be Theo, of all people?” I lament, poking my food around my plate with a fork.

I’m glad my sister decided to stick around for dinner at the complex tonight, because the other girls on the IT unit are so charmed by Theo that my complaints would fall on deaf ears. I barely got anything done today after he decided to post up at my desk and torment me with his incessant chatter.

“Is it that bad?” Fallon asks, tilting her head, eyes sympathetic.

“Worse,” I scoff. “He actually tried hitting on me today.”

“He what?!” Fallon’s eyes fly wide, then she erupts in a fit of giggles.

I narrow my eyes, stabbing a piece of chicken with my fork. “Ohhhkay, it’s not that frickin’ funny, Fallon.”

I’m a little offended that she finds it so outrageous that I’d be hit on by someone. Just because I’m studious doesn’t mean I’m frigid.

It isn’t always easy being Fallon’s twin sister. She’s got such a big personality that I’ve lived most of my life in the shadow of it. She’s so lively and brave and confident. Makes friends so easily. She’s fearless, reckless, but she always seems to squeak out of things on top. Things just work out for her, effortlessly.

Then there’s me. Quiet. Smart. Sensible. Level-headed. Planning everything out to mitigate the risk. I couldn’t be more different from my sister, and honestly, I envy Fallon in a lot of ways. I wish I could be more carefree like her instead of always being the good girl, the nice girl. Sometimes I think when the embryo split to make us identical twins all of the ‘fun’ traits got bestowed upon her.

“I can just imagine the look on his face when you shot him down!” Fallon laughs.

Okay, so she didn’t mean anything negative toward me at her reaction. I guess I’m just being extra sensitive today after spending the afternoon being annoyed by Theo.

I smirk, thinking back to how he just stared at me when I turned him down, hazel eyes blinking. “I don’t think the word ‘no’ was part of his vocabulary before today,” I chuckle, popping a bite of chicken into my mouth and chewing.

“So how long are you stuck with him?” Boyd asks, leaning toward me.

Boyd’s one of Fallon’s close friends from back home. He made the squad when she did, along with their friend Davis, who is sitting at another table for dinner tonight with his mate, Casey. Rounding out our table are Shay, Connor, and Judd- more squad members that were at training camp with Fallon and recently made the squad. I’ve become friendly with them, too, through my sister.

“A few months,” I sigh.

“At least he’s nice to look at,” Shay shrugs, twirling pasta around her fork. “I’d do him.”

Fallon and I both turn to give her simultaneous looks of disgust.

“What?” Shay laughs. “The bad boy thing totally works for me.” She waggles her eyebrows, adding, “and I bet those alphas are all growly and dominant in the bedroom.”

“You have no idea,” Fallon smirks, taking a bite of her food.

My cheeks heat in response to Shay’s vulgar comments. I stare down at my plate.

“Ohhhkay,” Boyd groans. “Can we talk about something else now?”

Shay and Fallon giggle together, while I go back to pushing my food around my plate with my fork.

“Hey Brooke, are you coming out with us tomorrow?” Connor asks, peering over at me from underneath his shaggy brown hair.

Connor and I have been enjoying a casual flirtation for the past couple weeks. He’s cute- athletic build, boyishly handsome, and a little on the quieter side, like me. I’ve been having fun getting to know him, though so far it has always been in a group setting.

“Yeah, I think so,” I breathe.

Theo was right, I could use a night out. Just not with him.

Connor smiles. “Cool.”

He goes back to eating, while I go back to playing with my food.

Fallon and her friends talk about the drills they ran at practice today while I listen half-heartedly. Sometimes I feel like an outcast among them, a lone wolf. I know they’d never make me feel that way intentionally, but I just have very little interest in all the sporty stuff they’re into.

My wolf perks up as the back of my neck prickles, a strange sensation coming over me like someone’s watching. My skin tingles as my wolf goes straight into paranoid protector mode, making me look around cautiously, on high alert. I scan the tables around ours in the dining hall, searching for the source of my discomfort, but everyone seems to be lost in their own conversations, eating their food.

My eyes continue to skim across the room, stopping, flying back to meet another pair. Intense, hazel eyes staring into mine from under a furrowed brow. Theo’s eyes. My breath catches in my throat and my heartbeat quickens.

Why the heck is Theo watching me from across the dining hall like a creepy stalker?

He holds eye contact for a moment before he looks away, back to his friends at his table.

My sense of unease remains, though. I take my plate in a hand and rise from the bench, throwing a leg over it to climb out. “I’ll catch you guys later,” I say, suddenly feeling the need to flee. When it comes to the fight or flight instinct, mine is decidedly flight.

“Whaaat?” Fallon whines in objection, peering up at me from the bench.

“I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on,” I reply flippantly. “So I can go out tomorrow.”

“Fine,” Fallon sighs, spinning back around, her ponytail flying. She’s lucky it didn’t land in my plate.

I drop my plate in the wash bin and head out of the dining hall, making a beeline for the squad dorms. I don’t lose that icky, prickly feeling until I’m tucked safely in my room.

I pull out my laptop, flop down on my bed, and lose myself in lines of code.