I woke up early, feeling rested and ready for the day. The cabin was silent as I crept to the bathroom.After getting dressed, I went downstairs. Victor was sound asleep in the chair with his feet on the coffee table.I went to the kitchen and got a glass of juice and a banana before slipping out the back door.At the edge of the dock, I sat down to drink my juice, eat my banana, and watch the morning sun glimmer off the tiny ripples that spread across the lake.I just finished my banana when a strange pair of sneakers appeared at my side. I looked up and saw a girl who appeared to be about my age.She had a pretty face surrounded by gorgeous auburn hair. She was petite with a curvy figure and was dressed in shorts and a sweatshirt that advertised a baseball team.“Mind if I sit with you?” The girl asked. She had a brilliant smile that made me smile too.“Sure,” I replied and moved my glass of juice closer to me.“I’m Lexi,” she said and put out her hand for me to shake.I shook her h
Panic coursed through me when I heard Victor’s words. Everyone had been so friendly to us at the barbecue. Why would they be following us now?Maybe it was a trap. I could hear and smell the wolves running behind us too.With my body quivering, I looked around for a place to shift in private.“Over here, Miss,” Jennifer called. “Come behind this pine tree with me to shift.”I hurried behind the low-hanging boughs and kicked off my sneakers. But before I could remove anything else, I heard a girl calling my name.“Daisy, where are you?” It was Lexi. “Wait for me.”“Who’s with you, Lexi?” I asked. “Just my cousin, Cara. My brothers were following you, but I told them to go home, or I would tell Dad.”I came out from behind the pine tree and found Lexi and another petite young girl with auburn hair.“But we smelled wolves behind us,” I said. It didn’t make sense.“Yeah. Lucas and Liam shifted before they followed you,” Lexi explained. “They can be buttheads, but they wouldn’t hurt you. T
We did as Alex asked, and we found him at his desk in his home office, looking every inch the CEO.It was the first time I had seen him in one of his expensive suits since he had been admitted to the hospital. He was cleanly shaven, and not a hair on his head was out of place.His computer was running in front of him.“I have one of my lawyers going to the meeting,” Alex said. “He’s going to make sure they put me on screen.”We sat down where we couldn’t be seen by the computer’s web camera and waited. I couldn’t help bouncing my leg with anticipation.Finally, the computer came to life, and I could hear John Cameron’s voice. “Alex, you shouldn’t have gotten out of bed for this meeting.“ he said.“I’m fine,” Alex said. “But thank you for your concern, John.” Alex’s voice was strong and confident. “What is the purpose of this sudden meeting on a Sunday night?”“Evidently, you’ve heard what it’s about, or you wouldn’t be sitting in on the meeting,” John Cameron snapped.“Yes, I heard,”
I didn’t want to visit Justin and be the cause of him breaking my best friend’s heart. But how could I allow him to keep lying to her?Why would he want her to think he was a Beta instead of an Alpha unless he was trying to fit in and use her?I cringed when I met Amy outside the school, and she asked me what I had wanted to talk about the previous evening.I couldn’t tell her I was going to visit her lying boyfriend to get him to confess to her he was an Alpha.It felt kind of wrong to interfere this way. But I love Amy and can’t stand the thought of her being used.“I had a fight with Victor, and I needed to talk about it,” I replied. It was the truth, just not the whole truth.“Are you sure?” Amy asked. “It sounded like something worse was going on than you guys fighting again.”“Yeah, everything’s okay,” I said, feeling guilty for not telling her I was checking out her boyfriend that afternoon. But it was for her own good.The bell rang before I had to say anything else, and we ma
Diana and I went for a run that evening before I could sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about Amy and Justin.Would Justin tell her about our conversation? And will Amy be mad at me because I knew for weeks that Justin is an Alpha, and I didn’t tell her?I woke up that morning with it still on my mind.After getting ready for school, I checked on Alex and grabbed a bagel before going outside to see if Joe was ready to take me to school yet.Joe had the car ready, so I ate my bagel on the way. I was still chewing on half of it when I got out of the car and spotted Amy near the tree where we always met in the morning.Her eyes were on her phone screen, and she didn’t see me walking toward her.Did she know about Justin yet?That question was answered when I got to her side, and she looked up at me with a brilliant smile.“Good morning, Daisy,” she said. “Eew, are you eating that bagel plain and untoasted? That’s like eating cardboard.”“I was, um …in …in a hurry,” I stammered. “I oversle
“Whatever Alex wants to discuss, it must be urgent. “ Victor said.“Do you know what your mother wants to talk about?” I asked. “It must be important too.”“I have no idea,” Victor replied. “I’ll take you home and talk to Alex. You should text my mother and ask her to meet you at the mansion in a few hours. Maybe you could talk over dinner.”“Good idea,” I agreed and sent Lana a text.After locking my office, we returned to the parking garage, and Victor drove us to my home.I was pleased to see Alex was in his home office again, but the look in his eyes told me he was upset about something.“Come in and sit down, both of you,” he said.Victor and I took seats before the desk and waited for him to speak.“It has come to my attention that John Cameron has not given up on stealing the company from Daisy,” he said. “I was told he is now attempting to smear her reputation.”Victor nodded. “He has spies watching her every move. One of them tipped off the tabloids about Daisy, studying with
Victors POVI could tell by the tone of Alex’s text that he wanted to discuss something urgent. Yet I was stunned when he handed me a file and told me he was handing over the leadership of The United Association of Alphas to me immediately.I held the file in my hand and stared at Alex.I couldn’t believe it was happening. My main goal over the past twenty years was now literally in my hands. All I needed to do was sign the papers in front of association members and be sworn in.Why didn’t I feel happy about it?“You can’t accept the position yet,” Adam said in my mind. “It will be the end of your agreement with Daisy. We will lose her and Diana to the other wolf.”“Silence, Adam,” I told him. “I can’t think with all your chatter.”“I will be silent,” Adam replied. “But you know you don’t want to lose them either. You care for Daisy more than you want to admit to yourself.”“I said, be silent,” I repeated as I realized Alex was looking at me strangely. Thank the Goddess, he and Daisy
I knew what Amy was going to tell me about Justin before she said a word the following day outside our school.“Justin went away with his family yesterday. There’s a family emergency,” she said. “He said he has some important stuff to talk about with me when he gets back.”“Oh, I hope his family is okay,” I said, doing my best to pretend I didn’t know that there was no emergency.Justin had sent me a text the night before. He said he wanted to tell his family about Amy before he revealed his secret to her.He felt the best place to tell them was while they were visiting his grandmother, who lived on the other coast. She wasn’t as prejudiced against Betas as the rest of his family.I disagreed with his decision to delay telling Amy, but Justin seemed sincere in wanting to come clean with both Amy and his parents.So far, Amy was okay. She missed him, but Justin promised to call her every evening until he came home.It was nice to have Amy’s full attention when we were together instead