Page 20 of Ruthless Alpha Beast

I look at him, assessing his stupid, self-righteous, chiseled face.

I hate how much his proposal makes sense. I bet he thinks he’s got me, trapped me real good.

Ugh.

I don’t want to give him the satisfaction, I don’t want to see him again, let alone have to live with him!

Is being in a relationship with him, even if fake, something that I can actually stomach?

I’m not sure.

I want to tell him to go to hell again, but then I think of my new friends, Danielle and Monroe. They give so much to the packs despite the way some of them still treat them.

And why do they do it? They do it for the greater good.

I take a deep breath. It’s the hardest thing to do, but sometimes, you do have to do things for the greater good.

Sometimes, you have to put others before yourself.

“I think this plan is completely insane,” I say. “I also think that you can’t just come up to me like you did the other day and kiss me out of the blue like that. I had to spend a good time scrubbing the taste out of my mouth.”

I didn’t. But he doesn’t need to know that.

“Fine,” he says. “I promise I won’t do that again. You’ll have control. This is a deal we’ll navigate together.”

Together. Hate the idea of that with him, but control, on the other hand, sounds pretty nice.

“Fine,” I respond.

He cocks his head a little. “Is that a deal?”

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but “yes, that’s a deal.”

He walks toward me, and my stomach begins to flutter as though a whole army of butterflies has just been let loose in my abdomen. I want to back away, but I’m against a tree, and there’s not much further to go.

As he looms above me, he outstretches his hand.

He smells like firewood and cologne. He looks so smug, I want to bat his stupidly big hand away, but I don’t.

Begrudgingly, I place my hand in his and force myself to shake.

As I do, I’m zapped by something.

What the hell was that?

It’s the strangest feeling, some underlying current that sparks along my bloodstream.

An electric shock.

I snap my hand back immediately. His face is unmoved, so I assume that the strange electricity was only felt on my end.

That’s the last time I’ll touch his hand.

I want to tell him this, but it’s hard to think straight.

Chapter 6 - Jasper

“This is a joke, right?”