Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I let out a contented whimper.
“Better, baby?” He strokes slowly over my pussy.
I’m not sure what he’s asking me. My brain still hasn’t returned to the room.
He rolls me to my side and arranges himself behind me, his much larger body spooned around mine. “See? The fever’s gone now.” He pulls the blankets up around us. “I’m gonna fuck you to sleep every night you need it.”
I register his dark promise right in my core where it causes a squeezing and tingling and buzzing.
“Maybe even the nights you don’t.”
Another clench.
He bites my neck. “Maybe having a stepsister isn’t the worst thing in the world.”
I send my elbow backward to catch him in the ribs. “Fuck off, Woodward.”
His teeth sink so deep into my shoulder they almost break the skin, but I hardly notice the pain. It’s his hardened cock pressing against my ass that makes me freeze.
What now…
Chapter Seventeen
Wilde
I blow the whistle and wave my hand in the predetermined signal, and the Wolf Ridge High players divide and coalesce exactly as instructed. It’s odd but not dissatisfying to be watching the team instead of playing.
The autumn sun is warm but not scorching, most of its rays blocked by the mountain at this hour. I glance over to the parking lot and receive a shot of pleasure when I spot Rayne sitting in my Jeep.
She texted me after school to say she was going to the library for tutoring with Lincoln and that she would wait for me in the Jeep afterward.
He touches you, he’s a dead man, I texted back.
She sent me an eye roll emoji that made me smile.
This morning, I made sure Rayne ate a huge breakfast of the leftover pancakes and Canadian bacon from yesterday, then I opened a window in her room and stripped the bed. Our parents will be back sometime today, and they would definitely scent everything that went down between the runt–I mean, Rayne–and I.
I threw the sheets in the washing machine and started it up before I drove her to school, then I took the damaged Jeep to the auto shop to see what Greg had to say about repairing it. As I suspected, he will help me repair it at very little cost. I just have to go to the salvage yard to find a fender, and he’ll help me repair the dent and replace it.
I give three short blows of my whistle, and the team switches into the next play.
I love assisting Coach Jamison. Maybe it’s lame, but I feel like the Wolf Ridge High field is where I belong. Where I became a wolf. Where I became a man. Where I learned about the brotherhood of pack and the glory of youth.
Coach asked me to teach the team something new I learned at Duke, so I went through some formations and plays on the whiteboard first, and then we go out to practice them.
It took the team only an hour to master what it took the human team at Duke months to perfect.
“What do you think?” Jamison asks me.
“They look great.”
“Agreed. Run them through the strength and agility and then make them stretch out before they go.” He walks away, leaving me completely in charge.
It’s a strange feeling to have his trust like this. To know that he thinks I’m worthy of leading a team I only left a year and a quarter ago.
He disappears, showing the team his faith in me, only reappearing when it’s all over.
“You obviously won’t see much of this out on the field this weekend,” Coach warns. “But these skills will definitely come in handy when you’re old enough to compete in the shifter games.” He refers to the regional competitions that serve as matchmaking functions. A chance for all the shifters in the region to gather and sniff each other out. See if they can find their fated mate.
“This weekend I want to see you excel at losing until the final quarter. That’s the game. Look good while screwing up. Make it all seem like bad luck. Then sweep it at the end. Got it?”
This is how Wolf Ridge ballers play. We can’t look too good, so we make games out of fumbling and recovering. Appearing human.
“Yes, Coach,” the team chants.
“Okay, go get in the showers. Practice is over.”
I head into the showers for a quick clean-up, too, then I find Abe. I’ve been mulling over what Bailey said to me about changing Rayne’s status here and decided she’s right.
“Oakley, what’s this?” I wave the Homecoming ballot in his face.
He gives me a cocky grin. “What?”
“You put Rayne on the ballot. Why?”
His grin grows wider. “I dunno. I thought it would be funny to have a human and the ru–” he breaks off when he sees my upper lip lift in a snarl. “Sorry, bro.” He throws his hand up in surrender.