I pushed through the trees until I found a small clearing. I sat down on the ground, leaning back against one of the trees.
I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
I hated pack gatherings.
I hated being around people who thought they were better than me just because I wasn’t pretty.
But most of all, I hated that I let it get to me. I was stronger than that. I could handle this.
I closed my eyes, taking another deep breath.
And that’s when I smelled him. I smelled the scent of a wolf, but not just any wolf. I smelled the scent of my brother’s best friend.
The guy I had been avoiding my entire life. The guy who every girl in the pack dreamed about.
I opened my eyes as a figure stepped into the clearing. He was tall and muscular, his dirty blond hair messy and his bright blue eyes narrowed.
He was only wearing a pair of swim trunks, and I could see the tattoos on his chest. They covered his entire torso, and they even went up his neck a little bit. He had more tattoos on his arms, and even a few on his legs.
He looked every bit the bad boy that he was.
“What are you doing in here, Ivy?” he asked, his voice deep and husky.
I shivered, looking away from him.
“Nothing,” I muttered.
He took a step closer to me, and I looked back up at him. He was glaring down at me, his eyes narrowed.
“Why aren’t you at the party?” he asked.
“I’m not really a party person,” I said, avoiding his gaze.
He let out a snort. “You’re not a party person?”
“No,” I said. “Parties aren’t really my thing.”
He took another step closer. “But it’s my birthday. Don’t you want to celebrate with me?”
I looked back up at him, my heart racing.
Yes.
I did want to celebrate his birthday.
But not with the rest of the pack. I didn’t care about any of them. But him… him, I cared about.
Even if I didn’t want to admit it.
“I do,” I said softly. “But I just…”
“You just what?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. He took another step closer, and I found myself looking up at him.
He towered over me, and he smelled so damn good.
“What’s wrong, Ivy?” he asked softly.
I looked away, taking a deep breath. “Nothing. I just don’t like being around a lot of people.”
“Are you afraid of them?” he asked.
I looked back up at him and shook my head. I wasn’t afraid of anyone in the pack, but I couldn’t say the same about him. He intimidated me, and there was no way I was going to admit that to him.
“No,” I lied.
He raised an eyebrow, taking another step closer. He was so close now that his legs were almost touching mine, and I had to crane my neck to look up at him.
“You’re not afraid of me?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. His eyes were narrowed, and his lips were tilted into a frown.
I shook my head again. “No. I’m not afraid of you.”
“Good,” he said, his voice dropping even lower. “Because I would hate to scare you.”
I swallowed hard. He didn’t scare me. He never had.
But he did make me nervous.
He made me feel things that I wasn’t supposed to feel.
Because he wasn’t my mate. He could never be my mate. Not with the way he went through the females.
But that didn’t stop me from feeling this way about him.
Even if he wasn’t mine, I wanted him to be.
And that scared me more than anything else.
It scared me because I knew that he could never truly be mine, and I didn’t think that I could handle knowing that he belonged to somebody else.
I wasn’t that strong.
“Are you okay, Ivy?” he asked. He bent down in front of me, placing his hands on the ground on either side of me.
I found myself trapped between him and the tree, and I couldn’t stop the way my breath caught in my throat.
“Fine,” I said quickly.
“You sure?” he asked, moving even closer.
He was so close that his breath fanned across my face, and I couldn’t look away from him.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Good,” he murmured, his gaze roaming over my face.
I felt like he was staring straight into my soul, and I couldn’t do anything to stop him.
I couldn’t do anything but stare back at him, trapped in his gaze.
“What are you thinking about, Ivy?” he murmured.
I licked my lips, his gaze dropping down to follow the movement.
I couldn’t tell him what I was really thinking about. That wouldn’t be a good idea. Not when he was this close to me.
So instead, I shrugged. “Nothing,” I whispered. “I’m not thinking about anything.”
“Liar,” he accused, his lips twitching. “What are you thinking about? Hm?”
I licked my lips again, my mouth suddenly dry. “Nothing. Really, I’m not.”
“Liar,” he repeated.
I let out a breath, looking away from him. “I’m thinking about you.”
He was quiet for a moment, and when I looked back at him, he was staring at me. His eyes were wide, and his lips were parted.
“What about me?” he finally asked.
I shook my head, looking down at my lap. “Nothing.”
He reached out, grabbing my chin between his thumb and pointer finger. He tilted my head up, forcing me to look back at him.
“What about me?” he whispered.
I swallowed hard, trying to pull my chin out of his grasp. But he wouldn’t let me.