Rise of the Alpha
Chapter 19

Blaine

Is this how life is always going to be with this woman? Chasing her a*s around because she just runs off? This is becoming a habit of hers, and the only good thing about chasing after her is getting to watch her plump a*s bounce with each step she takes.

Following her through the crowd of people in the pit area surrounding the cage, I can see every man and woman’s l**t-filled eyes on her. I make sure to keep an eye on Magnolia as she so recklessly runs toward the fight, the crowd parting for her like the sea. I’m not taking any more chances on someone grabbing her like that a*****e did before the fight. I thought Jude was about to shift and go full demon on his a*s. People think that his only power is s*x, but his demon side actually has increased speed and strength, along with the fact that he can suck a person’s soul out of them with his k**s of death.

He doesn’t use it unless he’s sent to do something for the demon court, but I think he was about to change that when scar face touched our girl. Luckily, at Club KO, all we had to do was mention who she was here for and he unhanded her quickly. No one around here will dare f**k with Bone Crusher. Our girl is about to find that out firsthand.

It’s been adorable watching her worry about him. Thinking, since he’s a ferret, he would be injured or killed. She was chewing her nails, fretting over him being hurt. As if anyone stands a chance in a fight with him. When he took that hit to the face when he noticed her in the crowd, she turned ghostly white and jetted from our table to get to him, acting as if her worst fear had come to life.

So here I am, following her through the crowd until we come to an abrupt stop. I look up from her delectable a*s to see why we halted our journey. We’ve made it to the gate that leads directly to the cage. The guard is informing Magnolia she can’t get through, but she shoves him away like he’s a piss ant, and barrels toward the winner, Bone Crusher, otherwise known as Zeke.

He catches her in his arms and their lips connect. MINE! My wolf growls, watching our mate so easily k**s Z when she has continuously rejected us. I soothe him by telling him she’ll be ours. We just need to be patient. He settles slightly, but I can feel him pacing inside me as we watch our friend taste our girl.

They’re too wrapped up in each other to notice the rest of us standing here watching them make out. I clear my throat, “Can you quit eating my mate’s face, Bone Crusher?”

Magnolia breaks the k**s and climbs off of Zeke, his eyes widening in recognition of what just happened. Magnolia wastes no time in spinning around and chastising me, “You don’t own me, wolf boy.” I raise an eyebrow at her, silently asking her if she’s sure about that. Paying me no mind, she turns her attention back to the ferret.

“So Bone Crusher, huh?” she asks Zeke while putting a hand on her h*p.

He rubs the back of his head with one hand, looking bashful of his nickname here. “Ugh, yeah, I didn’t pick it. Timur gave it to me, and it just kinda stuck,” he tells her as his cheeks redden. She just nods her head in acceptance.

There is an awkward silence between them before Zeke breaks it with his voice in a stage whisper, “So not that I didn’t enjoy your lips on mine, Pretty Wolf, but what was that about? You were ready to bathe in my b***d at school today.”

Magnolia runs her shoe in front of her on the ground while looking down, not answering. Then, after a brief silence, she looks up and takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Zeke. It was wrong of me to react so poorly without listening to your side of the story in its entirety. I just wanna move past it and start over. If that’s what you want?”

“The ferret thing doesn’t bother you, Pretty Wolf?” he asks, and I roll my eyes. If I had a quarter for every time my best friend worried about his shifted form, I’d be a f*****g billionaire, I swear.

Surprising the f**k out of me, Magnolia pulls back and socks him right in his shoulder. “No, what you shift into doesn’t matter to me. Do you think I’m that shallow?” she asks demandingly.

He blushes, and Jude smacks him upside the back of the head, “Told ya so!”

That comment has Magnolia whipping her head Jude’s way and glaring at him, “And just what is that supposed to mean?” Jude reddens to the color of a strawberry before pulling his composure back, then with a cocky-as-hell grin on his face, he wraps an arm around Magnolia, pulling her close to his side.

“Means we all have the hots for you, Maggie.”

“Maggie?” she asks at the new nickname.

Jude just shrugs, “I like it. Magnolia is too formal for our woman, babe, and I plan to try to make you our woman.”

Her eyes widen, and her mouth is open in shock as she quickly looks between all of us. “Oh, don’t worry, babe, we all agreed to pursue you since we are all best friends. Right, guys?”

Magnolia pulls away from him quickly and wags her finger at him. “There can be no pursuit. I am promised to another.” Another feral growl leaves my body as I snatch her up, bringing her nose to nose with me. Or as close as I can get since she’s so much shorter than me. “Over my dead body,” I say through clenched teeth. Jude and Zeke voice their agreement with me.

Then suddenly a flash of rainbow slips in between us and is stealing our girl away. “Sorry, fellas! But this is how it has to be,” she hollers back to us. Then mouths ‘for now’ and with that, she turns and drags a giggling Magnolia back through the crowd toward the exit.

Jude chases after them, calling, “Wait up! I’ll walk you two fine ladies to the door.” I’m glad he piped up and went with them. I wouldn’t want anyone else thinking they could put their hands on her or Wylla like that fucker from earlier. I watch them until I can’t see them anymore.

F**K!

That woman is so infuriating; Magnolia, not the witch. Why can’t she just see what is right in front of her? Why does she continue to hold on to this ‘I have to do what my Alpha says’ mentality? She’s so f*****g hot and cold. One minute she is flirty, and I think she is ready to court us, then the next she is all ‘I’m promised to another’. It’s driving me insane.

Jude comes strolling back up to us, preening like a peacock. “I got them to the door with no issues. I think they were just going back to the dorm to call it a night,” he tells us. I look from him to Zeke and can see my friends are feeling the same way. So I do the next best logical thing, wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders. “You guys wanna get shit-faced? I hear the Elixir is having a half-off on any beer on tap.”

“Yeah, let me go clean up, and I’ll meet you fuckers outside,” Zeke answers. Jude just claps me on the back, and we part ways with Zeke, heading out front to wait for him.