Rise of the Alpha
Chapter 22

Blaine

Jude, that smug, sly little bastard, saunters into the room with Magnolia and Wylla behind him. This explains why he had Zeke and me clean our nasty a*s room. Also, why he asked Zeke to go down to the gas station to get beer. We thought maybe he was trying to have a party. This is a much better idea, though. Just the girls and us. It’s all the party we need, and it gives me a chance to get a little closer to Magnolia.

Wylla plops down on the bed next to me. Jude snags Magnolia around the waist as she passes him and pulls her down into his lap in the computer chair he likes to sit in. She’s giggling, and the sweet sound has my c**k jerking in my pants. Mate! My wolf must like the sound of her sweet little giggles, too. I settle him with promises that I’m working on getting her to believe she belongs to us. I’m staring at Magnolia in awe when our door once again opens, and Zeke stands in the door frame frozen with both hands full of beer.

He swiftly composes himself and puts the beer in the mini-fridge. “You guys all want one?”

“Yes,” comes from everyone. Zeke pulls them out and, one by one, hands them to us. There’s a knock on the door as he grabs one for himself. Cracking open the lid to the can, he takes a drink, ignoring whoever’s at the door, and takes a seat on his bed.

“I got it,” I call out, a little annoyed, as I stand from my bed and head to it. Opening the door, I see it’s the pizza. I grab the pizzas and set them on top of the fridge when my ears pick up the rumbling of someone’s stomach. Turning, I see Magnolia wide-eyed in embarrassment.

“Sorry, I must be hungrier than I thought,” she whispers. Her face turns the cutest shade of pink, hiding her face in Jude’s shirt. I quickly give my attention back to the pizza boy and throw him a ten and shut the door without another word. I don’t have time for pleasantries with the delivery driver. My mate is hungry, and my wolf wants her to eat.

“Magnolia, you come get your slices first. The rest of these delinquents can wait,” I tell her as I hand her a paper plate. She accepts it as she stands and grabs two slices of the veggie pizza. I throw another on her plate as she turns back to her seat. She quirks a brow at me, but I just shrug, “Sorry, babe, my wolf wants you good and full.”

Her eyes widen a bit before she composes herself and sits in the extra chair next to Jude and starts eating. I catch a glimpse of Wylla and what looks to be hurt on her face. Not wanting to upset my mate’s best friend, “Wylla, you’re next.” She jumps up, grabs a plate, and places two pieces of meat lovers on it. For some reason, my wolf screams out to me that she needs more. Doing the same as I had with Magnolia, I add an extra slice to her plate, earning a curious look from her that I quickly brush off.

We’ve all had our fill of pizza, and I think each of us is feeling tipsy from the beers we’ve drunk while eating and chatting about our lives. I’m also feeling slightly annoyed that Jude is monopolizing all of Magnolia’s time. He keeps directing all his questions to her and touching her every chance he gets. I love him and all, but I’m kind of thinking about breaking a finger or two if he doesn’t start sharing

“Blaine, why are you growling?” Magnolia asks, pulling me from my fantasy of snapping my best friend’s fingers while laughing about it. Shit! I didn’t realize I was growling. I try to think of a response that won’t upset our sweet little mate, but I come up with nothing. I open my mouth to apologize when Wylla saves the day. Or should I say saves my f*****g a*s?

“We should play truth or dare!” she squeals in delight as she claps her hands together. I look at her baffled. Where does she get this shit? No one says anything, we all stare at her silently. “What? Are you worried you won’t be able to handle playing with me, boys?” she quips, and Jude cackles.

“I’ll play,” Jude says as he catches his breath. Magnolia just nods in agreement.

“What about you, noodle rat, you wanna play?” she asks while looking at Zeke. This causes Jude to fall out of his chair, laughing, and Zeke quirks a smile at her brazen mouth.

“Yeah, sassy witch, I’ll play,” comes from him gruffly. But what surprises me is that he didn’t come back at her with something worse.

Wylla then snaps her gaze to mine. “Come on, Fido, we’re waiting on you.” I have to say her term of endearment is growing on me.

“Fine, Magnolia, truth or dare?”

She worries her bottom l*p between her teeth before whispering, “Truth.”

“Is it true that if you weren’t terrified of the Exodus Alpha and your Dad, you would date someone in this room?” I ask. The guys’ and Wylla’s eyes snap to me, and I’m definitely getting some glares and some what-the-f**k looks, but I want to know the answer. Deep down, I’m sure they do too.

“Yes,” she says, and I just nod at her answer, not wanting to push her any further. “So now it’s my turn to pick someone, right?” she asks quickly, no doubt to keep us from asking anything further about her response.

“F*****g hell! You’ve never played before, Magz?” Wylla asks, her tone laced with shock. Magnolia shakes her head and giggles. Damn, that sound has me hardening again.

“No, but I get the gist of it. So I get to ask, right?” she asks again. Wylla nods, and Magnolia wastes no time. “Wylla, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Hmm. I dare you to k**s one of the guys.” She laughs, and my eyes bug out of my head as I look at her. She wouldn’t dare Wylla to do something bold unless the beer loosened her up. Wylla stands up and straightens her outfit as she moves to the center of the room. She freezes there for a second, looking at each of us guys, then she moves toward me.

“I want to try something,” she says as she gets to me and leans down, pressing her lips against mine. She moves her tongue against the seam of my lips, and I open for her, allowing her entry. Sliding her tongue in my mouth, we deepen the k**s, fighting for dominance. I can feel my c**k growing hard with this k**s. This shouldn’t happen with anyone but my mate. What the f**k is happening?

A small growl from the side of us has me gently pushing Wylla away. We both look over to where the sound is coming from and see a confused and slightly hurt look on Magnolia’s face. “I guess maybe you do wanna date someone in this room, huh, Magz? Maybe your mate or someone else?” Wylla purrs as she settles back into her spot next to me.

Magnolia quickly recovers, putting a smile on her face as she flips Wylla off before quieting down so Wylla can pick her victim. This girl has to be more than tipsy at this point. She’s acting way more fun and free than she has ever before in front of us. Minus the night at the mixer, when we were dancing, but she was with Wylla that night mainly.

“Jude, truth or dare?”

“Dare, babe, there ain’t no way I’d pick truth after the show I just saw the last dare get,” he teases.

“I dare you to k**s Magz.” Magnolia gasps but turns her gaze to Jude next to her. Jude leans in and sucks her bottom l*p into his mouth. I growl and quickly receive a hard punch to the arm. Snapping my attention to the little witch who just hit me, she’s giving me a death glare, so I take that as my ‘stop f*****g growling, you just kissed me’ lecture. Groaning has my attention, so I refocus on my best friend and mate kissing. She whimpers slightly as they k**s, which has Jude breaking the k**s, and he chuckles.

“Well, Z man, you’re the only one left, so truth or dare?” Jude asks.

“Truth,” Z says, which shocks the shit out of me. I thought for sure with all his issues with his ferret, he’d pick dare.

“Chicken shit!” Jude yells. “But fine, if you could be any shifter, what would you be?” Goddess above, Jude would ask the one question that would cause the most issues. No one else would ever ask Zeke that because he has enough self-doubt about his shifted form.

Zeke winces as Jude finishes his truth. “Um, I’d be a dragon; they’re powerful and most feared.”

The room is quiet as we sit in awkward silence. I’m sure like me, nobody really knows what to say after that. Deciding I have to say something, I just hope I don’t make an a*s out of myself. “Zee–” I’m cut off by an angry gray-haired wolf.

“No! I like you just how you are, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of it. I know I’m not ashamed to be close with you knowing what you are,” she scolds. At some point, she stood up and is in front of Zeke, shaking her finger at him like an angry school teacher.

Zeke’s eyes are wide in shock that she’s so upset with his choice of words. He says nothing, staring at her in admiration. Me? I fell in love with her the moment I saw her and knew she was my mate. Now? I fall for her even more. I f*****g hope we can figure out her pack and dad situation because I need this girl more than air.

Taking a quick look around the room, I see I’m not the only one feeling that way. Zeke and Jude are both staring at her with pure heat in their eyes. All of us are waiting for the other to make a move. Hell, for her to make a move. Wylla stands suddenly and claps. “Well, it’s been fun, fellas, but it’s time to say goodbye.” She grabs Magnolia’s hand and pulls her, rushing from the room.

“What the f**k?” Jude barks out at her just as they reach the door. Wylla whips around and smirks at him with a shit-eating grin.

“Calm down, sexcubus, it’s late and we have class tomorrow, ya know.” She gives us a wink and opens the door, pushing a giggling Magnolia out the door.

What the f**k? I think all three of us were just c**k blocked by a necromancer. Isn’t she supposed to raise bones, not kill them? Ha! I just made a necromancer s*x joke. I suppose it’s a good thing she dragged my mate from this room. I was ready to ravage her, and Goddess knows she’s not ready for that. I can’t wait for this spell to be done, so she knows who her mates are and that it’s not anyone from her pack back home. I’m as sure of that as I am of my next breath. Until then, I just have to be patient and play it cool.