Page 79 of Chasing The Alpha's Son
“Right? And anyway, if I were you, I’d be less afraid of falling off the mountain and more afraid of the blood wolf,” Mason says.
“You said that was just an old superstition,” I shoot back.
Mason grins devilishly. “True, but superstitions have to start somewhere, don’t they?”
A fresh shiver rolls down my spine. I turn back to the path ahead and try to speed up ever so slightly, wondering if one of the wolves here could be the one to turn wild.
The turnout for the hike is larger than I expected—there must be at least fifty wolves. My little group is somewhere in the middle of the pack. Jasper has been walking up ahead with Mia this whole time, and despite not feeling an urgent need to rush to his side, I’ve made sure to stay close enough to keep him in my sights. Part of me wishes we could be walking together. Sharing these kinds of experiences is what mates are supposed to do, right? But another part of me is happy to be with my friends, sharing a thermos of spiked hot chocolate.
A little of to the left, Olivia is walking alone. Earlier I waved at her, and she waved back but kept to herself. I feel bad for her. I may not get to share things like this with Jasper, but she doesn’t even have the support of friends like I do. No one is offering her hot chocolate.
“I’ll be right back,” I say, and pick up my pace.
Catching up to Olivia has me huffing and puffing, and she glances at me when I arrive at her side.
“You having an asthma attack or something?” she asks.
“Just…need…one…sec…”
“How are you the same guy who nearly kept up with me during the Race of Fire and Ice?”
“It’s the incline,” I joke, breathing almost normally again. “How are you?”
Olivia exhales through her nose and keeps her eyes on the mountain path.
“Why don’t you go over and say hi?”
Jasper and Mia are only a little ways ahead of us now, laughing about something Mia just said.She must be hilarious to make him laugh like that.
I shake myself out of my thought spiral—I’m trying to help Olivia.
“I… I can’t,” she says, but from the way she’s glancing in their direction, I know she’s tempted. “What would I even say?”
“You could start with ‘Hi, I’m Olivia.’”
“That’s lame. She knows who I am.”
“Or how about ‘Nice mountains, come here often?’”
“You’re dumb.”
“Look, I thought Mia was a bit uptight at first, but it turns out I was wrong about someone, yet again. She’s great and she’s not going to think you’re dumb or lame. And you might want everyone to think you’re the biggest, baddest wolf in the world, but you’re not fooling me.”
Olivia glares sideways at me.
“You regret a hundred percent of the chances you don’t take.”
She rolls her eyes. “Get that from a greeting card?”
“My dad says it when we go bowling.”
Olivia huffs; she’s clearly torn.
“He’s not wrong though,” I continue. “And what’s the worst that can happen? You strike out?”
“Strikes are good in bowling.”
“Okay so it’s win-win!”
