Page 99 of My Grumpy Alpha

And I watch her walk.

I grab her hand and pull her back.

“Go.”

"Will you be by my side still?” Her eyes fill with tears.

I smile.

“It’s not my job to save you. It’s my job to be by your side. Go, go be a hero, fight him, and I’ll wait. And if in the end, it is my end, I won’t die sad, I’ll die knowing that you are half of me and that you fought, and that even if we lost, I still had you. It’s life. And I haven’t been living it. I’ve been stuck, you are what was missing, so worst-case scenario, I’m a sad werewolf who dies, best-case scenario…We live. But I trust you, and this isn’t my journey. It’s yours.”

I nod and walk into the forest next to Xavier.

“You want to be Alpha?”

He sighs.

“I’m born to be Alpha.”

"So, was it all a lie with me?”

“Absolutely.” He turns toward me.

“I just wanted to get close and look how close I got without even trying.”

"Cool. Good to know.”

“You won’t win against me.”

"I have heart.”

“I have strength.” He laughs.

“This won’t even be a competition.”

“Weird, since it shouldn't be, we’re saving kids, this should be a mission, not a competition.”

He pauses.

“I was one of those children. It will always be a competition on who can save who.”

I reach out and I grab his hand.

“But why?”

He doesn’t grip my hand right away, then looks down at our interlocked fingers.

“You’re warm.”

That’s all he had?

You’re warm.

A tear slides down my cheek.

“Why should that stand out? Do you think they’re warm? Those kids lost in the first, away from the clan I’ve never known? Everything comes at a cost. What’s yours?”

Xavier squeezes my hand.