“Please, I know you don’t have an alliance with my father, but my father has one with Samuel. Can’t you find a workaround?”
Zayn runs his fingers through his perfectly styled hair in frustration. “It doesn’t work like that. There needs to be contracts in place, and I was only filling in for Samuel; that was what the meeting was for, to build alliances. Your father shot down every offer.”
“My father’s pack has been attacked by rogue wolves twice now,” I protest, but he only watches me with those intense gray eyes. “Can’t I make an agreement with you?” I ask him, and he tilts his head to the side.
“You’re not the Alpha. Your father is.”
“Only for now, until I get my wolf. I want to make an agreement with you to keep your men along our borders to prevent any more attacks.”
Alpha Zayn’s gaze narrows, and he leans back on the couch. “And what would I get out of this agreement?”
Ugh, I groan internally. I was hoping he wouldn’t ask this.
“What do you want?” I ask nervously, and his eyes flicker to his wolf fleetingly.
“I’m not fucking you if that is what you are thinking!” I retort.
He scoffs. “I have no intention of forcing you to fuck me,” he snarls.
“Then what do you want?”
“Nothing you can give me, clearly. Do you even have a job?” he asks, and my face heats.
“No, I am still in college.” I defend myself.
He pauses for a second. “Nightshade City College?” he asks, and I nod. “I’ll think it over; I will get back to you. What is your house number?”
I shake my head. “You can’t call home, and if my father finds out I am here, he will kill me.”
“And exactly how do you intend to explain my scent in his car or your whereabouts this morning?” he asks. I sigh because I know I am so busted.
“Fine!” he says abruptly, getting to his feet and over to the hall stand in the foyer.
He retrieves something before coming back to me. He holds it out to me.
“Use this until you get another one,” he says, holding out his phone to me.
“I can’t take your phone,” I tell him.
“Cleo, take it. How else am I supposed to get in contact with you if I can’t call your house phone?”
I shake my head.
“So damn stubborn, you get that from him, you know that! How are we supposed to make a deal if you stay this stubborn!” he growls before moving toward the door.
“Stay here, I’ll be back soon.”
“Wait, where are you going?”
“To get you a phone,” he says, leaving before I can protest.
Laying back on the couch, I try to think of an excuse to give my father for his scent being in the car. Yet, I come up with absolutely nothing. Feeling defeated, I know I will be in trouble once I get home and lie down on the couch. Wow, I really should’ve thought this through a bit more. Maybe I can blame it on the pain meds? My entire body is aching like I’ve run a marathon. I tug at my top, feeling it sticking to the sweat covering every inch of my body.
I must have dozed off though because I wake to a hand touching my forehead. I lurch awake, coming face to face with Zayn. “Take these,” he rumbles, handing me some pills. I stare at him.
“I am not taking those. What even are they?” I ask him.
He tosses me a box, and I find they are antibiotics. “They should help rid any infection from your leg, and if they don’t, you might need to see your pack doctor. Rogue bites are full of poisonous bacteria,” he informs me like I don’t already know that.
