Alpha Theo by C.J. Primer

CHAPTER      FORTY-FOUR

Theo

I kick my feet up on Brooke’s desk, leaning back in my chair as I watch her work. I take in the way her long fingers glide across the keyboard, the way she furrows her brow and chews her lip in concentration. She’s fucking adorable. I still can’t believe she’s mine.

Well, almost. We’ve still got that whole marking thing to take care of in order to seal the bond. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, and I feel like we’re both ready, but I’m just waiting for her to give me the green light. Maybe I’ll set up an epic date that’ll totally blow her mind, to the point where she’s begging for me to sink my teeth in her shoulder and claim her officially. Something to make it special. And yes, I know how fucking cheesy that sounds. What can I say? I’m fucking hooked on Brooke. I don’t care if it makes me look weak, because with her beside me, I’ve never felt stronger.

She must feel empowered, too, judging by the way she stood up to my dad the other day. I’ve never had someone do something like that for me- not since my mom died. I was so humbled by the things she said, and so fucking proud of her for standing up to that asshole and giving him a piece of her mind. She may play the nice girl, but Brooke’s no shrinking violet. She’s gonna make a kickass luna someday.

If I ever become Alpha, that is.

“Are you just gonna sit here and watch me work all afternoon?” Brooke teases, eyes still fixed on her computer monitor.

“If you’ll let me,” I say, lips tipping up into a sly grin. I actually do have things to do, but since I had to come to the hub to gather report, I couldn’t help but steal a few minutes with Brooke- and now that I’ve settled in beside her, it’s hard to leave.

She slowly turns to face me, a coy smile creeping across her face.

“I love watching you work, baby,” I murmur, waggling my eyebrows.

Brooke lets out a laugh, slapping at my bicep with the back of her hand. “Whatever.”

“It’s true. The way you scrunch your nose and bite your lip when you’re all focused is cute as hell.”

Her cheeks flush, her smile deepening.

I drag my boots off of her desk, turning in my chair to lean in closer to her. Fuck, she smells good.

“Can I take you out tonight?” I ask, reaching a hand out and setting it on her thigh.

“Where?”

I pause, grinning. Give her thigh a squeeze. “It’s a surprise.”

I’m hoping she’ll say yes, since I’ve already roped Gray and Fallon in on a double date. Surprisingly, Fallon was all about it- so I guess she wasn’t being disingenuous when she said she was rooting for us after all. I just hope she doesn’t talk to Brooke before tonight and ruin the surprise.

Brooke rolls her eyes, setting her hand on top of mine. “You and your surprises.”

“Hey, I thought you liked my surprises.” I grin mischievously.

“Most of them,” she admits. “I just never know how to dress when you don’t tell me where we’re going!”

“Wear whatever,” I shrug. “You look great in anything.”

And in nothing.

She rolls her eyes again. “A little guidance would be nice.”

I shake my head. “No way, kid, that’ll give it away.”

Brooke blows out a breath, folding her arms across her chest. “Fine. What time?”

“Eight?”

She nods, pushing back and spinning to face her monitor. My hand slides off of her leg in the process.

I wish I really could stay here and watch her work all day, but I’ve got a few things to take care of before tonight. Most importantly, I’ve gotta re-organize the patrols and get a list up, since the border cameras are now fully functional. I rise to my feet, grabbing my jacket off of the back of my chair.

“You taking off?” Brooke asks. Is that a hint of disappointment I detect in her voice?

“Yeah,” I breathe, dragging my chair back to the conference table behind her desk. Then I come up behind her, stooping to loop my arms around her neck. “I’ll see you at eight,” I murmur, pressing a kiss to her hair.

Brooke reaches up to grasp my forearms, tilting her head back to look at me. “Sounds good,” she smiles.

I head out of the hub and over to Gray’s office to grab the current patrol list. Then I spend a couple hours in the conference room working to re-organize them, cutting everyone’s assignments down to once a week now that the new system is in place. I shower, grab a quick bite, and I’m at Brooke’s door to pick her up a few minutes before eight, because I’ve been itching to see her since I left the hub earlier this afternoon.

She answers the door looking fucking stunning as always- tonight it’s a black crop top and black skinny jeans- and I make it three whole seconds before I’m leaning in to kiss those pouty lips of hers, hands roaming her incredible body.

No matter how much I get of Brooke, it’ll never be enough.

We leave the complex and walk the path to Goldenleaf together, and she doesn’t question where we’re going, just strolls beside me and chatters happily. When we hit the end of the path and I start leading her toward the bar entrance, though, she stops in her tracks.

“Wait, you’re taking me to the bar?” Brooke asks dubiously, like I’m trying to pull one over on her.

I grin. “Yep.”

“How is this a surprise?” she laughs, shaking her head.

“You’ll see.” I tug her by the hand. “C’mon.”

She hesitates for a moment, then starts walking with me again.

“You know you don’t have to get me drunk to get me naked, right?”

I whip my head around to look at her. “What?” I blink. All my mind zeroed in on was ‘get me naked’.

Brooke giggles, shaking her head. “Nothing. Let’s see this surprise…”

It’s her that tugs my hand this time, until we’re at the door of the bar and I’m pulling it open for Brooke, gesturing for her to go in ahead of me.

As soon as we walk in, our ears are assaulted by a truly terrible version of Bon Jovi’s ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’, and I watch as Brooke takes in the karaoke setup near the far wall, eyes widening before they fly up to meet mine.

“Since when do they do karaoke here?” she asks, eyes alight with excitement.

“The last Friday of every month,” I grin.  “I mean you love music, so… this is kinda like live music, right?” I wink.

Brooke lets out a laugh, grazing my arm with her fingertips. “Kinda.”

I start to lead her over to the table in the corner that’s always reserved for us alphas and relish in watching my girl’s face light up again when she sees her sister sitting there.

Gray’s not in his usual seat- he’s in Brock’s instead, with his back to the wall so he’s got a good view of the makeshift karaoke stage. Fallon is positioned sideways on his lap, her arms dangling around his neck. They’re the fucking picture of a happy couple- which would have annoyed me, before Brooke. Now it just reminds me of how good I have it, too.

“Hey!” Fallon greets when Brooke and I approach, hopping off of Gray’s lap and moving around the high-top table. She gives her sister a big hug before leading Brooke to take the seat beside hers, and I greet Gray with a fist-bump before sinking down onto a stool on the opposite side of Brooke- which just happens to be my usual seat.

“So how are things going with you two?” Fallon asks, eyeing Brooke and me.

Brooke laughs, elbowing her sister playfully. “Real subtle, Fal.”

“What?” Fallon asks, feigning innocence.

I scoot my stool a little closer to Brooke’s, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “Things are going great,” I say, grinning from ear to ear.

Gray and Fallon both smile like they’re genuinely happy for us, which feels fucking great.

“Hey Theo,” Kelly greets, approaching our table. She’s the only cocktail waitress in this place, and she’s waited on my friends and I countless times. Whenever we come in, she automatically brings us each a beer, and tonight is no exception- she slides a bottle onto the table in front of me, flashing a smile.

“Hey, thanks,” I say, reaching out for the beer. My other arm is still slung around Brooke’s shoulders, and I flick my head in her direction. “Can I get a vodka soda for my girl?”

Surprise flits on Kelly’s face. “Uh, of course,” she stammers, looking from Brooke to me. Then she turns to Fallon and Gray. “What about you two, another round?”

“Keep ‘em comin’”, Fallon grins, holding up her glass of reddish liquid to Kelly. Must be something with grenadine or cranberry.

Kelly nods, brushing her platinum and pink bob behind her ears and shuffling away to the bar.

We chat amongst ourselves until Kelly reappears a few minutes later with a tray of drinks, distributing them to Gray, Fallon, and Brooke. She knows me well- she went ahead and brought me another beer, too. Then she flits off to wait on other customers while we watch Trent, one of the townies, attempt to karaoke a Creed song. It’s spectacularly awful, and the four of us can’t help but laugh.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Brooke breathes, leaning into me, “Quinn called this afternoon. She’s gonna give the IT unit a try after all.”

“Really?” I gotta admit, I’m surprised. I didn’t think Quinn had any interest in coming to work at the squad complex. Then again, I left home so long ago- I’m not sure I really know what she’s interested in anymore.

Brooke nods excitedly. “Yeah! She’s gonna be great. Her only condition was that she train with the rest of the squad, too… I think she’s more interested in honing her fighting skills than working with IT, honestly.”

“Actually, that’d work out,” Gray interjects, taking a swig of his beer. “We’re starting a reserve squad to expand our ranks, so we’re going to be doing more training over the next month or so.”

The guys and I decided on this at our weekly meeting- to call in the recruits that were cut over the past few years to give them another shot at the squad, if they want it. After training, they won’t live at the complex like the regular squad members, but they’ll be trained and available to fight if they need to be called up as our B squad, and they’ll return to the complex one weekend a month to brush up on their skills.

“Guess who gets to help train them?” Fallon asks, waggling her eyebrows.

Yeah, that was another thing we decided at the meeting- since so many of us alphas are busy with our packs or other duties, we’re relying on some seasoned squad members to take up the task of training the reserve squad. Fallon jumped at the chance to help out, and even though she’s new to the squad, Gray can never say no to her.

“Really?” Brooke beams. “That’s awesome, Fal! Is Vienna coming back? And where do I sign up?”

I shake my head. “Nuh uh. Don’t even think about it.”

“Why not?” Brooke asks teasingly, batting her eyelashes.

I know she’s kidding. She’s never expressed any interest in learning to fight before; she’s just trying to get a rise out of me. And it’s fucking working- the thought of Brooke putting herself in harm’s way has my wolf clawing at my insides, every fiber of my being rioting at the notion. I don’t know how Gray does it with Fallon- the instinct to protect my mate at all costs is so strong.

I just shake my head again and Brooke rolls her eyes, chuckling.

The small crowd in the bar breaks out in applause for the latest karaoke singer, giving me an out from the conversation. I clap my hands, watching as a wiry guy hands the microphone back to the DJ and steps down from the makeshift stage.

“So when are you gonna get up there?” I ask Brooke, tossing a thumb over my shoulder toward the karaoke setup.

“What?!” she laughs, and now it’s her turn to shake her head. “You can’t be serious.”

My lips spread into a grin. “Yeah, why not?”

“I’m not any good,” she sighs, picking up her drink and taking a sip.

“So?” I shrug. “Neither are any of the other people singing tonight.”

Brooke sets her drink back down, pursing her lips. “I’d just embarrass myself.”

“Why do you care so much about what other people think?” I challenge.

She sighs, giving me a little shove. “Why don’t you do it, then?”

“You think I won’t?” I arch a brow. “I’ll sing the hell outta some karaoke, kid. Just tell me what you wanna hear.”

Brooke giggles, picking up her drink again. “Surprise me,” she says before taking a long sip.

She doesn’t need to tell me twice. I’m out of my seat a second later, making my way to the DJ to put in a karaoke song. And if Brooke thinks I’m not gonna drag her up there with me, she’s got another thing coming.

I don’t know if it’s because the bar’s pretty dead tonight or because I’m an alpha, but after I tell the DJ my song, he hands me the mic rather than putting me in the queue.

I clear my throat, nodding to the DJ to start, feeling the weight of every eye in the place on me as he starts the song. The title flashes up on the little screen in front of me- ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ by Paul McCartney. A song I know Brooke loves, because she got all googly-eyed when it played in the Jeep on our way back from Denver.

Admittedly, I’m not a great singer. My voice is too low for this song, so I’ll probably botch it, but I don’t really give a shit. I start in on the first verse, staring right at Brooke as I sing the words. “Maybe I’m amazed at the way you love me all the time, and maybe I’m afraid of the way I love you.”

I swear that every eye in the place flies to her. She must notice it too, because she shifts uncomfortably as I keep singing, only to her. Her eyes widen, and I can see the shimmers of her wolf in them, even from here. I get really into the first chorus, putting on a performance, and it’s totally worth it when Brooke throws her head back and laughs, relaxing a little.

The screen indicates a musical break after the first chorus, and I make a show of pointing at Brooke, then crooking a finger to beckon her to join me. Her face flushes and for a second, I think she’s gonna leave me hanging- but then she throws back the rest of her drink and slides off of her stool, and I start grinning like a goddamn idiot as she struts toward me.

“Need another mic,” I say over my shoulder to the karaoke DJ, and he’s quick to produce one by the time Brooke makes it up to the little stage, right in time for the second verse.

And yeah, our rendition of the song is truly terrible- but while we sing it, goofing around with one another up on that little makeshift stage, it’s like the world around us fades away. It’s just me and Brooke.

She gets really into the angsty, screamy parts of the song and I have to hold the microphone away from me I’m laughing so hard. Fuck, she’s funny. Then I do the same thing back to her and she loses herself in fits of giggles.

By the time we get near the end of the song, we’ve totally botched it, but given the smile on her face, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I point at her as I sing the last few lines: “Maybe I’m amazed at the way you help me sing my song, right me when I’m wrong, maybe I’m amazed at the way I really need you.”

There’s a flash of something in her eyes- like the lyrics hit home; like the words are mine and they’re just for her- and a second later I’m tossing the microphones back to the karaoke DJ, grabbing Brooke’s face, and kissing her senseless on that stage in front of everybody.

Because she’s mine, and I’m hers. Because I want everyone to know it. Because I want her, and because I need her.

Because even though it should scare the shit outta me… I think I love her.