Transparent by Soccerluv4 (: (100 books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📖

to come inside.

The entire time I was focused on reconnecting with my friends and family, he’d been standing out there alone. Finally, with some exaggerated hand movements, he finally listened to my brother’s nonverbal pleas and entered the house.

Opening the door, he walked in, doing some weird guy handshake-pat-thing with Alex and giving my mom a side hug. He shook my father’s hand before turning to me.

I blinked. It was all I could do, anyway, seeing as though neither of us were really saying anything about the big elephant in the room-which, unfortunately, only both of us seemed to notice.

“Can I talk to you-uh, privately?” I asked awkwardly, “for, uh, training guidelines?” I added, hoping it seemed legitimate. Frankly, if I were him, I wouldn’t blame him for not believing me. I wasn’t much of a liar.

Thankfully, he seemed to get the message and nodded. I excused us and led him over to the spare office, shutting the door behind him once he entered in.

“Listen-“ I started.

“We’re mates,” he began.

“Uh, yeah. About that…“ I coughed nervously.

“Yes?”

“Well, I was hoping we could keep this,” I pointed my finger back and forth between his chest and mine, “between us?”

Before I knew it, my face was staring at his chest. He took his hand and brushed back a lock of my hair, grazing a path of tingles across my cheek with it. I closed my eyes, relishing in the feeling of attraction, before they snapped back open.

Somehow, within the time frame of his caress and me closing my eyes, he’d planted a soft kiss on my cheek where the tingles that were fading, erupted again in fierce show of a mate’s touch.

Pulling his face a fraction away, I was mesmerized by his brown eyes, glowing slightly golden at the present moment. We stood there, staring at each other like that, for what seemed like eternity. All too soon, he pulled apart, the space where his face was filling in with cold air. A part of me-the teenage girl part probably- wanted to so desperately grab his coiffed golden brown hair down and kiss him senseless. But the responsible, intelligent, adult part of me knew it would be a mistake.

He was my trainer. He IS my trainer. He’s responsible for perfecting my gift, teaching me to control it in any sort of danger.  He must be the best at what he does if Alex is raving on about him, and I can’t risk losing such a great trainer because my body just became a lovesick teenage girl with raging hormones.  My training comes first, my parents’ wishes come first.

A small voice deep inside me rang out. Liar.

I took a deep breath and looked back at him again.

“You’re my trainer. You came here for one job and one job only, to train me to the best of my abilities, and that’s it. I can’t-won’t-jeopardize it because of the connection we have,” I sighed again. “It’s just temporary, till we’re done training. Then, well, we can talk about that when the time comes. But for now, we need to keep this relationship strictly professional,” I stated firmly, looking back up at his face once again.

He just stared at me for a bit. Then, almost as if someone knocked the light switch back to on, his eyes softened.

“You’re just as hard working and intelligent as I dreamed you’d be,” he smiled, a small one-genuine.

I blushed furiously, looking down at my fingernails as if they were the most interesting things on the planet right about now. I briefly wondered if he heard what I’d just said, but a slight frown appeared on his face, which erased my doubt.

I felt his fingers tilt my head up, and skim across my cheek to cup it.

“As you wish, my mate,” he whispered.

And then, he was gone.

Out of the office, that is.

I closed my eyes, sliding down the wall behind me till I was sitting against it.

How is this ever going to work?

*******

After taking a couple seconds to compose myself, I headed out after him, back to my waiting family.

“Well that settles it! I’ll let Alex get your bags. Thank you very much Alpha Parker!” My father beamed, shaking his hand.

“Please, call me Reece. And no, thank you very much Alpha Knight,” he smiled, a full one, with little dimples at the end-

Oh god, no. No, no, no! Come on Cass, get yourself together. He’s just a man, an insanely attractive, muscled, GORGEOUS man, but that’s it, really. Nothing else. Nope. Nuh-uh. Plain old hottie.

Who was I kidding? Get me some popcorn because I could stare at that fine specimen all day!

I crossed my arms and looked down, breathing slowly.

Control yourself Cassie. You can do it!

Alex stepped out, presumably to grab Alpha Parker’s bags.

“Okay sweetie, go ahead and freshen up. I’ll call you and the girls down when dinner is ready!” My mom prompted, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before walking down to the kitchen.

I turned back around, meeting eyes with Reece-god his name was even hot!-before grabbing the girls’ arms and dragging them upstairs with me.

As soon as we crossed the threshold to my room, I slammed the door shut behind me and laid my forehead against it.

When I turned around to face the girls, their incredulous looks almost made me laugh. Unfortunately, the reality of my situation surfaced and my growing smile turned back into a displeased frown.

“Mind explaining why you’re so upset?” Ellie frowned, walking over to my bed and taking a seat. She crossed her arms and stared at me in expectation.

I looked over at Sage, who seemed to have the same expectant look on her face as well. She leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms and nodding in my direction to speak.

I sighed. They should know after all.

“Alpha Parker…” I croaked. Clearing my throat a bit, I continued, “Alpha Parker is, uh, my mate…” I looked at them, watching their faces turn from curious to shock within a few seconds.

“Cassie-“ Ellie began.

“What the HELL!?” Sage finished.

For complete opposites, the two sure seemed to think alike.

“Guys, it’s not what you think!” I yelled. I looked side to side, making sure nobody heard me before moving over to my bed to sit down. Sage moved away from her place by the wall and sat down on my bed as well.

“Alex brought him here to train me. That’s it. I can’t let something as important as being able to handle my powers be affected by the connection I have with the trainer. Imagine what a train wreck it would be if I let everyone know we were mates? Alpha Parker himself would feel the need to go easy on me, which I sure as hell don’t want! And let’s not even begin with my mom’s reaction. I’m doing this for the sake of my parents. They need to train me for my security, and I can deal with having a mate after I’m trained and devoid of any distractions. So, please guys, keep this a secret?” I pleaded, giving them the best puppy dog expression I could.

Ellie seemed to be mulling it over, her eyes darting back and forth between me and Sage. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

“Pleaseeeeee?” I drawled out.

“Okay, I guess-Ow!” Ellie squeaked, as Sage roughly elbowed her.

I looked at Sage expectantly, hoping she would be as willing as Ellie.

“Ugh, fine! But if anything happens, it’s on you!” she rolled her eyes, but a small smile appeared on her face.

I launched myself at them, grabbing them into a huge group hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I exclaimed, hugging them tighter.

“You’re welcome Cassie!” Ellie responded, hugging me back.

“You owe us, Cass,” Sage stated firmly, but eventually gave into the hug.

At least my best friends knew. And they were willing to keep it a secret! Now all I had to do was survive boot camp with a mysterious, hot alpha trainer as a mate. I can do it, can’t I?

Chapter 3

 

 

 

The cold water felt nice on my warm skin. Lathering up, I let the scent of lavender envelop my senses.

Today was the first day I was training with Reece. My stomach was in knots, and I thought maybe a cold shower could cool my temperature down. I was thoroughly annoyed by this effect he had on me.

Sometimes I wish I was just a normal werewolf with normal duties. Then Reece and I could be together as I led his pack alongside him. We’d have pups, grow old together, and watch the pack thrive.

A blush erupted on my skin, thinking of him and I having a family of our own and a pack of our own. There was no guarantee when it would happen, but it would. That thought made my skin burn as the blush seemed to travel all over my body.

Taking in a deep breath, I let the lavender scent bring my thoughts back to a field of crisp flowers and the rush of wind against my skin.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay in dream land for long, as I shut off the tap and wrapped a towel around my body.

Wiping the fog from the mirror, I could only stare at myself. After so long, I met my mate. And what was I doing? Pushing him away for my own selfish reasons.

Granted, my protection wasn’t entirely selfish. He would want that and beyond for me, as my mate. But he wasn’t responsible for protecting me. I couldn’t do that to him. I needed to protect myself, to learn how to deal with my own problems, like I always have. Independent was my middle name, and I couldn’t let the notion of having a mate change that.

Sighing, I walked out of the bathroom, to find my mom and Reece talking quietly to one another.

“Oh sweetheart, good you’re out. Listen, you and Reece here should go into town today instead of training. Give him a tour, and get to know him better before you start training with each other,” she said in a hurried pace, walking to my closet and pulling out various clothing, inspecting them, before putting it back in my closet and searching for another piece.

“Mom!” I groaned, flashing a quick glance at Reece, who was more fixated on my body than my face at the moment, causing me to grip the towel tighter in my fist.

“This won’t do, this looks too plain-“

“Mom!” I shouted again, effectively gaining her attention.

With a sly smile, she glanced at Reece, before looking back at me.

“Oh sorry! Reece and I will leave you to change. Be out soon honey!” she stated, walking out of the room.

Reece hesitated a second, before connecting his eyes with me. His eyes were a deep golden brown, his desire quite evident among them. He bit his lip as he looked down at my body again before giving me a smoldering stare.

Just that look sent a shiver down my spine. It was so lust-filled that it’s energy almost knocked me off my feet! I hope he left soon or I wouldn’t be able to control myself, and I didn’t think he could either.

With one last look at my body, then my face, he stomped out, shutting the door with a slam.

I let out a breath I didn’t