Alphas Like Us (Like Us, #3)

by Krista Ritchie

I should have told you that I’m in love with him. An indescribable kind of love. And I realize now, loving Maximoff entirely means letting his family in. Because the day that I’m the reason there’s tension between him and you is the day I’ve failed him.

I should have told you that without him, my life would be empty.

“Possibility that tourists will take pictures next to my puke spot?” I try to lighten the mood that I’ve sunk. “High,” Jack says, adjusting his camera settings. “It happened to someone in a boy band.”

Beach parties with the Hales, Meadows, and Cobalts consist of one massive sandcastle competition, and since I’m with Maximoff, I’ve been recruited onto Team Hale.

“You know,” he tells us, “we still have time to build something other than Hogwarts.” My smile widens as Xander, Kinney, Luna, and their parents look at Maximoff like he’s spoken blasphemy. “Because I love you,” his dad says, “I’m going to forget you said that, bud.”

“Someone’s competitive,” I tease him. He fixates on my upturning lips and my piercing. “I’m compensating for your slacking,” he rebuts. “That’s cute.” I just stop there. His neck almost flushes, and he’s trying to stay on course. But I’m definitely distracting him. When he gets a better look at the competition, he says, “Christ.” “What?” Lily pops up. “Are we losing?” “We’re definitely losing,”

Back on the beach, Loren Hale scours the competition like his son just did. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Lo says. I turn my head and try to peer around all the famous ones and distinguish the sand structures. The Cobalts are going the traditional route and building a huge castle. Complete with four turrets and the structure has motherfucking windows. “Is that a moat?” Luna asks. Sure enough, Eliot and Tom dig a hole towards the ocean, and Team Hale watches as the water fills up the tunnel that surrounds the Cobalt’s castle. “We’re screwed,” Kinney deadpans. Next to Team Cobalt, the Meadows family compacts sand in the shape of a mermaid. Since they only have four team members, they were given a head start. Winona uses a twig to draw scales on the tail, and Sulli places seaweed as a bikini top. Their parents, Ryke and Daisy, make the mermaid’s hair with seashells.

All the Hales look back at our sandcastle. The mound of sand resembles a mound of sand. “I kinda like our sand thingie,” Luna muses. Xander nods. “It’s more like the mountain of Hogwarts without the castle.” “Hogwarts Mountain,” Kinney says flatly. Maximoff pats the sand mound. “Better than their muggle castle.” He looks over at me like he knows a word that I don’t know.

Lo edges closer and purposefully steps on one of the turrets. Demolishing it flat to the ground. “Cheater!” most of the Cobalts boo and yell. “Loren!” Rose yells above her seven kids. “You’ve reached a new level of low. Ruining the children’s sandcastle.” “So now they’re children?!” he yells back. “Because for two decades, I thought you’ve been calling them gremlins.” She does call her kids gremlins. It’s widely known. Rose curses at him, and he walks off, smiling.

As we pass the sand mermaid, Ryke gives Lo a hard stare. “Don’t even fucking think about it,” Ryke warns his brother. Lo touches his chest, and we move beyond the mermaid completely. He ends up walking backwards to add, “I’d never.” He flashes a half-smile. Ryke flips him off with two hands.

“Because I was raised by a bad man who was also a bad father.” He pauses. “And despite whatever feelings I have about it, my son thinks I’m good, and every day I try to prove him right.”

“I think we’ve made it to Neverland.” “Neverland,” Farrow repeats, looking me up and down with amusement. His hand descends into the backpack. “Don’t lost boys stay young forever there?” “Yeah.” I loosen my lace, his eyes swimming against my eyes. “That’s too bad then,” Farrow says matter-of-factly. “Because I want to grow old with you.”

“You’ve been my forever guy. You are my forever guy, wolf scout.”

“And you said you wanted an in-your-face, overjoyed kind of love that knocks you backwards.” He takes a beat. “But our love is that and better. Our love is headstrong. It never yields, never dies. And when it knocks you backwards, it pulls you upright again.”

promise to give you everything you need and nothing less. Never less. Maximoff…” He draws his head back, just enough for us to look at each other.

“You want to marry the fuck out of me?” I nod just as assured, just as overcome. “Yeah.” I reach into my back pocket and pull out a black ring box. “I want to.” Farrow laughs in surprise, a tear escapes the corner of his eye. Really overwhelmed. “You had no idea I planned to do this today,” I realize. I thought maybe he got word this morning since I told everyone about the proposal plan at breakfast, including my dad. My mom and Jane kept the secret, so pretty much everyone found out hours ago. “None.” He wipes his eyes. “But I’m not shocked that I beat you to it.” “Because I overthink.” Farrow laughs once, eyeing my smile. “Because you can’t be first at everything, wolf scout.”

“There’s no one else, Farrow. You’re it. You’re the one, the only one.” His chest rises against my chest, and he nods, knowing. Feeling. And I ask him, “Marry me?” “Yeah,” he says like it’s the easiest thing in the world. “I’ll marry you, wolf scout.”

“Dum spiro, spero,” he reads the Cicero quote. His eyes well up again. On a day that rocked us both, he said he loved that quote. It was a quiet moment inside a storm. The memory is as tranquil as the quote itself. While I breathe, I hope.

Farrow presses a burning kiss to my shoulder blade. And as his other hand descends to a place of need and want, his mouth travels to my ear. In my fantasy, I never hear what he whispers. He knows this is what I wouldn’t let myself dream of. And as he kisses the nape of my neck, the line of my jaw, I wait and wait, and softly, so damn softly and huskily, Farrow whispers, “I love you.” Light bursts in me, and I spin on him, our hands instantly grip each other in starved yearning. We kiss like we haven’t kissed in eons. Heat blistered and raw, we wrestle in the shower for the lead. And goddamn, we’re both smiling.

“Connor was offered a condom sponsorship.” I let that out, trusting these guys, and also that footage with Connor is going to be aired. Banks laughs hard. “Cobalt Condoms.” Donnelly flips a page in a gossip magazine. “Magnum-size only.” “For the wealthy man,” Oscar chimes in. “Nah, I’d wanna buy some,” Donnelly notes. I whistle. “These are definitely fictional condoms when Donnelly thinks he can fit into a magnum.”

Oscar says, “Either Kitsuwon is in denial about his feelings for that girl or he’s playing all of us.” “Denial,” most of us say because Akara is adamant that they’re just friends. Not in the excessive way to cover a lie. In a peeved, fuck-off way.

“She’s back,” Donnelly says off the appearance of Luna Hale. Only he’s referring to the green marker on her cheeks, the blue-painted eyebrows and graphic tee. She makes a Spock symbol at the camera, and she looks genuinely lighter, happier. She dumped Andrew last week, and she told her big brother that her and this guy just “wanted different things.”

“Anyone read the story she posted online yesterday?” Oscar asks the table. A few days ago she gave SFO her secret username so we could read her fics. Honestly, I haven’t had time to delve into that rabbit hole yet. Donnelly bites into a potato skin. “The one with the blue alien goddess and the glittery king of stars?” He licks sour cream off his finger. Oscar nods heartily. “I give it a C+. Too many tentacles.” Donnelly shrugs. “I thought it was pretty good.”