Taming the Alpha

Step Eighteen

Thank the wolf spirits that Brute was a prepared man and had enough in savings to rent a crappy apartment. He said that saving money was one thing his parents taught him, which I was glad for. I knew mentioning his parents hurt him, but it was really nice to know. After all, that advice landed us a place to stay. It was horrible and falling apart, but it was better than nothing. I fell in love with decorating it to the best I could. We made it our home until we could settle in our jobs and make enough to upgrade. We also managed to get good paying jobs, somehow, so it would work with living in San Diego. I got a job as a secretary at the San Diego Zoo, which I loved. Being around animals made me feel at home, even if there were only a few wolves in the zoo. Besides, who wouldn't want to work at one of the greatest zoos in the world? Brute, on the other hand, was a private security officer for some rich company. I was pretty sure they hired him with just one look. Just in his body stance and the way he presented himself even made humans knew that Brute was powerful. From what I could tell, he loved it. Apparently a lot of people tried to break in and beating the crap out of them was the highlight of his nights. That wouldn't be sane to any other person, but this was Brute. At least he wasn't going around killing people, and this made him happy. If he was happy, I was happy, even if we didn't get to see each other too much. With me working at the zoo during the day and him working security at night, seeing each other was tricky, but we made it work. The times we did get to see each other were amazing. The moments we spent together made me love him even more.

"Thinking about me again?" Brute's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I turned off the sink and put the dishes down, turning towards my mate. Seeing him still took my breath away and caused my heart to soar. A smirk captured his face, telling me he knew exactly what he was doing to me. I yearned to tell him I loved him right then and there, but I held my tongue. I didn't know how he'd react and I didn't want to ruin the moment.

"Your ego will grow even more if I say yes." I smiled slightly. He gave me a small shrug before advancing on me. I let him come closer to the point only a piece of paper could fit in between us. He lowered his head to where his lips were a centimeter away from mine. I itched to close the gap, but I stood where I was. His lips grazed the edge of my lip and traveled upward until they were against my ear. A shudder went through me as he nibbled on my earlobe.

"Race you to the beach." He whispered and he was gone. My jaw slacked open as I saw his figure disappear out the door. I quickly snapped out of it and took off after him, slamming the front door shut behind me. He was already way ahead of me and I knew he would probably beat me, but I still tried. Since the beach was only a few blocks away, we ran down the street to the beach. Not having a vehicle was also a reason for that. We didn't need one, though, so it was okay. Walking was what we liked best, and our wolves especially loved running, even if it was just down the street. Without there being any trees around, running in human form was the best thing we could do.

"This isn't even fair!" I yelled after Brute. I heard his laughter as he turned the corner, having a straight shot towards the beach. I picked up my pace a little, but made sure it wasn't too fast for a human. I could still see Brute's back when I turned the corner and I realized I was ganging on him. I smirked and continued on, pushing myself but not to give anything away to the humans around us. My shoes touched the sand, causing me to slow down a little. From what I could see, though, was that Brute also had the same problem. He got slowed down more than me and I was able to tackle him once he reached the water. We both fell into the ocean, causing our bodies to be soaked with cold saltwater.

"I win." He muttered, a smile capturing his face. My heart soared to the sky at how beautiful he was with his lips pulled up on both sides. He rarely smiled, but he was starting to smile a little more since coming to San Diego. I think I was actually making him happy.