Alpha Varsity Bonus Epilogue

 

Asher

Living in a city surrounded by humans is hard. Lotta and I moved into the paid apartment within the Swan Hotel. When her six-month residency ends, we can move into the campus housing my scholarship covers.

Playing football on a human team is a constant exercise in checking myself. Hiding who I am. Pretending I’m weak, clumsy, or tired when I’m none of those things. UCLA gave me a full scholarship, but I don’t want to over-perform and put my kind at risk.

None of it matters because I’m here in with my mate. I would live in a four-by-four hole in the ground if that’s where she was. 

But tonight’s game is different. Five minutes are left on the clock, and we are tied against Arizona State University, a team with four wolves from my pack. 

I’m competing against guys I played ball with for my entire life. Cole Muchmore, Bo Fenton, and Wilde Woodward are juniors at ASU. Wilde transferred from Duke because his mate (and stepsister!), Rayne was going there. My best friend, Abe Oakley, also got a spot on their team this year.

“You’re going down, Martin,” Bo growls when we face off across the line. 

“In your dreams, Fenton.” I glance at my fellow players–the humans whose respect I have won and give them encouraging nods. 

They nod back. 

I may be a freshman, but I’ve taken the alpha role on this team. The one Lotta and Coach Jamison believed I could hold. I’m not team captain or quarterback, but I command my teammates just the same. They follow my lead on the field and off.

 I shove my mouth guard in, preparing to hit the equivalent of a monster truck. We may be from the same pack, but tonight, we’re rivals.

At least a hundred members of our pack drove over for this game, including Coach Jamison, my mom, and Lotta’s parents. Everyone wanted the chance to watch the star Wolf Ridge players face off against each other in college ball.

They turned it into a party, tailgating all day outside the stadium, taking bets on which team will win. I joined them with Lotta for a couple of hours before I had to join the team for a pregame lecture and warm-ups.

This not like Wolf Ridge High games where Coach Jamison would make the call whether we won or lost. There, our job was to keep the result a secret and put on a good show for our audience, who cheered us more for showmanship than for winning. Every shifter in Wolf Ridge understood that we had to pretend to lose some games to keep suspicion down. We couldn’t win state championships every year. And we were never, ever allowed to hurt a human player.

The skills I learned there prepared me for college. But now I finally get to unleash my wolf. 

I see the glint of Bo’s wolf eyes right before we plow into each other. We both lift off the sod and by the cracking sound from our shoulder pads, I’d guess we broke the protective gear. 

Bo’s growling, his wolf as thrilled as mine at this chance for a real fight. A real opponent. 

I get past him as Cole, their star quarterback, looks for an opening.

Not on my watch. 

Bo tackles me and I hit the ground, but manage to roll away and get up to keep running. Wilde is open and Cole throws to him. 

I shouldn’t do it. Coach Jamison and Alpha Green would have my nuts if I did it back home, but there’s no way in hell I’m letting these assholes win. It’s four wolves against one, and for some reason, that makes me feel like I have something to prove. 

I take a running leap, stretching my fingertips high into the air and torquing my body to reach the ball. I capture it, but I’m going to land on my side. At the last second, I somehow manage to jerk my torso in the opposite direction of my trajectory and land on my feet.

I take off running. 

The Bruins side goes wild, screaming as one. I race down the field toward the goal posts. It’s a good seventy-five yards, but I’m pulling out wolf speed now. Wolf reflexes that allow me to dodge all the guys who try to tackle me. 

Wilde comes at me, but I’m too fast. I make it all the way to the end of the field and score a touchdown just before the time runs out on the clock.

The stands thunder with stamping and shouting. 

I show off with a backflip, then hold the ball in the air and look for Lotta in the stands. She’s sitting on the Arizona side so she can be with the pack, but she jumps up and down, her dark hair swinging. I run for her, but my teammates mob me, thumping my helmet with bro-hugs. 

The Bruins fans chant my name, singing the song they made up earlier in the season for me. I’m known for these last-minute steals. Heh.

I run for the Arizona stands. 

Rayne is leaping over the rails into Wilde’s arms. Bailey’s already wrapped around Cole’s waist. Sloane, Bo’s mate leans down to kiss him. 

“Come here, baby.” I beckon to Lotta, and she shows off a little wolf talent of her own, standing on the rail and leaping way too far to land, princess-style, in my arms.

Oops. The press probably caught that, and Alpha Green will have a coronary, but I don’t care. We don’t get to flex our wolves enough in L.A. 

“You were amazing!” Lotta cries as I spin her around. She tries to get my helmet off to kiss me, and I help her. “Was that prearranged?”

I laugh. “You think Coach Jamison still gets to tell us who wins or loses?”

“You did that on your own?”

I claim her mouth, still rotating her slowly, walking us back toward the Bruins’s side.

“The gloves come off next time,” Cole yells at me.

I flip him off. I should let them win next time. I will. 

But it feels so good to actually be a success at something after feeling wrong-footed for most of my adolescence. Every day with Lotta makes me feel more capable. More heroic.

“That was for you, baby. I didn’t want you to think those other girls’ mates were better than yours.”

Lotta laughs at my joke, but it’s true. I want to be the fucking hero for her. I want to improve myself in every way. With my studies, on the team, as an alpha, as her boyfriend and mate.

Because nothing has ever felt so good as knowing she belongs to me. I have a precious mate I would not only die for but will also live for. 

“My hero.” Lotta flutters her eyelashes, and I kiss her again thoroughly. 

Tonight we get to spend time with our pack, but when we’re alone again, I will show her every way this hero intends to impress her.