Thunder (Alpha Love - a Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 3) by Olivia Stephens Read Free Book Online

she’s ever felt before; she feels like a part of her wakes up when she’s around him, like she’s more alive.
    She types a reply to Ashton, trying to set the same tone as he has in his text—not saying anything too deep outright, but making it clear how she feels. She tells him she can’t make it tonight but that she misses him. She re-reads the text about a hundred times before sending it. When are we going to stop playing these games ? she thinks. There’s no response to her message, and she can already feel herself starting to angst over it like a love-sick school kid. She shoves the cell back into her pocket, reminding herself that she already has a long list of stuff to worry about. She doesn’t need to go looking for things to add to it.
    The drive back to the motel is filled with Finn’s chatter. He’s talking about some computer program that he’s trying to persuade Shale he needs, but they’ve said it’s too expensive, and now he’s sounding off about it. Finn doesn’t like awkward silences, he prefers to fill them, even with a one-sided conversation. Sofie is grateful for his voice, allowing her to focus on something other than the fact that she would most likely be seeing Luke the next day. The thought of it makes her shiver involuntarily.
    “Oh, the receptionist dude, the one that stares a lot, the bug-eyed one?” Finn makes his eyes wide like he’s pretending to be a goldfish.
    “I think he prefers Brett,” Sofie shakes her head at Finn but can’t help laughing at his impression.
    “Whatever, he said he had a message for you last night. He seemed pretty anxious to deliver it to you. I bet someone’s got a little crush,” Finn says in a sing-song voice.
    “Yeah, well, I’m old enough to be his mother.” Sofie waves Finn’s comment away as they walk towards the motel entrance doors.
    “Cut yourself some slack, Braun! Not his mother, more like his cool aunt!” Finn throws the back-handed compliment over his shoulder as he heads to his room. “I’ll leave you two alone.” He gives the words so much meaning that Sofie feels bad for poor Brett, who is blushing like the teenager that he is.
    Sofie approaches the reception with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about my friend. He doesn’t get out much.”
    Brett’s face is still so red that Sofie’s a little concerned that he may just pass out right in front of her, but he manages to pull himself together. “That’s alright Ms. Brau—, Sofie,” he corrects himself, looking at her like he’s checking if it’s still okay for him to call her by her first name.
    After he just stands there looking at her for a few increasingly uncomfortable moments, she decides to move things on a little, otherwise this could take quite some time. “You have something for me, Brett?” She looks at him hopefully, trying to cover her yawn as the tiredness from the last few days catches up with her.
    “Yeah, right.” He rushes to the side of the desk, rifling through reams of paper. It’s as if the computer revolution hasn’t quite reached Beaumont, and the thought makes Sofie smile. It’s one of the things that she likes about the town. It feels kind of like a place that’s out of time, away from the big, bad real world. It gives her a feeling of peace, of safety, something that she’s never experienced back in DC or, as she’s started to think of it, reality.
    That feeling, that illusion of security comes crashing down on her when Brett hands over the message he scrawled down. “It didn’t make much sense to me. The guy on the phone just told me to take it down, he said you’d know what it meant?” Brett searches Sofie’s face for a sign that she understands what he’s written, but the only confirmation he gets is the color going out of her face.
    She turns white as a sheet as she reads the two words written in capital letters, making it seem like they’re being shouted at her.
    “Are you alright?” Brett looks at her with concern,