The Falcon Ridge Series Book 1 She's Not For You

I'm woken up with soft kisses on my cheeks. "Baby..." River's soft cooing voice brings me into the light.

I smile and open my eye a tiny bit. The morning light stings my eye so I close it again.

"Mmm..." I moan.

"Baby, wake up." He plants tiny kisses on my nose.

I roll over and stretch, finally braving my eyesight to the light. I sit up, holding the blanket over my chest. "Good morning."

River is awake and dressed, holding a cup of coffee.

"Good morning." He smiles as he hands me the cup. He sits on the bed.

I arch a brow. "Coffee in bed? What's this for?"

He leans over and gives me a soft kiss. "For being you." He says on my lips.

He sits up, grabs my robe and takes my cup. "Come on, recruit. Get up. Breakfast is served in the mess hall." He chuckles as he speaks in his trainer voice.

"Yes, sir." I laugh and get out of bed.

It's then I notice, River's been cooking.

We head to the kitchen and River had bacon, eggs, toast and pancakes for two steaming on the table.

I eyes go wide. "How long have you been up?"

He places my cup of coffee at my breakfast plate and pulls out a chair.

"A few hours. I had to drive around to find a store to buy this stuff." He sat down.

I take a bite of bacon. Melting at how good it tasted. "You're amazing." I say with a mouthful.

He swallows. "You're the amazing one. Last night was incredible."

I pick up my cup. "So, what are we going to do today?"

He leans back. "We could just stay in all weekend." He wiggles his brow.

I smile. "As much fun as that would be, we really should do something else for a bit."

He raised a brow. "We could go for a run."

My wolf perked up.

"A run would be good." I drink my coffee.

He leaned on the table. "Then a picnic in the park for lunch."

"I'd like that."

He goes back to eating.

I drink my coffee and a knock comes on the front door.

He looks at me and raises a brow. "You eat. I'll get it."

He gets up and heads to the door.

****

RIVER

I scowl as I can already tell by the shadow in the window who is at the door.

I open the door and Michael is standing there.

I cross my arms. "Are these early morning visits a regular thing now?"

"Hey, River. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." My stomach flips at the sheer balls on this guy.

"Michael?" Anna calls from behind me.

He looks past me. "Hey, Anna."

I sigh. "Come in." I move out of the way and wave him in.

He claps my shoulder as he walks past making a beeline for Anna.

I shut the door completely annoyed. My wolf is growling in my chest.

Anna hugs him. My wolf pushes, but I push back. She lets him go. "You want a coffee?"

Michael takes off his jacket. "Sure."

I try to hide my disdain. I sit at my breakfast. He sits at the chair at the end of table and Anna takes her seat. "So, what are you doing here?" She asks.

He clasps his hands in front of him and gets comfortable. "Well, I'm sure you've both heard the news."

I nod. "The border integration." My voice is low.

He nods back. "I just want you both to know, that I'll not be a problem for you." He points to me. "I know you've been thinking it."

The corner of my mouth ticks up. "Maybe once or twice."

"Anna. I want you to be happy, ok. If River's the one to do that, then fine." He gives a totally fake smile. I internally cringe.

"Ok." She sets her cup down. "Then tell your friends to back off, too. We don't need them causing problems." She glances at me and I nod in acknowledgement. My baby obviously has my back.

He puts his hands up. "Already laid into them last night. Anna, I had no idea they were going to do that. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Nothing happened, but if we are all going to be working together, we need to get along." Her eyes flicked between us both.

I know she’s referring to the exchange we had last week. I know she didn’t like it, but like I said, Michael’s not going to know a moments peace when it comes to Anna.

I sit up. "Fine with me. Michael?" I extend a hand to him.

He takes it. He's handshake is hard and firm. Too firm. "Me too." He smiles. The persona he's putting on for Anna is the total opposite of what I feel in his hand. Like he's lying through his teeth right now.

I take my hand away and cross my arms. "Well, see you Monday then." I say.

"Bright eyed and bushy tailed." He chuckles.

I stand. "I'll walk you out." I definitely don't want him anywhere near Anna.

He stands. "See you later." Anna nods.

I follow him to the door. He steps out. "Michael." I say so Anna can't hear.

He turns.

I puff my chest out with my hands in my pockets. "You may have her fooled, but you're not fooling me." I step close. "Cause problems for us, and I'll ruin you. Get me?"

I pierce my eyes into his. My alpha is on full display.

He puffs his chest out and ticks his jaw. "If I wanted to, you wouldn't even see it coming, Alpha." He eyes me up and down. "Have a good day." He smirks and turns on heels and leaves.

My anger builds as I watch him leave. I turn and shut the door slowly.

Anna walks up to me. She sees what I'm trying so hard to hide. "You ok?"

I scratch my head and smile. "Yeah. Everything's fine."

She reaches up and gives me a kiss. "Ok. I'm going to take a shower."

"I'm coming with you!" I grab her and nuzzle her neck. "I can devour your wet body."

She laughs. "Not if I devour yours first."

"Is that so?" I start tickling her. "You think you can best the alpha, do you?"

"River! Stop!" She laughs then she breaks free and runs for the stairs.

"Oh, it's on now!" I chase after with her screaming the whole way.

****

After our shower, we ran our wolves at Anna's clearing. They were like a couple of pups. Playing and nipping at each other. Rushing through the trees. When they tired, they laid side by side in the grass. My wolf licking Anna's wolfs ears and head. He’s definitely head over heels for her. They even took a nap, with my wolfs head resting on Anna's wolfs back protectively.

After, we had lunch in the park like I planned. We laid in each other's arms. Just feeling the breeze and relaxing.

Of course, Saturday night, we went at it multiple times before finally falling asleep.

Sunday it was raining, so we decided to stay in.

After lunch, we curled up on the porch swing with some wine. Anna was leaning on my chest. Blanket covering her. We just lightly swung and watched the rain.

The sounds of the cool rain hitting the grass just made this day so much better. Anna was happy, comfortable and calm. The way she should. I need to keep my bullshit in check for her sake.

She hugged my arms. "Will it always be like this?" She whispered.

I kissed the top of her head. "I hope so."

She sat up. "River. I want to tell you something. I hope you don't freak out. And you don't have to say anything after."

I tucked her hair behind her ear. "I won't freak out. I promise."

She looked down at her wine glass and then back up to my eyes. "I think I'm falling in love with you." She had a soft, serious tone.

I smile. "I love you, too." I lean forward and thread my fingers into her hair. I kiss her softly. Showing her, I mean it. I pull back and rest my forehead on hers. "I've loved you from day one."

It’s the truth. The more I thought about it, the more I believe it. Anna, for me, was love at first sight. I’m sure of it. This girl is my life. I don't care what happens in the world. If she's not with me, it all means nothing. I can't live my life without her now. She's my everything. She's......

Mine.

****

Monday morning, Anna and I part ways. Driving to the unit separately. Before we go, we hash out our stories on the weekend events. In case anything came up.

And I'm so glad I did. I wasn't in the dorms fifteen minutes before there was a knock on my door.

Stevens was standing there. Looking rather displeased.

"Alpha." I nod and offer him inside.

"Blake." He said in a monotone voice.

I stand rigid but my heart is racing. A personal visit to my quarters is not something I expected.

He looked around my room. Then his eyes turned to me. "Some news has come to my attention." He clasped his hands behind his back. "Disturbing....news."

I swallow hard trying to play it cool. "News....Sir?"

He cleared his throat. "Seems you were seen kissing a recruit Friday at a bar."

I'm sweating. I hope this works. “Yes, sir. I did. I made a massive mistake. I…was a little drunk and lost my head. I've apologized to the recruit and take full responsibility for my actions."

He steps to me and eyes me. My face softens and my shirt collar heats up.

He tilts his head and glares at me. “You’re in a heap of trouble son.”

I swallow. “Sir?”

“My office.” He orders.

Fuck!

As I walk to Stevens office behind him, I link Anna.

‘Baby girl, we got problems.’

‘What?’ She links back.

‘We've been busted. I’ll link you later.’ I block the link so I can concentrate on smoothing this over and saving my neck.

He orders me to sit when we get into his office. I sink into a chair in front of his desk.

"River, I'm glad you came clean. I shouldn't have to tell you that fraternizing with an unranked member is strictly against regulations." He sits in his chair.

"Yes, sir." I nod.

He continues. "Now, your father is a dear friend of mine. I'm sure it wouldn't surprise you that to hear of his only sons' actions, would be humiliating to him. So, since you've admitted your mistake, I'll keep it quiet."

Relief floods over me.

"But." He leans on his desk. "This is the only one you get. Any more complaints like this and I'll have to make it official."

I nod. “Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed.” He says as he grabs some paperwork.

I stand and walk to the door.

“River.”

I turn and he doesn’t look at me. “Yes, sir.”

“Next time…Don’t be so stupid.” He says as he lift an eye to me.

I try not to smile. “Yes, sir. I’ll try, sir." I nod.

When I shut his office door and start down the hallway, I blow out the biggest breath of my life.

‘Anna.’ I open my link as I walk.

‘River! Are you in trouble? Am I in trouble? How bad is it? What are...’

‘ANNA!’

‘What?’

‘You're hurting my head.’

‘Sorry.’

‘He knows. He let me off with a warning.’

‘Well, that's good. So, is it on record?’

‘Not officially. He's friends with my dad and wanted to keep it quiet.’

"Thank God."

‘But that means we can't be touching each other at the bar or anywhere in public anymore. Just until you get your rank.’

‘Ugh. Torture.’

‘I know, baby. Just a couple more weeks.’

‘Will I see you tonight?’

‘I'll try, but I can't promise anything. I only got one warning.’

‘Ok. I miss you.’

‘I miss you too, baby girl.’

I cut the link and headed out to the training field.

That was close. I’m sure if it was anyone else, I would have been done.

Anna and I have to be so careful now. Which is going to be hard because in 24 hours, he comes.

This could ruin everything.