CHAPTER 3 Stay Away From That Girl 

Chris's POV

The drive home from the airport is extremely uncomfortable. It is the first time my brothers and I have been alone with Erica without our parents nearby. My brother's try to ease the tension in the car by cracking jokes and being their normal selves but I can't quite seem to get in on the action.

When I saw her in the airport she took my breath away. My brothers and I had agreed that we would pretend like we forgot to pick her up. I bet that it would make her cry and I was right. But when I saw the tears shining in her hazel eyes I no longer thought that the twenty bucks was worth the bet.

Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun with a few stray strands that framed her heart shaped face beautifully. She had definitely turned into a woman since the last time that we saw her, almost two years ago. She has filled out in all the right places and her beautiful hourglass figure made my cock twitch in my pants. She is perfect. Everything that I hoped my mate would be.

If I am being honest. I have always had a bit of a crush on Erica but, like an idiot, my brothers and I had spent every summer tormenting her childishly. Now that I look at the full grown woman in front of me I wish we had been just a little kinder to her.

Glancing over my shoulder I look at her and Bryce in the back seat. Bryce lays his hand on her knee and it makes me want to rip his hand from his body and beat him with it. Goddess. What is happening to me? Am I really ready to fight with my brothers over a girl?

Not a girl. A woman.

Ace pulls up to the pack house and puts the car in park. "Rock, paper, scissors to see who has to carry in her stuff?" He says arrogantly.

"Don't bother," Erica pipes up. It is the first thing that she has said since we left the airport. "I can carry my own stuff."

I can feel my face heat with embarrassment at the memory of the last time that she came to visit. We had carried in her luggage and pulled out all of her bras and panties. In fact that wasn't the first time that we pulled that prank on her. It was no wonder she didn't want us to help her.

"I will carry her stuff," I say gruffly. Ace looks at me in shock but Bryce seems perfectly fine with my decision.

Pulling her luggage out of the trunk, I realize how light it is. Ace must have been joking earlier when he asked how long she was planning on staying. By the feel of this luggage it doesn't feel like she is planning on staying for long. I easily carry her luggage up the stairs of the pack house and wait for her to follow behind me. She has been given a different room this time since her parents won't be staying with us. Mother insisted that her room be as far away from ours as possible.

Erica somberly climbs the stairs and lets out a deep sigh when she sees me waiting for her at the top of the stairs.

"You are staying in the guest quarters," I explain as we both walk through the door. "Mother's orders."

"Okay," is all she says in response. I can tell that she is feeling depressed and I want nothing more than to cheer her up.

I show her to her room that is on the opposite side of the pack house. It is much smaller than the room she usually stays in but at least she has her own bathroom. Erica walks into the bedroom and sits her purse down on the bed and looks around the room. There is nothing but sadness spread across her face.

"Well," I say as I toss her luggage on the floor. "You know what time dinner is."

"Right," she says as she lays back on the bed and stares at the ceiling.

Part of me wants to go to her and make her feel better but I know how much she hates us. So, I slip out of the door and close it gently behind me. I stand outside of her bedroom door for a moment and listen. I can hear her quiet, muffled sobs through the door.

I walk back to our side of the pack house and see my mother standing there with a concerned look on her face.

"Did you get her settled into the guest quarters?" She asks me.

"I put her shit in there, if that is what you are asking," I snap back at my mother.

"Watch your language young man. You may be almost eighteen but that doesn't mean that you can use profanity around your mother." She points her finger in my face while she speaks to me.

"Yes, mother." I groan before I begin to walk away.

"Wait," she yells out after me. "I need to talk to you and your brothers."

"What about," Ace says on cue as he walks up behind me.

I don't have to look behind me to know that both of my brothers are standing behind me. We all stand and wait to hear what our mother has to say.

"I want you three to stay away from that girl," her voice is sour. "We don't need our pack to be associated with the drama that is going on in the West Pack any more than what we already are. Don't be fooled by a pretty face."

My mother stares at Bryce while she talks knowing that he is the playboy between the three of us.

"What exactly happened at the West Pack," Ace asks curiously.

"That is a matter between Alphas," my mother says shortly.

"But aren't we Alphas," Bryce says smugly.

"You know what I mean," she snaps at us.

"I mean it. Stay away from that girl."