Page 30 of Their Alpha

“I’ll be there,” I promised him.

We said our goodbyes, then with a pit of regret gaping in my stomach, I headed back into the dressing room.

Gideon had come out of the bathroom and was wrapped in Fletcher’s embrace as Fletcher rubbed his hair dry with one hand on the towel. They made the sweetest picture. The love radiating from Fletcher was palpable. I hated to interrupt it, in more ways than one.

“Hey, guys,” I said, trying to sound light and breezy. “Something’s just come up, a job opportunity, and I need to leave right now if I want to interview for the position.”

Fletcher and Gideon broke apart, both looking alarmed.

“You’ll come back, won’t you?” Gideon asked.

I felt Fletcher’s surprise and heartbreak.

“Of course I will,” I smiled at Gideon. “Just as soon as I take care of business. We have a lot to talk about.”

“Yes, we do,” Gideon said, blushing shyly.

I glanced at Fletcher. “You going to be okay?”

Fletcher nodded stoically. “I’ve got this.” He pulled Gideon tighter into his arms.

I wanted to go over and kiss them both goodbye. I wanted to look long and lingeringly into Fletcher’s eyes and convince him we could make this whole situation work. There were still too many variables to the whole thing, though. All I could do was nod, reach for my overnight bag, and start toward the door.

“I’ll be back by tonight,” I said.

I felt the strain of my bond with Fletcher pulling as I left.

CHAPTER TEN

Fletcher

Artemis left, and it was like the wind was knocked out of me. Only it wasn’t coming back with the next breath I took. I forced myself to move, to hug Gideon tightly, then to continue cleaning up the milking chair, but it felt like I couldn’t breathe at all.

He was moving farther and farther away. The feeling made me vaguely uneasy at first, as he walked downstairs and out to his car, but when he started to drive away, I felt nauseated. It was almost like someone was pulling my intestines out of my body, but intestines weren’t that long.

“Are you okay, Fletcher?” Gideon asked after heading back into the bedroom to grab the gross pile of sheets and damp towels. “You look a little pale.”

“I’m fine,” I lied, trying to send my husband a reassuring smile as I scrubbed remnants of Artemis’s sweat and cum from the chair. I breathed in his lingering scent like Ineeded it to live while I was at it. “It’s just the end of heat, you know?”

“I definitely know,” Gideon said with an airy laugh.

He bent to gather up more towels, took one step, then paused. His expression turned troubled and he bit his lip.

“Fletcher,” he said curiously, like he was beginning a deeper thought.

“Yeah, sweetheart?” I asked straightening and nudging the legs of the chair back together with my knee. I tried not to look at him directly for too long. I had the itchy feeling that he’d be able to tell I’d bonded with someone else, with Artemis.

Gideon’s troubled look grew, which made me pause my cleaning to study him with concern of my own. He wasn’t looking at me, though. He was swimming in whatever thoughts he was having.

Finally, he shook his head and focused on me for a second. “Nothing,” he said, his face heating. “I’ll just pop these in the washer.”

He hurried out of the room before I could ask more questions.

I immediately came up with a list of things that he might be worried about but unable to tell me. He must have liked his breeding orgasm but didn’t want me to feel bad because I could never give him one. I know he liked Artemis. Maybe he just wanted to tell me that.

Maybe having Artemis fuck him for that heat wave had cured him of his fear of alphas. Maybe he would leave me to find a real alpha, someone who could give him more of what Artemis had. What would I do without him? Gideon was my heart and soul. He was my reason for everything I’d done in the last few years, the reason I’d worked so hard tobuild a life of my own instead of crawling back to my horrible family.

But wouldn’t it be a good thing if he’d gotten over his fear and wanted an alpha now? I was bonded to Artemis. Gideon could go find an alpha that would bond with him. We could stay best friends. Maybe our alphas would let us sleep with each other now and then.

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