Page 39 of Their Alpha

“It’s rustic,” I corrected him. “It’s like we’re in some remote outpost of the kingdom, safe from King Freslik and his evil plans.”

Fletcher laughed louder and pulled me in tight. He kissed the side of my head, then rested his head against mine. Finally, after everything he’d been through and all his efforts to keep me safe, he relaxed and let out a breath.

That lasted for two whole minutes as we stood breathing in the nighttime sea air before the crunch of tires on the gravel drive jolted us out of our moment.

“No!” I gasped, going rigid in his arms. “No, no, no! We just got here. We just made it to safety!”

“Come on,” Fletcher said, instantly on guard again.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back into the house. We set to work blowing out all the lanterns, but wecouldn’t do anything about the fires. Their scent would alert whoever had just come up the drive that the house wasn’t empty as much as the light from the lanterns in the windows.

We crept through the front room and up to one of the windows, keeping low so we wouldn’t be seen. I noticed Fletcher breathing harder and harder as we crouched and watched the car park and turn off, then as someone got out.

“Is it just him?” Fletcher asked, his voice a wild moan.

I didn’t understand what he meant at first. Just him?

I thought I understood a second later when the faint light of the moon and from the house lit the figure coming forward enough for me to see it was Artemis. It was just him, alone. No one else got out of the car.

“Artemis!” I called out, standing.

I wanted to run to the door and fly into Artemis’s arms, but much to my surprise, Fletcher beat me to it.

“Artemis!” he shouted, dashing to the door, turning the lock, and throwing it open.

I followed, but with a sinking feeling in my gut. A few other things were starting to become obvious to me. I scrambled onto the front porch just behind Fletcher, but I stopped at the top of the stairs, whereas Fletcher raced down them and across the overgrown path to the drive.

“Artemis!” Fletcher shouted again. “You found us!”

“Fletcher!” Artemis greeted him with just as much enthusiasm and relief. He threw open his arms, and when Fletcher reached him, he jumped up, wrapping his whole body around him.

My heart slammed wildly against my ribs as I watched the two of them embrace and groan in relief, then kiss each other with so much passion and need that I flinched. I was overjoyed that Artemis had found us, thoughGod only knew how he did that, what with all the precautions Fletcher had taken.

But I also felt suddenly alone, left out. Artemis had come for Fletcher, not me. Fletcher had left me behind in the house without so much as a thought. The two of them were kissing now like I wasn’t even there.

I sucked in a breath as everything suddenly became clear to me. Everything. Fletcher’s odd behavior earlier in the day made sense. His tension as we’d driven farther from Barrington, the distance I’d felt between the two of us, and even the way Artemis had found us out in the middle of nowhere so fast, it all made perfect sense.

Somewhere in his heat, Fletcher and Artemis had bonded.

I pressed a hand to my stomach and the brand new spark of life growing there. What did this mean for the two of us?

My fears were eased somewhat when Artemis put Fletcher down and they both turned to me.

“Gideon, thank God you’re safe,” Artemis said, walking fast up the path to me.

My fears vanished for a moment as Artemis swept me boldly into his arms and kissed me almost as passionately as he had Fletcher. He held me tightly against him, though I didn’t wrap myself around him like Fletcher had. Not only did that embrace not terrify me, It made me feel safe again.

“Fletcher brought me here becausehefound us,” I whispered against Artemis’s neck as I buried my face there.

“I know,” Artemis said. He turned with me still in his arms and continued talking to Fletcher. “You’re never going to believe this, but that job interview I had to leave the two of you for? It was with Justice Goode at Arise Financial.”

I shuddered and buried myself against Artemis to hide.

“You’re kidding,” Fletcher said, stepping up onto the porch, then leading us all inside.

“He was agitated and in a hurry to get the interview over with because he said he had urgent family business,” Artemis said, picking me up and carrying me into the house and all the way to one of the dusty sofas by the fire. “I’m so glad you told me your story, Gideon,” he said to me. “Goode let one too many details slip, and he got a phone call from someone who knew about the farm while I was there, so I was able to put two and two together. I went straight back to the farm as soon as I left the interview to warn you.”

“Gideon’s brother called us less than an hour after you left our house to say Goode had found us,” Fletcher said. “I’ve had an escape plan for years, I just never thought I’d have to use it like this.”

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