Page 47 of Their Alpha

Artemis and I broke eye contact. Dammit, I hadn’t realized I’d slipped into gazing at him like I could read the secrets of the world in his eyes in the first place. I cleared my throat, then turned to face Gideon, who was seated beside me, and slid my arm around his back.

“You’re right,” I said, forcing myself to relax. “We have lots of things working in our favor to keep us protected. Thecliff house is remote, and once we get back there, we won’t have to leave for days or even weeks.”

“If we get enough supplies,” Artemis said, an attempt at humor in his eyes. “I thought you were starting the shopping.”

I winced a little. How was I supposed to tell him that I’d started, but worry and the intensity of our bond had distracted me to the point where I had to move physically closer to him so I could think? How was I supposed to explain that to Gideon?

“I got a start on it,” I said, pretending nothing was wrong. “Why don’t we all finish it together? I need your input on what we should get anyhow.” I glanced at both Gideon and Artemis.

“Can we get some of those pink snowball snack cakes I like?” Gideon asked buoyantly as we all stood. “I can only ever find them at places like this, and even though I know they’re bad for me, I’m suddenly craving them like nobody’s business.”

I didn’t think anything of Gideon’s comment, but I felt a sudden pull of curiosity from Artemis. It wasn’t ordinary curiosity either. There was a wealth of excitement and affection in his feelings. Even the way he watched Gideon as we entered the supermarket section of the travel center was curious and strangely joyful.

I definitely wanted to know what was going on with that, but I had a job to do, and now I felt like I had very little time in which to do it. I wouldn’t feel safe until the three of us were far away from people in our temporary home. I wasn’t even sure I’d feel fully safe then.

Grocery shopping took longer than any of us thought it would. We had to think about what food would store for long periods and how much of it we could pack into the SUV.Some of the things we needed were perishable, but even assuming we could get the generator and then the fridge up and running, it was a tiny fridge. We had to prioritize and bargain for things we thought were more or less important.

At least money wasn’t an option. I was able to take out a bunch of cash that would both pay for groceries and keep us going for a while, in case we needed it using some of my alternative bank cards.

The nice part of shopping with Artemis and Gideon was that the three of us got along really well. Gideon and I had been married for years, but even though we’d only known Artemis for a matter of days, he fit seamlessly into the rapport Gid and I already had. Maybe it was the bond, although that didn’t explain why Artemis and Gid got along so well, but we just clicked.

I noticed that Artemis had somehow grown even more protective of Gideon after we paid for our purchases and loaded it all into the collapsable wagon to take to the car. He practically hovered around Gideon like he was spotting some sort of world-class gymnast.

“Would either of you mind if I went and looked at the cows?” Gideon asked as we left the main building of the travel center and headed toward the SUV. “I haven’t seen cows in ages.”

I glanced over to the wide, sloping field off to one side of the travel center. Sure enough, a large herd of cows were hanging out in the distance, minding their own business. That made me smile. Cows didn’t give a shit about anything going on around them. I wished I could be like that.

“We should really get home,” I said, glancing longingly at the cows and rubbing the back of my neck.

“I can take him to have a look if you’re okay withloading up the car,” Artemis told me, offering me the car keys.

“Yeah, that would work,” I said, taking them.

There was that implicit trust in my alpha again. I guess I was glad that there were benefits to the bond instead of it just being a massive inconvenience.

Artemis handed me the keys, then he and Gideon walked off to see the cows. I smiled at the way Artemis took Gideon’s hand and at how Gideon threaded their fingers together without giving it a second thought. Even as much as a week ago, Gideon would have cowered away from any alpha who came near him.

Actually, it was interesting to me that Gideon had handled the other alphas at the travel center so well. Maybe having Artemis around gave him an inherent sense of being protected.

A sense I’d never been able to give him.

That thought sent a punch of nausea through me. What’s done was done, though. I had no business feeling both jealous of Gideon’s growing attachment to Artemis and guilt at the bond we’d formed.

There was nothing for it but to pull the wagon of supplies over to where we’d parked in a remote section of the parking lot and to load them. I didn’t know how I felt anymore. I was maxed out on emotions to the point where everything had just converged and then flopped.

“Do you need a hand there?”

The offer startled me, but it also came at a good time. I was fumbling two of the bags of groceries, one of which had just torn, and was trying to shove them into the back of the SUV as the hatch drifted slowly down. Tensing at the sudden interruption could have made me freak out, butwhen I turned and saw an older, balding omega heading toward me, I dropped my defenses a little.

“Yeah, I guess I could use some help,” I said.

Wow. Those words coming from me were proof that everything had changed.

The older omega chuckled and picked up his pace. He started by pushing the SUV’s hatch up so it locked into place, which I hadn’t done right before.

“Looks like you’re stocking up for a long haul,” the omega said, taking another bag from the wagon and loading it into the car. “Where are you off to?”

The back of my neck prickled. After what we’d just heard about all the Tristan Freehold fans trying to discover what happened to him, I had every right to be cautious.

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