Page 62 of Their Alpha

I squeezed my eyes shut and hung onto the rope around me for all I was worth. I should have done more to help myself, but I was too stunned to do more than hang there as Artemis and Fletcher worked to pull me up over the side of the crumbling cliff.

As soon as Artemis had me in his arms, Fletcher grabbed hold of both of us and pulled us farther away from the cliff’s edge. He kept backpedaling as more mud and grass slipped over the edge. He didn’t stop until we were well away from the side of the cliff.

“You’re safe, baby,” he said, sinking into a pile with me and Artemis as we huddled there in the rain. “You’re safe.”

I felt his relief through the bond like it was my own emotion. He didn’t just mean safe for the moment. I was safe for good now. Goode was dead.

“I feel you,” Artemis said, pushing the horrified feelings trying to poke me with awe and joy. “I can really feel you.”

Fletcher tensed and lifted his head from where he’ddropped it to rest on Artemis’s shoulder as he hugged the two of us tightly. “Oh my God,” he said, wonder and happiness flowing into me from him, too. “He’s right. I can actually feel you.” Fletcher burst into tears like I’d never known from him before. “I can feel you, baby. After all this time, I can really feel you.”

I gasped for breath as the importance of the bond hit me as well. I’d known and loved Fletcher for years, but it was suddenly like I could fully see my beloved for the first time.

“We’ve bonded,” I cried out, overjoyed despite the near death I’d just experienced. “All three of us. We’ve bonded.”

I didn’t care about the rain or the dead body at the bottom of the cliff. I didn’t care that I was cold and starting to shiver. I just wanted to stay there with my mates, the three of us together as a single unit, for as long as?—

My thoughts were cut off and my feelings froze where they were as a light cut through the driving rain. I felt the surprise and wariness of my mates through our bond as we both looked up and around the side of the house. The unmistakable beams of headlights were coming up the driveway.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Fletcher

The horror of watching a man fall to a gruesome death on jagged rocks would stay with me for the rest of my life. Even though the man in question had been one of the worst sorts of humans and his death would set free one of the two men I loved with my entire soul. The part of me that had bent over backward to keep Gideon safe against Goode’s evil desires for so many years was glad the bastard was dead, but the part of me that wished for a world where everyone was pure and safe and treated each other with kindness mourned.

Both of those parts immediately took a backseat as soon as I had Gideon and Artemis in my arms. It didn’t matter what had happened or that the rain was still driving down, chilling the three of us to the bone. I had my men, I could feel both of them, and in my heart, I knew I would be able to keep them forever.

Those wonderful feelings were also bumped straight out of my mind as the threatening beams of headlights peering around the corner of the house caught all of our attention.

“No!” Gideon wailed, burying himself further against Artemis and clutching at me. “No, I’m free! They can’t come after me now, I’m free!”

I’d lived around my husband’s fear for years, but it was nothing to the feeling of it seeping through our new bond and straight into my soul. It was dark and ferocious. I didn’t know how Gid had lived with it for so long. I could barely breathe as it hit me, and I was only feeling it second-hand.

“We have to get Gideon into the house,” I shouted above the rain, trying to stand.

It took more effort than it should have for the three of us to get to our feet. The strain of the rescue, the cold of the rain, and the panic that spread through all three of us made us stiff and awkward as we pushed ourselves up as one unit. I could just barely hear the sound of the car pulling to a stop on the gravel drive. Its headlights stayed on even as the engine sound stopped.

“The back door is locked,” Artemis said as we moved together, he and I keeping our arms around Gideon, who I wasn’t sure would be able to walk on his own. “I locked it when I went in for the rope in case Goode tried to escape.”

I nodded. It wasn’t ideal, but taking us around the front of the house would allow me to see what new threat we faced.

Only as we moved around the corner of the house and into full view of the three people getting out of the car and pulling the collars of their coats up against the rain, instead of more fear or sharp concern from Artemis, I felt a blast of relief.

“Victor!” he called out, spurring us to move faster.

“Artemis!” a deep, alpha voice answered him.

I felt Gideon’s fear spike for a moment before softening to curiosity and expectation.

“I came as soon as I got Fletcher’s call,” Victor called back.

Our two groups met in the soggy yard near the front corner of the house. With the car’s headlights still on, I could see the other two people with Victor Woodbury were an omega, probably Simon, and a tall, dark-skinned female alpha who I didn’t know.

“Where is Justice Goode?” the female alpha asked in a commanding voice.

“He’s at the bottom of the cliff over there, dead,” I said, gesturing to the blurry line of the cliff.

The female alpha tensed, then walked on to get a look for herself.

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