Page 11 of Cruel Alpha

“I bet. And who are these little angels?” She chucked Jack under the chin, and I tensed for his inevitable retreat and grumble—he hated new people—but to my surprise, he giggled. He still hid his face against my chest immediately afterward, but it was a very promising start.

“This is Jack,” I told her, “and that’s his sister, Emmy.”

Emmy, for her part, was starting to get squirmy in Caleb’s arms. He shot me a questioning look, and I nodded at him to set her down. Immediately, Emmy toddled over to Julia, frowning up at her as though considering something very complex.

“You’re tall,” she said eventually, and Julia smiled.

“Yeah,” she agreed, dropping into a crouch so that she was closer to Emmy’s height. “Do you wanna be tall when you’re grown up?”

Emmy considered this.

“Yes,” she said.

“Well,” Julia said, “are you eating all your greens like your mommy tells you? Because that’s the only way to grow up really tall.”

Emmy screwed up her face.

“Never mind,” she said. Julia bit back a laugh as she rose back to full height, shooting me a significant look. She had Emmy pegged already.

“Do they need anything to eat?” Julia asked. “Food or juice or anything?”

I was absolutely not ready to deal with the juice zoomies, but they definitely needed a snack before they started getting cranky.

“If you’ve got an apple, I can cut them some slices,” I said, but Julia waved me away.

“You sit down,” she insisted. “I’ll get it. Skin on or off?”

“On, please.”

“You got it.”

I settled the twins on Julia’s couch while she set to cutting up an apple. I felt calmer than I had five minutes ago, though Caleb looked like he was about to burst. Julia threw me a wink before she turned to him.

“You may continue,” she said magnanimously, and he scowled as he launched back into recounting the events of the last twenty-four hours. Had it really been such a short time? Yesterday morning, I had woken in my cabin on the outskirts of Arbor town with no idea that my little life there was about to be shattered, and now I was back on Lapine. I was sitting in Julia Thorne’s house, watching my children pick apple slices off her plates, listening to Caleb talk about “getting Alyssa resettled” and “increasing bridge security”.

The low rumble of his voice was familiar and different all at once: it had deepened over the last few years, and the edge of arrogance had rounded into something more like confidence. I’d rarely seen him serious in our teen years—he was always smiling, even when the smile was cruel and mocking—but I didn’t know if I’d seen him smile once since he’d rescued us. It was, I supposed, not really a situation that would merit much smiling, but this stoic, serious version of Caleb still felt strange to me. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for him to break character and tell me that the Arbor hunters were at the door, ready to pick us up and drag us back with them to face the punishment we so rightly deserved.

“And have you asked Alyssa what she thinks about this plan?” The sound of my name pierced the anxious fog of my thoughts, and I blinked up at Julia.

“What?” I said stupidly.

Caleb leaned forward, no doubt ready to rehash all the reasons why Lapine was the best and safest place for me to be, but Julia held up a hand to silence him. I was in awe of her power.

“Are you okay with staying here?” Julia asked softly. “Or did my brother just railroad you into this?”

That was a complex question. Of course, I had been railroaded into it; left to my own devices, I would never have returned to Lapine, but left to my own devices, my children and I would probably be dead. Instead of answering, I voiced the worry that had been scratching at the back of my brain.

“A lot of people saw me arrive,” I said. “There’s no way your dad isn’t going to find out. What then?”

You could have heard a penny drop in the silence that followed. Julia glared at Caleb.

“You didn’t tell her?” she hissed, and Caleb shrugged.

“There wasn’t a moment.”

“Didn’t tell me what?” I pressed, and the siblings looked at each other for a long second before Julia said,

“Our dad died a few months after you left.”

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