Page 15 of Welcome to Bone Town

Damn her for batting those eyelashes again. She’s so cute when she’s rambling.

Lips in a tight line, I acquiesce. “Okay, yeah. That’s fine. But if you find anything, come to me immediately.”

What can only be described as a squeal erupts in the tent and suddenly Cora is nearly pressed against me as she lands a quick kiss to my cheek. “Thank you, thank you, thank youuuu.” She sing-songs while she grabs the box and skips out.

I’m left standing stock still, staring after her as she goes, the place where her lips landed tingling with awareness.

“Don’t let that thing out of your sight,” Roman yells after her. But he doesn’t argue that I shouldn’t let her take it, which surprises me. Maybe he’s not as immune to the sweet little omega as he tries to pretend.

“Do you think she can figure it out?” I ask.

“If anyone can, it’s her,” he says so softly I’m not sure he meant for me to hear.

14

As I make my last lap around the camp before nightfall, Archer comes up to me wearing an anxious expression. He’s chewing his thumb again. For a man with four degrees, he’s sure nervous more than necessary. In the time that I’ve known him, he’s proven himself to be competent and smart—not to mention the fact that he’s smokin’ hot. I’m not sure who shot down his confidence, but it needs a serious boost.

“Everything alright?” I ask.

“Um… yeah.” He doesn’t meet my eye. “It’s just I’m planning to work late tonight, and you said we shouldn’t be walking through camp alone at night, so I thought…”

“You want some company?”

“I mean, you don’t have to hang out with me or anything if you don’t want to, but maybe just check in, so when I’m ready to go back to my tent…”

“I’d be happy to walk you to your tent, Archer.” I smile and take his wrist, pulling his thumb from between histeeth. I can’t stand to watch him hurt himself, even if it's unintentional.

The idea of walking the little beta to his tent has my chest swelling with alpha pride. If this wasn’t a job, I’d probably kiss him after walking him home, maybe even ask if I could come tuck him in. Would he let me?

He looks down at where I’m still holding his wrist, then looks back at me.

Keeping firm eye contact, I don’t let go. “I’d like to hang out with you. If it won’t disrupt your work too much. I’ve got other guys who can handle the night shift.”

His eyes grow even darker, like staring into the night sky.

“I’d like that,” he whispers.

Reluctantly I release his wrist. There's a pep in my step as I follow him back to the tent he works in.

“So, tell me about yourself.” Just because I won’t make a move while on a job doesn’t mean I can’t get to know the man. Who knows, maybe after it’s all over, we can share a steamy night in Ekdoti before we go our separate ways.

“Not much to tell.” Archer takes a broken piece of pottery off a shelf and places it carefully on the table in the middle of the tent. “I’m sure you’re the interesting one between us. How’d you get into security?”

It doesn’t skip my notice that he turned the question back around on me, but I won’t push him if he doesn’t want to open up to me. I lean my hip against the table and watch what he’s doing.

“Well, as you know, I was a medic in the military. But even field medics have intense training in order to stayalive. We used to prank each other during the slow times at the base, though, and I quickly realized I was unusually good at sensing an attack from one of my brothers.” I chuckle at the memories. “Fuck, it used to piss them off so badly that they could never get the jump on me. Meanwhile, I could sneak up on them like a predator in the woods—totally undetected. My buddy Romero joked once that I should’ve gone into the secret service instead, and it sparked an idea. I didn’t know what I wanted to do after my stint, but I knew I wasn’t signing up for another tour. Security seemed to fit my skillset and is always needed, job security and all that, ya know?“

He laughs. “Yeah, I picked forensics partly for the job security. Never thought I’d be using my degrees this way, though.” He holds up the pottery piece and shakes it a little.

“You like it?”

“Yeah, I guess. Most of the time.” He picks up the camera and takes a few pictures of the broken relic. “How about you? You like security?”

“Yeah. Like I said, it suits me. I’ve always been big and burly and intimidating.” With a playful smirk, I flex my arms like I’m a bodybuilder posing on stage.

Archer laughs, but his gaze zeros in on my biceps in a way that makes me want to preen.

“Is that…um…arethose,” he jerks his head toward my still taut muscles, “how you got the nickname Bear?”

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