Page 15 of Alpha's Sunflower Smiles

“There you are! Where are you going?”

I blinked at Ty. The omega beside me batted his eyes innocently.

“I was just asking Wilfred to show me his workshop.”

“Already? Alder, you’re meant to make polite conversation first.”

Ty sounded half frustrated and half amused.

It suddenly clicked. “Oh, you’re Alder,” I said. He was the third person in Ty and Ronnie’s triad relationship, and I’d heard a lot about him. By all accounts, he was something of a loose cannon.

“Yes, I am. Pleased to meet you.”

He held out his hand and I shook it. His grip was firm, especially for an omega. I didn’t like to stereotype but omegas tended to be softer and weaker than non-presenting men. Alder shook my hand with confidence.

Then he said, “Now we’ve done the small talk, you can show me your workshop.”

I was already nodding and opening the door when Ty said, “Wilfred, you were going to take him out there and you didn’t even know who he was?”

“Oh, yes, I see. Well, he asked to see it. Besides, he knew whoIwas,” I said, hoping that justified it. I hadn’t actually thought about it. Alder seemed to have such a forceful personality that I’d automatically obeyed him.

Ty rolled his eyes. “You’re too trusting, Wilfred. He could have been anyone.”

Alder put his hands on his hips. “Wilfred was just being nice to me, Ty. And he’s proud of his workshop. He’s going to show me how he makes these cups.”

I only noticed then that he had one of my own clay cups in his hand.

“They’re fun to do,” I said.

Alder turned to me, a glint of interest in his eyes. Ty sighed. “You’re not going to settle down until you know everything about it, are you, Alder?”

From what I already knew of Alder, I’d say the answer was ‘no’.

I led him into the workshop and his eyes were everywhere. He asked about every piece of machinery and I explained what they all did.

“That’s a lot of expensive equipment. What security do you have?”

“We have alarms on the doors at night. Nobody can steal it.”

Alder gave a disbelieving hum.

Perhaps I was a tad defensive, since Pete had commented on the same thing when he’d been in here to supervise the door replacement, but I said, “It’s worked so far! The insurance company is happy with the arrangement.”

“You’re not happy about it though, are you?”

I deflated, all my defensiveness whooshing out of me.

“No,” I admitted. “I was happy with it before because that’s what I thought worked, but…”

“But?”

“Pete wants me to get CCTV as well. He says it will increase security and keep me safe.”

I didn’t want to examine why my stomach began to get that fluttery feeling again when I said that.

He’d been so magnificent when he talked about it, his voice dropping low into a near-growl. It was such an alpha thing to do, to want to protect his—

Maybe that was why it felt so special to me. Because Pete had wanted to protect me and keep me safe, even if it was just by having CCTV in the shop. I had never felt the lack of a partner before, not particularly. I had friends and loved spending my time on my crafts.

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