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“No, Dave,” I snapped, harsher than I meant to. My mouth was suddenly too dry. I felt raw and all my carefully constructed walls felt paper thin.
I gasped when a warm hand briefly touched my arm in support as someone moved in front of me, blocking me, and another comforting presence appeared at my side.
“Do we have a problem here, boys?” Sirena asked with more than a hint of sass, standing in front of me with her hands on her shapely hips. “You all need to take a step back.”
I normally hated other people fighting my battles, but right now, I was grateful.
I looked to my side and noticed Isabella holding a bottle of water out to me. Her hand was shaking, but she’d followed Sirena out of the kitchen and was here, backing me up.
A helicopter interrupted our standoff as it flew low overhead. I’d heard a beating noise rising, but I’d just assumed it was my head pounding. Or maybe my heart.
Ava appeared at my other side as the helicopter whipped everyone’s hair and clothes into disarray. Sam made a gesture with his hand and it veered away, heading up the hill. When it had passed and the noise and wind quietened, Ava was the first to speak.
“Lexi, if the back-up is here and you don’t need us anymore, I’d like to take you and Cary back to our cabin and check you both over. I know the farm needs you right now, but I want to clean you up quickly and make sure you don’t have a concussion and Cary doesn’t have any broken bones.”
“I’m fine, nothing broken,” Cary said quickly, trying to hide his wince as he shifted feet, “but we do need to check Lexie over. She took a bad blow trying to help me. Thanks for that, by the way. You have some killer moves. Maybe you could teach me a few?”
I nodded at him, but before I could answer, Nick came barreling around the far corner with a case under his arm. “I got the restraints.”
Dave looked between Nick, Cary and me, clearly torn and wanting to ask Cary questions about what had happened to me, but knowing we needed to act now.
I took charge before anyone else could say anything. “Thank you, Ava. I’ll take you up on that, but we can do it in the kitchen behind us. There’s a first aid box in there you can use to patch us both up.” I shot a quick, reassuring grin at Cary and he rolled his eyes.
I turned back to Dave. “Can you handle getting these alphas into the storm cellar, with Nick, Sam, and Dio’s help? Unless you have a better idea of where to put them?”
Dave nodded, looking resigned. “I need you to stay in the kitchen. Don’t venture anywhere else until we give the all clear. We’re still going to be stretched thin until the rest of Sam’s unit arrives and while I sort out a sweep of the farm.”
He turned slightly to look at me with a fake glare. “I’m serious, Lex. No one-woman commando shit, okay? There’s a radio in the kitchen. Buzz me if you need anything.”
I cocked my ringed eyebrow at him. “Who? Me? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He just raised his own eyebrow in return before winking at me. Holy hotness, winking should be illegal on that man.
“Can you get Luis on the radio?” I asked, quickly. “He was working in the lower shed. See if he can come up to check on Bear. He’s unconscious on the path behind the dining hall. We think they knocked him out with gas, but he was breathing. I’ll meet Luis there, but I swear, it’s as far as I’ll go.”
I sensed Dave knew what Bear meant to me, even if I’d never said it out loud. He nodded at me as he grabbed his radio. “On it.”
“Sirena, Isabella, how are the girls? Will sticking to the kitchen a while longer be okay? Or do we need to escort them to a quiet cabin together until Dave can get the farm secured?”
Isabella reached over to grab my hand and gave it a shaky squeeze. “The girls are all holding up. Keeping busy helps, so we’ll start the next meal prep. Sirena told us about Maia and her heat. I’ll organize a roster to keep an eye on them. We owe Damon and the guys, and we like Maia. All the women will want to help. We’ll make sure they’re safe, and fed.”
These women constantly amazed me. I nodded gratefully before I skated my glance across Sam and Dio. They were both staring at me intently, watching my every move, but keeping their distance for now.
I had a highly developed sense of danger, and I had no problem hiding when the need arose. I’d done it for years until I learned enough skills to run at it instead.
But right now, the danger I felt wasn’t from a physical threat. It was from a threat so seductive it felt like it could change the very fabric of who I was. Change everything, forever.
I gave myself one heartbeat to gaze back just as intently. One heartbeat, one moment that seemed to hang in the air, caught in impossibilities, before I turned and walked away.
five
IwatchedLexiego,feeling torn about my responsibilities for the first time in a long time. My body ached to follow her. I wanted to hold her in my arms again and make sure she was okay. I could still feel the outline of her body where I’d held her to me earlier, like her body heat had burned itself into my DNA. It was like that anytime I touched her.
Yet, it wasn’t my place. I wasn’t her home. Even though I was pretty sure she was mine.
Lexie had secrets. She was hiding things I don’t think her brother, Leif, even knew about. Even though they were tight.
I sensed at least one of those secrets had something to do with these two alphas, who were watching her walk away as closely as I was. Alphas didn’t react to betas in this predatory, instinctive way, with their bodies constantly turned towards her and her every movement tracked. This was alpha and omega behavior.
