Page 16 of The Alpha Warrior's Mate

He shot up and turned, taking my hands in his. “Of course I did. Watching the man I love go out and maybe never come back? I’ve never experienced something so heartbreaking. I worried myself sick. Look.”

Clay held up his hands, fingernails bitten almost to the quick.

“No one worries about me,” I said, kissing each nail bed, feeling horrible that he’d done that.

“That’s not true anymore. I worry about you.”

I grabbed him up and sat him across my knees, pulling him tight against my chest. “Did I hear you say that I’m the man you love?” I asked, peppering the top of his head with kisses.

“You did. What are you going to do about it?” Clay giggled, warming my soul.

“Tell you that I love you too. I think I have since I found you in that closet of an office. And now…”

“Now what?” My mate’s voice dropped to a bass tone. I knew what that meant.

“Now, I’m going to show you.”

Chapter Fourteen

Clay

When Jeremy had told me about the mission, I didn’t ask very many questions. He’d been so broken, so afraid I couldn’t see past what he did to see the man he was. He didn’t understand that he did what he did because of who he was. The man I fell in love with.

For the next couple of weeks, I tiptoed around asking any questions. I knew there were some omegas here, but not all of them. And when I woke up from my dream and my stomach clenched, it was time to ask him. Delaying wasn’t doing either of us any good. The messed-up part was, waiting to ask him could seem like I wasn’t trusting him when really, all I was trying to do was protect him.

“Jeremy.” I shook his arm gently. “Jeremy?”

“Yeah?” He sat up. “What’s wrong, mate?”

“I was wondering… Some of the omegas are here, but where are the rest?”

“We have another safe house. You know Jack who everybody talks about? He sort of runs it with his mate. We can go visit.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.” I started to climb out of bed.

He yawned. “It’s two in the morning. We might want to wait a little while.”

“Oh.” I chuckled. “Yeah, let’s do that.” I leaned down and kissed his cheek. “Just gonna use the bathroom.”

I padded into the bathroom but, as I crossed the threshold, my stomach clenched again, and I stumbled to the toilet and lost my dinner into it. I hoped my mate had slept through it. After I cleaned up, I went back to bed, and he wrapped his arm around me. So much for sleeping through it.

“You don’t have to eat the clams next time.” He kissed the side of my neck.

“Oh yeah.” I’d forgotten how many of those I’d eaten. They were good, but also, he was right—probably not the best idea, considering we were landlocked. That explained the stomach ache. I couldn’t even be mad at it. The tummy ache resulted in me asking what I’d wanted to know.

The next time I woke up, the sun was already in the sky. After we got ready for the day, we joined everybody for breakfast, but I was antsy, and none of the food seemed like a good idea. I was going to see another part of Jeremy’s life, plus I was going to see another way that they were helping and possibly that I could help.

It was farther away than I thought, and the car was giving me a little motion sickness. When we stopped, I stumbled out, bending over, my stomach once again not feeling great.

“You okay, mate?” He was instantly by my side.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just… I need to stay away from those clams. But also, the car ride mixed with the clams…”

“We can stay here if you want. I’m sure Jack has a spare bed for us.” Although, when we walked inside, I wasn’t so sure. They had turned part of the common room into quarters for people to sleep in, and Jack was talking about an addition when we came upon him.

“This is my mate, Clay. Clay, this is Jack.”

“Oh, it’s great to meet you.” He came over and hugged me. They all seemed to do that—just skipping over the human patterns of handshakes and being standoffish.

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