Page 56 of Ruled By The Alpha

As he came to the bottom, he picked up the muffled ruffling of fabric. His visitor was still here, it seemed.

Excitement twisted his stomach and flooded his muscles with tension. If she tried to evacuate in a hurry, he’d catch her. Couldn’t have her slipping or jumping from the ledge. A cornered, unmated Omega out here was likely to do any number of crazy things to get away from an Alpha.

He rounded the last large boulder blocking his view of camp and caught sight of the intruder still rifling through his things, and Riden’s throat went dry.

He hadn’t been imagining things. There, on her knees in the center of his bedroll, digging through a duffel, was the last thing he thought he’d ever see again.

An Omega.

Chapter 2

Syra growled in frustration as she hurriedly dug through a second duffel. The monumental risk she’d taken by invading an Alpha’s camp wasn’t paying out the way she’d hoped. All she’d found were a few utensils, some clothes, lighters and other typical fare for survivors out here beyond the wall. If he had food, he’d hidden it somewhere else.

She knew she needed to give up the search and go before the Alpha returned, but the idea of leaving empty-handed after taking such a chance was almost unbearable. She hadn’t eaten regularly since she was forced to flee the valley weeks before when a group of travelers set up camp too close for comfort, and she was getting desperate.

Syra had caught the scent of this male a few days before and had been circling his territory ever since. It was hard to stay downwind and out of range when he roamed so widely, but she was proud to have managed it. His range suggested he was a hunter, and she was hopeful she’d be able to capitalize on that fact. Even discarded organs from a cleaned kill would have been a welcome meal at this point.

Days of studying his patterns revealed he was fairly predictable. She’d wanted to wait, hoping to scavenge off his work, but her aching stomach and throbbing head prompted her to action. Syra wasn’t stupid. She knew her cycle was coming, and she’d have to abandon this part of the mountain soon. Knowing how weak and vulnerable she’d be once it hit, finding food was a now-or-never endeavor.

But now she had nothing to show for her days of careful observation, and she’d have to run again.

“Can I help you find something, Sweetheart?”

Syra froze, every muscle seizing up tight at the sound of a rich, rumbling male voice. Slowly, she lifted her gaze from the bag in her hands, already dreading the sight to come.

She’d only seen him from a distance, but now that he was here in front of her, only a few feet away, she realized just how large a man the Alpha really was. She swallowed hard and clenched her jaw against the whimper that threatened to slip free.

Dark eyes, dark, silver-streaked hair, a square jaw rough with a week’s worth of peppered beard. He was older than she thought, but his age hadn’t lessened the sinewy bulk of muscle that his worn clothes struggled to contain.

He raised both hands slowly, palms out in a gesture of surrender that Syra didn’t believe for a minute. “I’m not going to hurt you. Let’s just take it easy, there. Yeah?”

The Alpha eased one hand up to his shoulder and grasped the strap hanging there. Syra twitched with the urge to run, but forced herself to keep still as he slid it from his arm. The sight of two rabbits swinging from the fasteners made her stomach growl so loudly that the Alpha holding them smirked. Heat flooded her cheeks, and Syra sat his bag down and gathered herself into a crouch. Sure, he seemed easy going enough now, but she knew from experience how fast that could change when an Alpha was in the mix.

“Hungry?” the man asked, glancing away from her long enough to set a rough-hewn bow and bag of arrows down next to his long-extinguished fire. The rabbits he laid on the flat stones surrounding the fire pit. “That what this is? Looking for food?”

Syra pursed her lips, glancing back and forth between the Alpha and the rabbits. Shewashungry, but she didn’t know this man, and certainly didn’t trust him. Even if he shared his food,he wouldn’t do it without expecting something in return. If she was smart, she’d make a break for it the first chance she got.

“Not much of a talker, I guess.” The man noted out loud, smiling lopsidedly as he moved to a crouch on the opposite side of the fire pit. “Well, I’m fixing to eat, and you’re welcome to stay if you like. It’s not much, but I’m happy to share. Could you pass me that bag you got there, so I can start us a fire?”

She frowned, unhappy with the almost mischievous spark she saw flash through his expression as he extended a hand her way. Syra snatched up the bag and tossed it at him, glancing over his shoulder at the mouth of the overhang beyond as he sifted through its contents.

“Much obliged.” He angled his head briefly, following the direction of her glance. “That’s a long fall, Sweetheart. Don’t risk it on account of me. I meant it when I said I’m not going to hurt you.”

“AllAlphas say that.” Syra snapped, unable to keep the bitter words from bubbling out. The Alpha paused, then sighed.

“That may be true. And not all of them mean it. Sounds like you know that already.” He lifted his dark gaze to meet hers, and a muscle in his jaw twitched as his features grew solemn. “But I am not most Alphas, and I swear on my Omega mother’s life, I won’t hurt you.”

As anxious and unsettled as she was, it was obvious by the shift in his expression that his mother’s life wasn’t mentioned lightly. He was either a very good liar, or he meant what he said. Syra bit her lip as she studied him, struggling to work out which it was.

“Life’s hard out here, and I imagine things have been especially difficult for you, given your dynamic. If I can lighten that burden today by sharing my dinner, I’m happy to do it. No strings attached. You want to get up and leave after you’re done, I won’t stop you.”

Syra sniffed tentatively at the air, drawing in the male’s scent. Alpha musk and wilderness were all she sensed. No hostility, no bitter tinge of aggression. Still wary, but too hungry to deny how badly she wanted that rabbit, Syra slowly lowered her backside to the ground.

The Alpha’s features softened, and his mouth turned up at the corner again. “Glad to have the company. My name’s Riden. Feel comfortable sharing yours?”

“Syra.”

He nodded, arranging a small wad of starter material in the center of the pit, and pushed away the charred remnants of the previous logs. “Well, Syra. It’s nice to meet you. Think you could bring me a handful of sticks and a few logs from near the wall there? Let’s get this fire going.”

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