Page 29 of Strawberry Moon

And just like that, tears spilled down my cheeks, like I was a toddler who’d dropped his ice cream. Hell, I hadn’t cried in front of anyone in years. What was this? And yet... they wanted me. The alpha wanted me. Honored, he said.

All I could do was bury my face in my palms and try to will the wriggling mass of emotions back into my chest where they belonged.

21

Ford

When we got to The Cider House, Linden was over at a booth, talking to Archer. Alone.

I braced myself for the sharp, bitter slice of jealousy I’d felt thinking Archer had had a mate in Andy. But it didn’t come.

My wolf didn’t, in desperation, take its anger to the highest intensity, but sat back, content to see Archer there in this bar that smelled like pack, talking to Alpha Grove. Our alpha.

After all, Linden was mated, and happily, to Colt Doherty. He was looking after Archer, checking in, and that was a good thing.

Not quite as good as checking in on him myself, but at this point, well, I doubted I was much of a comfort to the new omega.

Jack bumped into my arm as he stomped into the bar and toward a table. “Come on,” he huffed.

“I’ll get drinks,” Ridge offered.

I slid into a booth opposite Jack, and shifted over to see if I could get a clear view of the alpha and Archer against the other wall. My brother stared at me, his eyebrows curving way up on his forehead. “Why are you staring at that guy with the alpha? He’s Sterling, right? He trouble?”

I glanced their way again and watched Archer sink into his shoulders. His friend Andy was off in the corner at one of the old arcade games, clearly trying to give them space.

“Nah. He’s trying to help.”

Jack scoffed through his nose. Usually, the damn kid didn’t know when to shut his mouth, but one glare from me got the point across this time, and having a glass of cider in his hand a moment later made sure he had something to do with his mouth other than run it.

For once, Ridge was up for talking, though he kept trying to drag me into the conversation too. He was on about the new flower patches. The bees.

Jack was excited for honey—more for cakes than anything else, but he liked the idea of mastering something that seemed dangerous on the surface, like a bunch of bees, and getting something good out of it.

The hives were doing well, and Ridge wasn’t making me mess with them too much.

But my attention kept drifting to Archer. Linden rubbed his shoulder, and—from here, I’d have sworn they were shaking. He was upset.

So when Linden had gone and Archer wandered over to the bar with his hands wrapped around his empty glass, and then we ran out of drink, well, that was reason enough for me to hop out of my seat first. “I’ll grab refills.”

Jack stared at me. There I was, his asocial brother, offering to talk to Talin to get us more cider. Talin, whose competence bordered on intimidating to any alpha less than perfect.

Didn’t matter. I slipped away, and soon as I’d placed our order, I edged along the bar toward Archer.

“Hey, you okay?”

Archer looked up at me, and I saw his face was pale, but with high red splotches like he’d been crying. When he smiled, it didn’t tremble at all though.

“Yeah, I am, actually. I’m kind of... good?”

I could smell salt tears in the air, and my heart jumped in my chest. He’d been hurt, and—well, I couldn’t help feeling responsible. The way I’d been treating him lately, he had plenty of reason to cry. “Glad to hear it. You just seemed kind of upset a minute ago?”

Too fast, he shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

Nothing Linden couldn’t handle. And an upset he probably didn’t want to share with me. Not that I could blame him.

“Well, good.” I wished he’d tell me what it was. I wanted to fix it. It was an impulse, but it was overwhelming, like if I didn’t try, I wasn’t even a wolf anymore, much less an alpha. “If there’s ever anything I can do—”

Archer stared at me like I’d grown an extra head. “Oh, uh, yeah? Thanks. But really. It’s nothing.”

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