Page 42 of Strawberry Moon

Then, the creeping cold hit me.

Or maybe better put, theheat. The fucking heat, again.

The ache flared bright and hot, just as it had the night before, and a shiver ran through the rest of me, so very cold at the absence of my alpha. The lack of Ford.

Before I had a chance to fall into my hole of self-indulgent despair, a crash came from outside, grabbing my attention.

I turned onto my hands and knees and started to crawl out of the little cave Ford had hidden us away in, but was brought up short by... Ford. Ford was coming back. And laid across his shoulders was a giant freaking deer. Or was it a buck when it had antlers? Holy crap, he’d killed a whole deer.

I wasn’t sure whether that was impressive or terrifying, or—wait, was that for me? And if so, what the hell was I going to do with a whole-ass raw deer? Buck?

That was when the scent of cheeseburger hit my nose and Ford paused, letting out a growl as he glanced around.

Because while it was a nice fantasy, raw dead deer didn’t smell like cheeseburgers.

A throat cleared in the brush, and Linden emerged, one hand in the air, a sort of white flag, and the other carrying a pallet of water bottles and a greasy white paper bag that looked very much like it might have cheeseburgers inside.

He made an odd motion with his head, lifting and turning to the side a touch before meeting Ford’s eye. “That’s incredibly impressive, Ford. I’m sure Archer can see what an excellent provider you are.” He glanced over at me, one brow raised in question, and motioned his head in Ford’s direction, as though to say “don’t look at me, look at him.”

The delicacy of the situation hit me. Ford... Ford was taking care of me. He killed a whole fucking deer for me. Not that one can kill half a deer, but still.

And here was Linden with food I could actually eat, being kind of a threat.

So I bit my lip and glued my gaze to Ford. “That’s really impressive, Alpha. But I—” Ford’s eyes went worried, and he glanced over at Linden suspiciously, like if I said I wanted the burgers, it meant I wanted to fuck Linden. That was the last impression I wanted to leave, so I widened my eyes and stared at him beseechingly. “I need you, Alpha.”

He sniffed the air, watching me for a moment, then hefted the deer over his shoulders and onto the ground, ignoring it and heading for me.

And even more than the delicious smelling cheeseburgers in Linden’s arms, that was what I wanted.

Linden met my eye over Ford’s shoulder and winked before speaking up again. “All right, so I’m going to take this deer and find someone to process it for Archer, so it doesn’t go bad, and you can give him venison steaks later. And I’ll leave you this water and these cheeseburgers, so you can provide for him right now.”

Ford hesitated a second, but at Linden’s careful wording, apparently the instincts were defeated, and he nodded without turning back.

“I’ll bring some more food tomorrow if you want. I’m leaving Ford’s cell phone on top of the water, in this little waterproof case. Okay?”

Ford managed a grunt and nod as he slid into the cave beside me, nosing along my neck. I nodded to Linden, smiling as much as I could before the heat took me down again, and even the cheeseburgers weren’t as important as getting as close as possible to Ford McKesson.

29

Ford

We ate the goddamn cheeseburgers. They were delicious.

Of course, we didn’t touch them until after I’d slid into Archer’s tight heat, felt him whine and writhe in my arms until he came, and his muscles all went loose and limber.

By then, I was ravenous, and it didn’t matter where the burgers came from.

Whatever part of me was human understood that Linden was only looking after Archer—looking after us—but my wolf had ridden too close to the surface for years. He didn’t want Linden looking at my omega. Not when he was naked and flushed and fuckingmine.

Still, I was human enough to be glad Linden cared—to be glad Archer had someone looking after him. Because the packshouldn’tleave a soft, new, vulnerable omega like Archer unsupervised out here with a brutal, vicious, edgy alpha like me.

I was doing my best, but a shameful, weak part of me was glad to know I was being observed. I wouldn’t get away with mistreating Archer, so I couldn’t afford to lose control with him.

It sated my wolf that I was the one that brought those cheeseburgers into our cave from the spot on the grass where our alpha left them. And when Linden came back the next day with sandwiches from Chadwick’s and a pile of blankets that smelled more like the Hagen sisters than they smelled like him, we had a veritable love nest. Water bottles littered the ground around us, cast aside between desperate gulps.

For days, I had nothing more than Archer in my arms, this cave, and the fresh air of the forest around us. The weather held, the spring air mild enough. It rained some, but under the cover of rocks, with Archer pressed against me, I didn’t care. The sound was soothing, like the sky had draped a blanket over us to muffle the sounds of his moaning. This was a place just for us, simple, and for once, my wolf didn’t have to think and claw past the heavy guilt I carried in my heart.

It was just Archer. Pleasing him. Keeping him safe. Lifting those water bottles to his swollen lips while my arm propped him up.

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