Page 18 of Omega's Refuge

I shifted uneasily. “I guess.”

He cleared his throat. “I don’t see you two together.”

I frowned, not sure I’d heard him right. “What?”

“You two don’t make sense,” he said gruffly. “You know, as a couple. I don’t see him as the right kind of alpha for you.”

I laughed awkwardly. “Okay.”

“None of my business, I know. It’s just an observation.”

To distract myself, I grabbed a branch off the ground. “It may look that way on the surface, but we’ve known each other since we were teenagers.” I straightened and met his gaze. “He’s my alpha, but we were friends first. I understand him.”

“Hmmm.” He wrinkled his brow. “To be honest, I don’t even see you two as friends.”

I laughed uneasily. “Well, tell me how you really feel, Rex.”

He grimaced. “You two don’t seem in sync. You don’t like the same things. He looks miserable, but you seem to be fitting in and having fun.”

I felt disloyal not defending Steve. “To be fair, Steve isn’t at his best this trip. He’s just out of his element. It’s complicated, but he’s… he’s not a bad guy.”

Rex narrowed his eyes. “Kind of get the feeling he ain’t agoodguy, either.”

My face warmed. “You don’t know him.”

“Yeah.” Rex once more adjusted the firewood in his arms. “But I know his type.”

“You shouldn’t judge him.”

“Life’s too short to beat around the bush.” His voice was husky and he inched closer.

My pulse raced at his close proximity. I could feel the heat of his body, and smell his clean, woodsy scent. Rex was a very attractive alpha, and probably used to getting any omega he wanted. But as much as I was drawn to him, I wasn’t the type of person who cheated. Even though Steve had betrayed me, tempted or not, I’d never do the same to him.

I said softly, “I’d never cheat in a relationship.”

He smiled, but he didn’t move away. “I know.” I could see his white grin in the moonlight. “Did you think I was going to try and tempt you to stray?”

“I wasn’t sure,” I said weakly. “You make me nervous. I just thought I should make it clear that I’m not like that.”

He leaned in, and I thought for a moment he was going to kiss me. Despite my words about not straying, my heart beat sped up, and I didn’t move away.

“I wouldn’t try to get you to cheat, Tanner,” he said softly. “I’m not likethat.” He moved away from me.

I ignored the oddly deflated feeling I had when he moved on without making any attempt to kiss me. I didn’t understand my own emotions. I’d made a big point of declaring I was no cheater, but then I felt disappointed Rex hadn’t tried to make out with me? That made no sense.

I followed Rex out of the woods, feeling muddled. Steve glared at us when we returned. It annoyed me he didn’t trustme, when he was the one who’d betrayed me. Still, once I’d dropped my wood off at the pile near the fire, I sat beside Steve. Maybe he was acting like an idiot on this trip, but he was still my alpha.

When it got close to midnight, Rex and the crew packed everything up, and we began the trek back to the ranch. As I rode along, I stared up at the dark velvety sky and watched the stars twinkling like little birthday candles. Coyotes yipped somewhere in the distance, no doubt chasing dinner.

Joe and Martha started singing “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and harmonizing with each other. Some of the others joined in, and while I didn’t sing along, I enjoyed the song. Not counting Steve, overall we were a cheerful group. In fact, as I thought back over the day, I had trouble wiping the grin off my face.

We helped Rex unsaddle the horses when we got back. He showed us what to do, and we brushed down our ponies and fed them their hay.Rex’s gaze seemed to linger on me as he promised he’d help us clean and oil the tack another time. We said our goodnights and went to our respective cabins.

Once we got inside our cabin, Steve stomped around the place like an elephant. He was obviously agitated and kept banging doors and muttering to himself. I took a quick shower, and when I came out of the bathroom, he was sitting on his bed with a bottle of whisky.

His expression was disgruntled, and he slurred as he demanded, “So, did you fuck him?”

I widened my eyes. “Excuse me?”

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