Alpha's Rescue (Shifter Ops 5)

“Babygirl.” Teddy wraps me in his arms again. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop complaining about them. I love my brothers... they just drive me nuts.”

“From what I hear, that’s also what families do.” I squeeze him tighter. “Viking hugs make it all better.” My breasts ache, wanting to brush against his hard chest. Instead, I pull away and straighten my shirt, twitching the boat neck into place. “But let’s get to this meeting.”

Teddy groans. “I want to carry you off to a secluded cabin, keep you there for a week.”

“That sounds good.”

“Tonight, I’m kicking the triplets out of their cabin, and it's going to be you and me, alone.”

“Okay,” I whisper. “As long as the triplets are fine with it.”

“They don't have a choice.”

“That’s okay,” a muffled voice reaches us. I look around, but can’t find the source. Above our heads, a window scrapes and Hutch’s head pops out. “We can sleep in the woods for a few nights.”

I gasp and grip Teddy, who clutches me close and thunders at his brother, “This is a private conversation!”

“We’re shifters, remember?” Canyon’s muffled voice comes from behind Hutch. “We can hear everything you’re saying.”

“Really?” I mouth to Teddy.

He nods, looking tired. “See why I want to get you alone?”

There’s an argument happening above our heads. Hutch disappears and Bern sticks his head out. “Hey, Lana, I’ve got an idea. Here.” He tosses down a black hoodie. “She can wear this. No pink.” He motions to me. “Tuck in your hair.” When I do, he nods approvingly. “Stealth mode.”

“See.” Canyon squeezes his face next to Bern. “Now she’s in disguise. It’ll be totally safe.”

“No one’s filming the presentation,” Hutch adds. “It won’t be broadcasted. And Daisy makes everyone turn off their phones at the beginning of a meeting.”

Teddy crosses his burly arms across his chest. “I still don't like it.”

“Please, Teddy.” I step in front of him and lean in, looking up through my eyelashes. “The second you think there’s danger, you can get me out. I’ll follow your lead.”

“You’ll stay close to me,” he says.

“Yes.” Above me, in the window, the triplets have found a way to squeeze all three of their heads through the frame. We all wait, holding our breath.

Teddy grunts, “Fine.”

“Yay!” I clap my hands. “You guys ready to do this?”

“Hell yeah,” chorus the triplets.

“Does a bear shit in the woods?” Canyon adds.

I cock my head and raise my brows at him.

“We do,” Hutch confirms. Beside him, Bern is nodding. “We definitely do.”

11

Teddy

I grip Lana’s hand and lead her back to the picnic tables. Everyone’s done their part, and traces of dinner have been cleared away.

Lana whistles. “Your Ma trained you boys well.”

“Yep.” I give a two fingered salute to Matthias and Everest, who melt into the woods. Lana starts to follow, but I stop her short.

“This way, babygirl.”

She wrinkles her nose, trotting next to me. “We’re not going to hike down?”

“Nope.” I head over to the shed, passing Axel starting his dirtbike. He nods to us, and zooms off, and I find the tracks I’m looking for, and follow them behind the cabin where a tarp covered ATV waits. I pull off the covering. “We’ll ride in this. It’s in pretty good shape.”

“Is it?” Lana looks skeptical. The ATV is a Frankenstein machine with huge, mud spattered wheels, a roll cage, and a bench seat and other parts cannibalized from a golf cart.

I boost her into the seat, kissing her on the lips. “Can you hang on, babygirl?”

“Of course.”

I can’t hold her hand and steer, but the seat is small enough and the back road is bumpy enough, Lana slides in close, hanging on to me. My bear approves. He wants to keep his paws on her at all times. He also wants me to turn this ATV around and find a safe cave for us to hide in for the next decade. It doesn’t help that I think this is a good idea.

Compromise.

“You okay?” Lana has her hand on my knee. My whole body is rigid.

I nod, unable to find my voice to answer her. As we roll down the road, I scan the route for threats. Every noise and fluttering leaf makes me sweat.

Lana must sense my tension because she asks,“Are you worried about Darius?”

“A little.”

She rubs my knee. “It’ll be okay. The meeting will go fine.”

I catch her hand and press a kiss to the palm. “It will be. Thank you, babygirl. But after this outing, we lie low,” I say firmly.

“Agreed. But…for how long? As much as I want to hole up somewhere with you for a month, eventually I will have to let my team know where I am and my plans for coming back from vacation.”

Right. Lana isn’t a Viking hermit, like me. She’s famous and runs a company.

“We’ll figure it out.” It’ll be another compromise my bear won’t like. Humans make things complicated, but that doesn’t mean it can’t work.