Alpha's Moon (Shifter Ops 1)

“I told Teddy to pack girly shit. I figured you’d like that stuff.”

“What girly shit? Olive tapenade?” I spread the tapenade on a cracker and hold it in front of his mouth. “Open,” I order.

He shakes his head but obeys.

“So is Teddy one of your army buddies?” I ask.

“Something like that.” Deke says, cagey as always when he's talking about his old career.

“So you could tell me, but then you'd have to kill me,” I tease.

His lips quirk. “Something like that.”

“And he threw all this together in what, an hour?”

Deke shrugs. “I may have prepped him.”

“Operation Save Sadie,” I quip, and his cheek curves for a second in a stealth smile.

“What did you do in the military, anyway?” I ask after I’ve devoured most of the cheese plate. I'm fascinated even though I know he's not going to tell me anything.

“I did whatever the Army told me to do.”

I roll my eyes.

“I'll tell you,” he says, scooting closer to me on the picnic blanket. “but you got to give me something in return.”

“I'm not giving you my panties,” I say flatly, and he throws back his head and laughs. The sound warms me from the inside out.

I pop a grape into my mouth and enjoy the rare sight of Happy Deke.

“No,” Deke says when he’s done laughing. “I was thinking more you tell me what's up between you and your dad.”

I bite my lip and look away. “I just never made him happy.”

“Is that your job? Make your dad happy?” Just like Deke to slice to the heart of the matter in as few words as possible.

“He thinks so.” I toy with a few cashews on the plate. “Ever since my mom left me. My mom didn't want to leave me,” I clarify. “She finally got fed up with my dad but didn’t have the money to divorce him. So she moved away. He didn't let her take me. She tried, but she couldn’t afford the lawyers to fight. And I was just a kid. I didn’t get a say. I would’ve gone with her.”

“Sucks, babe,” Deke sums it up in his typical Deke manner.

“Yes. Yes, it does.” I toss the cashews into the woods for a lucky squirrel.

Deke takes my hand and threads his fingers with mine. “This wedding, these people, this is your dad’s sort of scene?”

“Yep. All of it. Jenn and I grew up together. Lacy and George are friends of his.”

“You don’t need to impress these people.”

“I know, I know, but—”

“No. They should be working to impress you.”

I let those words settle over me like another warm blanket.

“I felt braver with you beside me,” I admit. “I’m a nice person, but I can be a doormat. Having my own bodyguard makes it easier to set boundaries.”

Deke’s eyes glint green in the sunlight. He cups the back of my neck and yanks my lips to his. I groan and tug him closer, slanting my head to offer my mouth fully up to him. Our tongues tangle, heat rising between us. I want to shrug out of my coat and straddle him. Start something and see where we end up.

But Deke’s phone beeps between us. I draw back, feeling dizzy. “You should probably get that.”

Deke checks his phone, looks away and swears under his breath.

“What? Is something wrong?”

“Nope. Nothing to worry about, babe. C’mon. Let’s pack up before Teddy gets back.”

Deke

“What the fuck are you thinking?” The rage in my alpha’s voice sets my teeth on edge. After returning to the resort, I excused myself from Sadie’s side and headed outside to return Rafe’s call. She has no idea how much trouble I’m in. Even if she did, she wouldn’t understand. She’s human, I’m not.

Another reason we don’t belong together.

“We are still trying to sort out the shit that went down in Switzerland, and you decide to take off. I thought you were going for a hunt as a wolf. Burn off that edginess you’ve had since you met that human. I assumed you were alone, doing what you needed to do. Today I get a call from Teddy Medvedev saying he picked up you and the female in a bird in Santa Fe and took you for a ride.”

Fuck. Shoulda known Ted the Med would be in touch with my pack. I didn’t ask him to keep things quiet to keep from raising his suspicion.

I duck around the side of the resort building, heading to the forest where I can speak freely.

“Is it true?” Rafe demands. “Are you with Sadie Diaz right now?”

“Yeah. It’s true.” Frankly, I’m surprised Lance didn’t already rat me out. I expected this call at least twenty-four hours ago.

Rafe cusses so loudly I have to hold the phone away from my ringing ears. “What the fuck, Deke? After all I told you, you do the exact opposite. And now I gotta order you to stay away—”