“Aha!” I raised the packof cards I’d found tucked in the back of a bookcase.
Wilder snorted. He seemed to have relaxed after he ran off to get changed. The storm was still going outside with some of the loudest thunder I’d ever heard, but I wasn’t scared now that the alpha was inside with me.
“A pack of cards?”
“Our nightly entertainment.” I skipped back over and sat as close to him on the couch as I could get away with. “Want to play?”
“I will if you sit your ass down like you’re supposed to,” he grumbled, elevating my ankle.
I grinned. “It’s a good thing I’m here to add some fun to your life.”
He shook his head, but the corner of his lips twitched in an almost-smile. I wiggled happily in victory.
“What are we playing?” he asked.
I split the cards to shuffle them, biting my lip in concentration as I tried that bridge trick thing. Half the cards flew onto the floor.
Oops.
“Well, I don’t actually play cards that often, so I really only remember how to play go fish, war, or slapjack.”
Wilder handed me the stack of cards he’d picked up off the floor. “I should have checked earlier, but do you need to get in touch with anyone? Let them know you’re here?” he asked. “You can use my satellite phone. Reception is shit up here, especially when it storms.”
“Oh, right. Thanks.”
After a few long beats of silence, I glanced up. Wilder was looking at me with a stern, furrowed brow.
“Lucy?”
“Hmm?”
“People know you went camping, right? They’ll be worried about you.”
I didn’t want to lie to him, but if I admitted the truth, he would think I was even that much more stupid.
“Lucy.” His voice was deep, and it sent shocks of electricity through me.
“I might not have beensuperspecific about where I was going.”
He scrubbed his hand down his face with a long sigh. I braced myself, waiting for his criticism.
“You going to deal those cards?”
I blinked. “Oh. Yeah.”
I fixed my eyes on the cards as I dealt them, not daring to look up until Wilder’s fingers brushed against my cheek.
“Don’t do that again, sweetheart. Your safety is important.”
I swallowed hard. I wanted to hear him call mesweetheartfor the rest of my life.
“I know it wasn’t smart. I was worried my friends and family would tell me I wasn’t prepared for camping and would try to talk me out of going.”
“You don’t say.” His dry, teasing tone took away the sting of his words, even pulling a smile from me.
If I was still with my ex-pack, they would have gone on and on about how incompetent I was and how much I’d inconvenienced them by having to be rescued off the side of a mountain.
We’re not prejudiced against omegas, but you have to admit—your behavior proves our point.
