“This is ridiculous. You are my horse, you can’t just dictate what I do!”
I hear birdsong and look up, finding the resident male magpie standing beside Sully on the roof, watching curiously.
I close my eyes because I don’t want to feed into the strange stories that are exploding around this town when a ginger cat appears.
What the hell? Is Sunshine Cove suddenly a zoo?
Fox lets out a laugh that has all of us transfixed. Is he an omega?
No, he’s definitely an alpha, but he’s like catnip to everything with a heartbeat.
The tension leaves my shoulders and relief surges through me. I can’t go swimming, not tonight. I step into Gale and rest my face on his neck, breathing in that horse smell and patting him.
“Okay. Okay. Good boy. You win.”
Fox turns in a circle, talking to the cat, but I turn back to Gwen. She’s leaning back in her chair, watching with a smirk. Her greying hair is in a cute bun on her head, but her eyes twinkle.
“I’m sorry, Gwen.”
“It’s all good; most of the kids have colds, and the rest are not going to want to do anything but paddle in the warm water. I’ll message Franco and see if he wants to come and sit on the sidelines and supervise.”
I give her a relieved but apologetic smile and turn to my stubborn ass of a horse.
“You are in so much trouble when we get home,” I murmur, but we both know he’s not.
He flicks his tail at me.
I stomp off, ignoring everyone and everything but Danger, whom I pick up and take straight to Elijah, who is walking up from the beach. I deposit the pup in his arms and turn away.
“Hey, Cordie, Cordie, what’s wrong?” Elijah asks sharply, seeing straight through me.
“Wrong? something's wrong?” Fox asks sharply.
He’s got his arms full of a jealous ginger cat and a jealous chocolate horse.
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine,” I say through gritted teeth.
Not fine. Where is Sebastian? Is he going into a rut with an omega? No, no, no. We are not doing this. We knew this day would have to come.I want to cry.How can I stay here and watch him with another omega?
I exhale and put on my fake smile. Elijah looks relieved. Fox narrows his eyes unhappily.
“Can I borrow one of Danger’s leads to get Gale home?”
“Uh, sure.”
I take the lead and wrap it around Gale’s neck before I turn him and start walking home.
I’m tired. I’ve been up since five am hiding from Sebastian, then I came to town to help Mum set up her stall for the market. And I haven’t stopped.
I lead Gale into his paddock and check the gate. It’s open, the latch hanging from the chain as if it had never been locked, but I checked it this morning.
“Please, just stay here tomorrow. We can go for a ride and have some fun? How’s that sound?”
Gale whickers but not at me. I turn, already knowing what I’m going to see and find Fox leaning against the fence, watching with deeply expressive eyes.
“So, this is your home? You have a beautiful view.”
Yes, I know.
