Read Online Alphas in the Wild by Ann Gimpel - Free Book Online

her to stabilize her.
    A raven’s head poked through a hole in the tent.
    “Shit.” Moira dove for her gun and clicked the hammer back.
    “I suppose we should count ourselves lucky it took them some time to break in here.” Tim glanced at her .357 magnum revolver. “What are you planning to do with that? Decimate the tent?”
    “If I have to.”
    Tim grabbed his staff. She did a double take. The intricately carved walking stick glowed with a bright, white light. Tim’s jaw was set in a hard line. Head high, he turned in a full circle, staff extended before him.
    “Lying, cheating whore,” someone shouted from outside the tent. “You’re doing the same thing you’re divorcing me for.”
    Tim looked at her. “Is that—?”
    “Sounds like it, but I don’t have any idea how. He hates the backcountry. Wouldn’t have a clue how to get himself back here—or what to bring. The storm would’ve finished him off if he tried to follow me.”
    “Ha! I did follow you. Wasn’t all that hard. That big pack of yours slows you down.”
    I’m not losing my mind. That was the other set of footsteps I heard.
    “If it was so easy, why didn’t you catch up?”
    “Once I realized you weren’t alone, I got smart. There are many ways to travel.”
    “I thought you were descended from all those generations of Indian scouts—the ones who braved ten feet of snow to hunt.”
    “Shut up, bitch.”
    Moira heard a tinny, discordant note in Ryan’s voice. Something clicked. Her ex wasn’t really out there, except as some sort of magical projection. And she’d bet her last buck his father was helping him.
    “Did you tell Singing Bear what really happened?” she snarled.
    Silence.
    A different voice sounded in her mind. “Maybe not. Why don’t you tell me? You don’t need words, daughter. Images will do.”
    Tim tightened his arm around her. “Be careful. That one has real magic.”
    “Yes, but he always liked me. Give me a minute.” She sent one image to her father-in-law. The one that had dogged her ever since she walked in on Ryan and his bimbo.
    “Thank you. That is all I needed. You cannot lie when you send mind-pictures, and that one came from your soul.” A hesitation, then, “I am sorry, daughter.”
    Muted squawks rose from outside the tent, barely distinguishable above the howl of the wind. She heard Ryan tell his father that she was a scheming, lying slut. Here she was fucking some man in the wilderness like he figured she’d done every other time she left on Park Service assignments...
    Moira listened, horrified. How could she have spent ten minutes with the bitter, angry man spewing malicious crap about her—let alone almost a year?
    “None of that could possibly be true.” Still holding his staff, Tim turned her toward him. His face held a drawn look, as if hearing Ryan’s accusations hurt him as much as it did her.
    She shook her head. “No. Ryan was the only one in my bed for the few months we spent together. Actually, he’s the only man I’ve ever had sex with. Until what we just did.”
    Tim closed his arms around her. She felt the staff, warm where it rested against her back.
    “Thanks for believing in me.” Her voice was muffled against his shoulder. Incredulity vied with joy. Ryan had never believed anything she ever told him.
    “Of course I believe in you, mo ghrá . I love you.”
    She shook her head. “It’s just—”
    “Hush. That part of your life is over. Let’s concentrate on getting ourselves out of here, so we can see what the next part looks like.”
    “Why was your walking stick glowing?”
    “It’s a magic staff. I didn’t understand why it wanted me to bring it along last night, but I do now.”
    She let herself rest against him for just a moment, shutting out the reality of their predicament. Too much snow had fallen for them to just walk back over the pass, and the blizzard didn’t show any sign of letting up.

Chapter Five
    M oira reluctantly, disentangled