Page 53 of Rocked By the Alpha

“Sorry,” Ricardo says, stepping back. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Oh no, sorry. You didn’t.” She wraps the blanket he’s hung on her shoulders around her chest and Mrs Joseph places a steaming cup of cocoa in front of her, drawing back the chair opposite.

Ruby lifts the cocoa to her lips, blowing across the steam, and the doorbell sounds.

She lowers her cup and looks back to the door.

“I’ll get it,” Ricardo says, throwing an anxious look at his wife.

He returns a moment later. “It’s a man named West. Do you know him?”

Ruby wipes her thumb over the condensation on the outside of her mug. “Yes, he’s my … boyfriend.” She scrapes back her chair and follows Ricardo into the hallway.

“Just check it’s him,” Ricardo says, pointing towards the screen. She can see West hovering on the doorstep, looking impatient.

“It’s him. I’ll get out of your hair now. I’m very sorry for waking you both.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait here for the cops?”

“No, I don’t want to disturb any more of your night.”

He nods stiffly. “Let us know what the cops find.”

As soon as the front door opens, she flings herself at West, burying her face in his shirt, inhaling his scent.

She expects him to make some joke about her eagerness to see him, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t say a word, just holds her tight, his arms and his hands tense against her back.

Eventually, he steps back gently and peers down into her face.

“You okay?”

She nods, only then realising her face is wet with tears, his t-shirt wet too where she pressed her face.

He gestures behind him. “This is Matt. My security.” The broad man jerks his chin at her. “We did a circuit of the house. It looks like whoever was in there has gone.”

“You went inside?”

West nods. “The door was open.”

“But … there was someone in there.”

West hesitates, gripping her hand, then nods again. “Yes, there was.”

“You could smell them too?”

He glances at Matt, who looks away. They aren’t telling her something and nausea swims into her throat. She lifts her hands to her mouth, gasping for air.

“It’s okay, Omega,” he whispers into her ear as he rubs circles over her back. “You’re safe. It’s okay.”

Matt twists around. “Looks like the cops are here,” he says, as a pair of headlights swing up the drive. “I’ll go talk to them.”

“You didn’t have to both come,” Ruby says.

“We did.”

“But you shouldn’t have gone inside. You could’ve got hurt.”

That familiar smile creeps back onto his face, and it settles her nerves in a way nothing else has. “Matt is ex-special ops. He’s harder than fucking Ironman.”