Page 32 of Captive Beta
Mathew looks to Eli. “Put them in the room next to ours. Get as much bedding as you can find so they can choose what they need when they go to sleep.” This seems to surprise Eli, but he simply nods. “Also, if you could get them something to eat and drink. That should help them settle down too.”
Eli smiles. “I guess it’s good that I made cake yesterday.”
Mathew grins, and the way his eyes light up makes my heart skip. Why do I think that he looks cute? “They’re lucky.” Then he nods to some of the people unpacking the other vans. “Take however many people you need. Getting the kids settled as soon as possible is a priority.”
“Will do.” Eli meets my gaze, giving me a quick nod. “I’ll be right back.” His voice is soft and reassuring, like he’s used to talking to people who are desperately trying to hang onto their sanity and not really succeeding.
Mathew leans against van door as he overlooks what’s going on, his gaze calm but focused. Like there are a hundred things going through his mind at the same time, but he manages to keep them all sorted and in line.
After a couple of moments, he turns back to me, like he’s trying to figure out how I fit into everything that happened tonight.
There’s something about him that I can’t put my finger on, something out of the usual. He’s not like anyone in charge I’ve dealt with before.
“You’re not an Alpha, are you?” The words slip out before I can properly think them though, nervous to fill the silence stretching between us.
He meets my gaze before he shakes his head. “I’m not.” He lets out a soft laugh. “What gave it away?”
His return question is unexpected, catching me off-guard. “I don’t know.”
He laughs again as he pushes off the van. “I guess I’m losing my touch.” He tsks. “That’s what I get for taking a pack.” He doesn’t sound bitter or angry, especially not with the gentle way he smiles as he says it, but he does sound sad in some way.
Before I can come up with something else to say —to try to reassure him that I don’t really have a reason to think he’s not an Alpha, it’s just a feeling— the door to the main part of the house opens and Vera comes back in, freshly showered, wearing a bright yellow dress and she looks so much more normal now.
Though, I don’t know if I can ever forget the way she smiled when she tortured the guards…
But, even with all that, my heart starts beating faster as I catch sight of her and I can’t help my automatic smile.
I like her, even when she scares me.
“Eli said that we can bring the kids upstairs.” She wraps her arms around Mathew’s waist, beaming up at him before she gives me a nervous smile. She slowly lets go of him and steps away from the van, so her pheromones won’t get inside. Her sweet consideration of me makes the extreme way I respond to her pheromones feel even less fair.
I swallow hard. Wishing it could all be different. That we could have met under different circumstances. That I wasn’t broken like this.
We can try to figure some things out after the kids are in their room and fast asleep. I just have to help them get settled and we can deal with the rest after that.
I turn to the back, the kids are all awake now, though they’ve been ‘trained’ by the Hearts to keep as quiet as possible. So they’ve not made a peep. “Let’s get out. There will be a place to sleep and something to eat and drink. I heard there’s cake.”
That last part makes some of them smile, but they still don’t let out a sound, which breaks my heart. Kids should get excited about cake, make noise, demand that they get it now. But these kids don’t…
None of the kids do, once they’ve been with the Hearts for more than a few days. I’ve seen it over and over and it angers me each time. How the Hearts so easily steal the joy and life from young kids.
Mathew opens the side door and helps them out. “If you follow the lady in the yellow dress, she’ll bring you to your room.”
I notice that the tall woman, Riley, is helping the kids out of the other van. She’s also freshly showered and her jeans and shirt make her look much softer than before. She talks to them with a sweet and encouraging voice as she lifts up the youngest kid and carries them inside as the others follow her.
It’s like she knows exactly how to work with these kids, like she’s done it many times before…
As the last kids have left with Vera, I also climb out, accidentally ending up closer to Mathew than I expected and in my impulse not to be in his way, I misstep and trip over my own feet.
Mathew grabs me, pulling me up and against him. He’s put me back on my feet, but his arms are still around me and he seems reluctant to let me go. I can’t help myself and lean into him, this unexpected embrace welcome after everything that has happened.
Of course, if he’s also part of the pack, it makes sense that?—
My chest constricts as a sharp flower scent reaches my nose, my vision going black, one word on my lips, one name. “Michael.”
This is Michael’s scent.
There’s no mistaking it.
