Chapter 25
Wilder
The sun was shining, Beans ’n Bliss was bustling, but none of that registered in my mind because Lucy was back.
My heart raced as she propped her shop door open with a brick—a pink brick with flowers painted on it because of course Lucy wouldn’t use a plain, boring brick as a doorstop.
She stood, and a huge smile curved her lips as she looked in my direction. She waved, and for one beautiful, time-stopping moment, I thought she’d spotted me through the Beans ’n Bliss window.
Reality crashed back, harsh and cold, when I realized she was waving at the lighthouse keeper, Olive, who was crossing the street with a dark-haired alpha at her side.
I held in a snarl as they all hugged. How dare another man get close to my omega?
Fuck.
Not mine.
“Wilder? Are you okay? Wilder?”
I jerked my gaze to the barista in front of me. Her brow was creased. “Is something wrong?”
I shook my head, the movement stiff and jerky. “I’m fine. Black coffee, please.” I paid, stuck a few crumpled bills in the tip jar, and moved to the side.
Ella’s concerned gaze followed me. I couldn’t blame her for worrying about my sanity. I’d come in four times yesterday, hoping each time to catch a glimpse of Lucy, but her shop had stayed closed.
It was the first day I’d gone without seeing Lucy since she’d dropped off the cookies, and I fucking hated it.
The angry, possessive beast clawing in my chest had kept me tossing and turning so much that being called out at three a.m. had been a welcome distraction.
It had turned out to be a false alarm with a young family’s carbon monoxide detector, but we’d thoroughly checked their house to be safe.
Their two-year-old girl had immediately latched on to me, so I’d completed my checks while she sat on my shoulders, her tiny fists wrapped tightly around my top knot as she made fire engine sounds.
My guys had gone to bed when we returned, and I’d shut myself away in my office with the excuse of being behind on paperwork.
Ella called out my name, and I grabbed my coffee from the bar. My very unnecessary cup of coffee, seeing as I’d single-handedly drunk a whole pot earlier this morning, but going to Beans ’n Bliss was the only way I could see Lucy without being a total creep.
Although, staring at her through the coffee shop window might be somewhat questionable behavior. My alpha’s fixation on her was just further proof that I was right to stay away.
Lucy was still talking to her friends. The dark-haired alpha had a casual arm slung around Olive’s shoulder, making my insides burn with white-hot jealousy—not because I wanted the lighthouse keeper, but because I wanted that easy intimacy she shared with her mate.
I stayed at the window until Lucy’s friends left. She lingered outside her shop, an unreadable expression on her face, before disappearing inside.
In another life, I’d bring her coffee. Wrap her in my arms.
But that wasn’t my life.
I took a bitter sip of coffee and returned to the firehouse.