Odin (Alien Adoption Agency #5) - Tasha Black Page 0,37

doing back here?” a man demanded from the loading dock.

“She’s on a call,” Odin said, rolling his eyes and sliding the scanner up his sleeve.

“I hear you, buddy,” the worker said, giving him a knowing smile. “But you can’t be back here. The trucks deliver back here.”

“Understood,” Odin agreed. “We have to go, love.”

Liberty marched toward the front of the saloon, still apparently deep in her conversation.

“You too,” she said, ending the call as they reached the street.

“Wow, that was impressive,” he said.

She shrugged but looked pleased. “No sign of the sheep back there?”

“None,” he said, shaking his head.

“Wow,” she said. “I was really hoping that was it. I guess we just take a walk around town and use that thing every couple of minutes.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he said.

The morning warmed up as they walked. Odin found himself wanting to pretend they were mated and content, strolling around town, looking for something fun to do with their day.

The other residents of the little town were preoccupied with their shopping and greeting each other. It felt like he and Liberty were in a private bubble.

The scanner gave out periodic beeps to let them know it was working, but it didn’t go off in front of the library, the café, the dry goods store, or the hardware supplier.

They reached the end of the main thoroughfare, and even zigzagged back through the smaller side streets before he finally slid the device back into his pocket.

He’d assumed that whoever had taken the sheep would be trying to get them off-moon as quickly as possible to turn a profit and avoid getting caught. But if the sheep weren’t in the town, then someone must be planning to hang onto them for a while. Which meant they would need a farm.

“Is it possible to scan all the farms?” Liberty asked, as if reading his thoughts.

“It’s possible, in theory,” he told her. “But look around.”

The town was set in the valley. The mountains above them were dotted with farmhouses in every direction. It could take a year to fully search each one.

“I guess we’d better get back to our own farm,” she said, resignation clear in her voice. “There’s plenty to do there.”

He nodded and they headed over to where they’d left the mare.

She whickered her greeting and snuffled in Liberty’s pockets for a treat.

Liberty laughed and offered her a lump of sweet-flavv.

Odin’s heart twinged. Liberty had even thought of the mare when she was getting ready this morning. She was a good woman.

She deserves better than me, he reminded himself.

He helped her onto the mount, steeling himself against the siren song of her heartbeat and the softness of her small body against his.

31

Odin

Hours later, Odin finished mucking out the barn and laying down fresh straw, just as the last of the murky sunlight disappeared over the mountains.

He had lost himself in work all day, as if wearing out his body might silence his mind.

But he was no better off than he had been this morning. He was still lost in love with Liberty. And he still knew that to be with her was to betray the boy whose life he had not been able to save.

Odin didn’t see any other choice. He had to leave.

It would hurt him, maybe even kill him. Every hour apart from his mate and child would be torture.

But at the end of the day, this life was not his to live. And he couldn’t believe that a woman as beautiful as Liberty, inside and out, and a baby as special as Colton, wouldn’t find another love to treasure and protect them.

“I have a plan,” Liberty’s voice cut through the hay-sweetened air of the barn.

He had been replaying her voice in his head so constantly all day that it took him a second to realize she was actually there.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I’ve called Cora in to watch the baby tonight,” she said. “We’re going to stage a stake-out.”

“I slept in the grove last night and no one came,” he pointed out.

“Yes, you slept out in the open,” she said. “We’re going to make it seem like we left, then hide, and then ambush these good for nothing rustlers when they come. It’s the only way.”

Ambush…

Suddenly he was back on Nygall-X in the inky darkness, waiting for the enemy to arrive. Adyxx was beside him, the young dragon almost shivering with excitement about his first big mission.

Odin had felt he wasn’t ready, but the commanding officer reminded him that no one