Romancing the Alpha: An Action-Adventure Romance Boxed Set by Anna Hackett, Anna Lowe, Leigh James, Ember Casey, Zoe York, Ruby Lionsdrake, Zara Keane, Sadie Haller, Lyn Brittan, Lydia Rowan Read Free Book Online Page A

She slid him a sly look. “You can boost me over the tall things, for example.”
    He passed the more popular Manoa Falls entrance point and followed the directions to where the race would take place. After they parked and hit the trail, they quickly realized they weren’t the only race participants testing the terrain. Over the course of an hour, though, people began to spread out and soon he and Mel seemed to be as they climbed through the lush green forest.
    Mel had told him about her training, but he was still surprised at her endurance. They’d covered almost two miles of winding, rugged terrain, and she was barely breathing hard. They stopped at the site of what they expected the second obstacle to be—a rope bridge.
    “Piece of cake, right?” She grinned up at him.
    “For sure.” He scrubbed his face as he thought about what would help her prepare for race day. “This is going to be one of those choke points, because each team has to wait their turn. So we should plan to stretch and eat here as we wait.”
    There were five obstacles on the first day, three on the second. The way the route went, it was almost an equal distance traveled both days, but the race started and ended with a distance leg. The second half of the race on the second day was a sprint downhill to the finish line. It would be muddy and chaotic.
    “Thank you,” Mel said, bumping her shoulder against his arm. “I’d probably forget to do that in my excitement.”
    “No problem.” He pointed up the path. “Do you want to keep going?”
    “Of course.” Her enthusiasm was infectious. Cade liked the physical exertion of a good hike as much as the next SEAL, but this was like a stroll in the park compared to what he usually did. It was hard to get excited about strolls.
    Unless your companion was the most intriguing mix of contradiction and mystery and soft, sweet skin you’ve ever encountered.
    There was that.
    He cleared his throat. “We could get to the top of the ridge and then take the descent path down. That’s going to be tough on day two with all the other racers.”
    Somehow that was the wrong thing to suggest. Her eyes narrowed and she tugged her lower lip between her teeth.
    “Are you getting tired? That’s okay.”
    “No.” She shook her head, not looking at him. “I just don’t want to do that before the actual race.”
    He wanted to argue with her, but just like that, she was shuttered against him. Her walls had popped up their own walls. So he nodded neutrally. “Okay.”
    She gestured for the map, which he’d pulled out. After looking at it, she pointed to an access point at the fourth obstacle that cut across to the descent path. “Let’s go that far, then over and down, okay?”
    “Sure—”
    Before he could say anything else, she was off, the map clenched tightly in her fist as she powered her arms like tiny pistons.
    Swallowing an unexpected surge of frustration, he followed, giving her some distance. Just because they’d had twenty-four hours of successful flirting without any miscommunications didn’t mean she owed him any answers.
    He wanted them all the same. He wanted to know what made her brow furrow like that, made her mouth pull tight and her eyes cloud over.
    What had she called him?
    An alpha male who wanted to take care of everything.
    Yeah, that summed him up.
    What was so wrong with that?
    Mel needed to learn she could hand some of that shit off to other people. And maybe specifically to him.
    — —
    Mel didn’t bother to stop at the site of the third obstacle—a series of logs suspended over a ditch of water. She fully planned on falling off and trekking through the water to the other side, getting the passport stamp, and moving on. Nothing to plan or discuss.
    Discuss
.
    She could feel the questions radiating off Cade. He’d trailed behind her for a few minutes, then caught up with ease, but he hadn’t spoken since she’d taken off like a bat out of hell.
    She hadn’t been subtle