The Alphas Emergence of the Alphas Read Online Free PDF Page A

Matt’s question had renewed that line of thought.
    He found Anne in bed, reading.
    “What’s troubling you?” she said, sticking in a book mark.
    “What do you think of Eddie?”
    She shrugged. “I didn’t see him at all today. Why? Was there a problem?”
    “No, not unless you think working too fast is a problem.” He told her about the wood pile and how much bigger it had been than the last time he’d gone to check.
    “Maybe someone else has been going back there to work off some frustrations,” she said.
    “Maybe.”
    “Or what?” she teased. “He’s some sort of super-human nuclear mutant?”
    Damian just shrugged. “Okay, it sounds stupid.” He yawned.
    “We could always ask him in the morning.”
    “I don’t need people thinking I’ve gone crazy, thank you though.” He kissed her. “Good night.”

XIII.
    There was no way Matt could turn down the job with the trade caravan, not after losing his temper with Ryan. He, Evan, and four others, riding double on three quads pulling trailers, headed north to trade surplus supplies for a few goats.
    Violet watched them go with excitement. ‘Goats! Okay, it’s not cows but you can get milk from a goat!’
    Eddie came up behind her. “Hey, could we talk?”
    She smiled at him. “Sure. Is something wrong?” She’d been busy with the kids and her chores and they had hardly seen each other since that night in the field.
    “No, nothing’s wrong. I just thought …”
    She nodded. “The wood pile,” she said and started off.
    Once they were alone he said, “I’m sorry for losing control the other night.”
    “I’m not. Eddie, there’s no one here for me but you or Matt and Matt has never been interested in listening to me. Here you are, with your own problems, surviving on your own through god only knows what, and you’re more interested in helping me find my mother. If you don’t want to do it again …”
    “I didn’t say that!”
    She laughed.
    “You said you didn’t want a boyfriend.”
    “I guess maybe I was wrong. I don’t want Matt but I want you.”
    And then reality butted in and ruined the mood. “You don’t even know me,” he said.
    She touched his arm. “We could get to know each other.”
    He pulled away. “Violet, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
    “Why not?”
    “I wasn’t just running from gangs or looking for a safe place, not the way you were. There are dangerous things out there, dangerous people …”
    “We’re safe here. Damian, the guards, they keep us safe from all of that.”
    “They keep you safe from what’s out there!” he shouted. Out of frustration he kicked a stray chunk of wood. It flew past her head and hit the plywood wall of the shed with enough force to leave a crack.
    “Holy shit.”
    “I should go,” he said. “I should leave. I’ll tell Damian I’m moving on.”
    “Wait. How did you do that?”
    He paused, studying her.
    “That was amazing. Was it just fluke or what? Can you do it again?”
    “It would be easier to do it than not to,” he said and then sighed. “Violet, I’m not normal, I’m very dangerous.”
    “You were so sweet the other night, and gentle.”
    “If I lose control I could break your arm with a twist of my wrist. I’m not safe.”
    “What are you?”
    “We got hit with a nuke, we were trapped in a building only blocks away from ground zero. When it became obvious no one was coming to get us we tried to get out. We found out we’d changed. As the radiation fall-out spreads more and more people will be affected but we were so close to the bomb it happened fast for us, fast and severe.”
    She closed the gap between them and kissed him. “My own personal super hero.”
    “Violet …”
    “I don’t know you but I think I love you and I know I trust you. I won’t tell anyone else, but please stay. Please?”
    “All right, I’ll stay.”
    “Stay with me.”
    “All right.”

 
    Coming May 24 2015
    The Alphas: Betrayal
    Matt’s life was