“Yeah,” Vinny said flatly, “let me just fuck the Omega who’s pumped full of whatever First Heat gave her–there’s no way anything can go wrong.” He let out a long, exhausted breath. “I’m not knocking up someone else’s omega.”
My mouth parted with a half-baked argument, but before I could put it out into the open, Benji interjected.
“She’s not here for breeding right now,” Benji said slowly. “She’s terrified. She ran from a heat clinic. She’s seriously messed up, physically and emotionally, and we need to stabilizeherbefore we even consider anything else.”
“And to do that, we need to soothe her heat.” I finished, feeling somewhat proud of my argument. “If she’smyscent match, she’syourscent match, that’s how packs like ours work. The last thing we need is to go into rut–plus, we’ll make her take a Plan B in the morning. It’ll be fine.”
Vinny stared at me unblinkingly. “Fine?Serena, listen to yourself.”
“Iamlistening,” I snapped, my fists clenching. “I’m listening to the sound of a terrified omega who ran barefoot through the woods to get away from some asshole who thought she was his property. Now she’s inour housebecause she trusted us.”
Benji stayed quiet; he knew better than to intervene.
“You think I want this?” I asked. “You think I wanted to scoop her off the road and go,‘Hey, maybe we’ll all fall in love and live happily ever after’? No. But she’s here. And she’s ours now, Vinny. At least until we figure out something else.”
Vinny’s nostrils flared. He knew I had a bit of a soft spot for unclaimed or mistreated Omegas, but he also knew I wouldn’t grab one off the street just because I could.
“I’ll do it,” he muttered finally.
I blinked. “You’ll…?”
“If she lets me,” he clarified. “If she wants it. I’m not going to force a knot on her just because it makes our lives easier. If she needs me to help her through her heat, I’ll do it. But not unless she’s okay with it.”
A slow smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. Not because he’d said yes, but because he’d said it right. Well, that, and because I knew by the end of the night we’d have another omega.
Chapter 3
Violet
My eyes fluttered shut as Skye tipped a cup of lukewarm water over my head. My stomach cramped and my entire body shook as my fingers clasped the edge of the marble tub.
This heat was going tokill me.
I was so desperate for touch that I was practically crawling out of my skin. I’d even willingly let Logan have sex with me if it meant taking his knot. It’s not like I’d stay pregnant if anything happened.
But I didn’t have to worry about that, because I had not one buttwoalphas in this house. I’d met Serena earlier; she was nice and smelled like roasted hazelnut, but another was lurking in the home. Their scent was all over everything; it was coffee and cinnamon. My mind ran wild with the idea of who the mystery alpha might be.
Another cup of water hit my face, and my eyes jerked open to see Skye staring at me. I liked Skye; his hands were soft, and he smelled like honey. His electric blue eyes were trained on mine as he massaged conditioner into my hair.
Slowly, I reached up with a dripping hand and traced his boyish features before swooping a few mahogany curls away from his face. He’d taken his shirt off when we’d started the bath, and while I did my best not to look, it was hard not to notice the bite marks scarred onto his trapezius muscles, nestled between a few tattoos, almost as if he intended to frame it.
Slowly, I ran a finger along the ridged skin. Yeah, it was proof two alphas had claimed him, but the marks were clean and well cared for. My mind drifted to the night Logan marked me even after I told himno.
He had a few of his henchmen hold me down as he bit my left ring finger. Proof I was his, but it was easily hidden under my wedding band.
My stomach twisted as I looked at Skye’s scars once more. He was pregnant, which meant he’d done his duty as an omega. Of course, his alphas loved him, but I was defective.
“Hey, you still with me?” He clamped a warm hand on either side of my face.
I nodded.
“Good, I was a little worried you might have a concussion, you know, after Serena hit you with the car.”
I blinked at him, lips parting slightly.
Right. Thathadhappened.
Between my heat and the panic of running from Logan, I’d barely registered the pain, but now that Skye mentioned it, the back of my shoulder throbbed, and my knees stung like hell.