Our Omega.
A growl rolled through my throat as a savage hunger tightened in my chest.
The moment I breathed in her perfume—the scent of orange blossoms in the night air—my cock twitched, and a feral part of me awakened. I knew she was ours, as did the rest of my pack. Pink roots contrasted against her dark blonde hair, and the aroma of her heat became stronger with every inhale.
She stared at us like a deer caught in headlights, her eyes as blue as a tropical ocean and so beautiful. Dark blonde hair fell in light curls around her round face, and her dress followed the curves I imagined tracing with my tongue. She was adorable, even if she looked scared out of her mind.
“Don’t frighten her,” Daniel, our Beta, urged, putting out his hands to hold Shadow and me back, standing between her and us. Luckily, Viper was behind us and didn’t need to be held back.
“She’s ours,” Shadow, our leader, hissed, his eyes on the girl who stood rooted to the floor. “Can you smell her? It’s so delicious. She’s on the verge of going into heat, and we found her first,” he murmured.
To be fair, we were all staring at her, starved for her. I came to my senses long enough to notice other Alphas from the ballroom had turned in her direction. Their curious expressions would change to lust once they got the full scent of her perfume blossoming. Every Alpha in the ball would lose their mind and go berserk. They’d kill each other to get to her, to rut her. She wouldn’t survive…
“We have to get her out of here. Now,” I growled. Something about the fear in her eyes called me to her. I’d met other Omegas at the ball, and not one of them had every nerve ending in my body on alert or ignited a craving through my body to taste every inch of her, to protect her, to keep her all for myself.
They said when you met your Omega, you’d burn down the world to keep her safe. Your life suddenly became incomplete unless you had her beside you. I never believed the intensity of the connection until now. It throttled me, leaving me breathless in a span of only a few moments. Primal attraction and our nature worked quickly to bring us together, to ensure we found the right Omega for us.
Fury rose through me that these Alphas down the hallway believed they’d come anywhere near her.
“Get the SUV, Daniel,” Shadow ordered, and I saw him move to do just that. “Let’s get her out of here before the other Alphas go into a frenzy.”
Nodding, I took her pale hand. She wore no jewelry nor polish on her nails, which seemed odd for an Omega at a ball, but I didn’t have time to worry about that right now. Her scent grew deeper, and being this close to her, my cock ached for her.
“Come with us, little Omega. You aren’t safe here. Not now.”
“This can’t be happening.” She stared up at me with those huge blue eyes full of fright and shock and pushed against my grip. “I don’t want to be an Omega. Please, just leave me alone.”
“It’s rare a person gets what they actually want in life,” I murmured with a soft laugh, not wanting to scare the girl. “Come on, we need to go now.”
“I have to wait for my friend,” she protested, digging her heels in.
That was when I noticed she wore plain, old-fashioned, black leather boots, not the pretty heels that other Omegas wore to balls, something else odd about her, but there was no time to wonder why.
Frustration pulsed as I kept glancing behind us to where more Alphas had turned up, their noses high, getting a whiff of her perfume. Fuck!
“She’ll be fine. You, on the other hand, are about to be rutted by every male in this place. So, if you don’t want that, come with us. It’s for your own good,” I urged her soothingly.
She was terrified, but she glanced back at the door and me again, her eyes full of tears.
“So you can rut me instead?” Despite her quivering words, there was a sharpness in her tone. This girl with the most beautiful pink lips I’ve ever seen had a spine. Good, she’d need it. She tugged at my hand, where I gripped her arm, glaring at me with death.
“It’s not safe, little Omega. Please, stop fighting me.” I drew her hard to my body and groaned with pleasure when her soft body crashed into the hard planes. She felt so good, so right, this close to me. My head dropped, my lips aching to touch hers, but the sound of a fist hitting flesh behind me pulled me back to reality and the danger. Perhaps for the best. I was losing my head to her too fast.
“I’ll send Daniel back later, once you’re safe, to tell your friend where you are, Omega. Now move,” I whispered frantically, seeing a group of three coming toward us.
Wondering how long before I completely lost my senses around her, having her this close and touching her eased the tortuous craving to strip her down and fuck her.
I reared up as someone knocked into me. A large hand tried to snatch the Omega, but Viper was on him in an instant, shoving the Alpha away.
Viper’s dark red hair stuck out in a thousand directions, making him look insane, especially with that mad smile on his face, one that begged the guy to come at him. Laughing like a lunatic, Viper was in his element, facing off the other Alphas coming our way. Blood splashed the golden walls as he made fast work of knocking two of them to the floor.
“Aspen, carry her out if you have to. Do it now,” Shadow boomed. “I’ll take care of the shitheads.” Three men, as big as our pack, stormed our way from the other end of the hall.
The Omega glanced around, her eyes wide. Finally waking up to the danger she was in, a gasp fell from her lips. At last, she moved her feet.
“Where are we going? I can’t leave my friends behind.”
“To our compound. You’ll be safer there, and your friends will be fine.” I held her tight to my side and barrelled forward. Viper and Shadow left a trail of Alphas in their wake just as the alarm sounded overhead. Guards would arrive, and we’d be in more shit than we ever imagined and lose our Omega.
One didn’t just steal these rare tiny doves. They were close to impossible to find unless you came from a mega-rich family with connections, and even then, it was a shitfight to claim one.
To connect with one as I had—the way her perfume and the scent of her slick filled my nostrils and my balls tightened—I wouldn’t let go of her. Fuck that!
My hands clasped this delicate girl closer.
Mine. She was all mine.
Fuck me, this was going to end badly. My head bellowed to rein in my shit. I was in danger of losing my head. I wanted to push her against the wall and rut her in front of everyone at the ball, but Shadow shoved me to get move faster before I got the chance.
Moving with speed, we reached the mansion’s front door, and I wrenched it open. No guards waited outside, thank hell. Daniel had our long, black SUV with the blacked-out windows at the foot of the wide front porch and frantically opened the doors.
The Omega flinched in and tugged against me once more, but I didn’t have the luxury of wasting time. My muscles tensed the longer we stood still.
“I know you’re scared, but you’ll thank us later, I promise. Right now, we need to move fast.” I swept her into my arms, coaxing a cry from those sweet lips. Racing down the steps to the SUV, I lunged inside and set her on the back seat. Crying, she reared away from me, then desperately wrenched at the passenger door on her side to escape.
“Don’t touch me,” she cried out.
My breaths were savage at the thought of her escaping the car. I dove to grab hold of her, snatching her around the waist, and threw her across my lap, so she landed in the middle of the back seat just as Viper leapt in on her other side.
She gave a small cry. Pinned between two mountains of men, she looked so tiny. Her gaze swung from me to Viper to Shadow, who climbed into the front passenger, then to Daniel.
“You can’t just kidnap me.”
“And yet it looks like it’s happening,” Viper snapped.
Daniel shoved the car into gear, and we took off away from the mansion, our tires skidding, throwing us back into our seats.
“Where are you taking me?” she demanded, her eyes on me, her voice shaken.
“Our compound isn’t far. Don’t worry.” Plucking a blanket from the back compartment of the SUV, I tried to wrap it around her, but she was shaking too hard, holding her stomach. “Little Omega, I’m Aspen. The dick next to you is Viper.”
He in turn deadpanned me, and I turned my attention to the front, the Omega doing the same. “In the driver’s seat is Shadow, our illustrious leader, and driving is our Beta, Daniel.”
She kept looking at each of us then she finally glanced up at me. “I’m worried something’s wrong with me,” she groaned.
I gave her the blanket, which she hugged to her chest, and the absent look in her eyes deepened. She was fading fast.
“Why did you come to the ball if you were so close to your heat?” I asked, resisting the urge to draw her into my arms. She was spooked enough.
“What are you talking about?” She blinked up at me, her face going pale.
I ran my hand up and down her right arm to add another layer of calming.
I’d never had an Omega, but instinct kicked in and a lifetime of hearing about how to keep an Omega happy and calm served me well. I wanted her, wanted her small, delicate frame beneath me right now, but I clamped down on that urge and tried to exude calm reassurance. She was so tiny compared to the men surrounding her, including me. She could easily become even more confused and frightened if we didn’t do this right.
High on her perfume and my thoughts fogged up, it was hard to think beyond sliding into her. Clearing my throat, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, slightly cramped, my cock hard as hell. I’d heard tales of Alphas going wild with the hunger to rut when they met an Omega going into heat, but this was ridiculously fast.
“Nothing… a question for later,” I finally murmured. “What’s your name, Omega?” She was clearly in shock, and I hoped to distract her from our scents. Even Daniel, a Beta, seemed to be exuding an unfamiliar scent around this Omega.
“I’m Trinity… Trinity Ainsley,” she mumbled loud enough for me to hear her words. Her blue eyes, so light a little while ago, were dark now. Her nostrils flared, taking in our scents.
“You’re safe with us. We’re not brutes like those other Alphas. We know how to control ourselves,” Shadow reassured her from the front seat.
I wasn’t sure Shadow could speak for all of us about controlling ourselves. I side-glanced Viper.
Leaning toward Shadow almost drunkenly, she pressed her nose against the back of his shoulder and inhaled deeply.
“You smell so good,” she murmured. Her voice was filled with thick lust, and the scent of her slick took over even the overwhelming scent of her perfume.
The thought of taking her now thumped in my veins. Having her sweet cunt on my face was all I could picture, leaving me stone hard.
“Daniel, you’d better hurry,” Viper growled, drawing my attention to where he peered out of the window. His hands were balled into tight fists. “I don’t care what the speed limit is. Get us out of this situation before I rut her on the backseat of the car like an animal.”
When Trinity whined, I threw him a glare. She curled tighter into herself, leaning more against me than Viper.
“On it,” Daniel said with a thumbs up.
I felt the SUV surge faster toward our compound, and it wasn’t long before he was hitting the switch to open the thick iron gates and driving past the lofty granite wall that surrounded the entire compound.
The three-story building came into view, a nondescript place that was little more than a box, with a few windows here and there. We’d chosen it because of its capacity, not because of the grounds or the way it looked. We didn’t want a palace. We wanted what we got when we bought it—a fortress. A place we could keep an Omega safe if we ever had one.
Looked like the day had arrived.
“We can’t keep her,” Viper griped, making my head jerk in his direction. “We have to take her back to where she belongs. They’ll come for her.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I could feel the heat of my anger as it flowed out of me.
“I think you’re missing the fact she’s an Omega on the brink of her heat cycle,” Shadow growled. “We have to keep her. Those Alphas out there will tear her apart. We can keep her safe in the compound, even from us.”
“What do you mean? She has a home, isn’t that right?” Viper twisted toward Trinity, and she lifted her chin to him, her eyes glazed over. “Where do you live, Omega?” She was so lost in her transformation, I doubted she knew what was going on around her. “See, she can’t even answer. Lone Omegas are rarely seen in the wild, so someone will be searching for her,” Viper spat out, his voice bitter. He’d never really wanted an Omega and tended to be more of a loner than the rest of us.
“Shut the hell up,” I snarled. “She’s not answering because the poor thing is lost to her change. She had a friend she was worried about, but it didn’t seem she had an escort or guards around her.”
Viper shook his head, tempting me to hurl my fist into his face to wake him the hell up.
“Can’t you feel there’s something different about her?” I explained. “That she’s not just an ordinary Omega. It’s in her scent… as if she’s made for us. I would die if you took her away from us.” I realized how dramatic I sounded, but I’d never felt this bond with anyone from a single inhale of their scent. “There’s something that made her ours, that made her belong to our pack.”
I was lost why Viper couldn’t feel the connection to her, which was far more than the sensation of an Alpha needing to rut. When I looked back down at her, I desired this pretty Omega who had tears running down her cheeks. Her scent hit me once more, leaking into the air, and my cock took notice. It was harder to keep my head in the present when I couldn’t stop focusing on her. Arousal curled through me, twisting my brain, so I couldn’t think straight.
“There’s some bullshit at play here,” Viper went on, dragging me out of my thoughts. “Fuck no, Aspen, I don’t feel like she’s ours. All I feel is a need to fuck her, then throw her away.” Viper said coldly.
I knew he was lying when he looked away, his hands tensing until the knuckles were white.
“Throw her away?” I leaned over to ask. “Throw her away?”
Leaning against me, her eyes half closed, her body overheating, she didn’t know what was happening to her.
Viper’s dark eyebrows rose, and his lips pursed, sharpening the planes of his nose and cheekbones. He had a hard face that drew the eyes of others. Right now, his expression warned me I was about ten seconds from being murdered.
Bring it on.
“What the fuck else are we supposed to do with her? Build her a dream nest, devote the rest of our lives to her? I got better shit to do, man.” Viper sighed heavily and looked at the ceiling of the SUV. “Let me out of this thing before I fucking lose my shit and punch one of you.” Daniel unlocked the doors, but Viper didn’t get out.
He was trying to calm himself down, but I wasn’t sure why he was so angry. He should be happy we’d found an Omega, and she was ours. Why would he want to throw away our Omega? Okay, so he’d never wanted one, but now that we’d found her, he should be happy anyway, shouldn’t he? I’d heard the bond with Omegas was unimaginable, so his rant confused me.
“Some of the Alphas followed us, Shadow. They’re at the gate,” Daniel interrupted the argument, and we all stared out the back window.
At least half a dozen Alphas spilled out of cars behind the closed gates.
“Fuck, we have to get her inside. Daniel, switch on the electricity to the gate. Let them light themselves up,” Shadow ordered.
Daniel got out of the car to head into the house.
“Why does he hate me? I don’t even know him,” Trinity asked groggily, curling into me as she watched Viper jump out of the car, leaving the door open. He was angry, but he’d just have to stay that way. I shook my head, not sure what to tell her.
“He doesn’t, angel. It’s just a little chaotic around here at the moment. It’ll be alright,” I answered, pulling her out of the car and lifting her in my arms. She was so light, so small, and her softness against me had me close to purring. That was new.
There were questions, a thousand of them, I wanted to ask her, but now wasn’t the time. I needed to get her away from all of us to a safe room where she could calm down.
She was an Omega, so she should be completely aware of what was happening to her, yet she was close to passing out, seeming oblivious. She had been at the ball when she was about to go into heat, which means she had to know. That thought ate at me as I carried her inside to Daniel, setting her into his arms.
“Take her to the spare room with the view and let her rest,” I instructed.
Daniel smiled softly, staring down at Trinity, seemingly just as taken as I was.
“We have to get rid of her. We all know the consequences of stealing an Omega… even if you pricks think she’s ours,” Viper blurted as I joined them in the living room. He paced from the window to the fireplace, shoulders curled forward.
Shadow poured a glass of whiskey and drank the amber liquid in one shot, not showing he was just as tense as us… well, except for drinking, something he only did when shit went sideways.
“If we take her out again, other Alphas will go after her.” Shadow crashed down on the black leather couch. “So, chill the fuck out, Viper.”
“We have to keep her here. It’s the only way to keep her safe.” My gut clenched, and my hands turned into fists as I thought about all the men who would be after her if she left our compound. I’d beat anyone to death who tried to take her from us.
“You’d risk death for a piece of ass? Or hard labor at a prison camp?” Viper sneered as his snakelike green eyes stared at me coldly.
“For her? I would,” I replied, nodding to emphasize what I’d said. “Shit, man, don’t you feel the connection to her… like maybe she’s more than our Omega? Maybe she’s our fated mate.”
He scrunched up his face. “Fuck, you’ve always been a soft cock, a romantic, and all that bullshit.”
I laughed because I knew I’d gotten to him when he threw out insults. He felt it, too, I could see it in his eyes, but the idiot was too terrified of his emotions to admit it.
“We’ve saved enough to buy an Omega and are working on our networking to get approval, but now we have her,” Shadow’s deep voice cut in. “Aspen is right. She’s ours. I can feel it. She’s not meant for anyone else but us. Sometimes, fate throws you a curveball.”
Viper burst out laughing mockingly.
“When the authorities come to claim her and accuse us of stealing an Omega, sentencing us to life in prison, maybe even death, or whatever the fuck they decide on, you’ll wish you listened to me.” A growl rumbled from his chest, his lips were thin, and anger reddened his cheeks. “You two can feel what you want, but I want no part of it.” Viper marched out of the room, his footfalls hitting the floor hard. “Fuck this.” A loud thump of his fist striking the wall resonated from the hallway. Not the first time he’d done that.
“He’s so hardheaded.” Shadow sighed beside me.
“I’d call him a lot worse, but he has a point,” I conceded, thinking about the punishment for stealing an Omega, a precious commodity. “We’d lose everything if we’re found with her in our compound. Are we ready for that?”
“You’re right, there is something special about her, and if we let her go, we’ll pine for her. Considering Omegas are close to impossible to get, I’m with you. We keep her as ours, so we’ll just have to be careful. Including eliminating those fucking bastards who followed us home in case they talk,” Shadow scoffed, shaking his head.
“I’ll take care of them.” I got to my feet.
I’d known Shadow for most of my life. He was the brother I never had, and I’d risk my life for him. He could be a bastard and scary as hell, but the man’s loyalty to his family was uncompromising. Finally finding an Omega we could mark and bond with gives us the kind of family most only dream of. Females like Trinity brought out strength and abilities in Alphas, another reason they’re so sought after. Not to mention, the ache to knot is an immense heaviness that keeps pressing down on you from the inside until you feel you might go insane.
“She might demand to leave once she finds out what we trade for our business,” Shadow said from halfway across the room. “Even if we knot and claim her with our bites, she still might want to leave. We need to be prepared for that.”
“She might, and if that’s the case, we’ll have to figure something else out.” I sighed before inhaling deeply. That wasn’t a situation I was ready to contemplate—now or ever.
