“Where’s the merch?” I growled, my knuckles red and bleeding.
The man tied to the chair, a thief who stole a truckload of our shipment while it was on the way to our buyer, stared up at me. Both of his eyes were bruised, bleeding, and nearly swollen shut. His busted lips bled down his chin, joining the pool that ran from his nose. He was a mess, but he still shook his head no. Asshole.
I slammed another fist into his face because he pissed me off that much. His head flinched back, flood splashing up my arm, and he groaned like a fucking pussy.
“Put him in the cell,” I roared at Viper and left the basement. Not many people knew our home was four floors, not three. Most people didn’t even know the house was occupied. We worked hard to leave it looking abandoned and empty the majority of the time. Well, not really hard. It was kind of easy when we were always busy with our business.
I’d started my morning, grilling this guy to find out where our truck of Omega hormones, suppressants, and enhancers were taken, but he wouldn’t talk. A few days with my fists would change his mind. I’d let him stew in this dank basement while I had a beer and something to eat.
The underground market for these pills was blowing up as fewer real Omegas appeared. There was always someone looking to make a profit in a market with too many Alphas and not enough Omegas. It was how we made our first million dollars, and the business hadn’t stopped growing.
In many cases, men who took females using the pills were well aware they weren’t getting the real deal and were fine with it. They made do because it was either that or being alone, and their primal instinct to knot drove them to madness. Many of the enhancers we sold on the market emulated heat almost identical to the real thing.
At the end of the day, if there was demand, I’d supply. We each dealt with our own demons, be it starving for a female Omega or making money to give a pack a home and a future they would never have otherwise.
Stock arrived offshore and was packed locally, which was why our compound wasn’t far from the docks. I’d put everything into this business, so when a fucking weasel thought it was okay to steal from me, I would destroy him. There were enough fuckers ready to take a slice of my business, dozens of rats out there peddling inferior pills that made the females sick. I only sold quality stock, which was why I paid top dollar.
As I emerged from the basement, shutting the door behind me with a bang, Daniel rushed past me with Thelma in tow, I stopped the man. Panic rippled over his face, and my stomach knotted.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded.
“It’s the Omega. She’s screaming her head off. I got Thelma to see if there’s anything she can do, but I don’t think it’s a woman she needs. She needs an Alpha. Maybe we should send Aspen up there. Let him deal with her needs or Viper.” Daniel looked up at me with fear in his deep-brown eyes, biting his bottom lip in a way he knew drove me crazy for him, but he couldn’t help it. He did it naturally, without thinking, when he was worried, which happened a lot. I had it hot for the guy since we were young. He was mine, but our dynamics had shifted with the addition of an Omega, which was bound to come with complications.
I could see beyond his stoic face that he was worried for when the Omega would need me.
“We’ve always wanted an Omega, Daniel, you know that, but I’ve told you, she won’t change what’s between the rest of us. It won’t change how I feel about you or what we have together.” Leaning in closer, my lips grazed his. “You are the world to me, handsome. Don’t ever doubt how much you mean to me.”
He nodded quickly, but the ache behind his gaze never left, and he pulled his chin away.
“I know. She’s wonderful, but you’re my Alpha,” he whispered.
I probably hurt him over the years by keeping him as mine with the knowledge that one day an Omega would claim my attention as well. I had to find a way to fix that.
“We need an Omega in our lives because of biology, Daniel. Without her to knot, to create a mating bond with, we’d end up in pain. But I want you in my life too. There’s a difference.” Running the back of my knuckles across his cheek, he leaned into my touch, giving me a faint smile, and I grinned, seeing him happy. That was the only way I ever wanted him. I’d give him the world, and it would ruin me to see him heartbroken.
“I guess there is, but she’s special, Shadow. So special,” he murmured, his eyes warm and calm again but full of something new. Adoration? I wasn’t expecting that.
“How so?” I leaned into my Beta, letting him feel how much I wanted him. Some of it was because of the Omega’s perfume on him. I craved to roll in her scent, but I’d longed for Daniel too. We’d missed our morning together so he could be with the Omega.
“Shane, your Omega needs you,” Thelma, my grandma and the only one who got away with calling me by my real name, barged into the conversation. “You should go to her.”
Daniel bristled against me.
“I know,” I raised my voice, frustrated, and pulled away from my Beta. I didn’t want Daniel to worry, but I was concerned about the Omega. I understood enough about their heat cycle to know it came in waves, and once she hit the peak, she’d want to be fucked—knotted, given everything she craved—for days… weeks. For now, she had to be kept comfortable because at this stage of her cycle, no matter how many times an Alpha rutted her, it would never be enough… not until she reached her heat crescendo.
“Then give her what she asks for.” My grandma’s outburst ripped me from my thoughts, and I refocused on Daniel’s beautiful face. “She demands an Alpha. She’s going into heat. Isn’t it obvious, son?” my grandma chided, her gray eyes on fire as she glowered at me. “What is wrong with you, boy? You bring an Omega here who’s clearly going into heat for the first time, with no clue of what’s happening to her, and you don’t have a nest or anything ready for her?”
I frowned, my chest hurting at her words, but it wasn’t anger. She was right. I had fucked up by not having a place ready for an Omega in preparation for us finally having one join our family.
“When she’s in full heat, I’ll be there for her, but for now, she has to be kept safe.”
She rolled her eyes at me, huffing. My grandma had always been a woman who drew my respect and fear. The woman was tough as nails and always had been.
“I wanted to give her time,” I continued. “For hell’s sake, we just snatched her from a party and dragged her here, so let the girl catch her damn breath.”
“Shane, you watch your tone with me, boy. She needs to be rutted,” she reaffirmed, straightening her posture.
“I’ll get the other guys,” Daniel said.
“No, I’ll handle it,” I barked, the pressure from them both getting on my nerves.
“Build her a nest,” Grandma spat at me, her arms crossed over her rather mountainous bosom. “Get her a room small enough for her to be comfortable.”
“What else?” I growled. My grandma was an Omega and would know what Trinity required. Although Grandma hadn’t been with a man since my grandfather died, long before I was born, she’d been through it all.
“She’s going to beg you all for sex, but her body needs to connect with an Alpha,” Grandma continued.
Daniel cleared his throat, his face slightly ashen at her words.
“Even before she hits the full-blown heat, you can soothe her. It will calm her for a while. You don’t have to have sex with her at the beginning if you care about her mental state, but I warn you now, one of you will have to have sex with her soon if you keep her. There are consequences to not knotting an Omega when she’s around Alphas during her heat cycle,” Thelma warned, her steely gaze piercing into my brain.
“Fine. Hopefully, we’ll have this sorted out before we have to hear any dire warnings.” I held my hands out as if to hold off on any more of her words.
Thelma gave me a displeased glare and left my presence, Daniel on her heels, as I stalked upstairs to the Omega’s room.
“Alpha?” I heard a shaky voice ask from beneath the duvet.
Her perfume filled the room, thick and overwhelming. My dick grew hard, raging to be inside of the woman whose delicious slick I could smell from the doorway. She was so ready to be rutted, it was ridiculous, but she hadn’t even fully entered her cycle yet. What would it be like to be near her then?
“It’s me, Trinity,” I called out, then realized I hadn’t properly introduced myself. “Um, Shadow. It’s me, Shadow.”
Her head bravely poked out from under the covers—huge blue eyes, dazed with lust and pain, pink hair framing a gorgeous face that was more beautiful than she might ever know. She left me breathless when she stared at me, her sugary perfume lacing every breath.
My cock throbbed while my heart pounded with my growing desire.
She reached out a small hand, and I walked toward her, my insides screaming to lunge for her and rip the blanket off her body. My balls were so fucking tight, they ached, just as they had in the SUV when we brought her home from the ball. My savage appetite for her was a primal urge and part of the reason I’d kept my distance from her since yesterday. I wasn’t sure how much I could control my instincts.
I paused at her side, taking the tiny hand in my large paw, and sat on the edge bed. At least, it felt like a paw when I clasped her hand in mine. She was soft, so fragile, so vulnerable at that moment.
“Why do I feel so bad?” she whined.
“It’s your cycle,” I explained, her sweet essence sticking to the back of my throat. “Something you will go through as your body prepares itself, like all Omegas.”
“We all know what will make it better.” Moaning, she pushed the blanket down her body, revealing the oversized t-shirt that followed the curves of her breasts. Her pebbled nipples pressed against the fabric, telling me she wore nothing underneath other than the flannel pants.
The sight of this petite Omega had my heart hammering. I wanted to trace my mouth across every inch of her body and buzzed with the urgency to touch her, to rip her pants and lap up the slick driving me wild. I’d never been with an Omega in heat, but I had dated other girls and the last few years I’d been dedicated only to Daniel. Females appealed to him as well, though he was a very content Beta, happy me giving him all the attention, which was why I worried about how he’d react with Trinity.
My Omega wriggled closer, placing her head in my lap, her neck bared to me, a plea to be bitten, to be scent-marked. Despite her blushing cheeks, she lay there, making tiny purring sounds that drove me insane. She was hypnotic, and the longer I breathed in her perfume, the deeper I fell for her.
“Please, Alpha, make it better.”
“Fuck,” I hissed, my groin pulsing. “Trinity, do you understand what you’re asking for?”
Her cheeks flushed as her chest rose and fell rapidly.
“Of course I do,” she responded adamantly, but was it her or the ache that would make her do anything to bring relief?
I brushed the pink strands out of her face, and she pushed herself up in bed, her sensual lips parted, which had me thinking of how perfect that rosy mouth would look wrapped around my cock.
“Do you understand what I’m asking for, Alpha?” she asked blatantly, a sign she wasn’t a pushover but a strong female making the most of being caught in a bad situation. “I have a choice to suffer or ask for your help.”
She climbed over my lap in a brazen move that hardened my cock, and I laughed at her bravery. Grabbing her hips, I wrenched her closer so our chests were pressed flush. Her honeyed pussy pressed against my cock, and the obstacle of my clothes between us didn’t hide the slick coating my Omega. Her eyes grew wide with shock.
It wouldn’t hurt to remind her who the Alpha was.
“You’re going to get into a lot of trouble, Omega.”
Her cheeks burned as brightly as her pink hair. I ran my fingertips across her jawline as she thrust her breasts out, pushing them against me. Her nipples were so tight, I felt them through the material of our shirts.
Everything about her was enticing.
“Alpha, will you fuck me?” Reaching between us, her hand clasped my cock over my pants, barely curling around my girth, and she gasped.
The buzz from her touch zapped all the way down my shaft, coaxing a guttural growl. My hips instinctively rocked against her as she ground against me.
“Does it turn you on to think of me fucking you?” I growled, drawing her closer. My face in her hair, I drew in a heavy breath, and her sugary scent ripped a purr out of me. “Me ramming balls deep into your cunt?”
She shuddered in my arms, her moans escalating, and my body was in agony to strip her bare and sink into her. Smelling and feeling the dampness of her slick, it took all my strength not to claim her, but I wasn’t a fucking bastard. How could I fuck her when I knew she’d hate me later for taking her when she wasn’t in her right state of mind?
“I’m not going to fuck you today, Omega,” I snarled, the words going against everything I craved. Her body arched against mine, but I cradled her hips over my lap.
“Why not?” she cried, close to tears as a low moan rumbled from her throat.
“Once I start, I won’t be able to stop until I knot you, until I mark you as mine.”
An ache deepened in my chest to see her in such a state. The connection between us was so much stronger than I could have ever imagined, and we hadn’t even claimed her yet. Daniel was right… There was something very special about Trinity.
“I want everything… please!” She pushed herself against me, her hands all over me, dry humping me as she straddled my lap. “Don’t you want me?”
Frustration flared. She had no idea what she was asking for.
“So fucking much that it’s killing me.”
“Then do it,” she pressed.
My primal need ripped through me. Letting go of all thoughts, I clasped the sides of her face, and our mouths clashed. I moaned against her with a harsh, possessive snarl. Whining, she ripped her legs around my hips, driving my arousal through the roof.
“Fuck, Omega.” I was on my feet in seconds, pressing her up against the wall. Our lips mashed, and our tongues tangled. I kissed her with hunger, her honeyed taste more delicious than I could have imagined.
My cock pulsed with pain as her scent gripped me. Absolutely beautiful. With zero control, I slid a hand between us, and my fingers slipped under the elastic of her pants. She was so drenched, so deliciously starved for me, I gave her what she craved. My fingers slid over her slick pussy lips, and the sounds she made, the way her body shuddered, had every inch of my body on fire.
I drew her tongue against mine, sucking on it as I slipped two fingers into her. Not deep, just enough to stretch her, to give her relief. Her gorgeous hips rocked against my hand, and I broke our kiss, staring at her blushing face. Her lips were puffy and red from how hard I’d kissed her, and I loved that I’d left my mark on her for all to see.
“Beg me for more,” I teased her.
“More. I want you to thrust inside me faster.”
As I pushed in and out faster, her scent was so potent, it left me dizzy. She lost herself to me as her thighs shivered, and a scream was torn from her throat, flooding the room. Her orgasm was spectacular. Her entire body shuddered as I held her right, my lips on her neck.
“That’s it, my Omega. Cum all over my hand. Show me how much you need this.”
Arousal dove into my spine, curling around my cock so hard, the more she rocked against me, the more my desire grew until it burst. I roared like a bear, one hand pitched to the wall, the other cupped her pussy as my Omega clung to me, both of us coming apart.
“Fuck, Omega,” I purred once more, something that I’d never done before.
Once she settled down, she lifted her gaze to me, chewing on the corner of her lower lip. Breathing heavily, she looked dazed but elated. She collapsed against my chest, and I held her against me.
“That was incredible,” she whispered in my ear, the corners of those pretty lips pulling upward.
Smiling, warmth spread through me, and a heavy dose of possessiveness flared over. I craved to protect her from the world.
When I lowered her onto her back on the bed, her eyes were already shut, her breaths heavy. With the onset of heat, Omegas used up all their energy to satisfy their primal needs, completely wiping them out.
Tucking her into bed, I stared at her for a long moment, tracing every soft curve of her face with my mind—her petite nose, full lips, sharp cheekbones. The girl was a beauty unlike any I’d seen. Once more, a low purr bled through the air… from me, a sure sign there was no way I would ever give up my Omega girl.
I just had to work out how to keep her when those who owned her came to collect her.
