I can usually make jokes out of any situation, but the way she looked at me, like I was a monster, made me sick to my stomach. To know that she thought I was possibly there to exploit her makes me want to shower for days. I don’t know what her experiences with alphas have been up until this point, but it makes me want to kill anyone who has ever hurt her.
I would bang on the door until she answers and insist on explaining myself if I didn’t think it would make matters worse. She already thinks I’m a predatory dick.
Every alpha instinct in my body is on fire, like I’ve taken an adrenaline shot to the chest. Knowing that she is in there alone, scared, and… I swallow hard, recalling the sweet smell of her perfume when I touched her. A honeycomb, vanilla musk that made me want to bow down, slide underneath her flowery skirt, and lick her like ice cream.
Shit!
I mentally chastise myself, rubbing the back of my neck, realizing I made another fatal error. I know Sabs likes hugs and physical contact when she’s sad, but I know better than to touch an omega without consent. I lost myself completely in her presence. All I wanted to do was comfort her and take away her pain, but it had the opposite effect.
Well done, Laz. You’ve royally screwed up.
I need to get out of here fast, before I’m caught with a raging boner that’ll get me thrown out of Omega Village.
I jog down the street, stopping when I see a familiar figure at the gates. I frown in confusion. “Ren?”
He’s the last person I expected to see. Ren tries to avoid omegas as much as possible, not because he—secretly—doesn’t want to find the perfect addition to our pack but because of what happened the last time we came close to courting an omega. The“incident” knocked his confidence big time—even though the omega Cole lined up was completely unworthy—so he prefers to bury his nose in a book over seeking a potential match.
His saucer-sized eyes tell me he’s equally surprised to see me. “What are you doing here?”
“I was dropping something off for Sabs.” I motion toward Stella House. “Why are you here?”
“Oh.” He looks at his impeccably polished shoes. “I was dropping off a key card and homework for one of Professor Grub’s new students.”
I know him well enough to tell that something’s on his mind, probably his latest homework assignment, knowing Ren. I don’t know anyone else who would complete all their yearly reading over the summer. However, I don’t have time to dwell on that as my thoughts are still swimming with Sabs’s new roommate.
“Are you heading back to the pack house?”
He shakes his head. “I’m going to the library.”
“The library?” I groan. “Again? But we haven’t even started classes yet. What do you want to do there?”
“Research,” he replies cryptically. “You know, the usual.”
Our definitions of, “the usual” are very different. I’d rather be playing video games, at the arcade, or drawing.
He hops back into a golf cart. “Catch you later.”
“Hey!” I wave to remind him I’m not invisible. “Are you not even gonna offer me a ride?”
“Sorry, can’t. It’s … urgent.”
He speeds off without looking back.
What research can be that urgent?
I shoot a text over to Sabs as I set off.
ME
Why didn’t you warn me you had a new housemate?
SABS
Shit! I forgot you were coming. You met Faye? Just now?
Faye. I imagine her name rolling off my tongue as I whisper in her ear what I’d like to do to her.
ME
