He snorted. “It’s not an early excursion, relax a little. Or do you not know how to do that?”
He was baiting me. In just two days, I was already getting a good feel for him. He liked to be playful but knew the limits. I had to admit that I didn’t hate it. I didn’t hate him. Of course, that didn’t mean I wanted him as an alpha. I was quickly coming to realize after reading more of my father’s book that I was losing the omega battle. I would turn into one. Now, I just had to focus on what I would do when I did. I knew I’d go into a sort of a mini-heat. That part terrified me because other than medicating me into a deep sleep, I had to mate with someone to get through it. And sleeping my heat away as a long-term solution was very unhealthy and could even cause death. I definitely didn’t want that.
So right now, Kai was the most viable option to help me at least transition to being an omega, bar any miracle happening. Still, that didn’t mean he was going to be my alpha. He was just going to help me get through it all. He was a stranger and a dangerous one at that, since he was a demon. My father had some concerns about his past, but for some reason, had believed that despite some unsavory actions, Kai and the others would be good mates for me. I really wished I had the power to communicate with my father and question him. I could kick myself for not listening to him when he was alive and learning more about his thoughts on the alphas.
I could find a medium when I got back home but reaching the dead was always a fifty-fifty chance, and you paid either way. Contacting the really powerful dead had even less of a success rate, and my dad was high up there in the power meter.
Kai scooted closer to me until our thighs were touching. The heat of his skin sent a buzz through me, but I didn’t move, not wanting to appear affected. He would like that too much.
“Are you ignoring my question?” he asked, wiggling his brows.
What had he asked? Ah, yes. “Of course, I know how to relax.” I picked up my e-reader and waved it at him before setting it back down. “We’re going dancing tonight. Yesterday was an early night because of the flight, but tonight we begin the turn-up time!” I pumped my hands in the air for emphasis.
He bared his teeth at me in an expression I could not figure out.
“What is it?”
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go partying it up around other people who could be alphas. Drinking can heighten…things,” he answered, turning his head toward the ocean.
I couldn’t tell exactly how he was feeling because he was wearing black sunglasses. However, by his tone, I could sense that he was irritated. I wasn’t mad, he had a point. Maybe he really was taking all this seriously. It made me like him a tinge. “First you tell me to relax. Now you want me back in the room watching TV. Not going to do that. If this is how an omega has to live, I will take a hard pass.”
Kai didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at me. I thought he would come back with a witty retort, but he was looking very serious behind those glasses.
What had I said?
I slapped him lightly on the chest. His skin was smooth but hard, and the tips of my fingers tingled at the contact. “Did I say something to piss you off finally?”
He turned his head toward me, taking his sunglasses off. His gray eyes were harder than usual. “You know we are very serious about protecting you. I want you for our pack, but more than anything, I want you safe. So, I’ll be overprotective. You can’t stop me.” He grabbed my hand and placed it back on his chest. “Leave your hand here. I like it.”
I snatched it back, although I really didn’t want to. I wouldn’t give in. Plus, I didn’t want to get distracted from the question I had heavy on my mind. “I will not. Can you tell me about your old omega?” I couldn’t make any decisions about my future with that pack without knowing exactly what had happened with their former omega. I was sure my dad wrote about it, but I’d been skimming all around that grimoire, it was hundreds of pages long, so I hadn’t gotten to that part.
Kai was quiet for a moment before finally speaking. “If you leave your hand on me, I’ll talk.”
I huffed, not really bothered, and placed my hand back on his pecs. No, really, his skin was crazy smooth, and I had this weird urge to lick his skin and taste his cinnamon scent. “It’s not odd leaving my hand here?”
His gray eyes bled slightly red before going back to gray, and he sucked in a breath. His reaction to my touch sent a gentle wave of desire through my body, bringing me to life. I really wanted to jump on this man. My frustration with myself couldn’t be any higher.
“Not to me, kitty cat. Okay, so let’s get this over with. For obvious reasons, this isn’t something I love talking about. We met our omega almost 100 years ago. As I mentioned before, she was human, and she was with us too briefly. Ten years.”
If she was a non-magical human living those years, how did it work out? Did she age slowly? What had made time so short?
I adjusted on the cushioned bed of the cabana, allowing my fingertips to trail lower and aching to see how he would react. His face twitched, and he took in a slight breath, but he kept his gaze on the ocean.
A small thrill of excitement bubbled inside me. I knew I couldn’t entertain it. I didn’t want this. But… this was fun. “How did you meet her?” I really wanted to know how she died but first, I had to understand how they’d gotten together. I wanted to hear from him how he had taken care of her and how much he had loved her. Maybe, it could help me decide what kind of people these alphas were.
He placed his hand over mine, and something about that contact felt soothing against my skin. I had expected it to be intimate but in more of a sexual way. No, this felt gentle and loving. I did not expect that from him. Then again, I didn’t really know him, and I just made assumptions based on his paranormal status.
“Actually, it was Daniel and Lance that found her. We were living in England at the time. Her name was Jocelyn. She was in her early twenties and running from a brutish alpha pack. She was on her way home from the market when her change came. She had a brother with her at the time, but the alphas beat him to death when he tried to defend her.”
I put my free hand to my mouth in horror. I shouldn’t have been shocked. This was exactly the thing I was fearful of when it came to alphas. They were known to be monsters.
Kai nodded his head, seeing my reaction. “Yeah. Dan and Lance saw them shove her into a car, screaming and crying. I won’t pretend that we are some superheroes, righting all injustices. But we have certain soft spots, and seeing her brother, who looked like a kid— I think he was a teenager— dead on the street and then this woman, bloodied and crying—didn’t work for us. There were four alphas, but Dan and Lance drove after them anyway.”
I squinted my eyes in disbelief. “The two of them fought four alphas?”
Kai gave a nonchalant shrug as if being outnumbered in a fight was no big deal. “Not all alphas are the same. Some are stronger than others. I wasn’t at the fight, but the way Dan and Lance told it, the guys were pretty strong. Not to mention, when we saw them come back with Jocelyn, they looked almost broken. Still, they won. Or, more accurately, they killed those guys. Left them on the road. People back then didn’t investigate the murder of alphas. They just assumed one alpha killed another over territory or an omega. Your average beta wasn’t going to go on a manhunt to take out an alpha, magic or no magic. Not then.”
I knew that very well. It was only in the last fifty years that laws started to get more serious about alphas and omegas. I also knew they didn’t look into crimes against omegas either. It was barely any better now. But it was definitely impressive that this Daniel and Lance were so strong. Only in the sense that they would be good bodyguards and nothing more. “So, what did they do next?”
