Like an alpha would.
The thought makes something twist low in my stomach. My body shivers as I turn toward the cabin, willing myself forward. I hate the way everything feels on edge, and there’s something about this time that feels more primal than before, like it’s more than just fucking.
I actually want analpha.
I want a scent that smells like home. I want arms I can hide in and a heartbeat I can fall asleep to. And I hate myself for that.
Inside the place is neat and has electricity, with tons of fabrics and pillows for me. It’s all wrong, though, as I want an alpha to acquire these things for me. Not Mistress Evans. It’s actually offensive, an aggression coiling inside that I’m not familiar with. I settle near the radio and flip through until I find music—something strange from a decade called the eighties. Synth and sorrow. We didn’t have music like this up in the mountains, but we did back home.
It distracts me.
I close my eyes and try to drift to sounds I know nothing about, knowing someone is playing this out there near a radio tower.Society finds a way, and so will I.
But then there’s sound behind the music that doesn’t belong. I frown and turn the volume down, holding my breath.
There it is again.
Definitely a motorcycle.
I click the radio off. Lights too. Darkness settles around me as I creep toward the window, crouching low. Twilight bleeds through the trees, not giving me much light to work with.
But that headlight?
That’s clear.
And the man who gets off the bike? Oh shit… what is he doing here? Does heknow?
One thing is for certain—I don’t recognize him at all.
DIANA
What’s going on?
Whoisthat?
The man wears a leather coat with no sleeves, long blond hair shaved at the sides and bound in the back. He smiles viciously as he moves quickly to the cabin. That sends me bolting backwards, only to lunge for the door because I didn’t lock it—fuck, it’s opening.
I stumble backward, colliding with a couch and nearly falling over as my heart thrums in my chest.
“What are you doing?” I demand through a breath shaking from adrenaline, slowly moving to the kitchenette in case there’s a knife. I can make a dull one work.
He closes the door behind him with a casual finality, the soft click of it such an uneasy sound. “Evans informed me there was an omega going into heat,” he says, voice thick and dripping with amusement. “You smellquitenice, even if you’re covered in suppressants.” He looks around me, like he wants to see something. “I’m more of an ass man than tits. Let’s see what you got.”
Out of everything, my first reaction is to glance at the watch house through a window, terrified for Selene. If that fuckingMistress Evansis involved, then alerting Trinity won’t mean anything.
Selene needs torun.
“Don’t worry, her tea was laced with a sedative,” he comments, following my line of sight. “Evans wasveryhelpful.”
I freeze. That bitch. Thattraitor.
I grab the nearest thing—an old glass bowl—and hurl it at him as I scramble to find something else. All I hear is a laugh, then the bowl shattering. I reach for a chair, the closest thing to me, but he’s already on me.
His alpha stench reaches out to the omega within that’s ready for heat, which means I don’t have long to fight him off. Something cold and damp is shoved over my mouth and nose as I thrash, heart slamming against my ribs like it wants out. My vision blurs at the edges. It’s like my brain is detaching from my eyes. My limbs are sluggish. “Easy, little omega. Once the heat takes over, you’ll be happy I’m here.” His hand lifts from my face. “Don’t want you completely out,doll.” I gasp for air, barely aware of the deep, guttural screech of a bird just outside, to which Ithinkhe averts his attention to. I swear there’s sharp talons on glass…
Then vibrations. A lot of them.
Engines?
