Everything goes black.
CHAPTER 2
Beck
Mine.
The scent of my past fills my nostrils, and already, it’s hard to think. She’s back. Lo. The one Omega I never could get out of my head.
That luscious scent of brown sugar and peach fills my nose, threatening to wrap itself around not just my head but my cock as well.
I have to get her out of here.
She’s shaking in my arms, barely conscious, her skin warm despite the chill in the air that signals the quick sweep into winter. I shift my grip, holding her steady against me as the crowd behind us hums with chaos—shouting, sirens in the distance, the dull buzz of too many people trying to make sense of what’s going on.
Lo Marsh is back.
And she’s come backnow.
The air around her is thick with panic, the sharp bite of anxiety curling through her scent, all twisted up with stress and fatigue. I want to wipe it away. I want to bathe it off her body. I want to lick?—
I shake the thought away as my grip around her tightens. She always drove me crazy.
Knowing her I bet she hasn’t slept in ages, she was always shit at taking care of herself.
Focus, Beck.
I keep my eyes forward and my jaw locked, ignoring the voice in my head as well as the sound of someone behind me whispering her name. Her breath is light and shallow against my collarbone, and her body is too still.
My Alpha instincts burn under my skin, and I grit my teeth, forcing myself to stay steady. She doesn’t need me to come undone.
The crowd parts when they see me moving. Maybe it’s the uniform, or maybe they just know better than to get in my way right now. Either way, no one tries to ask me questions. There’s nothing to say that would make any of this make sense anyways.
She came back. That alone, has my heart beating faster. She cameback!And I have no idea how I’m supposed to feel about that.
The truck’s too far and I need to get her inside. I hesitate for a minute, I could take her to my house? Looking up, I can see across the square to my porch. A sardonic chuckle bubbles out of me. This may be the only time I’ve thanked the powers that be to be this centrally located.
I look down at the woman in my arms. She looks like she’s been sleeping in her car for weeks. Her clothes are wrinkled, hoodie torn near the seam, and her knees scraped raw from the fall.
I don’t know where she’s been or what she’s been through, but I know this isn’t the Lo Marsh I remember.
Still, she’s here.
And right now, that’s what matters.
I set a quick pace across the street and through the square. I take the steps up to my front door two at at time and stop right before the front door.
Would she want this? Will she be ok with it? With me? I don’t know where else to take her. I’m sure the town will swirl with gossip, but right now, that’s the least of my worries.
The door sticks at the top, same as it always has, but I manage to get it open without shifting her weight too much. She stirs slightly in my arms, a low sound catching in her throat, but she doesn’t wake.
Inside, it smells of smoke and cedar, with faint traces of kid smell, like bubblegum and PB&J. I carry Lo down the hall and into the spare room, laying her down carefully on the bed.
I can’t risk having her scent in my bed. I’ll never sleep.
Her head tilts toward my hand when I move away, as if some part of her still remembers.
Does she scent me the way I scent her?
