But first, I am content to lie here for a moment and let her rest, marveling over how much can happen in such a short while.
What a miracle this night has proven to be.
I am no longer alone. I have a mate. A queen. An Omega.
FIVE
Haley
There’sa searing pain in my neck, and I feel drunk. My eyelids are so heavy, it’s an effort to lift them enough so that I can see.
I blink a few times, trying to bring my surroundings into focus. What happened? Where am I?
A shadow falls over me. I blink up at the giant holding me. The brute. The beast. The monster who chased me down and caught me, and who made me orgasm harder than I thought possible. The one who fought off the others who wanted to get at me. He’s got a thick arm wrapped possessively around my midsection, and he’s staring right at me.
When my gaze meets his, there’s a searing twist of heat in my lower belly, and my traitorous clit gives a breath-stealing, prolonged thump. Who is this guy? And why the fuck does he have this insane effect on me?
I force myself to look at him—really look at him. He’s rugged and rough-looking, with a broad, slightly crooked nose, a square jaw, and a generous mouth framed by a beard. Heat floods my cheeks at the unbidden memory of all the delicious things he did with that mouth, and I swallow hard, forcing the thought away. He has thick brows, one of which is bisected by a scar, and as I suspected before, the sides of his head are shaved. His remaining hair is long, and the braid which lies over one enormous shoulder is tied with some kind of twine. A bone-white, needle-thin fang as long as my middle finger hangs from a cord around his neck. Bronze markings swirl over his skin. Under the coppery tattoos, the rippling sheen of his muscles looks green.
Wait—what?I blink again. His skin has a greenish tint, the shade of wet grass. It has to be a trick of the light.
We’re in a cave of some kind, with fourteen foot-high, rough-hewn rock walls and a rounded roof. Furs cover almost every available surface. A brazier sits in one corner, unlit. There’s the steady sound of whooshing water… like a waterfall. Are we behind the waterfall?
There’s more light in here than out under the moons, coming from glowing orbs which are dotted around the space—and they’re freakingfloating, suspended in mid-air.
Everything I’ve seen and heard ever since I woke up and encountered Sian is starting to point to a possible explanation for what’s happened to me, but my brain can’t even begin to countenance the idea. Aliens aren’t real. I’m not on another planet. There’s just no way. This must all just be a vivid dream. Or a Ren Faire run by overly enthusiastic organizers.
I return my focus to the hunter lying beside me. The one whose taste and touch do insane things to my insides.
His eyes suck the breath out of my body. Intense, hooded, fringed with long, dark lashes, they’re a vibrant hazel. His stare goes straight through me, like he can see right into my soul.
It makes me uncomfortable.
It makes me wet.
“Where am I?”
He gives a grunt in response.
“Huh?”
Another grunt. His hand slides up my side, then around to cup my breast. My nipple responds immediately, growing tauter with every caress of his calloused thumb. The resulting ache between my thighs reminds me how soaked I am. I can’t possibly want him again already.
Can I?
“Please talk to me. You can talk, can’t you?” I’m sure I remember him saying at least a couple of words. “I’m Haley. What’s your name?”
“Hey-leah.”
Christ, when he says my name in that raspy, growly voice, my breath catches. “Yes,” I say, encouraged. “And you are?”
“Omega. Mine.”
“No!” Not another method actor! “You! Who areyou?”
He utters another noncommittal grunt before twisting the nipple he was still playing with. The sharp slice of agony makes me cry out and, weirdly, my clit gives another languorous thump. The fuck is wrong with me? I’m getting off on everything this guy does to me? Literallyeverything?
I open my mouth to give him a piece of my mind but then his tongue slides between my lips and that woodsy, inherently delicious taste of him zings through my core. I find myself kissing him back with wild abandon, losing myself in his touch, his scent, in him. My hands wander over his enormous, ridiculously muscular body, exploring his broad shoulders, pecs, abs, rippling back—before sliding up to caress his head, pulling him to me to kiss me harder.
