“My mom has been sick for the last few years. We’ve been to so many doctors over the years, but they can’t figure it out. On paper, she’s healthy. But she’s frail and barely has the energy to get out of bed most days. The last doctor we saw thinks it might be something with her omega, but they haven’t figured it out. I hope she’s okay.”
I murmured that last bit, more to myself.
“Does he hit her too?” Kalen asked, a cool detachment curling around his words.
“Not usually. That’s reserved for me,” I said, my voice hollow. “He isn’t kind to her, though. I hate her being alone with him. Without me there, I worry he might take out his frustrations on her.”
A heavy silence lingered between us as he continued to rub my cotton dress between his fingers. His pinky brushed against theburning skin of my inner thigh, unraveling the last thread of my control.
Wispy strands of hair stuck to my sweaty brow and pinked cheeks.
Realization exploded around me like a hurtling comet.
No.
It was too early. I had weeks.
The stress, exhaustion, and anxiety messed with my cycle. As each minute ticked by, I sank further beneath the surface, pulled out with the swirling tide.
A wail escaped me as I slid off the stool, crawling into the lap of the shocked alpha.
I cuddled into the crook of his neck, inhaling his homey, spicy scent. My omega went lax as his arms wrapped around my waist, anchoring me to him.
“Alpha.Please.”
Pitch-black eyes met mine, his dick twitching against my ass.
Oh.
It was glorious. Thick. He would knot me so well, stretch me so well. I circled my hips, grinding into him.
He licked his lips, his nails biting into my hips.
“Knot,” I moaned, perfuming.
Strong hands cupped my face, forcing me to meet his stare. I sniffed, trying to pull away, wanting to burrow back into the spot where his scent was the most potent. Why was he being so difficult? Did he not want me? Why did nobody ever want me?
“Omega,” he said, his voice smooth like crushed velvet. “Stop.”
All at once, I stilled, powerless against my alpha’s bark.
Myalpha.
Five
KAELEN
Fuck. I deserved a medal.
For the last decade, I ensured I was never around an omega in heat. Da drilled it into me and my brothers’ heads that we were never to spend a heat with an omega unless we intended to marry them, bond them.
In our world, the risk of spending a heat with an omega and becoming bonded to the wrong person was too great.
Omegas were sacred, a delicacy to be protected and worshiped. Also, a weakness. One I had to be certain of before I claimed one as my own.
A sweet, honeyed scent invaded all my senses when those crystalline, sapphire eyes blinked back at me, shining with hurt.
This lush omega sat perched in my lap, and here I was pushing her away. Her arse wiggled, grinding into my stiff cock. My alpha thrashed, demanding that I carry the adorable bundle into her nest and care for her.
