Unfortunately, she wasn’t mine, and if she were in her right mind, she wouldn’t want me. I may have had a shite moral code, but I didn’t take advantage of an omega who was in heat, no matter how tempting it was.
“Aileen,” I hissed, my teeth grinding so hard they might shatter.
Thank God for her. She swept in, handling Willow as if she were something precious. And help me, she was. Aileen knew how to care for an omega. Despite being a beta, she had two daughters, both omegas who were happily bonded to their alphas with their own children.
While I was busy fighting against my instincts, Aileen escorted Willow back to her room. The panicked omega shot worrying glances back at me while Aileen soothed her.
“Alpha,” she whinged, the sound high-pitched and needy.
Cold sweat dripped from my brow, and I was hard as stone in my joggers.
“It will be okay, Omega,” I said, doing my best to stay calm. “Be a good girl for me and let Aileen get you settled in your nest.”
Wide eyes stared at me, but she nodded, crying quietly as Aileen steered her upstairs.
I stalked down the hall, following the lingering scent of Willow until I found Patrick leaning against the doorframe to my office. He was quiet, but loyal, and most importantly, a beta. Willow’s heat wouldn’t entice him.
Not like me or my brothers or some of the other men on the premises.
I didn’t trust myself not to find my way back to the guestroom. She smelled too good. Dark eyes flicked up to mine. Pat’s face schooled in a neutral expression as he took in what had to be a feral look on my face.
“Everything alright, Boss?” he asked, keeping his distance.
Knuckles cracked as I flexed my fingers, shaking loose some of the tension in my muscles.
“I need you to guard Willow’s room. You don’t letanyone—even me—fucking pass. I mean it, Pat. Shoot ‘em if you have to. Only Aileen is allowed to come and go until I say otherwise.”
“Of course,” he said, rocking off the wall and only too happy toget away from my grouchy arse.
Gaelic curses mumbled past my pursed lips. My fingers knotted in my hair as I stumbled into my bathroom.
Water.
Yes.
That would help.
After my shower, I fell onto the edge of my bed, trying to focus and failing. All I heard were the quiet sniffles of a desperate omega, pleading for an alpha to knot her. I was painfully hard between my legs as my alpha imagined sinking into our omega’s plush pussy and knotting her.
I shot up, nearly running to the kitchen. What a pretty thing she would be, locked on my knot while I filled her: skin glistening, head tilted back, and my name on her lips as she came. Hissing, I tugged at the placket of my trousers, trying to loosen the taut material.
I stared at the overflowing glass of whisky I had poured earlier before draining it in one burning swallow. I breathed through my teeth, scratching my beard hard enough to draw blood. It was unacceptable. Willow was alone in a guest room, having her heat. She deserved a proper nest and an alpha to tend to her.
Not just any alpha.Me.I was her fucking alpha. I knew it. And that would be enough until she figured it out.
Willow Sterling was my scent match.
Even so, I restrained myself from barging into the guestroom, pouring a second glass of Midleton instead.
With my instincts in overdrive, I heard the click of the front door opening, and my head snapped to the source of the sound.
Bags overflowing with blankets dangled from Aileen’s outstretched arms. The unease plaguing me quieted, seeing that she had nesting things for Willow.
I stood, about to offer her help when I thought better of it.
My omega deserved more than sterile blankets.
She needed me.
