Page 27 of Forget me Knot
Fuck. I’ve got it bad.
“Hey, Sam,” she says. “What are you doing here at the literal crack of dawn? And in summer, that’s fucking early. What time is it?”
“Four o’clock,” I say with a small laugh. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Lily rolls her eyes and stretches, arms reaching for the sky, giving me a perfect view of her barely there shorts sliding up her thighs. I try to keep my gaze respectful, but it’s fucking hard when she’s got that sleepy, sexy vibe going on.
She doesn’t reply, just yawns again and then stumbles back inside the house, leaving me and Jack staring at each other in the garden.
Jack narrows his eyes at me. “Don’t even think about it.”
I raise my hands in mock surrender. “What? I’m just here to help.”
He grunts and walks past me, towards the shed. “Yeah, well, keep your thoughts to yourself, or I’ll shove this cactus so far up your arse, you’ll be spitting spikes out of your mouth for a week.”
I glance at the killer cactus and shudder at the thought. “Well, that’s a threat. Feeling territorial over the omega, are we?”
He growls at me, but he doesn’t scare me. We are equals in the pecking order. He is not superior to me, so I growl back, just to be a bit of douche, but also to show him he can’t pull that card with me.
Then I freeze and slide my eyes over to the open doorway where an unfamiliar omega rushes out the door, backpack swinging with Lily hot on her heels.
“Wait!” Lily cries.
The omega, blind in her panic, slams into me, and I grab her upper arms to steady her. She is a waif, and my hands practically encircle her entire arm.
“Whoa!” I exclaim as she rears back in panic, claws out as she tries to break free.
“Emily, wait. Sam’s a friend.” Lily gestures madly to me to let her go.
I instantly release her and step back, sensing this is the emergency that kept Jack here last night.
I exchange a look with Jack, whose weary expression confirms my theory. Emily looks like a deer caught in headlights, her eyes darting from me to Jack to Lily, clearly overwhelmed.
“Erm—?” I start, but Lily and Jack, both shoot me a look that says, ‘not now’.
Lily steps forward, her calming scent wafting through the air like a warm breeze. She places a hand on Emily’s arm. “Emily, love, it’s alright. Sam’s a good friend of Jack’s, okay?”
Emily visibly relaxes at Lily’s touch, but she still looks wary. “I saw you watching. I thought you were…”
“How about some tea?” Lily suggests when Emily trails off, guiding her back towards the house.
Jack turns to me as soon as they’re inside. His eyes are hard, with barely concealed anger and fatigue. “We’ve got a situation.”
“No shit,” I reply. “Who is she?”
“An omega in need of a safe place,” he mutters, rubbing his eyes. “Her pack wants to sell her to the Omega Trials.”
“Fucking hell,” I blow out a breath, running a hand through my hair. “That’s intense.”
“Yeah, the enforcer tracked her down and Lily had a confrontation with him. If I hadn’t shown up when I did, I dread to think what would’ve happened.”
“Fuck.”
“So, now you know why we need to beef up security in this place.”
“Yeah, listen, I’ll go back to the packhouse and grab some stuff we can use. I’ll ring George. He can help. He’s good with shit like this.”
“Okay, yeah, thanks.”
