Page 20 of Tending Our Omega
I filled two pitchers with beer and carried them over. It was the local dart group. They were fine—never imbibed too, too much, but always drank their share. I set the pitchers on the table and reached for my notepad, planning to ask if they needed anything else then felt a hand on my ass. I’d had people get handsy with me before. It was part of the job, but this group—they weren’t like that.
“Hey.” I slapped it away. “What are you doing?”
He looked up at me and said, “Sorry,” his eyes wide, almost like he hadn’t realized what he had done. I brushed it off, untilanother alpha from a different table grabbed my wrist, and then another put their hand on my cheek.
“I need to go outside for a second,” I rasped to Maeve.
“Okay. And if you need to go home, let me know.”
At least she was nice about things.
I sucked in some air, hoping to cool off—my clothes getting tighter and tighter, my body squeezing me. It was rough. I did some breathing exercises and willed it away. If I needed to take off tomorrow, I would, but I could power through tonight. I was probably just getting a cold.
But when I went back inside to my first table, where a new party had been seated, all three of them leaned in and scented me deeply. I finally realized how clueless I’d been. I wasn’t coming down with something. I was going into heat. But not like a real heat—I remembered what that was like. This was not that. Maybe a mini heat. I’d met omegas in my old pack who talked about those. It was just not something I’d experienced before.
Fuck, I needed to get out of here.
I took two steps and got dizzy. Driving was not going to happen, but also, I couldn’t stay around these alphas. I did the only thing I could think of and called James. His face was the one that popped into my mind. He was safe and kind, and he would take care of me—and unlike Gram-Gram showing up here with my son, he’d be able to keep me safe and wouldn’t put anybody else at risk.
He picked up on the first ring. “Hey, it’s good to hear from you.”
“I need you.”
“Okay. Where are you?”
“I’m at work. Please hurry.” I hated being vague, but there were too many shifters here, and I did not need them hearing that I was going into any sort of heat. That was a quick invitationto get treated like a piece of meat and taken advantage of, and I was not there for that.
I tried to keep working, but it started getting bad—real bad—and just as I realized I was outnumbered, the entire dart team deciding I was theirs, completely out of character for them, James came in.
He growled, and they stopped—their decency taking over long enough for him to pick me up.
“Hey, Maeve, she’s going home sick.”
“You got it.”
I couldn’t see the expression on her face—too shocked that I was slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes—but if I were to guess, she winked because that was kind of how she was.
He marched me straight outside into his vehicle, putting me in the front seat and buckling me in.
“I need to get you someplace safe.”
“Yes, James.”
“Thanks, but I’m not sure where to take you. You didn’t call Gram-Gram, so I’m guessing you don’t want to go there.”
“I can’t go there. I can’t—” I didn’t even know why, but I felt it to my core. “Don’t leave me, James. Don’t leave me.”
“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart, I promise you, I’m not going anywhere. But I need to know where to take you. If I take you back to the Airbnb, there’s three alphas there, and I know you don’t want that.”
I shook my head. He was right. I didn’t want that—or maybe I did—but I couldn’t think clearly enough to know for sure, and that was not the time to be making this decision. I called him for a reason, and even if I didn’t understand what that reason was, I had to accept past-me’s decision because they were definitely thinking more clearly than I was.
“Can you take me to the river?”
“I need more information than that.”
“The river that runs along my property. The property where I live—the river. Can you take me there? I need to be by the river.” I was mumbling at this point.
“If that’s where you want to go…” He slipped into a softer tone. “Omega, if that’s where you want to go.”
