Page 14 of The Omega's Alpha
Usually. Tonight being a major exception. I skirted the edge of the clearing, staying behind the crowd so I could spot my prey without being noticed myself. The musicians were setting up in the corner by the food, though they wouldn’t be playing until later. I spotted a guitar, a fiddle, and a small hand drum.Looks like a good dancing night.
It really wasn’t much of a surprise when, not ten minutes after Abel and Bax disappeared with the babies, the young alphas came sniffing around.
Oh, they didn’t mean anything by it, I was sure. They were barely out of their parents’ houses, and here I was, older, experienced, omega. They couldn’t help their curiosity at that age, it would be almost irresistible. The problem was that the hormones at that age were entirely overwhelming and they weren’t old enough to have anysense.
One of them, dark, with a bit of Duke about him, though unfinished in a way that Duke wasn’t, moved in just a half step too close. When I refused to yield space to him, he stepped closer, and then I realized what he was trying to do, and stepped back—right into one of the other boys that had circled around behind me. I stumbled and mumbled something like, “Oops!”, then tried to back away from them.
“You’re the omega, right? The one that got sent away?” the dark one asked.
“Why do you need to know?” I asked him coldly.
“Just thinking you’d be lonely now, without a man.” He sidled up beside me, and there was nowhere to go, because the other boys had me surrounded.
“I’m fine. I don’t think we’ve been introduced.” I pointedly moved the hand that was trying to wrap itself around the back of my neck.
The youngster grinned, but it was an angry grin. “No. Guys don’t like to share nice things when they have them.”
Was he implying that I was sleeping with Abel? My eyes narrowed and I stared back at him. “I’m not something to share.”
“Oh, you know what I mean.” He grinned and tried to get an arm around my shoulders. I wiggled out from underneath and tried to push between two of the three young men, but another one got an arm around me and pulled me back into the middle of the little group.
I was probably older than these guys by a year and, from the way they talked and acted, I’d been around the world a lot more too. So I batted their hands away and pushed harder, still trying not to hurt anyone. But when the hand landed on my ass, that was enough for me. “Get your fucking hands off me,” I growled and stomped on a nearby foot.
My victim yelped and hopped in a circle, but I still had the others, laughing at their unfortunate friend, to deal with. One of them grabbed my arm and I threw a punch, or tried to. The omegas in Buffalo Gap had always been discouraged from fighting, so even though I was a good four inches taller than him, I didn’t do much damage except to the guy’s temper.
“What the fuck?” he yelled. “You got no manners. All we’re trying to do is be nice and you’re throwing punches? Come on, we know you’re gagging for it. You don’t need to pretend.” He grabbed me and I tried to knee him in the groin, but he seemed to know just what to do to take the sting out of my counter-attack. “Stop that!” he shouted at me and raised his hand for a slap.
“Try it and you’ll be pulling back a stump,” I growled and threw my body weight against him, then tripped over his legs as I tried to get away. He still had one of my arms, but at least his buddies seemed to have backed off. I wasn’t even sure which one this was—it was all happening too fast, and at some point we’d moved back out of the ring of torches, so there was only the moonlight left, filtered through the leaves of the trees that surrounded the park.
I lifted a foot to kick at him, but he disappeared like the Lady Lysoonka had come to protect her child. I scrambled away, my breath burning in my throat, and used one of the nearby trees to pull myself to my feet. And, if I was honest, it could have been useful if I needed to run in circles around it, to keep something between me and Mr. Busy Hands.
Someone large stood over a whimpering shape on the ground. I stopped and took a breath, then looked closer. They weren’t saying anything, and I wondered if there was something I was missing, so I walked closer, because why not?
It was Quin, and wow, was he ever an Alpha. He kept it all so bottled up, it had never occurred to me that he might be stronger than Abel or Mac, who were neck and neck in my opinion. This was terrifying, or it should have been. I didn’t feel terrified.
Then again, all that power wasn’t aimed at me, was it?
Ithadbeen the dark fellow. Well, that answered that question. But they were just frozen there, staring at each other. I smelled piss and for a second, worried that it was mine, until a stray breeze whirled the scent away, then brought it back to me even stronger. It was coming from the two of them, and somehow I doubted it was Quin who smelled like that. He literally made his adversary piss himself. That was… I didn’t know. I didn’t want to say it was hot, though it was, or would be if it was on my behalf. In fact, I could feel that old omega desire rising, the need to choose a strong mate, and to bind him to me with all the tricks an omega was born with.
I glanced down at the young man on the ground. “Quin?” I said, breaking the spell.
And in an instant, the smothering power disappeared. The young man let out a cry and Quin picked him up and set him on his feet. “Go home, and come see me tomorrow. I’m not dealing with this tonight.”
“Yes, Alpha,” the young man stuttered, then turned and limped away hurriedly. He glanced back once over his shoulder. His eyes rested briefly on me, but he didn’t seem angry; more shocked. I watched him go, emotionless. Perhaps a bit frightened myself.
“Are you okay?” Quin rumbled. He was careful not to approach me, but his eyes said he very much wanted to.
That was okay; I could approach him. “Yes. Thank you. I haven’t done much fighting. I’m not very good at it.”
“You shouldn’t have to fight.” He paused and stared off in the direction my attacker had taken. He still smelled of wolf, though his shape hadn’t changed. Was this an alpha thing? And just as suddenly, it was gone and he’d turned back to me. “You shouldn’t have to know how to protect yourself. I’m ashamed for my pack. They know better than this.”
“They’ve never had to deal with all this,” I told him honestly, waving a hand about to take in myself, and Bax, and Bram. “They’ve never been tested.”
He snorted, but it wasn’t amused. “They failed this one.” He hesitated and started to reach out, as if he would put his arm around me. “Do you want to go home, or should I take you back to the clearing?”
“Clearing,” I said firmly. “All this trouble getting dressed up, I’m not going to waste it.” I walked over and wrapped my hands around his arm. The small, startled twitch amused me, now that I had my breath back and my emotions under control. He stared down at me with wide eyes and his other hand came up to touch the tip of one finger to my bottom lip. I touched it with the tip of my tongue, then let go of his arm to wind my arms around his neck and kiss him.
Quin made a noise of surprise, but then I learned to my absolute delight that he’d definitely had some very fine teaching in the kissing department—those first two kisses hadnotbeen flukes. He pulled me so tight against him I was breathless, but I didn’t care, because I could feel his arousal, pressed against mine.
