9. Killian
9
Killian
The bush I was hiding in wasn’t nearly large enough to hide my wolf form, but thick enough that nobody noticed my black fur blending in with the shrubbery as I settled further on my paws, looking out at the house.
Through one of the windows of the little blue house, I saw Lilah’s shadow moving around while she did something inside. The window was open, and the temptation to cross the road so I could smell her sweet scent floating in the air was strong...but I restrained myself.
She couldn’t know that I was here. Neither could Oliver or Emmett. If I went home to the others smelling like our omega, they wouldn’t trust that I’d only watched her instead of going up to her and touching and tasting her the way I was fucking desperate to.
Granted, it had been a close call. More than once in the two days since I had started following Lilah around, I had been desperately, helplessly tempted to climb into her room. I wanted to open the window she constantly left unlocked—to the disappointment of my protective instincts—and sneak through the house so her parents didn’t hear me.
Then again, I wasn’t entirely sure she did live with her parents. She had mentioned her mother, but I’d never seen anyone other than her through the windows. It was entirely possible that her mother came and went when I wasn’t around, and that was the reason I hadn’t seen her, but the same green Acura had been parked in the driveway every day I’d been over to watch Lilah, and I hadn’t seen any evidence that it had moved.
A light breeze ruffled my fur, and I settled further into the bush as I watched the house, my tail flicking back and forth.
My subterfuge was probably unnecessary; Lilah didn’t know what my wolf form looked like any more than I did hers. Shifting in front of someone who wasn’t family was intimate, and I knew she would come around to shifting with the pack in her own time. I wasn’t going to take the opportunity to make that choice away from her any more than I had wanted to take away her chance to freely give us her virginity when she was ready rather than being driven by her hormones.
Oliver called me impulsive, but I could be calm and steady, damn it.
A silver Mercedes pulled up in front of Lilah’s house, interrupting my thoughts. I lifted my head and cocked it to the side, narrowing my eyes as I watched a tall, blond woman step out. She was pretty enough, wearing snug jeans and a purple peasant top, but she didn’t have the same magnetism as my mate—not by a long shot.
As I watched, the newcomer approached the front door of the house. Before she could lift her hand to knock, it opened to reveal Lilah.
My breath hitched the same way it had every time I’d caught a glimpse of her. She wore a pair of leggings that hugged her legs and hips snugly and a loose crop top my fingers itched to slide under. My wolf vision was sharp enough that I could see the outline of her nipples under her top, revealing that she wasn’t wearing a bra, and I huffed out a breath as arousal spiraled through my body.
Keeping my instincts under control in this form was significantly more difficult than when I looked like a man—my wolf was all protective instinct and possessiveness. I saw Lilah across the street, talking to her friend with a smile on her pretty face, and I wanted to cross the road as fast as I could to urge her to shift and play with me. I wanted to chase her, catch her, and fuck her into the dirt when I finally got her in my hands, and we were human-shaped again.
I wanted that so badly...but it wasn’t the time.
Lilah and the other woman entered her house, and I rose to my feet the moment that the front door closed. I made a tiny grumbling sound as I turned on my heel and padded away, ignoring every instinct screaming at me to go back and find her again, to keep my eyes on our omega so that I knew she was safe, protected, and still ours.
Not the time. Not the time.
***
I made it two more days before I started following Lilah around again, this time in human form.
She’d texted me during that time, making me glad that I’d put my phone number in her phone when she wasn’t looking. I knew that Oliver had texted himself from her number while she was passed out at our house, but he hadn’t taken advantage of having it in the days since.
It was causing tension in the household. Oliver constantly looked like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, even though we had agreed that we wanted to see where things could go with Lilah if all of us gave her a chance. I knew Oliver was struggling with the idea of leaving Jack behind and moving forward with Lilah—or at least, that’s how he would see it—but...
God, as much as I missed him, Jack was gone. He wasn’t coming back, and he would be furious at the way we had all allowed his death to keep us from moving forward in our lives as a pack and as a family.
Which was why I was...doing reconnaissance.
That sounded a hell of a lot better than the fact I was basically stalking Lilah, so that was the word I was going with.
It turned out that Lilah did have a job. She was a cashier at a tiny boutique that sold clothes far more expensive than most people could afford. The first day I saw her walking out of the house in her black slacks and button-down, her dark hair twisted in a sleek knot at the back of her head, I almost tackled her right then and there. It was impossible that she could look so effortlessly sexy no matter what she was doing or what she was wearing, but it was what it was.
I managed to contain my impulses and followed Lilah to her job. The first day, I watched from a distance, peeking in the windows to make sure she was okay.
The second day, though, I was in the store itself.
I couldn’t help it. I was drawn to Lilah so intensely that it would have scared me if I had been less devoted to her—yes, already . Oliver didn’t understand, but he would get there in his own time. She was our scent-match. We were meant to be together.
I watched Lilah handle customers, skulking around the back racks of the store and mostly keeping to the shadows. It was basically the same thing I’d been doing outside her house in wolf form—but with opposable thumbs.
The way she efficiently checked people out and helped customers find what they were looking for made me smile and yearn for her.
She probably wouldn’t mind if I went up to say hello...but she’s at work. I could pretend to be a customer so she wouldn’t get in trouble. She would know, of course, but...
A tall, broad-chested man stepped up next in line for Lilah, and I snapped to attention, my wandering thoughts going immediately silent. I narrowed my eyes, reaching up to shove my glasses a little further up my nose when they started to slip. The man didn’t have anything in his hands, and as I watched, he planted them on the counter in front of Lilah and leaned in, invading her space.
My every instinct immediately screamed for me to protect my mate from the alpha who was imposing on her space—because even from behind, I could tell he was an alpha. It was the way that he unashamedly took up space and expected everyone around him to immediately give him a wide berth and anything else he might want...
My instincts itched, and I bit back a low growl as I watched Lilah nod politely at the man. Her expression didn’t change from her neutral customer-service face, but I could see the tension in her fingers where her hands were clasped together in front of her hips.
I didn’t have to hear what he was saying to her to see the way she stiffened and stepped carefully back, putting some space between herself and the customer as her lips moved with a reply.
My hearing was too dull in human form to hear what was being said. Fuck .
I glanced around and immediately caught sight of the manager—a tall beta woman with blond hair pulled back in a severe bun—and made my way over to her, tucking my hands into my pockets.
“Hi there,” I said, speaking up without waiting for her to notice me.
She smiled at me, her eyes quickly flicking up and down and taking in my leather jacket, T-shirt, and jeans. If she was judging me for my clothes, it didn’t read on her face. She clasped her hands in front of her and nodded. “Can I help you with something, sir?”
I nodded, jerking my head over to the checkout counter, where I could see Lilah still talking to the pushy alpha out of the corner of my eye. “Yeah. I was just browsing, and I noticed that that man seems to be harassing one of your employees.” I glanced around, then lowered my voice conspiratorially as I leaned close to the blond woman. “He looks like an alpha, and your employee looked a little uncomfortable. I would have gone over there to say something myself, but I didn’t want to cause any kind of scene, you understand.”
The manager’s eyes narrowed a little, and she looked sharply toward Lilah and the man, who was leaning even further over the counter than before. Her eyes narrowed even further—an expression I related to wholeheartedly—and she looked at me with a tight smile. “Thank you for informing me. If you’ll excuse me.”
She turned on her heel and walked over to the counter, and I melted back to my spot at the back of the shop to watch the exchange.
I could see the sharpness on the manager’s face as she stepped up behind Lilah, putting a firm hand on her shoulder and nudging her to the side to face the alpha head-on. The alpha reared back, his entire body stiffening, and I moved enough to see the ugly expression twisting his profile. His mouth moved, and it didn’t take a genius to know that the alpha was cussing out the manager.
The alpha gestured towards Lilah, who had been looking relieved at her manager’s interference, and her expression soured. Anger started to build low in my belly as I watched her snap something I couldn’t hear, and then she turned on her heel and stomped away, tension in every muscle of her body.
I was grateful that she was away from the prick who had been clearly insulting her, but without Lilah to focus my energy on...
I slipped out of the store, taking a discreet spot next to the front door. I had every faith that the manager would put the alpha in his place, and it only took another minute or so before the door slammed open, and the alpha marched out, muttering under his breath.
“Stupid bitch...harassment lawsuit...got to be fucking kidding me...”
He didn’t see me coming. One moment, he was walking out of the store; the next, I was whirling him around with an iron grip on his wrist, slamming him up against the brick side of the building.
“Motherfucker!” His eyes flashed gold at me, and he bared his teeth. The man had bulk on me and was a few inches taller, but the rage and possessiveness flowing through my veins made it all too easy to hold him in place.
“Hey, asshole.” I leaned in, shoving my face in his and watching his face redden from the way I pressed my forearm against his throat. “That woman you were fucking around with? The brunette?” His eyes widened a little, and I leaned even closer, making sure he could feel my breath against his sweaty face as I snarled, “She’s fucking mine . My pack’s omega. And I swear to God, if I see you talking to her again—if I see you even looking at her again—you won’t be able to knot anyone in the future because I’ll cut your fucking dick off. Do you fucking understand me?”
For a moment, I was sure he would argue with me, but he must have seen the madness in my eyes. The color quickly drained out of his face, leaving him pale as he nodded frantically. “Sorry, man,” he rasped. “Didn’t mean to overstep. I won’t come here again.”
I glared at him for another moment before I jerked my head in a nod, forcing myself to pull away and let him suck in a ragged gasp of air. The alpha didn’t say another word before he darted away, glancing over his shoulder with something close to fear in his eyes before he rounded into the parking loud out of my sight.
It was fucking satisfying, but not enough at the same time. I needed to see Lilah again. I needed to make sure that she was safe and would be okay for the rest of her shift before I went back home. It was time for Oliver and I to have a serious conversation about her— again .
My phone buzzed in my pocket before I could compose myself enough to walk back into the building without my eyes flashing alpha gold, and I pulled it out, glancing at the readout.
My heart leaped when I saw that it was a text from Lilah.
Hey, sorry for the radio silence. I just needed to wrap my head around everything. Presenting as an omega was a huge shock, and then finding you and the pack...But I meant it when I said I wanted to see where things might go. Over the past few days, I’ve realized I’m not interested in any other alphas. But can we maybe take things a little slow? Like, go on a date first?
I grinned, the frantic pace of my heart slowing as my thumbs darted over the screen, messaging her back.
Come over to the house tonight, baby girl. If you want dates, we’ll wine and dine you all day every day. You’re ours, and I’ll do whatever I can to prove it.
With that, I tucked my phone back into my pocket and strode off toward the woods, preparing myself to strip down and shift again. I should have driven, but this was going to be faster.
Now, Oliver and I really needed to have a conversation.