Knot Without You: An Omegaverse Romance

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

“Hey!”

I’ve got no idea how I can hear anything over the torrential downpour, but an Alpha’s voice cuts through it all. Effortlessly.

It might not have been just his voice I responded to because just before his voice reaches me, I feel like I’m floating. A bourbon fog so thick and heady settles around me, making me shiver and not because I’m cold.

His presence—pure lethal magnetism, alluring and commanding—tugs me out of alignment. Given the wet conditions and the heels I’m wearing, it’s a dangerous situation. Honestly, it’s like my body is not my own, all my senses are blown completely by him and to him. There’s a flash of unease as I truly wonder where I end and he starts because in the space of one word, one tease of his scent, one second in his presence I feel so fucking lost, but I also know with everything I am, this is where I should be. Next to him.

His draw is insanely strong, and I’m wearing the wrong shoes. The world tilts as my arms start flailing around and my feet skate out from under me.

He catches me. It might have been inevitable that I end up in his arms. It really feels like we’re two magnets crashing back together. Physically, I’ve never felt safer in anyone’s arms. Spiritually, a rush of homecoming brings a tide of euphoria crashing over me.

The way he catches me means I’m hovering in mid-air, sheltered by the sheer size of him. Being in the arms of a complete stranger should be alarming, but again, I’m full of this insight that our meeting was always meant to happen, so if anything, I feel relieved.

“You all right there?” he asks, and I’m thunderstruck by his voice.

It’s rumblier than the thunder bouncing across the sky. There’s an edge to his voice too—not that it sets off any of my alerts—but at the same time, just a couple of words and you know he’s different from other Alphas.

Night turns to day when a blast of lightning gives me the chance to see him for the first time. And he’s fucking stunning.

Like a camera flash, the night plunges dark again, but now that I’ve seen him, I can’t unsee him. But then the clouds move, letting me stare up into a pair of the deepest brown eyes I’ve ever seen. The colour of his eyes might be brown, but that’s like saying honey is sweet. I never realised brown had so many hues and tones—rich like chocolate, deep like amber, and evoking a sense of strength and dependability.

Seriously, if the sky fell down around us, I’m not sure I would notice, because the Alpha with the deep brown eyes full of dangerous seduction and raw power, with his bourbon scent and stronghold over my body, is the only thing in my world.

Instead of righting us he keeps me wrapped in his arms and suspended in mid-air. His eyes are full of promises that his body and touch reinforce—raw power ingrained with courage and steely determination. He feels like a missing piece of me.

As much as I stare, he does too. Not that it matters, the both of us are caught completely unawares. In truth, I all but devour him with the way I look over every inch of him, chasing the tease of freckles and lines I only saw quickly before when the lightning gave us our first proper view.

You’d have to be dead not to get caught up in him; he radiates that whole hot-as-fuck, bad-boy persona, ready to slay the world—or at least live it the way he wants. Though maybe not a boy, he’s well and truly an Alpha in his prime, and he’s aged to perfection.

“You good, killer?” he asks. His question comes across like a rumbly growl, and he smiles as he talks. And it might be the strangely romantic scene we’re both in with the rain falling over us, or it might just be him, but when he does smile, I swear I’ve never seen a more attractive Alpha in my life.

His head tips slightly as he waits for me to answer, but truth be told I’m liking where I am—in his arms, and his orbit—so I take my time before I reply. He knows I’m stalling too; the glittering of his brown eyes is as telling as his ripening bourbon scent.

“You seriously gonna leave me hanging, killer?” he asks after a few more drawn out, overly heated and protracted moments.

His plush lips twist and he fucking smirks knowing how muddled I am. Then he makes our moment even more memorable by blowing a deep exhale of his heavenly scent over my face. And this close, his scent matches the colour of his eyes—a combination of lots of different notes: grainy, wood, and fruity, along with the slightest hints of creamy, buttery caramel, and fresh cut grass. A completely intoxicating combination of aromas strong enough to make my head spin like I’m half-sloshed.

“Killer?” I snort once his name for me reaches past the fog of my dulled senses. And like usual, my snort is loud, loud enough to be heard over the teeming rain and rumbling thunder.

He shocks the pants off me when instead of letting me up again, he leans closer to drag his nose over my throat.

Any person would have to be dead not to respond. Since I’m alive and kicking, single and eager, I don’t even bother suppressing a small helpless moan as he obliterates my panties in a single, yet very Alpha-minded gesture. But he’s not done. His arms only tighten when I shiver before he takes it up another notch, keeping his nose plastered to my wet skin and sweeping it all the way back up to my ear. And the fucking bad boy ends our somewhat strange, slightly inappropriate but hot as fuck first meet and greet by chuckling filthy dirty in my ear.

Not a funny ha-ha laugh either. Oh no, this Alpha’s laugh is full of hard-core ‘I will be in your body, rubbing my claim over every inch of you’ innuendo. And predatory ownership, which works for me on every level.

My sugary sweet, bubble-gum scent leaks and saturates the air, inviting him to respond accordingly. His rich and warm bourbon scent rains over me, strong enough to have my nipples aching and my core throbbing. And yeah, you should read everything into that.

Our bodies are doing the talking, somewhat aggressively too. And it’s not hard to put two and two together.

I just met my scent-matched Alpha.

In one move, he pulls us back up to standing. Kind of disappointing if you ask me.

When he takes another step away after he makes sure I’m not going to do a Bambi on him again, I have to fight like a ravenous bitch to swallow down a forlorn whine, making me bite my lips.

The distance he puts between us does nothing to dispel the wildness of the moment. It seriously feels like I’ve been zapped by static electricity—everything is heightened. Deliciously so. Okay, maybe I do pull my shoulders back, push my titties up and pop a hip, but he needs to know what he’s working for. Right?

He chuckles that dirty fucking laugh again, dragging us out of our dirty Boons Mills moment, feeding the lusty fantasy that is growing and playing out in my head. One of him bareback, taking me from behind, his callused hands bruising my hips with how hard he works.

The sudden lack of noise from him, and the eerie stillness that descends over us, stops my erotic daydream and brings me right back to reality. Although, by the look on his face, he’s got similar images swirling in his thoughts.

I can read it in the tightness of his muscles, the grit of his jaw, and the outline of his hardness pressing against the front of his jeans.

I’d happily watch him climb out of those wet jeans, but sadly he doesn’t. Instead, he swipes a hand over his hair, taking it all off his face, and it makes him even more stunning.

And he was fucking gorgeous to start with. But now I see more of him. He’s older than me, and way taller too. Standing straight, I’m not sure I’d come up to his shoulder and that’s despite the fact I was gifted legs that go on for days.

His eyebrows tip up in question.

“What?” I ask, not bothering to sound sweet and innocent because now I’m turned-on and frustrated.

He throws his hand up towards the sky. I was right, he’s gigantic—like Thor proportioned, and he’s now slightly pissed off for some reason. “It’s bucketing down, making visibility fucking zilch, and you’re stopped in the middle of the road.”

“I hit a squirrel!” I squawk, pointing to the sad evidence splattered over the road.

But he’s not looking at the squirrel, he’s back to looking at me like he’s still seeing a mirage, and he’s thirsty. Which does a lot for a girl. I drop back onto my hip and extend a leg out in front this time. His eyes take a slow burning loop of my body again before he gives me a look that has me both blushing even more and explaining myself in a rush of breathy words.

“I tried to stop. And it wasn’t intentional.” Even to me, I sound unsure of myself. Which I’m not. I have confidence in spades, and have been told on more than a few occasions that I’m obnoxiously loud. Although, it has been a day.

And the reminder of what kind of day I’ve had has me suddenly shaking my wet hair, brushing a soggy clump of it over one side of my face.

The look in his eyes hardens, because he doesn’t miss both my small dip of confidence, or what I’m trying to do.

He growls before the words pour out of him, harder and faster than the pelting rain. “Never said you did it on purpose. But you can’t stop in the middle of the fucking road because some shit for brains squirrel ran out in front of you.”

I go to defend myself, but before I can, he’s up in my face, his huge hand wrapping under my chin to tilt my face up to his. “And don’t you think I missed that black eye, killer. Who the fuck touched you?”

Before I can say a word, his attention flies behind me and it’s like an action movie watching the way he swoops towards me. In my next breath, I’m swept off my feet and hoisted onto his shoulder, his hand is clamping my ass to keep me from falling off.

I’m not one hundred percent sure what’s going on, but I’m also ridiculously happy where I am. He doesn’t stop running until we’re off the side of the road, but once we are, he turns so the both of us can watch as a car comes tearing down the roadway too fast. So fast instead of taking the corner it aquaplanes over the road heading right for us.

Seriously, I squeeze my eyes shut waiting for the moment of impact, that’s how close we come to getting hit. At the last minute, like the last inch the car skids to a messy, loud stop in front of us.

I get dropped to my feet and rearranged behind him, left with a rumbled warning to stay where I am before he stands in front of me protectively. That feeling only intensifies when the driver who nearly fucking killed us starts screaming his head off.

Being hidden behind a wall of delectable, bourbon smelling Alpha means I don’t see what actually happens. And it’s hard to make out the exact words the driver keeps yelling over the rain and the increasing growls of the Alpha. It is not hard to miss how pissed off the dude is.

The Alpha in front of me barks something back instantly, shutting down the driver. I miss what my saviour says when a door opens, but before a word is said by the man standing in front of me, the driver starts spluttering out an overly verbose and dramatic apology. Barely a beat later the door slams again, the car restarts, and the driver floors the accelerator. Of course, because of the road conditions, the wheels spin, the car whines as it fishtails and nearly slides out.

“What did you do?” I ask, curious on how he got the driver to change his tone so dramatically and quickly.

“You want to take your hands off me?” he asks, ignoring my question and twisting around to look at me. His brown eyes are again a different shade, probably because they are black and dilated while his jaw is back to being hard.

Shrugging as opposed to answering, I drag my nails over his chest. Slowly, because it feels so nice. The more he scents up, the harder he pushes against my hand, the longer it takes me to reach to the other side of his body. Sadly, another flash of lights puts a stop to my fun.

I pull my hand out from under his clothes and go to step around him, but he stops me.

“Your ass stays there.” He jabs at the exact spot I’m standing on. And yeah, his eyes linger on my legs again.

“Or what… Daddy?” I suck on my lip to stop from snorting out a laugh at how bossy he’s being.

His mouth falls open, and his eyes laser at me in challenge. “Are you fucking serious? Do I look like your Daddy?”

I shrug again. Okay, I rub my legs to ease some of the sudden pressure flooding my body as he takes a step closer to tower over me, and then I shrug. But he’s to blame. His presence, dominance, however you want to put it, is intense.

“Killer, be a good girl and shut those pretty lips of yours. I’m moving your car out of the middle of the fucking road, then we’re going.”

“Where we going?” I drop my eyes suggestively. Unnecessarily but still, it feels good winding him up.

“Where the fuck do you think?”

“For all I know you could be a murderer.” I wink at him, sashaying my hips since he can’t take his eyes off them.

His eyes eventually bounce from them to my face, and now they’re all a glitter as he chuckles throatily. They are also full of dirty promises and endless teasing. He smirks for a second before he answers. “Yet, I’m not the one responsible for the carnage in the middle of the road.” He points at the proof.

I grimace and make a loud gasp as my eyes fly back down to the messy, squished out squirrel that started all this.

“You got a flat tire too. More importantly, I’ve got no interest in anything but your cunt on my lips. You good with that?”

His eyes are full of challenge, and a whole lot of smut. Not that his last comment was hard to understand, it was as obvious as a punch in the face. He gets my answer, my desire laden scent quickly finding its way to him.

“Yeah, I guess you are.” He’s got this habit of chuckling, deep and throaty after he talks, and by God it fucking works. He’s doing a fine job, keeping me slicked up and wanting more.

“It’s a rental,” I offer eventually as an afterthought.

He talks to me over his shoulder. “You can tell them to come pick up their piece of shit then. You didn’t want to get an upgrade?”

“Correct, I didn’t. I just wanted to get as far away from the people I was with. You got a problem with that?” I smart back at him, wiggling my ass to pluck out my panties that the rain has caused to ride up.

He spins to face me and even over the distance I see the flash of anger in his eyes. He jabs his finger over the space that separates us. “What the fuck do you think? Of course, I’ve got a problem with the rental place giving you a fucking lemon to drive. And secondly, you telling me you were in a hurry to get away from people, does that include the cock who hit you?”

I grimace again and he doesn’t miss it. I don’t think he’d miss much, actually.

Within a few long determined and slightly pissed off strides, he’s back at my car. The whole driver’s side sinks down as he hops in and drives it off the side of the road. When he twists around to look in the back, I already know I’m going to get another look from him. Despite being on the road a lot for modelling, I’ve still not mastered the art of travelling light.

Much like I expected, when he turns back, he pins me with his gaze, but it’s not all bad. His lips twist again and he shakes his head.

It only takes him one trip to his oversized pick-up truck before all my stuff is out of the rental. I go to take a step, and he freezes me with a look, but I roll my eyes and race through the downpour to climb in his truck.

And I’m sure to a casual observer this would be one of those situations everyone warns you about but there’s a whole lot more at play than two random strangers crossing paths in the dead of night.

Of course, the truck is massive to match its owner, and like him, every inch of it is saturated by his delectable, mouth-watering bourbon scent. Before I have a chance to look for anything in the cabin in some hope of finding more out about him, he jumps in.

Away from the downpour and getting to be this near to him without distraction, I’m stunned to realise he’s ethereal in his looks—definitely not angelic though. His features are striking. I could literally spend hours staring at his face and never get bored. Everything about him is pronounced but not unbalanced, making him appear as photogenic as the people I work with, but it’s his brittle, fuck-you presence that would ensure he’d never get a day’s work.

Instinctively, I know it’s not that he’s unstable, but it’s because I don’t think this Alpha has ever had another person tell him what to do, or tell him no. He’s a taker, no question about it, he’d take from you without asking.

It’s odd because even though he knows I’m watching, he’s completely unapologetic and entirely himself. Most people in a similar situation would be cautious, or slightly timid, but not him. He’s just himself. And I like that a lot.

“Lose the shirt and show me how wet you are,” he demands before twisting back round to face me expectantly. There’s no way to avoid the challenge in his eyes, or the entitled set of his mouth.

Not sure if he gets it yet. I mean, he probably does, but if this Alpha told me to stick my finger up my nose and hop on one leg while singing Anti-Hero, I’d be asking him how I’m doing after the first stanza. But I somehow also know not to give in to his every demand, he’d hate it.

“Turn around,” I answer, flicking my chin up at him. And my tone matches his own, expectation dripping off each word.

“You get I’m driving us out of town to a hotel so we can spend the next few days fucking, right? I’ll be tasting every inch of you before I…”

“I’m not showing you my tits on the side of the road,” I snap.

“You will show me whatever I want to see. Whenever, wherever.” He growls, his fingers jabbing towards me before he drops a sassy smile and covers his eyes with his hand, which surprises me.

I pull my wet shirt off before putting on the long white sleeve shirt he put on my lap. I probably should insist on wearing my own clothes, but I’d be a big fat liar if I was to say that I’m not nearly combusting when I realise I’m wearing his shirt. It reeks of him in such a good way.

“Can I look yet?” He growls again.

But since he did good for me, I do good for him. “Not yet,” I insist as I wiggle out of my saturated cut offs and kick them onto the floor of his truck, on top of my wet shirt.

And being completely slutty, because like he said that’s what we’re going to do, I lean back on the passenger door dressed only in his oversized hoodie. Pulling it down to cover my pussy, I prop my legs open wide and pose.

“Okay,” I say suddenly on a long, lusty exhale.

His eyes burst open and for a few moments he stays deathly silent as he does nothing but stare. And no crap, the way he looks at me, I’m sure the heat will scar me forever.

He freaking oozes confidence in the way he languishes and takes his lazy ass time dragging his eyes over every inch of me. I nearly feel self-conscious, but he scents up a storm and his smile widens the longer he takes.

At one point he looks up to my eyes, and his own are overflowing with desire. He’s completely unfazed by it too. Some people would hide their raw need, but not him. I get another sense of how huge his blazing ego is in that moment when he winks smugly before he pulls off his wet shirt and flings it in the back.

He knows how good he looks, and he very much likes how much I like it.

“Seat belt on,” is the only warning I get before he drives like his ass is on fire through the night.

And clearly, I don’t need to ask him what the rush is. It’s pretty darn obvious.