Chapter 2
Walker
Mine.
I knew I scented her on the wind. All brown sugar cinnamon and a hint of something spicy beneath. I smelled it the first time the wind kicked up. Cinnamon rolls that have yet to be iced, that’s what she reminds me of. Sweet and delectable, like the thighs currently wrapped around me.
She looks dazed.
My nostrils flare as I drink her in. The wind kicks up, whistling down the alleyway as it flutters her pin-straight blonde hair.
She has it pulled back in a half-up sort of situation, and I can see the ends of a bow she has stuck in it.
My eyes scour her body, taking in the way she curves and flares in places that make me ache.
Can I really do this again?
“Thank you,” she says breathlessly.
I don’t even realize I’m staring at her luscious hips until she speaks. My eyes pull back up to her face, taking in her creamy white skin and those incredible seafoam green eyes. They twinkle in the shadows of the alleyway, like a sun made just for me.
My hands sink into the excess of her hips.
“For what?” I ask as my gaze finds hers.
“Not letting me fall.”
I shake my head softly. “I will never let you fall, Omega.”
She sucks in a breath. “Alpha.”
Not a question, a statement. It takes all I have just to nod.
I want to rip that pristine little cardigan right off her body.
I want to ruck her skirt up and press my nose right where her scent is strongest. Even now, I feel the heat barreling from between her legs like a battering ram, trying to get through my work pants.
Work.
I can’t be doing this, I have work to do.
I go to release her. “You should be more careful, Omega. You could really—”
Her whimper stops me in my tracks. Her thighs clench around me, and it tests the Alpha rising up inside of me. Take. Claim. Protect. My instincts are running a million miles a second. They haven’t done that since…
Well, since I had my heart broken as a young Alpha.
“Sorry,” she whispers from those pouty little lips of hers.
I want to chew on them like bubblegum. “No apologies.”
Her curves are soft against my body. My nostrils flare greedily, filling my lungs with another gallon of her scent. I can’t get enough. It will never be enough. My hands flex beneath her thighs, and she rolls her hips as another whine escapes her.
“You’re in preheat,” I state.
“Sort of,” she whimpers out.
Sort of? What does that mean?
How is an Omega “sort of” in heat?
I want to ask, but then her hands fly to my shirt. She splays them against my chest, running them up and down my torso. I can’t help myself. I’m much too weak against her scent. My face plants into the crook of her neck, nuzzling her scent gland.
It rewards me with another spurt of her scent, straight up my nostrils, and it’s like a drug to my veins. Blood rushes through my ears. My clothed cock pulses between her legs, and my knot shivers, ready and aching to blow her wide open.
“Omega,” I rumble.
“I’m not ready yet,” she whispers.
It douses cold water over the thoughts and instincts swirling around in my head.
A rumble of a growl breaks at the back of my throat as I slide my nose along her scent gland one last time.
She’s such a good girl for me, releasing her scent straight up my nostrils.
I do my best to commit the scent profile to memory.
I’ll need it for later, when I can get home and take a cold shower.
I pull back and gaze into her half-hooded eyes. She feels it; I know she does. But she’s not ready. Those words echo off the corners of a mind that is losing a battle to my instincts.
I have to put her down. I have to walk away. Maybe I could go find her purse. Busy myself with retrieving her things, just to put some distance between us.
But I know she’s not okay.
“You need something,” I say as my hands twitch against the underside of her thighs. “What is it?”
She shakes her head against the brick wall. “I don’t—”
“Don’t even think about lying to me, Omega.”
She whines, and the sound tugs at my cock. “Home. I just want to go home.”
She’s clearly not from around here. The pleated skirt that comes down to her knees and the tights she has on underneath it are all I need to see to know that she’s a city girl. Probably born and raised.
Her cardigan is impeccable; not a stain or fabric pill on it. Her makeup is precise and soft, with that look of, “oh, I’m not actually wearing any makeup, thank you very much.” She reeks of city girl, and it makes me want to back up.
If she’s not from around here, it’s not likely she’ll stay with me.
That’s already been proven in my life.
“You’re in preheat,” I state, trying to keep the Alpha out of my voice. “You need help. Let me at least help you to your car.”
She whines as her hips buck against me. It damn near takes me to my knees.
“I’m sorry,” she says breathlessly.
Oh, no. We aren’t having any of that. Without thinking, I take a step forward, pressing myself between her pillowy thighs. She gasps as I close the small distance between our bodies, my fingers coming up to capture her chin. I lock my gaze with hers, making sure she’s lucid enough to hear me.
“You are in preheat and it’s trying to take over. I smell it. You won’t be able to get home safely like this.”
Her lower lip wobbles. “I know.”
“So,” I say as I run my hand down her neck, feeling her pulse point pounding, “let me help.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t—I can’t just… let a stranger knot me.”
I snicker softly as my hand slides down to the hem of her skirt. “I’m not talking about a knot.”
My hand stops at her thigh, massaging softly. I won’t do anything that compromises my Omega. I won’t do anything she doesn’t want. But she won’t be able to get home safely without something to take the edge off.
And I know just the thing she needs.
“No knot?” she asks.
I shake my head and move my hand a little further up her thigh. It makes her whimper as she rolls her hips again.
“No penetration at all?” she whispers.
“Not if you don’t want it,” I say as my hand disappears beneath her pleated skirt.
She sighs as her head falls back against the brick wall. I want to demand that she look at me. That she keep those pretty green eyes on me while my fingers work her to the heights of pleasure her body requires. I stuff down the instinct, though.
This is for her.
“Just one orgasm might help,” she whimpers.
“Good girl.”
I slide my hand the rest of the way up her skirt and find her tights, a barrier between us.
I growl, wanting to rip them off her body and take what I know is mine.
She rolls her hips as I cup her heated core, the dampness already coating my skin.
It makes goosebumps crawl along my body, and my Alpha roars inside of me.
Mine.
I pin her hips to the brick wall with my own and band my free around her back.
I pull her away from the wall long enough to crook my hand beneath her tights before they slide into her underwear.
I press her back against the wall, watching her sigh with relief.
My eyes lock onto her fluttering pulse point as she rewards me with another waft of her scent.
I want to taste her so badly.
I want to watch her fall apart more, though.
My fingers find her juicy folds, slick with need and ready for what I have to give.
My cock aches against my trousers. I’ll need a new pair of boxers after this.
I bury my face into the crook of her neck, unable to contain myself in the presence of her scent.
My finger finds her pulsing clit.
“Oh my god,” she whispers breathlessly.
“I gotcha,” I murmur as I kiss her scent gland. “Just relax.”
The wet sounds my fingers create between her legs make me roll my hips against her. I squeeze my eyes closed and pretend that pouty little mouth of hers is wrapped around my cock.
Her neck muffles my growls as she bucks against my hand. Her arousal drips into my palm as my finger works slow, tight circles around the base of her most sensitive area. She shivers for me, shaking her curves against my body, and I have to clamp my teeth together before I do something stupid.
Like going against my Omega’s wishes and claiming her for myself.
“Oh, yes. Please.”
Her voice is choked as her hips buck faster. I buck my hips in time with hers, angry that nothing but air is greeting my efforts. I snarl against her shoulder. I nip at her earlobe. She groans for me, her body quivering in my grasp as the movement of her hips stutter.
“Yes. Yes. Yes. Right there. Right there. Just—like—that—”
I rear up just in time to watch those pretty little eyes of hers roll into the back of her head. Her body rewards me with a gush of her slickness that coats my hand and fingers. The scent of her drapes a haze over my body, and I can feel my rutting instincts clawing at the back of my mind.
Fuck. Take. Claim. That’s our Omega. She needs to know it.
I harness the Alpha inside of me with chains, refusing to lose myself in this. My Omega’s needs are more important than whatever rut I haven’t indulged in years.
It isn’t until her body collapses that I pull my hand from between her legs.
I can’t help myself as I lap her slick off my fingers.
“Mmmm,” I hum out on a growl. “You taste divine.”
“Put me down,” she pants.
I lick the last of her off my skin. She tastes like cinnamon rolls and a crisp autumn morning—and fall is my favorite time of year.
I want more of her. All of her. I want to dive between her legs and drink from her well until she pushes me away and begs for mercy.
“Please,” she says.
Her voice is a bit stronger, and it rips me out of my trance. I nod as I grip her, pulling her away from the wall. I place her back down onto her feet, but I keep my hands on her arms. She’s a bit unsteady on her legs still, but that doesn’t stop her from moving away from my grasp.
I long to pull her back to me.
“Well,” she says breathlessly as she rearranges her clothes, putting them back in order, “guess I’d better go find my purse.”
I clear my throat as I shove my hand down my pants, rearranging myself. “I’ll help. When was the last time you—”
She doubles over, her hand clutching her stomach, and that’s it for me. I scoop her back up without another word.
“Come, Omega,” I say as I start out of the alleyway, “I’ll help you find your stuff.”
“Lia,” she says softly.
I can hear the pain in her voice, and I hate it. Why is she still in pain after an orgasm? An Omega in preheat should be just fine after an orgasm.
Something’s not right.
“Walker,” I say as I step out of the darkness of the alleyway and into the light of the sun. “Now, which direction were you—?”
“Hey! There you two are!”
I turn at the sound of Knox’s voice, and I see him weaving through the crowd. He holds up a purse that just so happens to match the outfit of the Omega I have in my arms, and I tilt her so that she can see it.
“Is that your purse?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says, her voice choked off as she reaches her hand for it.
Knox jogs up to us, a cheeky grin on his face. “I saw her collapse from the pie-eating stage. Everything all… right?”
I watch his nostrils flare before his eyes slowly turn toward the Omega in my arms. I watch him carefully, seeing recognition spread across his features. He looks at her as if she just hung the moon in the sky, her hand outstretched and her fingers still wiggling for her purse.
“Knox,” I say curtly. “She needs her purse.”
“Oh, right, right,” he says mindlessly as he hands it to her.
“You can put me down now,” Lia says.
I don’t like the idea, but I listen to her, anyway. She wobbles on her feet for a moment, and Knox reaches out his hand, steadying her on one side while I steady her on the other. She digs through her purse, clearly on the hunt for something. But then she whines and doubles over again.
“That’s it,” I grumble as I scoop her back up.
“What’s wrong with her?” Knox asks, a sharpness in his voice. “Why is she in pain? What did you do to my—?”
I give him a hard look. I pin him with a glare, and it takes him a moment to draw in another deep breath. Is this really happening? Is he scenting her, too?
“She needs Dr. Quinn,” Knox says. “Her scent is…”
“A bit too strong,” I grumble.
Knox shoots me a look. “A bit too sugary sweet for an Omega not in heat.”
“Preheat, I’m fine. Just need to get home,” Lia says.
Her voice is still weak. I don’t like that. “After Dr. Quinn looks you over.”
“I don’t want to go to the doctor,” she whines softly.
“I know,” I say as Knox motions toward his truck. I give him another nod, and he takes off toward it. “But we’ll feel better once you’re checked out and cleared by a doctor.”
“Then home?”
Knox leaps into his truck and practically hops the curb to get to us. “Then home. You have my word. We’ll even escort you ourselves.”
Anything to stay in her presence a little while longer.