Chapter Three
Paige
Every part of me ached.
My cramps were coming closer together, pulling on the muscles from my ribs to my knees. My head was throbbing in time with my heart, my vision and thoughts fuzzy around the edges. Sweat trickled down my spine despite the cool breeze outside, making my dehydration worse.
I should be at home.
In my nest.
On a knot.
Another whine escaped at the thought, my core clenching around nothing. I felt so empty, and there was a desperation growing with each breath I took filled with the new alpha’s scent.
I didn’t know who he was, but he’d saved me.
I was still a bit dazed by how fast everything had happened. One minute I was fighting to prevent being taken into the apartment with three alphas, and the next I was free, standing with my back pressed to the brick wall, all three alphas on the ground.
Were they dead?
I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t been able to focus well enough to tell since my body had reacted to the alpha coming to my rescue the way any healthy omega’s would.
By slicking and pumping out twice as many pheromones.
The struggle with the alphas had cleared my head, forcing my body to focus on something other than breeding, but watching the newcomer take out the others with minimal effort had brought everything back three-fold.
My omega side was drooling over the alpha wearing a suit and smelling like chocolate, black currant, and pure sin.
The black SUV he’d placed me in held traces of his scent, although not as much as I’d expect if this was his everyday vehicle.
Between his suit and the lack of smell, it made me think he likely had it cleaned regularly, and my cheeks flushed at the thought of what it would smell like after me sitting in it with my soaked jeans.
I hadn’t been able to stop the rush of slick that had leaked out to stain them, but my thoughts were torn in too many directions to worry about it for long.
Who was he?
Why wasn’t I in my nest?
Where was he taking me?
How was I going to make it through my heat alone?
Would he knot me and stop the pain?
I couldn’t help my interest in him. It didn’t matter that he was a stranger who could do the same things to me as the ones I’d fought. He was an alpha, he smelled delicious, and he looked like he could be on the cover of a business magazine.
If businessmen were ripped, with coal black hair and piercing green eyes. I’d never seen any as intensely green as his, the depths almost black, and I wanted to get lost in them while he soothed my heat the only way that truly worked.
With orgasms and alpha cum.
My channel clenched again, expelling more slick. If I didn’t get my thoughts under control his seat was going to be ruined.
Hand on my buckle, I was about to get out of the car when the driver’s side door suddenly opened.
I’d been so caught up in my head I hadn’t seen him returning, and it was instinct to jerk my hand away from the seatbelt.
The alpha had buckled me in, so he’d be upset if I undid it, and my omega side couldn’t handle more negativity from alphas at the moment.
“Okay, Sweetheart, you have two choices.”
The deep rumble of his voice had my heartrate spiking, and the hormones flooding me made it hard to focus on his words. He’d climbed into the driver’s seat and turned to look back at me, trapping me with the movement of his lips.
“I can take you to a center. I’ll cover the cost, and you’ll never have to see me again. That would be the smartest thing to do. Or…”
I finally pried my gaze away from his mouth and lifted it to meet his.
His pupils were blown, only a thin ring of that intense green remaining, and I knew mine had to look the same.
With him in the vehicle his scent was growing stronger, and each breath of it pushed me deeper and deeper into my instincts.
It took a moment for the meaning of his words to sink in, my brow furrowing.
The centers were there for omegas in my position, who didn’t like or couldn’t use suppressants, and didn’t have an alpha to tend them.
They were the safest option, but they were expensive, and I couldn’t allow him to pay for it even if he wasn’t expecting anything in return.
“Or?”
The single word was a bare whisper, breathy enough I wasn’t sure he’d hear me even in the silent car, but at my questioning tone, somehow his focus grew more intense.
“Or I can take you home with me and tend to you myself. Maybe not as smart, but I promise you’ll be safe.”
A growl laced his words, sending shivers down my spine and tightening my nipples into painful points. We both knew what he meant, and my mind immediately jumped to thoughts of him climbing through the gap into the backseat with me and tearing my jeans off so he could sink into me.
As hot as I already was, my cheeks burned when a moan escaped my waning control.
I was too close to the edge of losing it, and even if he hadn’t offered, I couldn’t see any other option.
I couldn’t drive myself home in my state, and I couldn’t wander alone in public or there would be another incident.
He was a stranger, but at least he had saved me from the three trying to take advantage of me, and he had offered me another option. Even if he hadn’t meant it. It could all have been a trick to get me to himself.
“You. Hurry.”
His seatbelt was clicking into place before I’d finished speaking. He threw the car into gear, and while I expected him to floor it, he managed to drive with caution as we pulled out onto the street.
I had no idea where he was taking me. I didn’t even know his name, but for some reason, my instinctive side felt safe with him.
Of course, my instinctive side was currently a horny hussy who’d developed a thing for alphas in suits…
Shaking my head at myself, I tried to relax and focus on anything else.
I forced my eyes to the window, although I didn’t see anything we were passing.
There were too many visions of him doing dirty things to me playing through my head for me to pay any attention to the world outside the vehicle drenched in the scent of my slick, slowly being matched with alpha lust. I didn’t even notice he’d made a call and put it on speaker until a new voice made me startle.
“Yeah?”
“Hey boss, I took care of that meeting you asked me to handle, but a situation came up, and I’m going to be out for a few days. A week at most.”
I turned to stare at his profile, my brows drawing together.
“Anything I need to worry about?” came the smooth masculine voice over the speakers.
The alpha kept his head facing forward, watching the road, so it was hard to get a read on his expression, but something about the way they were talking made it sound like a code.
“No. I already called the—Marco, for the meeting room.”
As fuzzy as my thoughts were, I didn’t miss the way he changed what he was saying. A trickle of unease wormed its way into the part of me that held all alphas as suspicious, but that part was already too buried to change my mind about my choice.
A center just wasn’t an option. I didn’t make enough even in three months to cover the price, and what little pride I had left wouldn’t accept not paying back something like that. I wasn’t his responsibility.
“Okay. Contact me as soon as you’re able with more details. Let me know if the situation changes.”
The line clicked, then quiet music filled the SUV. The pain in my middle was making it hard to breathe with my jeans digging into my belly from sitting upright in the seat, but it was enough to help me pull my thoughts together to speak.
“What’s your name?”
His eyes darted toward me, his face turning a fraction, but he never took his attention from the road.
“Roderic.”
“Roderic,” I repeated, tasting the word.
The name didn’t quite feel right for a businessman, but I pushed that observation aside before I got too distracted to ask the important question.
“Where are you taking me?”
He’d said home, but I needed more than that. It wasn’t like I was in a position to do anything about it no matter what the answer was, but at least I might have an idea of how far I would be from my apartment.
“My apartment. Downtown.”
Downtown fit the image I had of him in my head. It was too expensive to live amidst the high-rises for the average person to afford, so it confirmed my assumption from the suit and SUV that he did well for himself.
It also eased the undercurrent of worry that had kicked in. There was public transportation downtown, with buses that ran out into the suburbs, so even if he kicked me out once my heat broke, I wouldn’t be stranded.
Checking that I still had my phone and keys tucked into my pockets with what little brain power I had left, I shook off my misgivings and focused on breathing through the cramps.
He was clearly capable of fighting the pull of my pheromones enough to drive, so I had to believe he’d be able to resist the urge to mark me.
He didn’t seem likely to murder me, so as long as he wasn’t hauling me to a group of other alphas, I felt reasonable sure I’d survive whatever happened.
I’d deal with the fallout and come up with a new plan for my next heat once my body wasn’t rebelling and urging me to climb into his lap and ride him, driving or not.
“Almost there, Sweetheart. I’ll take good care of you.”
Biting my lip as my belly clenched, I held my breath and hoped he was telling the truth.