Page 15 of Broken Alpha (Unwanted #1)

Luke

D e-scenters need to be banned and burned in hell, and rolling down the windows in my car only helped marginally air out the acidic scent surrounding us.

At least I had the forethought to pull off the cardigan Aidyn liked before spraying us both with the heinous chemicals.

I knew there was a reason we had to use it—to make less trouble for Aidyn.

It made sense, but I didn’t like it all the same.

I hated that he sat in my class, listening to my lecture, and the only scent from him was chemicals.

I knew other students used de-scenters or the fake pheromone spray that companies produced for people like Harllow, and normally I wasn’t fazed by them.

Today, however, was different. I couldn’t scent the one person that had changed my life so much already.

I was so distracted that I honestly didn’t remember what I taught in class, going through the lesson methodically with the notes from the previous years of teaching, hoping I had made the class interesting.

But my head was back in my office with Aidyn wrapped around me, his body warm and soft against mine as he felt perfect in my arms. After class, I returned to my office for the cardigan when my phone pinged with an incoming email to my faculty address.

There was no text to the email, just a simple picture of my car, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Without looking at the sender's email, I knew who it was from, and it reminded me that I needed to give Aidyn my personal number.

I couldn’t help the big grin that spread across my face as I spotted Aidyn leaning casually against the side of my car.

He had his eyes trained on the path to the parking lot, hoping to spot me as I approached, and a grin that mirrored my own spread across his face as he watched me.

Instead of going to the driver's side, I walked right up to him, my eyes darting around us to make sure no one was around before kissing him. A surprised squeal escaped him before he leaned into the kiss, gripping the belt loops at my hips. Pulling away was practically torture, but I didn’t want to increase the chance of being caught.

Unlocking my car, I opened the passenger door for Aidyn before placing my cardigan in his lap once he was buckled in.

As I crawled into the drivers side, it didn’t escape my attention that Aidyn instantly began toying with the buttons on the cardigan absentmindedly, feeling and petting the fabric as if it were a soft cat while I pulled out of the university parking lot.

My Alpha stood a little taller, chest puffed out, at the happiness my clothing brought to the Omega, and I took his hand in mine, squeezing it lightly.

We had rolled down the windows as we sped out of the inner community, the chemical scent beginning to overwhelm the small enclosed space between us.

It didn’t do much, but it made it easier to think, and my mild headache began to disappear.

Aidyn lived about a half hour from campus, but the trip seemed so much shorter as I pulled into a guest parking spot closest to his unit. Aidyn unbuckled himself before opening the door but turned to me when he noticed I was still buckled into my seat.

“Are you not coming in, Mr. Ellis? Remember, I have to give you back your jacket?” he grinned.

“Luke, please, when we’re not at school.

And I really shouldn’t…” I breathed, shaking my head.

I watched as disappointment flashed across his face before he slid a blank mask over his expression.

“It’s not that I don’t want to. Lord knows I do.

But I want this relationship to build on each other and not on sex.

I’m not assuming that’s what would happen, but I don’t know if I can behave.

Especially when I know Harllow won’t be home for a few hours, and my Alpha screams at me to cover you in my scent to wash away those chemicals. ”

“And here I thought I was just being a needy Omega, wishing you would do exactly that the whole ride over. I didn’t want to say anything that could possibly make you regret this or me. I’m already asking so much of you.”

I raised my eyes to look at Aidyn, a slight blush on his cheeks.

He was avoiding my gaze, looking down at the cardigan in his lap and fingering the material again as he fidgeted under my gaze.

I reached over and brushed his hair behind his ear before placing my hand under his chin and forcing him to meet my gaze.

“I won’t regret this or you. Ever. I want to do right by you and not force you to do anything you’re not ready for or uncomfortable with.

You’re not asking too much of me, little fawn.

I wish you would ask more if you have need of me, and if it’s in my power, I will give it to you happily.

I told you, you’re mine going forward, and I want to take care of you. ”

“Sooo, if I asked you to come in and just cuddle on the couch with me for a bit, drown me in your scent, would you do it?”

“With pleasure. I know many Omegas turn their whole home into their nest. Are you sure you want me in your space so soon?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

“I’ve actually never built a nest,” Aiden responded, blushing and avoiding my gaze.

“If I ever did, it would probably be in my bedroom since I don’t live alone, but there is no real sanctuary.

You wouldn’t know I was an Omega just by looking at my bedroom.

I don’t want to rush this, either, but my Omega is trying to run before he can walk.

You’ll be helping me immensely in a few months, but I don’t want my first time with you to be during my heat.

I want to remember it. As you said, sex isn’t what I’m assuming either, but how do I know that my Omega instincts aren’t trying to rush this? ”

Unbuckling my seat belt, I leaned across the middle console, pulling Aidyn to me.

I pressed my lips against him, holding his face to me as I poured as much emotion and love into the affection as I could, releasing my pheromones to soothe the frantic look in his eyes as anxiety began to cloud them.

This man was my undoing. It gave me an odd sense of comfort knowing that he was battling the same thoughts as I was.

That we were on the same page, and it was clear that we needed to work on our communication skills so that we didn’t isolate each other, drowning in our insecurities.

I was holding back every Alpha urge I had for him because we just began whatever this was, and I didn’t want to scare him away.

I wouldn’t survive it if he never contacted me again.

Pulling away, I looked at him, running my hands through his soft blond hair, and smiled at the slightly dazed look in his eyes.

“You can’t rush this; that is impossible. We go at our own pace, as slow or as fast as we want or need to go. I’ll take my lead from you, little fawn.”

“Then come inside. Please.” I could hear the slight begging tone at the end of his sentence, and there was no way I was going to deny him anything.

The scent of Aidyn was everywhere . It mingled with the artificial scent his roommate wore, but my Alpha honed in on his scent the second I stepped into Aidyn’s apartment.

My Omega’s scent clung to the air as if a candle burned in the room, filling the space and making my dick harden at its inviting embrace.

This was probably a huge mistake. Probably.

He mumbled something about making myself at home while he fetched my jacket and watched him move down the short hallway that was to the right of the front door, taking my cardigan with him.

I looked around the small living room and couldn’t help but smile.

The bookcase on which the TV sat held an assortment of books, its three shelves bowing slightly with their weight as if someone had run out of room and began stacking them horizontally across the vertical books.

Every nook and cranny was filled with a book.

Everything from romances to detective novels to sci-fi and mystery, with the occasional horror.

I noticed a murder mystery book I enjoyed a few years ago.

It was about a Beta detective who had lost his partner and had been experimented on in a lab, hoping to make him an Alpha.

He had heightened senses but wasn’t a complete Alpha, and he finds out that his partner had been murdered by the mafia, whose leader is an Omega, whom the detective falls in love with.

I had stopped reading it some years ago, no longer finding the time, and the author had stopped writing a few years back due to health issues.

Another shelf beside the bookcase housed an assortment of DVDs and pictures.

Pictures of Aidyn and Harllow on summer break at a beach, Aidyn graduating high school, and an image of a very drunk Harllow wearing a birthday crown.

I knew they were best friends, but I wouldn't say I liked the implication that, to outsiders, they looked like a couple. I knew Harllow wanted that, but I got the impression that Aidyn didn’t.

And if he did at one point, he didn’t now.

A fresh wave of Aidyn’s scent entered the room, and I turned around to find Aidyn standing nervously by the couch.

He had changed into a pair of loose black lounge pants paired elegantly with a large, chunky navy sweater that gave him a cozy and snuggly vibe.

“You look comfy,” I smirked, watching him blush under my praise.