Page 12

The kiss branded my very soul. There was no other way to explain it.

With Casimir, it had been spicy sin. And Maddox had selfless hardcore carnality. But Kane’s kiss felt like he was claiming me without the bite. It was all-encompassing. I was breathing his breath, our hearts beat in rhythm, and I wanted him to order me to bend over so he would fill me with his cock.

Oh, fuck yes. I melted against him, mewling into our fierce kisses.

He would make everything wonderful. My life would be sublime.

Every inch of me screamed for him to take me. Knot me .

Slick soaked my panties and the pang of need from my heat pulsed through me. Kane kneaded my ass as I practically climbed him. I was ready to let him fuck me up against the side of the restaurant. Let the world hear I was Kane Shaw’s Omega.

Kane Shaw of the Manitoba Rampage. The middle of nowhere.

On my father’s team.

I shoved against Kane’s chest and broke away with an agonized gasp. “I can’t.”

“Kienna.” Fuck, his voice was like hot chocolate warming me from the inside-out.

“ This, ” I pointed back and forth between the two of us. Tears streamed down my cheeks. “This cannot happen.”

It didn’t matter that I felt like I was already claimed by him, by the whole pack. And yes, I included Casimir in it even though they were all acting like bitchy schoolgirls in their exclusion of him. Yet I didn’t know if Casimir wanted to be part of the pack. I didn’t really know anything about any of them.

I walked backwards away from Kane. This beautiful hunk of an Alpha. If only I’d met him somewhere else at another time.

He stepped toward me and I shook my head. “No. I’m going back to the hotel and you’re not going to follow me. We will never see each other again. I’m gone from Winnipeg tomorrow.” I inhaled a shaky breath. “You and I aren’t meant to be. You know it, and I know it.”

How I wanted that not to be true. Every step I took away from him was pure misery.

And every step looked like it was torturing him too.

Kane’s hands clenched and his chest rose and fell in rapid movements. He pressed his lips together as if fighting to keep his voice inside.

I worried for a second that he would come after me and throw me over his shoulder to take back to his pack house. Every Omega had heard stories of crazy Alphas unable to control themselves and stashing away an Omega and breeding her. If that one kiss was as potent for me as it was for Kane, he showed remarkable will power against his Alpha instincts.

That kind of strength made him even hotter. Fuck, did I have a kink for a man totally in control?

Images of Kane typing me up, spanking me, and fucking me senseless made me whimper. I spun and ran. He might be able to resist, but I doubted myself.

I tore down the street not caring where I was going. Putting distance between Kane and I was the most important thing. My lips still burned from his kiss. Even with my eyes open, I could still see his intense gray eyes.

I zigzagged around one block and then another before slowing down. Stopping under the awning of a shop, I fought to catch my breath and shuddered as a ball of pain radiated through me. My damn heat wasn’t making this any easier.

Calm yourself, Kienna. Get your shit together.

The hotel was on Broadway or something like that. It was the main strip. It couldn’t be that far away. A mile, maybe. That wasn’t far, and a walk would do me good. Maybe it would ease my heat pangs. It was a mild night too, if a little misty. Puffs of fog curled around buildings and meandered along the sidewalk.

“Breathe,” I instructed myself. “Everything will be fine. Just head to the busiest street.”

I could already hear the traffic from four or five blocks north of me, and that’s where I headed. My legs were shaky, but all my pent up energy forced them onward. There weren’t any people out on the street, but plenty of cars passed by. Most of them were going the same direction I was.

A few blocks up, another wave of aching need struck me. I stumbled off the sidewalk and into the mouth of an alley. I didn’t need anyone seeing me like this and stop to help or call an ambulance. There was no way I wanted to go to the hospital in heat and have them try to find an Alpha to help me. Some random nobody just to knot me. And then having to explain it all to my father. I’d rather die.

I wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but the pain eased enough that I could force myself to walk again. I considered calling a rideshare, but again, I might start crying from my heat and the driver would take me to the hospital. I wiped at my damp cheeks. Was I crying already?

“Walk.” Tears or no tears, that was all I could do. My will to resist Kane was poor, but I was incredibly stubborn. I would get to the Fort Garry Hotel. I would endure this and come out better than ever.

Deciding it would be faster to cut through the alley, I wrapped my arms around myself and focused my gaze on the light at the other end. My heartbeat echoed in my ears and muffled the sounds of the wind and traffic. The mist swirled thicker as I hurried along in the dark.

Almost to the light, I had to stop and crouch down. My heat throbbed through me. It wasn’t even at its height yet. Sure, I hadn’t had either Casimir or Maddox knot me. Maybe it would have been better if I let them, but I wasn’t going to just throw away my virginity because my heat was demanding an Alpha knot me.

I screamed into the night with more rage than pain. My heat would not defeat me. I was stronger than it.

Straightening, I grunted with the effort. I just needed to get back to the hotel. Take a cold shower and then a hot bath. Cold and hot, cold and hot. Shock this fucking Omega crap right out of my body.

All I took was one step forward and I was grabbed from behind. A gloved hand covered my mouth and the other arm locked my arms down around me. My screech was dampened as I was dragged back into the dark alley.

No! I kicked my legs, trying to fight my way free, but the guy had a firm hold.

He wasn’t as big as any of the guys in the pack, and was maybe only an inch taller than me, but he had strength in his wiry frame. The scent of gas pinched my nostrils, and I stopped breathing in case he was trying to chloroform me. This was no joke. I had to get away or I was going to be raped and murdered.

“It’s okay, sweet girl.” His raspy voice was eerily calm and carried a lilt as if he was talking to a child or animal. “I’ll make all the pain go away. Everything will be alright.”

What the fuck? Did he know I was in heat? He was touching me, and I didn’t sense he was an Alpha, certainly not one compatible with me. He could be trying to kidnap me and take me to an Alpha. Worse, sell me on the black market.

My stomach roiled and threatened to empty itself. I thrashed harder.

Tears poured down my face. I didn’t want to die. I certainly didn’t want to be an Omega enslaved.

My heel stomped down on his foot, and he cried out. His arms loosened, and I rammed my elbow into his gut.

I broke away and ran. Even with bile in my throat and my heat pulsating through me, I sprinted onto a lit street and kept going until I was on Broadway. Tons of vehicles and people filled the area. Yet I didn’t feel safe.

Not stopping, I wove between folks. If they looked at me with concern or annoyance, I didn’t know. I had to get away from the kidnapper. I couldn’t let him take me.

I flew as if the world were ending and I could outrun it. Lights past by me in a blur. My throat burned and my chest hurt. Someone had tried to kidnap me. Some creepy calm fucker who called me a sweet girl.

My leg muscles cramped as I saw the hotel ahead. Less than a block. I was almost there.

Yet it seemed so far.

I wanted Kane to hold me, Casimir’s gentle caresses, and Maddox’s purr to soothe me. With them, I felt cared for and protected. Here and now, I was alone. My father didn’t care and my friends were scattered across the country. No one would notice for a while if I went missing.

Winding my way to the side of the hotel, I stumbled across the parking lot. Almost inside. Almost to safety.

Something scraped along the ground and I jumped. My head whipped back and forth, but it was only a piece of trash blowing in the wind. I let out a weak and wet laugh.

Using my keycard, I opened the side entrance and hoped no one would see me as I took the stairs up. My hair was all over the place, my nose was snotty, and my pants were soaked with slick. They might kick me out thinking I was on drugs.

But someone had attacked me.

Logic dictated I should call the cops. The perpetrator would be easier to catch the sooner I had the police on the case.

I reached my floor and lurched into the hallway. Two doors down. “You can do it.”

My voice didn’t even sound like my own.

I peered back and forth down the corridor as I approached my door. No one lurked around the corners. There wasn’t a peep from anyone on the floor.

Scanning my card, I opened the door and dashed into the room. The lights turned on automatically, and I frantically scanned the main part of the suite. I was alone. Safe and alone.

I fell to the floor and let myself cry. Great heaving messy sobs.

I’d almost been an Omega statistic. Another Omega who vanished without a trace, and the only reason I was chosen as a victim was because I was an Omega.

The sooner I called the cops the better.

No. If I filed a report, they’d want me to stick around. My father would definitely lock me in the room. Even if I promised to go back west to stay with Callista and her tightly secure household, he’d never let me go.

Shit, shit, shit!

No one could know. I felt restricted enough being an Omega, I wasn’t going to add to that.

I was safe now in the suite. The bastard couldn’t get in here.

But I didn’t feel safe. That instinct to flee still pulsed through me along with the need to be knotted. Messy chaos raged through my body and heart.

Still crying, I pulled off my boots and threw my coat onto the nearest chair, and crawled to my bathroom. I clutched my abdomen as I switched on my shower and almost threw up as I started to take off my clothes.

I was all alone in Winnipeg writhing on the bathroom floor with my heat and there was no one to help me.

Fuck my life.