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I spotted her first, but even as I started to point her out to Tiergan, he was slamming on the brakes and pulling over behind her car. There wasn’t a single person in the province with pink hair like that. I never questioned who it was even from a glimpse in the headlights.

The new owner’s daughter. The most incredibly gorgeous female on the planet.

And she needed rescuing.

We would have stopped to help anyone on the side of the road with a flat, but every Alpha instinct had me flying out of the door even before the SUV stopped. Maddox was only a few steps behind me, but my attention was fully on the Omega who dove into her car.

The poor girl. Stranded in the middle of Manitoba… Alone. Why the hell didn’t she have a chaperon? I furrowed my brows and stared at her through the back window as we walked to the car. Her eyes were wide and her face pale, and she gripped some canister in her hands. Fuck, she was terrified.

My heart pounded, demanding I make the world right for her. I held up my hand to the guys. “Hold on. We don’t want to scare her any more than she already is.”

“That’s Birk’s daughter, isn’t it?” Ewan rounded the car to the rear passenger door. “Holy shit, it is.” He grinned and knocked on the glass. “Hey girl, want to party? Come on out!”

A growl rose in my throat as the Omega inched back further, hands shaking. Maddox grabbed the back of Ewan’s jacket and yanked him away with a vicious snarl. For a second, I thought Maddox might slam the Beta into the ground. “Stop that.”

“What the fuck, man? I’m just being friendly.” Ewan jerked himself free.

“She’s scared and you’re not helping.” Alderic remained a few feet away from the car and folded his arms. “If you were a lone female in a strange place, and five guys all converged on you at the same time, you’d be frightened too. Let’s give her some space and show her we’re only here to help.”

Thank God one of the cousins had some sense. I crouched down to examine the very flat tire. She must have ran over a nail or tore it on some hunk of metal on the highway. We could change her tire in a few minutes with no problem, but the bigger question was why she was out here alone. Mr. Birk seemed like a good guy. Not one that would let his Omega daughter go somewhere alone. She’d left in a huff before our meeting. Maybe they had an argument?

“Hi, Miss Birk.” Tiergan raised his hand with a small wave. “Don’t be scared. Let us help you. I’m Tiergan Hall, one of the goalies from the Manitoba Rampage. We’re all from the team.”

She scowled at him and pointed the canister in his direction. “I’m fine. I’ve already called the cops. Go away.”

Even frightened, she had steel, and it was so fucking hot. There was no way we were just going to leave her by the side of the road even if help was coming. “That’s good, but we’re going to wait until they get here to make sure you’re safe. My name’s Kane Shaw. That’s Alderic Fournier, Ewan Cyr, and Maddox Moreau. If you want to look us up on your cell to confirm our identities, go ahead.”

Something flashed through her eyes, maybe panic, but she quickly schooled her expression, still not budging from between the seats. She worried her lower lip, and hell, I couldn’t take my eyes off her mouth. Images of her rosy supple lips wrapped around my hard cock flashed through my head, and I was thankful I had my coat on to cover my groin.

“Yeah, girl. Thousands of females follow my Facebook fan page. I’m totally the hottest guy on the team.” Ewan winked at her and ducked as Maddox swiped at him.

Birk’s daughter didn’t take out her cell as I suggested. In fact, she glanced at the ignition as if she was thinking about starting the car and taking off even with the flat.

“It doesn’t matter who we are, guys. Let’s stand back by the SUV.” Alderic motioned for us to come away from the Omega’s vehicle. My feet refused to move, though. I wasn’t leaving her until I knew she was safe.

“It does matter. We’re celebrities.” Ewan snorted and leaned against the side of the car.

“What matters is that we’re here to help.” Tiergan snapped at him, and then tamed his tone to smile at the girl. “Miss Birk, I can change the tire for you. If you would pop open the trunk, I can have it done in no time.”

“I’ll help.” Maddox immediately offered, still firmly standing beside the passenger door.

“I don’t need you to do anything,” the Omega shot back and sat straighter, glaring at us. “Get back in your car and go away.”

She was good at hiding her fear. While she looked totally pissed now, she still hadn’t opened the doors. She also hadn’t dialed 911 again. If I was a scared female, I would be on my cell to get the police there faster. “Sorry, Miss Birk. We’re not going anywhere. We can fix your tire, though.”

“I don’t need you to change my tire!” She shouted and muttered something under her breath. A fire bright as her hair had lit up in her eyes. It was sexy as fuck.

“It’s not like you can do it. Just let us handle it.” Ewan shrugged and wandered to the trunk, patting it as he waited for her to open it.

The anger in her eyes flared even more. “You know nothing about me. Now fuck off!”

“Oooh, betcha she’s a hellcat in bed.” Ewan laughed, and something in me snapped. Rage surged through me. I spun and grabbed him by the throat, pushing him back against the SUV.

“Shut the fuck up and stay here.” I was the goddamn fucking pack leader, and he would do as I ordered. Ewan said nothing, but rubbed his neck once I let him go. Alderic was already back beside our vehicle, staring at me warily.

I turned back to Maddox and Tiergan. My fury was chomping at the bit, eager for a fight. “You two. Back here now.”

They hesitated, warring with something in themselves. Alphas, both of them, but they had chosen me to lead, and I was taking control of this whole fucking situation. The Omega was scared and in trouble, and I was going to make things right.

Tiergan looked physically pained as he was the first to walk away and come back to the SUV. Maddox bared his teeth, but he followed a half minute later.

“Everyone stay here. Don’t fucking move.”

With one last stern look at my pack, I marched back toward the Omega’s car. I willed my anger to melt from my expression and focused on what I could do to put her at ease. She might want us gone, but there was no way I was leaving her on the side of the highway alone.

A car drove by lighting me up briefly as I stood beside the passenger side door and the wind whipped at me. She eyed me warily. When the guys got anxious about a game, I talked to them about other stuff to get their minds off that and onto something less stressful.

“Yeah, so we met your dad tonight. He seems like a nice guy and will do a lot of good for the team. Even more so because he played himself. He gets what it’s like to be a player.” Her father did make a good first impression. He was enthusiastic and had a lot of plans for us. More so, he wanted to include us in what happens in the future for the team. While this would be my last year, and the last year for the rest of the first line as we moved up to the NHL, we still wanted a say in the future of the Rampage because the team meant so much to us.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “If he’s such a nice guy, why don’t you drive back to the city and hang out with him then?”

Was she rolling her eyes at me because she thought I was simping over her father or was there something going on between them? “If you come with us, we can all hang out.”

Her chin trembled just a bit, but she locked her jaw and looked away down the road. “The police will be here any minute. You made sure the owner’s daughter is safe. You can go now.”

Something definitely was wrong. I wanted to gather her to me, hold her, make it all right. The weight of my pack’s eyes were upon me. They needed me to do something. I needed to do something. And if she was going to be stubborn about it, I was going to call her out on it. “Look, I know the cops aren’t coming. You don’t have your cell. And if you had a spare, you’d have fixed the tire already. So stop pretending and let us help you.” She turned back to face me, eyes so wide, so vulnerable. It made me even more desperate to make things right. “I know you’re scared, but we aren’t going to hurt you, Miss Birk. You have my word.”

She stared at me, studying my face, but I was sincere. Finally she lowered her head to her knees and cursed under her breath. She then turned to look at me, and while the canister was still in her hand, it was lowered. “Okay, fine. Just get me to the closest place where I can rent a car. And call me Kienna. I hate being called Miss Birk.”

Kienna. Gorgeous name for a gorgeous Omega. I grinned and reached to be ready to open the car door for her.

She shooed me back. “Stand back and give me some room. I don’t need to be treated as if I’ll break. Kane, right?” I nodded, loving the sound of my name on her lips. “Get all your buddies back into your SUV. I want the front passenger seat and a phone.”

Smart and demanding. I didn’t know why that made me want to protect her all the more. I yelled back at the pack to get into the SUV and stepped to the rear of Kienna’s car. She swiftly gathered her purse and bag of snacks before exiting her car. The wind tossed her hair and blew her sweet scent right to me. Shit. So good. I wanted to wrap myself up in smell and wrap myself around her.

I stepped forward, needing to be closer to her. “Let me help carry—”

“No.” Kienna held up a hand. “You go back to the SUV and get in the back, shut the door, and do up your seatbelt.” She glanced back at her car again. “Fuck, this is a bad idea.”

“No!” I wasn’t going to have her change her mind. She had to come with me, with us. “You’ll be okay. The only car rental place is in Winnipeg near the airport, and it won’t be open until the morning, but we can see you safely to a hotel…”

Her face fell with every word I said and tears shimmered in the corners of her eyes. Dammit. I didn’t want to make her cry. Every instinct in me roared to destroy the world to protect her, but I didn’t know what the threat was.

“I can’t go back to Winnipeg,” she whispered, her voice trembling.

In three big steps, I was there. I wrapped my arms around her and pressed her against my chest. I couldn’t stand to see her upset.

It was like I was hit by a puck flying at a million miles an hour. I literally had to brace myself with how hard it was. My nose touched the top of her hair, soft and comforting. Kienna smelled of spring, like a hint of rain on strawberries warmed by the sun. She was new life… No, she was the need to create new life. Light, musky, and alluring. Shit, I was getting hard fast.

Her body trembled, and I barely caught a small breathy moan from her. It vibrated through my body right to my balls.

Mine .

I’d only ever met Omegas who had been claimed. Not once in my life had I ever had this reaction touching a female. There had been a few Beta girlfriends, but there had always been something missing. Now with Kienna, a woman I had just met and knew nothing about, I realized what that was.

I hugged her tighter to me.

It infuriated and terrified me to realize I was going to have to let her go. Not just because we had to get into the SUV, but because she was the new owner’s daughter. I couldn’t have her, because then I’d have no career, and without hockey, I was nothing.