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three

. . .

Finn

“ I don’t know how you talked me into this,” I say, shoving my hands into my jacket pockets.

At Jace’s insistence, I agreed to follow him to the café. Now that we’re here, though, my doubts are creeping back in.

“Quit complaining, Finn. She’s working today,” Jace says, his eyes glinting with a fanatical obsession. “Once you see her, you’ll get it.”

It’s as if being closer to this woman is igniting a fervor within him.

“I don’t know, man. It’s hard to believe there’s an omega out here, in the middle of D.C.”

Or without a pack. It’s unusual and unsafe.

The thought stirs an instinctual protectiveness within me. No alpha would be okay with an omega out here on her own. Even if this all turns out to be a fluke and Jace is just infatuated with a human, I can’t shake the sadness and fierce anger rising in me at the thought of an omega alone.

“Let’s head inside,” Jace says, opening the café door. He lowers his voice. “She gets here around this time, so she’ll be here soon. ”

As we step into the café, the aroma of brewing coffee hits me in full force. I’m amazed that Jace can even notice a supposed scent amidst this onslaught of smells.

To avoid seeming suspicious, we each order a black coffee before claiming a table near the back. The hustle and bustle of the coffee shop clamor at my senses, and I tap my fingers on the table. This setting is uncomfortable at best.

There are too many variables and too many distractions.

“There she is,” Jace says, nodding toward a pretty, curvy brunette.

I catch her honey scent before I even see her.

As I take her in, moving from one table to another, I realize he’s right. She has a shy demeanor, never seeming to look a customer in the eye.

Shit . She’s an omega. Jace is correct without a doubt. My breath stops when I notice the purple bruising around her right eye.

It looks brutal and fresh. The idea that someone would strike her doesn’t sit well with me.

“What happened there?” I wonder aloud, struggling to control the urge to rut as her scent wafts by me again. Fuck , she smells so damn good.

Jace leans forward in his seat, intensity in his eyes as he gazes at her. “That bruise wasn’t there yesterday.”

At that moment, the girl walks by, carrying a tray of mugs. Her scent is much stronger now. My heart pounds and blood rushes in my ears as I turn to Jace. Her name tag says: Mia .

“You... you were right.” The words rasp out of my throat as I grip the table. A growl erupts from me, and my eyes flash. “This isn’t right. Are you sure she doesn’t have a pack?”

Before Jace can respond, the door to the café opens abruptly, sending a cold blast of air into the space.

The man who walks in puts me on edge immediately. He’s angry and seeking a confrontation. His blond hair is wild and messy, covering his bloodshot eyes.

His eyes scan the café before landing on the omega.

Every muscle in my body stiffens as I watch this newcomer prowl toward her. She hasn’t noticed his presence yet, taking an order from the couple at the table next to us. It catches her off guard when he stomps into her line of sight.

“We need to talk,” he rasps under his breath, as he pulls her aside. His hands wave animatedly as he whispers harshly.

It clicks, then. This asshole is the one who gave her that bruise.

At that moment, I want to leap from this table and tear him to shreds. I want to hear his howls of pain as I rip into him. I want to feel his blood on me, warm and sticky. For the crime of laying a finger on our omega because she will be ours, and I would tear his damn throat out.

But now is not the time or place. I don’t want to scare her.

“I can’t believe she would waste her time with such a lowlife,” I say, my voice practically a growl.

“I agree with you, Finn,” says Jace, and I can feel his rage radiating off him in waves. Like me, he is trying to hold back because no one hurts what is ours.

“Please sit down or leave,” Mia’s manager says, wearing a white apron. “I mean it, Justin.”

Mia looks down at the floor in shame, and my blood boils. It wasn’t enough for him to damage her face; this jackass had to humiliate her in her place of work.

After her boyfriend orders a drink and sits down at the table nearest the counter, Mia rushes away, probably to the employee break room.

My eyes narrow at Justin as he smugly takes a sip of his coffee. If it were up to me, he’d be outside on his ass or lying in a pool of his own blood.

“We have to do something about this. She is an omega, alone, and this lowlife is hurting her. It’s unacceptable,” I say.

Jace leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “Kane won’t like it. He barely believed me. Even with your support, he’ll be hard to convince.”

The whole situation seems hard to believe, even to me. The likelihood of a beautiful omega being alone and vulnerable in the middle of D.C.? Practically impossible. And yet, somehow, I’m staring at that reality right now.

“You’re right. It won’t be easy at all,” I concede.

“Maybe...” Jace trails off.

I narrow my eyes in his direction. “I know that look on your face. It usually means trouble.”

Jace laughs at that.

“Fair, but I think it’s necessary in this case. We need to convince Kane to help Mia and get her away from this Justin person,” he says slowly.

“Fine,” I reply with a sigh. “What’s your idea?”

Jace’s eyes follow Mia as she exits the break room with puffy eyes and sagging shoulders. “We need to have some kind of proof of her scent if we are going to convince Kane, right?”

“Right...” I say with growing wariness.

“So, I say we follow her back to her apartment and find something that has her scent on it,” he continues.

“Are you insane?” I ask, feeling a rush of adrenaline at the thought as her scent wafts by us again. Part of me thinks he’s joking, but another part, clawing to the surface, wants to see where Mia lives. It wants to watch her wind down from the day.

I can envision her stripping her clothes one item at a time on her way to the shower, the steam filling the bathroom.

She would let out a moan of pleasure as the hot water hit her skin, melting away all her tension.

As the water runs down her curves, she would remember the two handsome males sitting in the back of the coffee shop.

Her hands would wander down, drawing small, deliberate circles around her clit, her pussy aching for release. Another moan would leave her, but this one more excited, more primal.

“Finn? You in or not?” Jace’s voice breaks me out of the fantasy.

I lick my lips, my throat suddenly dry. “Yes, fuck it. I’m in.”

His victorious smile is mildly annoying, but she consumes my thoughts. I’m just as obsessed as he is right now. Omegas are a rare wolf type, and I can’t believe we found one unmated.

She needs to be claimed as soon as possible.

As I watch her dreamily, she glances in our direction, and I grin, holding eye contact for a moment until she bashfully looks away, her face pink.

“I don’t want to leave,” Jace says dreamily as he watches her, too.

“Then let’s stay until her shift ends,” I reply, feeling cozy in this little building surrounded by her scent. I could stay here for hours, making sure she’s safe. As I get up for more coffee, I pass by her boyfriend’s table and deliberately hit him across the head with my elbow.

“Hey!” Justin shouts, looking up in anger.

I glare at him, daring him to try something. I’d like nothing more than to rip him limb from limb, but he jumps slightly in his chair, backing down immediately.

Coward .

I wouldn’t expect anything else from someone who beats a female.

“Think I don’t notice her black eye?” I growl, and Justin gets up from his chair, leaving his unfinished coffee.

For the next few hours, we hang around the café, leaving occasionally so she doesn’t suspect us.

Jace doodles in a notebook he found in the car while I read the news on my phone, but neither of us is truly focusing on our tasks.

We’re watching Mia, keeping tabs on her as she finishes her shift.

“I’m clocking out now,” Mia calls to her co-workers.

I sit up a little straighter in my chair, but keep my eyes on my phone. We have to do this right, or we risk spooking her. I glance at Jace from across the table, and he nods.

Before Mia has a chance to leave, we gather our jackets and head toward the exit.

Night is closing in, and lampposts cast long shadows on the ground. We step into them and disappear, waiting for Mia to exit the building.

After about ten minutes, Mia leaves the cafe, winding a scarf around her neck. Her cute button nose instantly turns pink in the cold, and I watch as she takes a deep breath, as if the weight of the world is on her shoulders.

It’s in the way she walks and holds herself. More than anything, I want to carry some of that weight for her.

Jace nods at me, and we begin following her from a distance. It’s easy enough to track Mia; she seems tired and distracted. It worries me how easily someone with less honorable motives could track her down at night.

“It’s a bit of a walk, isn’t it?” Jace says, and I nod. Each step brings us closer to her scent, which I love. I breathe in her fragrance more deeply the longer we follow her.

Eventually, we arrive at what I assume is Mia’s apartment complex.

My nose wrinkles at the sight. The place looks like a dump.

The building is poorly constructed, with paint peeling off the sides.

Random trash and broken bottles are scattered across the parking lot, and half of the street lamps are damaged.

It’s a disgrace, and I hate that Mia lives here.

“She shouldn’t be living here,” I growl.

“Exactly. She needs to be with us as soon as possible.”

Carefully, we follow her to her door, making sure our footsteps are quiet in the hushed night. I watch as she presses a code into the main building’s door: 1-6-4-3. Easy enough to remember.

After she slips inside, I punch in the same code and follow her into the building. The place is just as dingy on the inside.

The carpet is a faded blue and smells of cigar smoke. The wallpaper is yellowed and peeling.

She’s almost at the door now, so Jace and I quicken our pace slightly, keeping to the shadows. I catch a glimpse of her apartment number: 113b.

Now, all we have to do is wait. There’s no sense in walking in there now and startling her. I want to see what’s inside that apartment first. I want to see where she lives and where she sleeps. I want to understand her.

I want to mark her.

The thought hits me with intensity, and I clench my fist. To think that she is involved with this Justin asshole when I would worship every inch of her curvy body, every corner of her soul. Mia would never want for anything with me. Her every desire would be taken care of.

“What do you want to bet she doesn’t lock the front door?” Jace asks, interrupting my thoughts.

A few hours later, we decide we’ve waited long enough. It’s three a.m., and she should be asleep by now. It isn’t hard to break into the apartment, and we sneak in through the front door.

“Fuck you, dude! I won that!” Justin shouts, staring at the TV screen.

Jace and I freeze in our tracks, blending into the shadows along the wall.

Justin is so immersed in playing a video game that he hasn’t noticed us.

Absolutely useless. What if we meant Mia harm?

Not to mention, he’s shouting at the television while Mia is likely trying to sleep in the other room.

My dislike for him grows as I slip through the living room unnoticed, reaching for the doorknob to the bedroom.

We slip inside while Justin is still distracted by the game on the TV screen.

Taking in Mia’s bedroom, my heart sinks. The room is small and inadequate, barely keeping out the cold of the night. The bed consists of a mattress on a box spring with no frame.

Mia huddles under a thin blanket, tossing and turning as if her worries have followed her into sleep. She looks so unhappy and uncomfortable.

Living here with Justin is taking a toll on her.

For a moment, we watch her trying to sleep. She sniffs the air, and I realize our alpha scents are mingling with hers, permeating the room.

A few minutes pass, and she settles down, her breathing becoming deeper and more even. It’s almost as if she can sense that she's being protected tonight, allowing her to rest more easily.

I glance at Jace, and I can tell he is already completely smitten with this omega. The way he watches her is different from how he usually looks at females. Tonight, there’s a softness to his expression. He wants her.

But he also wants to protect her .

And so do I.

I leave Jace to watch her while I take in the small, barren room. There isn’t much here, and what is here is scattered on the floor. Her life seems disorganized and uncomfortable.

Then I noticed her panties lying on the floor.

They’re pink with little bows on the side—cute and unassuming, just like Mia.

My throat goes dry, and my heartbeat quickens. I snatch them up, feeling the silky material against my skin as my arousal builds.

I don’t think. I unbutton my pants and free myself. Bringing the panties to my face with one hand, I inhale deeply while stroking myself with the other. God, her scent is intoxicating.

The smell of her musky, sweet aroma fills my senses as I pump my eager cock, desperate for release after spending hours with her in a little café.

Keeping my eyes on her pretty breasts spilling out of her tank top, I lose myself in the moment.

I want nothing more than to be inside her, to feel her clench around me as she orgasms, screaming my name.

I want to knot her, to keep her with me, feeling her warmth as I breathe heavily against her neck, knowing she’s mine.

Meanwhile, Jace kneels in the dark, clearly enraptured by the omega’s beauty. His gaze lingers on her full lips as he leans forward, gently brushing his lips against hers.

The sight is overwhelming.

I come hard, barely managing to avoid releasing on Mia’s face. Instead, I let loose on the other side of the bed, where I assume Justin lies. The bastard.

I want it to be me lying next to her each night. Not just as a lover but as her mate. Her alpha husband.

Jace removes his shirt as he steps away from Mia. Without a word, he tucks it under her side of the bed. He doesn’t need to explain his actions; he’s marking his territory, getting her accustomed to our scents.

Because Mia would be ours.