Page 5

four

. . .

Kane

T he townhouse is quiet. Too quiet.

I haven’t seen Jace or Finn in a few hours, leaving me to wonder what they’re up to. Whatever it is, it was likely Jace’s idea. He’s always been impulsive, and Finn often gets pulled along for the ride.

It’s just like them to wander off and get into trouble without me. I vaguely consider tracking them down to figure out what’s going on.

Jace’s fascination with this supposed ‘omega’ could get us all in trouble if she really isn’t one.

I make my way downstairs, ready to put a stop to their plans. Just as I reach the bottom step, they both walk in through the front door.

Their eyes are wild, their movements frantic. Something has excited them.

“Do I even want to know what you two have been up to?” I ask, folding my arms across my chest.

“We followed the female that Jace believes is an omega,” Finn begins, surprisingly the first to speak.

I growl, deep and low. Now, Jace has pulled Finn into his fantasies.

“No, wait. Hold on,” Finn continues. He pulls something from his back pocket. “We brought this.”

He holds out a pair of panties to me. What the fuck? Not exactly what I was expecting. I frown but reach out and take them.

“I still don’t—” I stop. That scent. I hold the panties up and inhale deeply.

The scent of honey, intoxicating and sweet, surrounds me. This isn’t the scent of a human. Jace was right. I bring the panties to my nose again, breathing her in. This scent is intoxicating and overwhelming.

The wolf within me demands that I make this omega mine.

How can she be without a pack? Where is her family? It feels impossible that an omega would be left alone like this to fend for herself.

She needs protection. She needs us .

“You were right,” I grudgingly admit. “This is the scent of an omega.”

“I love hearing that,” Jace grins while Finn chuckles.

“Stop gloating and get it together,” I bark at both of them. “How can it be possible that she’s without a pack? Surely someone is protecting her?”

“Worse. She has a measly human boyfriend who beats her, it seems. Shouts at her, makes her feel small so he can feel like a man,” Finn growls, speaking every word like they taste foul.

Jace nods, his eyes stony. “She seems very alone. I haven’t noticed any friends. She just works her shift, comes home, and tries to sleep through all the noise of her boyfriend yelling at the TV.”

“What the fuck?” I say, my stomach turning at the thought of her unable to sleep. And she’s alone. Alone . It physically hurts to imagine this omega being vulnerable with a male who dominates and berates her.

My blood boils at the thought.

“We need to intervene,” Jace says. “You’re not going to like this, but the boyfriend, some low-life named Justin, has already left a nasty bruise on her.

Who’s to say he won’t do worse next time?

We need to stop this before she gets truly hurt.

If we bring her into our pack, we can better protect her as our mate. ”

Sliding the silky material between my fingers, I consider the situation. On one hand, he’s right. This omega needs our protection. But on the other hand, I don’t want to anger any potential pack she might belong to.

We must do this the right way.

“I get your urgency, Jace. But we need to move more cautiously. I want to be sure that she isn’t mated to a pack. And I want to see her for myself.”

Finn and Jace exchange a look. They clearly aren’t happy with my tactics, but they’re willing to submit to me as the leader.

I just hope I can hold them back from making rash decisions and ruining this. This is entirely new territory for us.

“What’s her name?” I ask.

“Mia,” Jace replies proudly. “I saw her name badge. Her name is Mia.”

“Mia,” I murmur, feeling out the name. Her scent still surrounds me, and I can almost picture the beautiful omega it belongs to. “For now, I will observe her. I want to be sure before we make any kind of move.”

Jace nods. “We should move tonight.”

I let out a low growl. I don’t like it when Jace pushes boundaries. But at the same time, I know he’s right. “We will.”

We move swiftly through the night. Small snowflurries fall from above, but I hardly feel the cold as I race toward the omega’s home. Jace and Finn keep pace with me, their expressions intense and filled with fervor.

The sight of her apartment complex fills me with equal parts grief and rage.

Mia shouldn’t be living in a place like this, unprotected and alone. As my boot crunches down on broken glass, I shake my head in disgust.

“Her apartment is this way,” Jace says, his voice a low rumble. “First floor.”

I follow Jace and Finn to a window on the first floor. Making my way around the mangled shrubbery, I kneel beside the other two alphas.

The window looks into Mia’s bedroom. It’s dim, lit only by a small lamp, but my eyes adjust, and I can make out the omega.

“Oh, she’s awake now,” mutters Finn. “She was sleeping when we left.”

Mia is gorgeous. The way her chestnut hair glimmers in the stream of moonlight through the window is mesmerizing. The sway of her hips as she moves toward the bed captivates me.

I suddenly notice her boyfriend standing by the bed, his face set in a bored expression.

“He probably woke her up,” I growl.

His clothes are ratty and ill-fitting. He clearly takes no pride in his appearance. I don’t like the way his lecherous eyes follow Mia. He doesn’t deserve her. The bruise on her face hasn’t even faded yet.

“Look at her,” Jace says with a sigh. “Gorgeous. Those curves.”

“And that hair,” Finn adds, flexing his hand as though imagining how her locks would feel between his fingers.

Still, a simmering rage lies beneath our words. Watching Mia with another man is difficult, regardless. But with a guy like Justin? We are barely contained.

Justin backs Mia against the bed, pressing her down into the mattress. There’s no seduction, no romance for this beautiful female.

He just wants what he wants. The realization sickens me.

And yet, I can’t look away. I want to see Mia writhing in pleasure. I want to hear her soft little moans.

The two of them strip in silence, neither one seeming that interested in what they are about to do. It feels like a weird power move for Justin and an obligation for Mia.

“God,” I growl. “It’s like he doesn’t even care.”

Finn nods. “Human men are foolish. This one more than most.”

When the last article of Mia’s clothing falls to the floor, my breath hitches.

Her generous curves cut a gorgeous silhouette in the dark room.

Her full, round breasts are breathtaking, each ending in a pink nipple, hard and pebbled from the cold.

The way her hair falls down her back makes me imagine running my hands through it.

But instead, I am forced to watch her boyfriend put his disgusting hands all over her.

The boyfriend trails his tongue along her neck, almost as if he’s licking a damn stamp. He guides Mia down to the bed, still slobbering all over her, and I can’t help but notice that Mia looks uninterested. If she had a watch, I imagine she’d be checking it.

“That isn’t how she’d look if that were us pleasuring her,” Jace comments, as though he could read my thoughts.

As they ease into bed together, Justin reaches up and squeezes her breasts, but ‘manhandling’ is probably the better term. He pinches and squeezes like they’re toys for his pleasure .

“You know,” he says, loud enough for us to hear through the partially open window, “one good thing about you gaining all that weight is that at least your tits got bigger.”

I tense at the disparaging words. The way he casually says something so cruel and demeaning. When he should be on his knees, admiring her. Maybe someday I would force him to do just that before ripping him apart bone by bone.

Mia just laughs off the comment, and my heart aches. How many times has he said something equally demeaning, and she just accepted it?

“I’ll kill him,” Finn says coldly, his eyes flashing. He’s the most lethal of our pack, and I have to rein him in.

“Not yet, Finn. But you will get your moment, don’t worry. I want to kill him too.”

Justin moves his cock to Mia’s entrance with little preamble. I scoff at the lack of foreplay. It’s like he doesn’t care about Mia’s enjoyment at all.

“Just lying here like a freaking starfish,” Justin says snidely as he slides himself into Mia. “It’s like you don’t even care.”

My fists clench at my sides, and I can feel Jace and Finn tense beside me.

Mia lifts her hips to meet Justin, rocking against his scrawny frame. Justin dips down and kisses her breasts as he tries to match her rhythm. He doesn’t, and the result is an erratic humping that I’d expect from a teenager during his first time.

Justin’s face softens into one of pleasure. “Baby, make me feel good.”

I frown. Make him feel good? He treats this like it’s something Mia needs to do for him. Sex isn’t a performance meant to appease one person. It’s a connection, an experience shared by all parties. It’s bliss as bodies intertwine in passion.

Whatever this is, it’s difficult to watch.

When Justin is done flopping on top of Mia like a damn fish, he finishes on her chest. The liquid drips down Mia’s breasts and pools on her abdomen. The sight makes me want to tear through the window and stop this right now.

I take a deep breath. As much as I would like to do that, it isn’t the best way to approach this. I let out a deep growl and turn to Jace and Finn.

Anger glints in their eyes. They feel the same way I do.

“We’re accelerating the plan,” I tell them. My hot breath fogs in the cold night. “This needs to end now. I don’t believe she has a pack at all.”

Finn scoffs as he glares at the window. “His performance is lackluster at best. If I were him, I’d spend more time between those legs with my tongue. I’d trace every letter of my name on her clit, one at a time. I’m not coming unless she has already come at least twice.”

Jace nods. “I’d worship her like the queen omega she is, lavishing every part of her body with kisses and bites, marking her and making her mine. Only after she is squirming and screaming my name would I seek my own pleasure. And even then, she would enjoy it.”

“We’re all on the same page then,” I growl.

A sense of possessiveness has taken root in all of us. None of us will rest until this omega is safe with us.