Page 4 of Safe in His Arms

He glanced behind him and saw a large figure hidden in the shadow. He was farther back, too far for the one light above the door of the restaurant to get his features. Devon’s breath caught for a moment thinking Anton had found him until the man stepped out of the shadows.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” The large man asked.

Devon moved towards the door of the restaurant, but the man came up and blocked him.

“Now, now, it’s not nice to walk away when someone’s speaking to you, is it?” The big guy asked. Now that he was close enough, Devon got a whiff of him, and he smelled of cigarette smoke, alcohol, and sweat.

Not a combination his nose was loving at all.

“I just want to go inside. My boss is waiting for me.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t miss you if you took a moment to speak to me,” the man said, but even though his tone was pleasant, there was a predatory gleam in his eye that had Devon backing up.

“I don’t want any trouble,” Devon tried, but the fear in his voice was clear for anyone to hear.

“Well, that’s good to hear, cos neither do I, but it seems the gods are smiling down on me, sending such a delectable treat my way.”

Devon kept backing up. He swallowed, but his mouth was dry, and fear had his brain on lockdown. Memories of what could happen next swamped him, making him clumsy.

And if the look in the big man in the leather vest’s eyes was anything to go on, he liked that Devon was scared. It seemed to excite him.

“I just want to talk, see if we are compatible.” the big man licked his lips, and looked Devon up and down.

The smell of arousal hit Devon’s nose, and a shiver of dread filled him. No. Not again. Not here.

Even though the man before him was human, he was larger than Devon by far. At five-three, he wasn’t a big man, or even a big wolf. The curse of being an omega.

“My boyfriend doesn’t like when I talk to strangers,” Devon tried.

“I can tell you’re lying, but no matter, I’m not mad,” the big man said, his voice pleasant, but Devon had seen the anger flash in his eyes.

“I’m not lying,” Devon said again, but his voice came out shaky.

The man grabbed his dick, and leered, “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him now, will it? This will just be between us.”

“No,” Devon said, hoping like hell the man would listen, but knowing he probably wouldn’t. Devon knew if he could just get to the parking lot, away from the alley, he would be fine.

“Now, is that a nice thing to say to a new friend?”

Just then, Devon hit smack bang into the dumpster he’d used to block the alley. If he had to get out, he would have squeeze by the side of the trash, and that would mean putting his back to the man with the hungry eyes.

Devon realized the reason the man hadn’t been in a hurry to grab him was because he knew Devon was trapped. Bile rose in his throat threatening to choke him.

“I don’t want any trouble,” Devon pleaded, but the man wasn’t listening. He knew that even though the man before him wasn’t a wolf, Devon saw him as an alpha, and alphas didn’t understand the word no.

“Nowhere to run, it seems,” the man said, his voice had lost the pleasant edge.

Devon saw that the man was about to pounce, and he opened his mouth to scream, but before he could, his mouth and nose were covered with large meaty hands.

His brain screamed and fear overwhelmed every inch of him. Goddess, why did this keep happening to him?

Devon was the runt in his pack and he was no fighter. His heart was pounding wildly, his stomach twisted, and he was five seconds away from being sick. Devon knew it wasn’t just this situation that had him frozen like a statue, it was the memory of all the other times.

He wanted to shift, but Devon’s wolf didn’t do well under fear. The few times he’d tried it on Anton, the alpha had kicked the crap out of him so much that when he shifted back to human, his ribs were still cracked, even though the shift should have healed him mostly.

His wolf would be of no help. The fight in both him and his wolf was long gone.

Devon felt a hopeless tear trail down his cheek. The man before him was going to take what Devon wasn’t willing to give. Like always, he was trapped.