Page 5 of The Brooding Alpha’s Mate (Omegas of the Shifter Mafia #9)

Colson

“Sir, can you tell us your name?” The ringing in my ears meant I could barely make out what the paramedic was saying. Maybe he was a firefighter? With all the lights and my blurry vision, I couldn’t really tell.

“My name?” I asked. My voice sounded like I was speaking from another part of the globe.

“Yes. What’s your name?”

“Oh. Colson. My name is Colson.”

Someone stood behind the person trying to help me, but where he stood meant he was shrouded in shadow.

I closed my eyes and tried to get my head on straight. What even happened. One minute, Dean was grabbing me, screaming in my face about trying to get away from him. Trying to run from him, which I was.

In his rage, he knocked over something. I didn’t even know what it was. I heard the trickling of a liquid. The smells hit my wolf and he warned me to get away, by any means possible. Get away. Poison. Danger.

He may have even shifted, or I was hallucinating. I didn’t even know. But in any case, he wasn’t here and that was something.

“Colson, we’re going to cut your shirt off to see all your injuries, okay?”

I nodded and glanced over at Dean. He squinted at me and put his finger over his lips. Yeah, he wanted me to say nothing about being a slave and held in captivity by him and his pride.

“That’s fine. Thank you.”

They cut my polo off. Dean winced like it was something expensive. More expensive than my injuries or my life. As I looked over at my shoulder, more of the memories of what just happened came flooding back.

Dean digging his claws into my shoulder.

The ear-splitting growl. Roar? Some animal noise.

While the man assessed me, I leaned to the side, looking again to the man who stood right behind him. Hands on his hips. His brow furrowed.

Someone got me out of there.

I remembered hands on my waist. Not Dean’s. Hands that were strong and yet gentle.

It was him. The one standing behind the paramedic.

He’d saved me.

I was sure of it. But now, looking at him, I couldn’t even scent him anymore. The amber and oak were long gone and replaced by noxious chemicals, so strong they burned my eyes even now.

Was this him?

Had my alpha rushed in to rescue me from Dean or from the chemicals.

Didn’t matter. Either way, I was grateful.

But I hoped it was him.

“Who is that?” I asked the paramedic who applied something that stung my wounds and added to my lightheadedness.

“He dragged you out of there. You and the other one.”

“Shame,” I murmured, assuming he met Dean.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing.” Damn it. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Sooner than later, if the man wasn’t my alpha, then I would have to alert this paramedic that Dean was holding me hostage—keeping me prisoner.

I had to tell someone.

I’d be damned if I was going to be traded like chips on a poker table—like cash money. I had worth beyond what I’d been sold for or what I could do for other people.

I had an alpha out there. Before all of this happened, for a split second, I’d scented him. Clear as day.

“How is your head feeling?” he asked. “Colson?” The paramedic put his hand on my forearm. A growl came from behind him. The paramedic chuckled.

What was he laughing at? Me?

“Yes. I’m dizzy. I can’t…everything is fuzzy.”

“Do you want to go to the hospital or…” The person looked over his shoulder at the man who hadn’t stopped staring at me since I got my senses—well, most of them.

“I hate hospitals. But I can’t…not with the lion.” I moved to make sure the man knew I was talking to him. My nose picked up a new scent. A bear. The man that saved me was a bear. “Can you take me somewhere else? Please?”

The man stalked over and before I could say anything else, wrapped me up in his embrace.

His scent overwhelmed me. The oak and amber were back, flooding my system.

What had been a bit of dizziness now enveloped me.

My shoulder hurt. My body felt limp in his embrace.

The edges of my vision blurred before darkness took me.

At least, if I was going to die, it would be in my alpha’s arms.

My bear alpha’s arms.

I rolled over and my shoulder burned. Shit. Another day of serving the lions. Perfect.

Wait a damned minute.

“Good morning,” a bass voice said. My wolf woke up inside me and howled.

Opening my eyes, I looked around. I was in a room with white ceilings. I lay on a double bed with soft, comfortable blankets and I was naked except for my boxer briefs.

“Where am I?” I asked, trying and failing to sit up.

“Here. Let me help you.” Rough hands grabbed me on either side of my waist and gently, slowly, I was moved to sit up in the bed.

The alpha leaned down and then sat next to me.

Goddess, he was the most handsome man I’d ever met.

Dark-brown hair, even darker eyes. And enough tattoos to single-handedly fund a tattoo parlor for a year.

I pulled the comforter over my groin to hide my hard-on. It was morning and there was a beautiful man in front of me. Sue me.

“Thank you. Who are you?”

He chuckled low, making the bed move with his laughter. “My name is Alex. I helped you out of your situation.”

“You saved me.” Alex was modest, but I wanted to clearly define what he’d done. Not only had he rushed me away from the fumes and chemicals, but he’d freed me from my prison. I bet he didn’t realize the depth of what he’d done.

He’d changed my life forever.

“Yes. How could I not?” We shared a gaze. My skin broke out with goose bumps at his perusal. I wanted to be under his gaze always.

“Thank you.”

“Your name is Colson.”

I nodded. “It is.”

“How about some breakfast, Colson, and then we can talk?”

“That would be great. I’m starving.”

He grunted. “Yeah. And for a while, judging by your scent and your ribs sticking through your skin.”

“Oh.” I pulled the comforter up toward my chest. “Yes. Sorry.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. I’ll be right back. You’re safe here, by the way. No one will harm you. Two minutes.”

Two minutes dragged on like an hour but soon, Alex came back with a tray filled to the brim with every food imaginable. I dug in like I hadn’t eaten in years.

“Who was he?” Alex asked after I’d demolished most of the food.

“Who was who?”

“The man who was hurting you. The alpha claiming you belonged to him.”

“The lion?” I asked. The bear was angry. At me? Maybe. I didn’t know him well enough yet, but I knew enough. He was my mate. That much I was absolutely sure of.

“Yes. The feline. He said you belonged to him. What is his name?”

“Dean.”

“Dean,” he grumped. “Dean is a liar.”

I let out a laugh. “I agree, but what did he lie about this time?”

Alex sat back down on the bed and took my hands in his. His fingers and palms were rough, but his touch was safe and warm. “The feline lied about you being his. You don’t belong to him. You are not his omega. You don’t smell of him.”

“No. He meant another way, but how do you know I’m not his omega?”

“Because that’s impossible. You’re mine. My fated mate. The one I’ve waited my entire life for. You can’t be his because you’re mine.”

Oh. At least we were on the same page.

Except his probably ended in a happily ever after, while mine? I wanted to get out of here before Dean tracked me down and hurt Alex. I might not be able to be his forever, but I wanted no harm to ever come to him. He was kind and gentle and he saved me.

I’d die before I saw him hurt.

“I scented you in the store…before he hurt me. Before the chemicals.”

“I scented you as well. I almost killed Dean for what he did to you.”

“I might’ve liked to have seen that.”