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She steps away from me and the only reason I let her go is to pull on the clothing Ethan is offering me. “I’m not telling you that.”
“Ehhh,” I make the sound of a game show buzzer. “Wrong answer, vixen. Try again.”
She scowls and folds her arms over her chest. “Don’t call me that either.” I tilt my head and run my eyes over her, prodding at our connection, but she has it locked down tight. I could probably force it, but I’ll let her keep her distance for now. After all, this is a big change, and most omegas don’t handle that well. They need stability and security. It’s half of the reason we don’t already have an omega for our pack.
Although I’m not a fan of the word, we are criminals, just like she said. We’re just very good at hiding all of our illegal activity behind legitimate businesses. Still, everyone knows that most of our money isn’t earned on the up and up. Maddox, our prime alpha, is working on changing that, disassembling what his grandfather built and his father enhanced. We’re going total law abiding pack, but it’s taking a hell of a lot more time than he thought it would.
Right now, our pack life isn’t conducive to a stable, secure environment for an omega. But I literally could not resist this woman in front of me with her silky light brown hair, red lips and scent of cherry pie a la mode that scrambled my brain and confirmed that she is mine. I had to have her, and she was begging so pretty for my bite.
Maddox is going to eviscerate me for this. But it’ll be worth it to watch him fall in love with her. And I have no doubt that he will. Hard and fast, though he’ll deny it, fight it. It will be impossible for him not to, she’s our scent match.
“Sadie,” Ethan says, his tone much more gentle than I would have used. “Tell us where you live so we can go get your things.” He arches his brows. “Unless you want to leave all your stuff? We can get you anything you’ll need.”
Sadie drops her arms and glares at him. “I’m not leaving my stuff, and I’m not telling you where I live. I’m not sure what you think is happening here, but I’m not moving in with your criminal pack. That’s just… I’m not- I’m not an omega. I’m not.”
I frown at the distress in her voice, stepping into her again to cup her cheek. Her soft skin feels like heaven against my rough fingers. I have to fight the urge to press my lips against it, taste her all over. “Repeating that doesn’t make it true, vixen. You are an omega. Our omega. And you will move into our pack house. With us. It’s where you belong.” I press my finger just outside of my claiming bite and she sighs, eyes going languid with heat.
“I don’t know much about omegas,” Ethan says, eyes on the cell phone in his hand. “But I know that omegas that present later often have a hell of a heat within a month. You’ll want to be settled with us before then, right? You’ll want to know the alphas that will see you through it.”
“Heat,” Sadie whispers, all the color draining from her face. “No.” She shakes her head. “No! I’m not having a fucking heat! I’m not an omega. How many times do I have to tell you? I’m a beta. Just because you realize your mistake after you bit me,” she glares at me and it’s so fucking adorable. “I’m sorry if you thought I was an omega, but you bit a beta. Another beta.”
She’s spiraling again, panicking. I’m not sure how long she’s going to do this for, but I’m losing patience. She’s ours. She needs to accept it.
“Sadie,” I say, her name bordering on a bark and her mouth snaps closed, her shoulders curling down as she tries to make herself as small as possible.
Fuck. Fuck. I didn’t mean to do that.
Ethan tsks and moves to her side, curling his arm around her shoulders to tug her against his chest while he glares at me. “Don’t bark at her, asshole.”
“I didn’t-” I protest, but he cuts me off.
“She’s not one of the men under your command. I know you love asserting your dominance, Luca, but you can’t do that with her. Not unless she asks you to.” His hand sweeps up and down Sadie’s arm.
She keeps her face pointed toward the floor, and I watch in horror as a tear drips off her chin to plop on the toe of her tiny black sock. The sight of that, of her standing there with one shoe on and one shoe off, crying makes my alpha desperate to make things right.
I did that. I made my omega cry. Fix it. Fix it.
Ethan leans his chin on the top of her head and murmurs something I can’t make out. Whatever it is, seems to help her. She’s still crying, but she’s leaning into him, letting him soothe her instead of keeping her distance.
I look around and spot her other shoe halfway under the bed. Without thinking, I drop to my knees and crawl over to grab it for her, before crawling back, until I’m kneeling in front of her, a supplicant at her feet.
She looks down at me with surprise in her eyes. “What-”
I hold up the boot. “If you’ll allow me?”
Her teeth sink into her lower lip as she considers. I could kick myself for making her feel so uncertain of me. Jesus, she’s not even sure she trusts me to help her into her shoe. But then she swipes at the moisture on her cheeks and nods.
I blow out a breath as I circle my hand around her slim ankle. She feels so… breakable, small. A sudden hit of fear has my stomach clenching. God, anything could happen to her. Anyone could take her from us, from me.
“Luca?” she murmurs. It’s the first time she’s said my name, and it’s fucking perfect. Soft and gentle, with a hint of concern. Her fingers push into my hair, stroking the strands back from my forehead. I wonder if she even realizes what she’s doing, an omega comforting her alpha.
I lift her foot and I know she expects me to only lift as high as I need to slip her boot on, but I keep lifting, bending my head to press a kiss to the top of her foot.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur against her sock. “I’m so fucking sorry. I won’t talk to you like that ever again, I promise.” Lifting my head, I meet her eyes and carefully slide the boot onto her foot before setting it down. “But you have to understand, Sadie. Beta or omega, you’re mine now.”
“Ours,” Ethan corrects, snuggling her closer.
“Ours,” I repeat. “The bond wouldn’t have snapped into place that strong if we didn’t both want it, vixen. If this wasn’t meant to be. You know that.” I press my forehead into her stomach, sliding my arms around her hips. Her fingers slide to the back of my head, holding me against her, and fuck if it doesn’t feel like home. “You’re coming home with us, Sadie.” I keep my voice soft, no hint of a command in it. “You’re meeting the rest of your pack. You’re going to let us take care of you, okay?”
