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“Just wandered right in, what a cutie, right?” His words were simple, but Ben’s tone was now threatening. The rest of the alphas surrounded me, one of them grabbing a lock of my hair, another sniffing at my neck. I smelled them now, their musky diesel and burnt rubber scents making my nose itch.
“Hey guys, I’m not interested in hooking up tonight, alright?” I tried to back away, but one of them spoke to me in that voice that made me feel on high alert.
“Stop.You’re not going anywhere.” The command made my body do strange things - I wanted to leave but felt compelled to follow his orders. Great - he had just used his Alpha bark on me. Now their hands were running along my arms and my neck, and going lower.
“Don’t pretend you don’t want this. Any unmated beta would love the attention of a pack of alphas. You just so happen to get lucky tonight.” They toyed with me, and I fought my own willpower to get away from them. But their dominance over me was also doing something strange - I was starting to feel a warmth in my stomach, a throbbing of need.No. Not them!I mentally waged a war against my body’s need to call out for them. I had the sickening realization that it had been a while since my last suppressant pill. The doctor had warned me that even if I didn’t desire an alpha, my body might prepare for them if my heat started. Foolishly, I hadn't realized how much trouble I had put myself in. As they crowded me, touched me, and displayed their alpha dominance, it was pushing the omega in me to react. Suddenly one of them stilled.
“Do you smell that?” His voice had become husky, and he got closer to me, running his nose along my neck again. His pupils were blown out as a look of dazed desire took over his face. “She smells like - she smells -” Another one of them leaned in and took a deep breath.
“It can’t be - you’re not an omega, are you? You look beta!” Their eyes were wild now, and I knew two things for sure. If I didn’t get out of here as fast as possible, my body would do something unpredictable that I definitely didn’t want, and that these men were incredibly bad news. Pulling with all my might, I willed my brain to block out their scent, the feeling of them touching me, and the increasing need in my body.
Run. Run.I chanted to myself, crouching slightly before lunging under their arms and into the crowd. Thankfully I was small enough to easily get through the tightly packed room, but I heard shouting behind me. The alphas were barreling through people in a frenzy trying to get to me. I caught a glimpse of them - they were nearly feral with need. I suddenly understood why omegas weren’t supposed to be out close to their heat. This pack was acting like animals.
I reached the wall of the bar and saw a back exit, running toward it while I reached for my phone. I pushed through the door and found myself in a back alley. Luckily, I had enough foresight to bring the descenting spray in my purse and quickly doused myself in it as I crept along the brick wall, peering around the corner. The line to get into the bar was still long, and I turned to run the opposite way and hide. Once I was behind the next building, I quickly pulled up an Omega rideshare app and ordered a car. ”Come on, come on!” My desperate pleas for a rideshare weren’t making it come any closer, but at least one was a few blocks away and headed toward me. As I tracked the car on the app’s GPS, I heard a commotion. I peeked around the corner again and saw that down the street, the pack of alphas was pushing through the line of people as they barreled out of the bar. They stalled in the street, sniffing and wandering bewildered as they tried to track my scent. I turned back around, hiding behind the next building as I willed the little dot on the app to get closer. My stomach cramped again as sweat beaded on my forehead.
Just as the rideshare pulled up, I flung the door open and jumped inside. “Go!” I shouted to the driver, who pulled away at the same moment that the pack of alphas emerged around the corner, a few of them sniffing the air with crazed looks in their eyes. They saw me through the car window, shouting as they chased the car down when they realized I had escaped.
“Good gods, omega, what was that?” The mated beta looked in the rearview mirror, watching the angry pack as they tried to run after us. I let out a long sigh of relief, slumping against the seat right before my stomach let out another painful cramp. The alpha pheromones had such an effect on me, despite the fact that I was disgusted by them. “Just a pack of rude alphas.” He frowned, then coughed, covering his mouth.
“Is that… are you going into heat? No wonder! Why were you out when your heat was scheduled? We need to get you home quickly!” Luckily anyone mated would be turned off by my heat pheromones rather than chasing after me like the Alpha pack, but that was the least of my problems. I couldn’t go into heat just yet. It was too early, according to my doctor. I still needed at least another week for my body to adjust enough to take a knot, or I would tear and be injured. I needed my medicine, and fast.
“Please get me to my place!” I pleaded through gritted teeth. The driver probably broke the speed limit, but he got me back to the Omega House. I left the car, clutching my stomach as I stumbled to the opening in the back of the gate. I crawled through, my mind nearly delirious as I cramped over and over, my center craving something that I couldn’t have just yet. I made it to the kitchen back door, then stumbled to the elevator. I curled into a ball on the floor while the door chimed for my floor. Crawling to my room, I reached for my phone to call my doctor. A groggy voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Doctor, I need help. I think I’m going into heat.” I wailed, falling onto my bed as my stomach lurched. Slick was running down my legs, and I was getting hot flashes.
“Is this Piper? You need to tell the staff on duty at the house! We’ll send an ambulance right away.” I clutched my abdomen and groaned in pain. Dropping the phone, I reached for my suppressant pills and tried to open the bottle. With trembling hands, I managed to get a few of the pills into my mouth and swallow. I hoped it would stave off whatever was happening to me. I didn’t have the energy to make it to the front desk of the Omega House. It was so far away - I couldn’t even make it to the bathroom at this point. My cell was on the floor, so I reached for the landline phone on my side table and called down to the front desk. I heard a voice answer, but I was so lightheaded that I dropped the phone, only hearing the faint voice as if it were in a dream.
“Hello? Hello?”
I closed my eyes and everything went dark.
Chapter 23
Dominic
“Another round!” I yelled as the bartender shook his head and poured me a shot. I had been here for hours, trying not to imagine how it had gone down in the movie room the last time Piper was over. She may seem so sweet and cute, but I knew better. She’d get them attached, get all of us attached, and then pull the rug out from under us. Just like last time we messed with an omega. Well, she could fool them, but she couldn't fool me. It was all an act to find a pack to take care of her temporarily. I swished the strong liquor in my mouth while I simmered. I couldn’t get the sight of her half-naked on the couch out of my mind. I had felt the tug of her, the excitement, and then the release that satisfied my packmates while I was holed away in my room. I finally went to go check on them, and the smell of Aiden and Declan together nearly sent me into a rut. Then I saw her, naked and laying on them as if she belonged to us. I could see how they fell for it. I almost broke my resolve when I saw them there like that. But I remembered her words. She couldn’t be trusted.
My thoughts were interrupted by a noise at the front of the bar. The door swung open and Brad, one of my old coworkers, ran inside in a frenzy.
“You all won’t believe this. You know that show across the street? Apparently an omega went into heat there and damn near caused a stampede!” The heads of every unmated alpha and beta in the bar collectively snapped toward him as he spoke.
“Is that what all the commotion was earlier? I heard it all the way in here!” The bartender said as he washed out a pitcher. “Who would do something so stupid? Must have been a young and naive one to do such a thing.” I nodded at him.
“Of all times to try to go to a concert, when her heat was scheduled? What kind of omega would risk it? Is she okay?” The beta next to me asked as Brad looked around excitedly.
“Well, she somehow got away from everyone. Either way, the scent leaked out of the bar and into the street. You can still smell it.” Brad turned his head and took a deep whiff of the air outside. What a perv. I turned back to my drink, thinking about how many alphas probably lost control over the scent. In the middle of a concert, at that. I chuckled to myself. Brad kept the door open, letting in the air from outside. Suddenly I caught the soft hint of rain and something sweet, and my whole body completely changed. My mind went nearly blank, except for one thought and the feeling of overwhelmingrightness.This is the one.
I had smelled omegas in heat before. My pack had helped plenty of them. It was intoxicating. It took over an alpha’s body and mind and demanded a response. But this heavenly scent, this lifesaving aroma, was calling to something deeper in me. I stood, entranced, and headed to the door.
“You smell it too? Delicious right?” Brad joked as I shoved him into the side of the wall as I passed by. I barely registered his yell of pain. How dare he talk about her like that?My mate.
I had heard about true matches and fated mates all my life growing up. I believed some people might have had them, but for the most part, I didn’t believe in it for myself or my pack. We met plenty of great omegas, and one in particular that we had thought for sure was our true match. I’d always heard it described as an overwhelming feeling of home. That once you scented your mate, no other scent would ever hold a candle. They would be the end all, be all from that point until the end of your life. I moved into the street, following the faint scent to find her. She was in the beginning of her heat, she needed help,help from her mate.
I scoured the area like a madman, sniffing and pushing past people to get closer, to breathe her in more. I caught a hint of Jasmine, more of the wild rain, and a unique scent that I would never have guessed an omega would produce. I ran until I lost the scent, down to the end of a street where a few patrons were lingering.
“Where did she go? Where is she?” I yelled, grabbing at passing unmated alphas who were there to catch a hit of the sweet leftover scent.
