Page 11 of Ruined Omega

Terrifyingly handsome.

And that is absolutely not the appropriate trajectory for my thoughts to be taking at a moment like this, but I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from that masculine face, at once animalistic and strangely elegant. My eyes dart from his searingly cold eyes to his full, pierced lips and back again half a dozen times in the space of a second.

“Listen to me,” those sculptured lips growl. His voice sounds more irritated than angry. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

The blood rushes in my ears.

What is happening? What is an Alpha doing here?

“I’m going to remove my hand from your mouth,” the Alpha says. “You must not scream, understand?”

If this Alpha wanted to kill me, I would be dead already. And there’s no way I can fight back against him physically. I’ve already used up my only weapon—my high-strength pepper spray—and that proved pretty much useless. A normal man would be curled up in blinding agony. But an Alpha is not a normal man. He has shaken off the pepper-spray’s effects like he had a little too much wasabi on his sushi.

There’s no way I can fight this guy. I’m totally at his mercy.

“Understand?” He growls again.

I nod behind the covering hand, and the heavy, calloused palm slides away from my mouth.

His massive body, however, stays right where it is, pinning me helplessly against the wall. He is dressed in a heavy trench coat, but beneath the tough leather, I can feel the rippling shape of his stone-hard muscles. This Alpha breathes raw, animal power.

“Who are you?” I whisper.

“My name is Taliesin. You can call me Tal.”

“I’m Hines,” I say breathlessly, stupidly. “Shelley Hines.”

“I know who you are,” Tal snorts. “I’ve been sent to protect you.

“Sent to protect me? By whom?”

“Sloane and Lily.”

I gasp. Sloane is an omega from the Zone, but she was once a normal human woman like me. She worked as part of SynerGen’s private security force. During a failed mission into the Quarantine Zone, she was mutated and bound to a pack of savage Alphas. Later they came back to this city and helped expose what SynerGen had been doing. They were captured and imprisoned, but I helped them escape.

Lily, on the other hand, I have never met in person, but I know her. She is an omega of the Zone as well. Over these past few months, we have communicated. Mostly that has involved me transmitting messages into the Zone so that they can know what is happening on the outside.

But she has never mentioned anything about a protector.

Nevertheless, if Taliesin meant me harm, surely he would have done it by now. He has no reason to lie about this.

The Alpha towers over me. I can feel his wild, feral eyes burning into me. It’s a struggle to raise my own eyes to meet that intense stare, but once I do, it’s impossible to look away. I sense something in the air between us, a spark like static electricity.

I’ll have to trust him. I have no choice.

“How did you find me?” I ask.

“We don’t have time to talk. Not here. Once your little bald friend cleans the shit out of his britches, he’s going to call the authorities, and this place is gonna be crawling with cops. We need to be gone before that happens.”

“Where will we go?”

“My place. Come on.”

Tal doesn’t give me time to think about it or refuse. He simply grabs my arm, which is swallowed up in his massive fist, and tugs me through the door and back outside.

Just a couple of minutes ago, I was turning down a creepy guy who wanted to come upstairs to my apartment for the proverbial cup of coffee. Now a tall, dark, and handsome stranger is dragging me back to his place. God only knows what’s waiting for me there.

But I have no choice.