Skye jogged around the car before fumbling with the door to the back seat. The second that it opened, I scooped her up, partially expecting a fight. Instead, she melted into me, and I was once again hit with the intoxicating scent of her heat.
My stomach flipped.
Not right now.
“You’re safe,” I promised. “We’re getting you in the car, and I’ll take you somewhere that no one can get to you, okay?”
Violet didn’t answer, and right now I wasn’t even sure she could, seeing as she didn’t scream when I hit her with my car. But she didn’t have to, because the second I bent down to slip her into the back seat, she held me close and buried her face in the crook of my neck. She breathed me in, and my hands fisted in her dress as she pressed her lips to my neck.
My knees turned to jelly, and I nearly dropped her, fully ready to stay like this forever, but, this sweet little omega was being hunted, and it was my job to keep her safe.
It’d only been a month or so since we all moved into Vinny’s home, a large Spanish-style construction nestled between trees. Our pack was growing, and he had the room. Still, that didn’t mean he was necessarily fond of me bringing Violet here.
“You brought a mated omega into my house?” He spoke through gritted teeth.
I crossed my arms and cocked my hip. “We don’tknowif she’s mated.”
I’d checked her neck and wrists, and she had no marks. And now, I had Skye and our beta, Benji, helping her take a bath and checking forwounds.
“Why the fuck would someone be hunting her if she’s not their mate?”
I huffed out a breath. “Ireallydon’t like the way you’re talking to me right now.”
“You don’t like how I’m talking to you because I’mright.” A strand of inky black hair fell into his face as he lowered himself onto my level, brown eyes boring into mine.
A throat cleared behind us, causing us to part. I cast a lazy glance over my shoulder to see Benji standing in the doorway.
“You’re supposed to be helping the omega,” Vinny growled.
“Her name isViolet,” I reminded him.
Benji looked between us as if we were quarreling parents on the cusp of divorce before raising his hands.
“She’s weird, didn’t want me near her. I gave her a once-over. I didn’t see any marks, but I also wasn’t going to be the root of her panic attack,” Benji drawled.
“She spoke?” I asked, feeling a pang of jealousy that I missed it.
Benji shook his head before raking a hand through his sun-kissed hair. “She just kept pushing me away and whimpering; she seemed okay with Skye, though.”
Probably because he was an omega, nonthreatening.
“What if the person chasing her cut out her tongue?” I gasped, scrambling to find another cause.
“They didn’t cut out her tongue,” Vinny groaned. “She’s just a basket case you picked up off the road. For all we know, she escaped a mental hospital.”
“Actually,” Benji said softly before stepping between us. “I think she came from the heat clinic.”
My stomach flipped. There was no way.
“You just said it didn’t fucking talk, how would you know that?” Vinny snarled.
“Skye was asking her a bunch of yes or no questions, and then he got his phone out so she could type.” Benji lifted a shoulder. “He asked what she was doing before she started running, and she typed clinic, and she’s obviously in heat.”
Vinny’s eyes narrowed before turning on me. His jaw worked like he wanted to bite my head off. “You brought an omega inheat, who’s being hunted, into my house.”
“Well, we can soothe her heat–you have a knot.” If I had a dick, it would have already been done.
Butnoooo,I had to be born with an innie and a lock.
