Page 60 of The Omega

Both of us looked the part of the idiots we were, covered in healing bruises and cuts. Swollen and ugly, all while separated from our mate who smelled of candy and sex and rising heat pheromones.

Some logical part of my brain knew I was no better than a beast. That Opal’s heat had something to do with the way I was behaving. But that wasn’t an excuse.

The look on the coyote female’s face—the fear in her eyes when Opal collapsed as we fought toward her—would haunt me for the rest of my life.

My pack didn’t look at me that way. I worked hard to make sure of it.

To think my mate would assume that I…

“Did you know this would happen?” Dorian continued to snarl and pace as he dragged his hands through his hair. “That she’d be able to go into heat this early? Or stop it and start it at will?”

Obviously not.

He agitated my wolf like none other, but I couldn’t solely blame him for the way I’d acted tonight. When they said he’d gone off-script, taking Opal away from the security team, I’d lost it.

If I couldn’t protect her, what good was I?

“No,” I answered honestly, feeling like I was letting her down all over again. “And I don’t think she’s in control of the heat, but I’ve never met an Omega before Opal. Have you?”

Dorian paused as if confused that I wasn’t arguing with him. “No. But the internet said—”

“You wouldn’t find the information you needed online in some open chat forum. Omegas are smart enough to protect their secrets from assholes who’d exploit them.” A booming voice came from down the hall, followed by an Alpha with salt-and-pepper faded hair and huge biceps. He had about twenty years on me, putting him in his mid-forties.

The older Alpha was flanked by two other Alphas his age. One with a full red beard and bald head, the other wearing a half-unbuttoned suit, looking more like the lawyer for the other two that had just come from a biker gang. But the three of them moved too familiarly to be anything other than pack.

They formed a menacing blockade as they filled the hall, blocking our only path of escape.

“Who the fuck are you guys?” Dorian stood his ground like the moron he was, itching for a fight.

I resisted the urge to yank him back. He wasn’t my problem. Discreetly, I sniffed the air, getting a read on the three males who smelled strongly of the Omega nurse in the room with Opal.

The salt-and-pepper Alpha looked to the medical door and his eyes flared with his wolf, confirming my suspicions as he communicated silently.

“They’re the nurse’s mates,” I said, though it wouldn’t have bothered me in the slightest if Dorian had gotten his ass kicked by being rude to a trio of pissed off Alphas.

Would Opal care?

Damn it.

“Is that so?” Dorian’s nostrils flared as he dramatically scented the air. I had the sudden urge to kick him. Any Alpha in his right mind would know not to do that.

“I suggest you stop cataloguing my mate’s scent before I rebreak your nose.” The bearded one growled as his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

Seems like a decent dude.

Until he turned his attention to me. “Actually, both of you look like you need to be knocked upside your heads again.”

I stayed seated, sizing him up. My wolf wasn’t getting any off vibes about the three of them, so I didn’t want to jump up and start something.

“Is there a reason we should care?” Dorian stepped closer to my side. Whether instinctual or plain stupid, I didn’t know why, but something about his action unleashed a snarl from my wolf.

And not one directed at the idiot beside me.

It felt strange, but like the truce we’d had—the one he’d so quickly broken—there was a moment where I considered that fate might be pulling some strings.

The five of us cramped in the little hallway stared each other down for a moment, assessing.

The suited Alpha broke the stand-off. “Penelope tells us you two aren’t treating your Omega very well.”