Page 28 of A Murderous Omega

Her eyes met mine, warm and brown and vulnerable, and my heart ached with the need to protect her, to deserve the trust she was showing me in this moment, even if she’d deny it in the morning.

“Yeah,” she murmured.

I bent down to kiss the top of her head, breathing in her scent before I stepped away.

“Wait,” she said softly, so quietly I wondered if I imagined it.

“Baby?”

“Don’t go, please? I don’t want—” Her voice cracked and stopped, vulnerability shoved down by pride. “Never mind. I’ll be fine.”

Her fucking pride made me want to pull my hair out, made me want to shake her. This beautiful, broken, fierce omega could not admit to herself that she needed us as much as we needed her, that needing us didn’t make her weak.

I swallowed down my frustration. That’s not what she needed. She needed me to be an alpha she could trust. My omega needed care right now—tenderness and safety—and I was going to give it to her, whether she was willing to ask for it or not.

“Scoot over,” I said, infusing my voice with a hint of alpha bark, enough to take the decision out of her hands, to let her have what she wanted without forcing her to ask for it.

“What?” Her voice held surprise and a hint of relief, reassuring me that I’d made the right choice.

“I’m staying, whether you want me to or not.”

The radiant smile that broke out over her face made me fall in love with her all over again.

“And if I don’t want you to?” Her voice was soft and breathy, teasing now, even as she made space for me, lifting the covers up so I could crawl in with her. The invitation in that simple gesture made my heart pound against my ribs.

“Too fuckin’ bad.”

As soon as I was under the blankets, she snuggled right up to me, laying her head on my bicep and dragging my thigh over her hip with a possessiveness that had me biting back a groan. She fit against me perfectly. Always.

Her breath was warm against my skin, and her rapid heartbeat gradually slowed to match mine.

I held her close, one hand stroking down her spine in slow, soothing passes, murmuring nonsense until she fell asleep.

“Conor?” Her voice was drowsy now, thick and peaceful.

“Yeah, baby?”

“Thank you.” She whispered the words, but they lodged inside my heart like glass, delicate and perfect.

“Always,” I promised, knowing that it was a promise I could only keep if she allowed me to.

She fell asleep between one breath and the next, trusting me to keep the nightmares at bay. The weight of that trust terrified me and thrilled me in equal measure.

I lay awake for hours, holding her while she slept peacefully for once, memorizing the feeling of her in my arms. Because I knew that when morning came, she'd rebuild those walls and pretend this never happened.

We’d make an example of that pimp, and then she’d walk the fuck away from us.

I’d let her, because I loved her too much to become another nightmare she had to escape from.

But goddess help me, it might kill me to do it.

13

EMILE

Lark rode the back of the alpha pimp like a koala bear, a wire wrapped around his throat as he gasped and flailed about, trying to escape her.

He couldn’t.