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Wyatt
The fucking little beta started spluttering right away.
“I’m so, so sorry, Sir. I mean, Alpha, Sir. No, I mean…” Vandercliff careened to a stop, straightened his back, sprang to attention and saluted me. Saluted, though neither of us was in uniform. I could barely contain my sigh. “Sir! I didn’t hear the bugler. Well, I did, but I-I rolled over on my side for what I intended to be only a couple more minutes, but by the time I woke up, I…”
“Shut up, Vandercliff. I don’t want to hear your stupid excuses. And stop saluting me—you’re embarrassing yourself.”
“Yes, sir. I-I mean, Alpha. It won’t happen again.”
I’d watched as he’d stripped off his clothes, his pretty little face scarlet with embarrassment. He was awfully small for a beta, coming up only as far as my chest, and in my opinion, he had no damn business being here in camp. He was far too small and young. I’d been having deep misgivings about him for a while now, but I seemed to be the only one. He looked and acted like an omega to me, and from time to time, I’d get a whiff of an omega scent when he was suspiciously close by. It seemed impossible, but I couldn’t get that crazy thought out of my mind.
He hurriedly removed his shirt, then started on his boots, hopping around on one foot as his cock bounced up and down behind the flimsy cloth that covered it. Not that I was looking. Not much, anyway.
He’d finally wrenched the boot off to reveal no socks on either foot. Clearly somebody hadn’t done their laundry this week. Typical. He stood there, panting for breath as I ruthlessly pushed down the stirring in my gut, taking in the slim, washboard abs and the leanly muscular chest and arms. He tossed his curly, honey-gold hair out of his eyes and shot me another glance out of leaf green eyes that were as innocent as a cherub’s.
He was delicately beautiful, like a piece of exquisite crystal stemware, and what he was doing in the army, I couldn’t even imagine. Fighting him like this was like deciding to wrestle with a porcelain doll—where should I strike it first? I’d noticed that about him the first day of training, and it seemed like I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off him since. I couldn’t deny my attraction to him, but I knew I had to ignore it and focus on the job of training him to fight, or he’d die in the first battle he fought, and that idea was simply insupportable for reasons I didn’t want to think about.
I sternly reminded myself to keep my attention off the gorgeous, creamy white ass that had just turned toward me as Vandercliff pivoted and strode out in the field about ten feet away. Readying myself by bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet to warm up, I looked across at my opponent and tried to tell myself not to notice how little he was—and how perfectly formed. Across from me, Vandercliff was stretching and shaking himself, like I’d taught him to do. He looked good, getting a little stronger every day, and he was marginally more flexible than when he’d first arrived in camp. Maybe this would be an interesting training exercise today after all.
I was determined to toughen him up. Not because I wanted to be cruel or mean to him, but to give him half a chance to survive the brutal fighting that I knew he might encounter soon. The Crillians were a vicious bunch, and the sooner we kicked them back across their border, the better it would be for Sudfarman citizens. A great deal of it could be hand to hand combat, so Vandercliff’s life literally depended on him knowing how to defend himself.
I followed the line of his shapely legs down to his little bare feet with their pearly, well-trimmed toenails. Leave it to Vandercliff to have adorable fucking feet. And his other endowments I could easily see behind the thin cloth covering his groin. Like all betas, he didn’t have a knot, but I’d bet he wouldn’t be small for all that. When he was erect, he’d be a nice handful. I had to turn away and adjust myself at the thought.
I’d noticed the other trainees looking at him, and I didn’t like it much. Those sudden flares of jealousy surprised me. I had no business getting overly involved with a trainee. I didn’t even like betas. I wanted children at some point in my life, so when the time came to settle down, I’d need to find myself a woman or a nice little omega. Someone like Lex’s beautiful omega, Rory, perhaps. In the meantime, betas were fine to play around with, but never to get serious about. No way. No matter how cute their feet were, or how shapely their little asses were or how creamy their damn skin happened to be. And I’d keep telling myself that until I could make myself believe it.
What the fuck was Vandercliff doing with creamy skin anyway, damn it? I’d never seen any other beta like him, and if he didn’t improve his skills and soon, he’d be the first one dead before the initial week was out on the battlefield. I couldn’t let that happen.
We began to circle each other, with me occasionally calling out advice or taunts like, “Hold your hands up to protect your face, damn it, or you’ll lose some of those teeth.” Or, “Come on, Vandercliff. Show me what you got.”
I danced away as he lunged at me and swiped out with one foot, sweeping his feet out from under him and crashing him to the ground. Vandercliff huffed out a harsh breath but recovered quickly, jumping up and leaping at me again, this time taking me by surprise and knocking me on my back. He grinned as he fell down to straddle me, and I raised my eyes to heaven and prayed strenuously to the gods to not give me an immediate erection.
Apparently, they weren’t listening.
He leaned forward to try and hold both of my hands down at my sides, and his scent hit me right in the face. I jerked away, easily bucking him off and rolling back up to my feet. I turned away to hide my bulge and pretended to get interested in a group of trainees who were marching by a few yards away. What the hell kind of scent was that coming off Vandercliff? If I didn’t know better, I’d have said it was an omega scent, but that was impossible, wasn’t it?
“Oh, you came ready to play today, huh?” I said in a strangled tone. “Good boy.” I danced around a little on the balls of my feet and gave him a little wave. “Come at me again.”
A sudden cool breeze wafted over the field, reminding me that colder weather would soon be here, even in this far southern kingdom. I saw him shiver as it hit him. Then as I circled around past him, that breeze hit me again and stopped me in my tracks. Omega! The scent was fresh and ripe and lust inducing. It was so strong, I literally staggered back a few steps and stared incredulously at him.
It was strong, and I could feel my entire body language changing, as if someone had flipped a switch inside me. I felt edgy, and my dick got even harder, like it always did when an omega was nearby. Was it coming from Darcy Vandercliff? I was very afraid that it was.
I’d noticed that scent earlier when I was standing close to him. Could it possibly be that he had been messing around with some omega outside camp? One that had rubbed themselves all over him? I didn’t see how that was possible since none of the trainees were allowed to leave camp, but the smell was unmistakably omega. If it was coming from Vandercliff, then he must have been with one recently and let the omega get way too close, because anything else was impossible. Was that what was really behind his lateness today? I got a sudden jolt of jealousy—and amazingly, it wasn’t for the unknown omega, but for Vandercliff. Damn it, I needed to get a handle on my feelings for this damn boy.
I slowly began circling him, almost unconsciously, as if he were prey. My Alpha instincts were still surging, and I realized with a start that I wanted to take him to the ground and fuck him into it and perhaps not stop for an hour or two. Maybe not then. I wanted to make him take my knot. Make him lift his legs up and plead and moan and beg me for more, harder. And I’d give it to him, all right, over and over again.
I never felt that way before except around an omega coming into heat, and I instinctively looked around for one again, intending to take them the hell off my training field before they had every Alpha in the fort over here in a huge fight over them. But there was no one around except for Vandercliff, and no other Alphas seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.
Omegas were needy and clingy and had no business being outside their nest in an Alpha’s home. Most omegas didn’t really have a mind of their own, but just did whatever they thought an Alpha wanted them to do. It wasn’t their fault really. It was what they were taught. Most of them were sent off to omega training once they came into heat, anywhere from the age of fourteen or fifteen all the way up to twenty. The training consisted of learning how to decorate a house, operate a sewing machine and manage a household—which come to think of it, might account for their complete lack of knowledge about pretty much any subject.
Rory, my cousin Lex’s omega, had been a notable exception. But then he was a prince, and he’d led a strange life up until the time we came across him. He’d never been to omega training either.
Still, the idea of an omega here in camp—or of Darcy Vandercliff actually being an omega—was so outrageous and such a crazy thought that I took a big step back, intending to cool off and figure this thing out. Without warning, though, Vandercliff bent his head and charged me, clearly intending to head butt me, so I instinctively tucked my body over to meet him, wrapped an arm around his neck and got him in a hold that would quickly render him unconscious if I applied the right amount of pressure. I applied just enough to turn his whole body a bright pink and then let him go and stepped back. He fell down to his knees, panting for breath. Appalled that my first instinct had been to catch him, I resolutely turned my back.
“Dumb move, Vandercliff. I know I’ve taught you better than that.”
He looked a little stunned, but managed to get back to his feet before I came at him a second time. I came in low, like I was going to tackle him to the ground. I actually intended to pick him up and hold him against my body to soothe my Alpha instincts a little and then set him down safely a few feet away. I was sure I could let him go. Pretty sure.
