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"Better'n he deserved," Heck said, muttering into his cup, "for scaring Miz Kess like that."
Some puzzle pieces fell into place. Jake had mumbled as much that night by the rocks. Yet, despite the story about OT, the idea irritated her. For a Pack so liberal in their treatment of Omegas, what right did they have restricting him like that? Shouldn't Omegas have a choice about who they did or didn't talk to?
"Jake talked to Marie and Grace today," Zorah said to Matteo. "Grace even gave him a hug. Lars, Xavi, Colt were all there, it didn't seem like anyone had a problem with it."
"I think," Matteo said, "that was a pretty unique circumstance."
"It doesn't change the fact that he shouldn't be anywhere near you," Riddick said, so close his chest bumped into her shoulder. "If he so much aslooksat you, you come tell me. I'll take care of him."
Zorah scooted down the bench, irritation simmering. He was being so pushy tonight. Why couldn't he give her some space? Jake wasn't here, so Riddick didn't need to lord over her like a starving dog over a piece of meat.
"No need to worry." Zorah grabbed the Alphas' empty plates and started stacking them with practiced efficiency, ignoring eye contact as she lied through her teeth. "He hardly even looked at me and went right back up the ridge as soon as he could. It was like he couldn't get out of there fast enough." That part was true, at least. She stood and swung her leg over the bench, ready to hightail it out of the mess hall to be alone with her thoughts and all this new information. She flashed Riddick a tight smile. "Anyway, don't say anything to Hunt; Jake can't hurt anyone working by himself up on the ridge."
Matteo snatched the remaining roll off Zorah's plate and stuffed it in his mouth, saying, "All the same, make sure you stay away from him, Z."
"Yeah, sure." She nodded to each of the Alphas and grabbed the set of dishes to take to the bus bucket. "I plan to."
CHAPTER 9
Zorah
Her stomach quivered so hard that she could've sworn she'd eaten a swarm of butterflies for dinner. That would be weird. And gross. But she couldn't shake the feeling. Nerves? Excitement? Fear? Maybe all three, but the feeling swelled every minute she'd lain in bed waiting for the entire settlement to slowly — so damn slowly — settle down for bed. Morris Hill had no electricity, so it had no clocks. No way of knowing if an hour ticked by or only a minute. A few times, she pinched herself awake, not wanting to miss this chance. Jake agreed to teach her, but only barely, and if she flubbed this first lesson, there wouldn't be another.
In truth, the proposal popped out of her mouth before she'd had a chance to fully consider all the implications and complications. She needed to learn to swim; he could teach her. It made too much sense to pass up. But, after the dinner conversation with Matteo, Riddick, and Heck, the second guesses began to pile up.
Given Jake's cowed and awkward manner, it was hard to believe he had boldly abducted Kess right from under her Alpha's nose. Yet, they'd all told the same story, and it left little room for doubt. Then there was hiswatchingto consider. If she tallied all the times she circulated between different groups in the village to try to get away from the touch, it made her head spin. It had never worked because the touch —histouch, hiseyeson her — followed wherever she went.
Zorah had to admit, it was straight-up creepy. And now, here she was, tromping through the woods to spend time alone, in the dark, with her bizarro stalker. Maybe that explained the tacky moisture that coated her palms. Should she ask him what happened with Kess? Get his side of the story? Or would he become annoyed and call off the lessons before they even began?
She wiped her hands on her long skirt. Did he evenwantto teach her? Or had she bullied and shamed him into it?
As she had lain awake in the dark, her words rattled around her head."You're an Alpha. But you act like a beaten Beta dog."Never in her life had such bold words — to anAlpha, no less — flown from her lips. She chalked up her brazenness to the accumulated stress of the day; otherwise, she would've bit her tongue like a good, compliant Omega.
She'd been lucky, though. A more volatile Alpha might've been thrown into a rage at such an insult. The fact that Jake hadn't taken the bait only added to the tangled esteem she held him in. Most astonishingly, he'd looked... stricken. Hurt, even. But how could she, an inexperienced Omega, hurt a rugged, unnerving, transformed Alpha like him?
Counting Hunter and her grandfather, Jake was only the third transformed Alpha she'd ever met. Mystery surrounded these odd creatures who had lived through TheEnd and kept on living. Her father's father had been one of them, but she'd only met him once as a small child and recalled him being a wild, terrifying creature. Nana said he was "troubled, like they all are." But went on to add, with a salacious wink, that it hadn't stopped her from lying with him as a much younger Beta woman because "he had a nice singing voice." Alpha-Beta pairings randomly produced Alpha children, and, as fate would have it, that brief union created Zimmer, Zorah's father. But that had been where his sire's involvement ended. Zimmer, for his part, had nothing positive to say about him or any of the transformed Alphas.
The shimmering lake peeked between the trees, and Zorah laid a palm on her trembling tummy. The quarter moon gleamed dull and hazy. In another week, it would be full, giving them plenty of brightness for their lessons. That is, as long as Jake showed. Was she nervous that he would come? Or that he wouldn't?
Her gaze snagged on his moonlit form, sitting by the shore as still as a statue. Leaning back on his palms, he stretched his long, pale legs so his heels dipped in the water, and his eyes bored into hers with an unnerving gleam. Of course, he'd known she approached; he could probably hear her galloping pulse from a half mile away. The distinctive prickle on the back of her neck stirred to life.
Zorah instinctively touched her nape, greeting the sensation like an old acquaintance she couldn't remember if she liked or not.
Quickly, gripping her towel to her chest, Zorah followed the water's edge to where he sat. "Have you been waiting long?" she asked, her voice hushed and embarrassingly breathless.
"Not long." He got to his feet, already stripped down to a loose undergarment and nothing else.
Oh. She had not anticipated... that.
Biting her lip to stifle her awe at the abundance of male flesh on display, Zorah demurely lowered her lids. But in the process, her averting gaze lingered on his naked chest. Pale hair scattered over his pecs and nestled in delicate tufts around his tender, dusky nipples. This small glimpse of vulnerability captivated her. She pressed her tongue against her teeth, wanting to lick the alluring nubs and explore the texture with the flat of her tongue. The fantasy hijacked her attention and grabbed her low,very low, in her belly. A sensation not butterfly related at all.
Bad, bad, Zorah.She wasn't here to ogle this potentially dangerous Alpha; she was here to learn from him.
She'd seen plenty of Alphas shirtless, but this was a first, seeing one pantless, and no amount of silent scolding tore her gaze from the perfect taper of his narrow waist. Deep, carved grooves angled to his groin, and the outline ofhimbulged against his thin undergarment. It left nothing, and somehow everything, to her careening imagination. Zorah clenched her towel tighter to her chest, curbing her inappropriate impulse to reach out and trace his seductive contours with a fingertip — or perhaps free them from their fabric restraint entirely.
"You ready?" he said with a gruffness she hadn't heard since that night by the rocks.
Had he caught her staring? Could he scent the lust coursing through her veins? She could hardly help it; the combined sight, scent, and heat of him made her dizzy.
