Page 10 of Outcast Island

I will not let that happen.

I am better than those assholes I tore into.

My rage had knocked her out cold, but that was for the best. She was in far too much pain. Her little body shivering in my arms betrays how much agony she was enduring.

It wasn’t just because she had broken her legs when the vampire had roughly redirected its course, but because she was an Omega close to her heat.

She is likely well into the first stage of her heat now that we have magic-bonded, so I have to be mindful of how I handle her.

Especially since I won’t know how much damage has been done until she wakes up again.

A pack of Vampire Alphas growling at her, encouraging her to accept a rushed estrus, would have been excruciatingly painful.

That’s not how Vampire Omegas are supposed to be lured into such a vulnerable state.

A heat notifies the Vampire Alpha that she is ready.

Estrus only happens when she knows she issafe. That is when she will be able to breed.

And she can’t do that unless she trusts the Vampire Alpha who courts her—but it can be forced.

That’s not how my nest runs things, even if some do. But this is Outcast Island. The only rules here are Alpha Fare’s rules.

And he must have given them permission to take any Omegas who found themselves here.

Meaning I will be receiving unwelcome visitors to my lair soon. It is no secret to Alpha Fare where I choose to live—even if it is out of sight and away from the main activities of the island, I am more or less left alone.

But that is because I don’t interfere. Now, that is about to change.

A sense of peace wraps around me like a cherry-scented blanket when the exchange is done. I open my eyes to find the Omega sleeping. She isn’t shaking anymore.

She has accepted me as well.

We’ll see to your needs now, little diamond,I think as I bloodmist us away from the crash site. My lair is on the other side of the island, so it is the best way to travel to tend to her immediately.

And when you wake, I will be here.

And I will rip apart anyone who dares try to touch you again.

CHAPTER 4

GUÐRÚN

Male voices murmuringwith cordial but dominating tones wake me from the best sleep of my life.

Mmm, whoever lit that candle of woodsmoke and liquor is my hero.

My eyes flash open when I recall that the scent is not from a candle.

It’s from the vampire who killed everyone around me in a shower of blood and terror.

When I search my surroundings, they don’t match what my brain is telling me I should be seeing.

No escape pod.

No blood-soaked ground.

No intensely beautiful and terrifying vampire who doused me with his rage.

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