Page 8 of Slick

“Your pain will ease when you take my knot,” my alpha says, cupping my face in his large, calloused hands. They smell like musk and strength, and it’s so addicting, Ialmostcan’t feel the fire licking down my arm. “Let me do this for you, Omega. Let me take it away.”

I could live a thousand lifetimes in the depths of his stare, but Dex makes a strangled sound and punches the steering wheel again. “Hold up! You arenotfucking her in the back seat of our getaway car!”

“She’s my mate!” my alpha growls, but his thumbs are gentle where they stroke my cheeks. “This will help her.”

“So will bandages and sutures!”

“A knot is more effective.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Dex narrows his eyes at my alpha until all I can see are shiny green slits. “I’m a critical care nurse who has seen more bullet holes than breakfasts, and I’m taking her to the goddamn hospital.”

My alpha leans forward, a pillar of creaking leather and sweet cigar smoke. “Drive to the governor’s mansion, Beta, or I will snap your neck and take us there anyway.”

This time, the command in my alpha’s voice fans the flames licking over my skin, and I shoot Dex a sympathetic look in the mirror. Like always, he is trying to care for me, but he should listen to our alpha. “Please Dex, don’t fight this. I want to do what our alpha says.”

“But he’s talking about amatingknot, Diana. There’s more to this than you realize…”

“Of course, there is.” I grip my alpha’s hand, and though it sends bolts of agony up my arm, I take comfort from his strength.How much better will I feel when I take his knot?“Iwant everything he has to give me. And we were made to take care of each other, Dex. Not in the same way you care for me, but I trust him. He won’t hurt me.”

Isn’t that what they always tell us at the center? That one day I’d match with the perfect alpha, and he would claim me to be his forever mate? Every time I asked the counselors what retirement would be like, they told me my health and happiness would be in his hands, and I would know a sense of belonging unlike any other. “It’s what I want, Dex. Be happy for me, because even if I die on this backseat, I’ve already found my home sweet home.”

CHAPTER FIVE

“…even if I die on this backseat, I’ve already found my home sweet home.”

A sentiment I’d sneer at like a rabid dog if they’d fallen from any lips except hers.

But my omega means it with every fiber of her perfect body, and her words lodge in my heart like armor-piercing kisses.

An hour in her company, and it’s already more than just a biological bond. I can feel her on a cellular level, and not just in my rock-hard cock, but in the meat of my chest, and deep in the pit of my hindbrain. Doesn’t matter how much steel they pump into my body, nothing will ever be able to dig her out from under my skin.

Diana.

Though I doubt that’s her real name. Like her memories, they stole my omega’s identity when she was sold into slick slavery, reducing her to nothing more than a commodity for them to exploit. I only have pieces of the puzzle right now, but when the whole picture becomes clearer, I’ll know exactly how many severed spines I need to lie at her feet.

But not before I knot her, bite her, and fill her with every ounce of my strength.

When I’m done with her, she’s going to be so goddamnowned, they won’t be able to smell her without pissing themselves in terror.

But first, I have to let her beta poke and prod at the bullet lodged in her arm. He’s all angry eyes and soft hands, but I have his number. He loves her like a puppy dog, and a harsh word from his master is all it takes for him to roll over and show his belly. There’s a well of rage simmering inside me, and I’m tempted to let it burst over him, to drag him away from my omega and leave him in the ditch at the side of the road. He doesn’t deserve her; not when he stood by for so long and let those demon spawn abuse her.

My hands clench as she hisses at the sting of an antiseptic wipe he found in the console, but the next moment, she melts into him, her cheek pressed to his shoulder. He’s murmuring sweet words, and she’s rubbing her face against his shirt, soft purrs falling from her trembling lips. All he’s doing is wrapping a strip of fabric around her arm, but the grateful smile she bestows on him is worth more than all the money in my extensive bank account.

“Enough,” I growl, pulling her away from him and placing her on my lap. “It’s my turn now.”

I plan to take care of my omega in a way that will put his nursing diploma to shame. But I can’t knot her and drive at the same time, which is why his spine is still in his body.

“I should treat you, too,” he replies, pointing his stubborn chin in my direction. “The bullet could have nicked a rib or pierced a lung…”

“Unless you plan on giving my cock a tug, I’d back off, Beta.” He gulps at the gravel in my voice, and I smirk, because anervous puppy is always amusing. “Then get back behind the wheel and drive us to the governor’s mansion.”

“Really?” The look he flicks down my body is more than insulting. “Why there? Are you on his payroll or something?”

I could tell him exactly why the governor will gladly give us safe passage, but I kind of like making the puppy squirm. “Because big dogs tell yappy little mutts what to do, that’s why.”

He pulls a face, but when his gaze slides to Diana, I know he’s already whipped. He’d do anything for her – except tell her the truth – and I can’t wait to see that weakness bite him on the ass when it all comes out.

As soon as the Hummer is rolling, I tilt her head up and study her face. She’s like a work of art with her full lips and high cheekbones, her eyes the warm gray of a classic thunderbike. Her hair is dark with sweat from the torture device they strapped her into, but I can see caramel highlights where it curls on her cheeks. As my hands span her waist, I marvel at how soft and round she is, with ripe breasts and full hips that twitch under the graze of my thumbs. All those luscious curves and deep dips, like the terrain of some mysterious land I’ve been trying to locate in my dreams…

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