Page 22 of His Gentle Omega
By the darkness spilling through a small gap in the eggplant-colored curtains over the window, and a beam of moonlight cascading across the carpeted floor, I knew it was night. Soft, yellow light from a small lamp on the nightstand revealed a bedroom with heavy, dark cherry furniture and walls painted a lovely shade of lilac. The duvet that covered me from the waist down was gray, lilac, and eggplant striped.
There was nothing masculine about the room, but I found it soothing. Peaceful.
My chest still ached, and my breathing sounded raspy to my ears, a little wheeze at the tail end of each huff. My head ached, along with every single muscle and joint in my body. If someone had told me I’d been hit by a truck, I would believe them. I felt like absolute shit, and not all of it was because of the fight with Edward.
Beating,I told myself.That wasn’t a fight, Shay. You didn’t participate. At least be honest with yourself and call it what it was.
The small omega returned, and I studied him while he fussed with some kind of contraption. He looked familiar, with his messy dark brown hair, and those startling light green eyes. He was really fucking cute, and if I didn’t feel like dog shit and my life wasn’t an absolute shit show at the moment, I might have given him more than a passing glance. Especially considering the way our skin tingled each time we touched.
“Ugh, this thing is giving me fits,” he muttered, pushing a button on the hand-held machine. It glowed blue and what looked like a whiff of smoke puffed out from the plastic face mask attached to it, before the light turned red and then nothing. He did it two more times, shaking it, then resorting to the age-old method of fixing just about anything. He smacked it with the palm of his hand. It was cute and made me want to smile, but I just didn’t have the energy.
Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, like a light bulb went off. “Fucking batteries.”
Reaching into the nightstand drawer, he rummaged around, tossing the contents inside every which way. Watching him silently, my eyes grew round when I saw a flash of pink. Was that a pink silicone…penis? Yep, there was a dick in his drawer. And it was a hefty one from what I could see. Girth and length.Running my eyes over the omega’s petite form, I was impressed. He was tiny, and that dildo was…not.
With a flourish of triumph, he pulled his hand from the back of the drawer, holding two batteries up high. “Thank you, Amazon bulk pack. You’d think respiratory could have made sure the damn thing had fresh batteries in it.”
He slid the drawer shut with a thud, quickly replacing the batteries on the breathing machine thingy. My memories were vague and hazy, but bits and pieces were starting to come back to me.
Including ones of this man.
“Ben?” I rasped, not at all sure that was his name, but the name seemed to be floating in the back of my brain, flashing like a neon sign. He stopped fiddling with the machine and turned to stare at me with those large eyes of his. His eyes were truly gorgeous, the color so light, surrounded by thick, dark lashes. The name though…it wasn’t quite right. “Bennett?”
He nodded slowly, shooting me a shy smile that hit me straight in my gut.What the fuck was that?I hadn’t felt–whatever that was–for a very long time. Not since a gorgeous omega had strutted into my dad’s shop like he owned the world, and then turned my entire life upside down.
Holding the oxygen face mask up to me, he pushed the button and the medicine smoked out. “Hold that over your nose and mouth. Breathe in through your mouth,” he instructed, and I took ahold of the contraption from him, doing as he ordered. “It will help your breathing. I’ll…uh, go get your other medicine. It’s time for them.”
Before he could scurry away like a scared rabbit, I wheezed, “Lucas?”
Where was my son?Fear rushed up like a live wire to the back of my throat and I felt sick to my stomach. What if someone had taken him? What if Edward had somehow found us? What if he had taken Lucas?
He–Bennett–gently pushed the oxygen mask back over my face, with a stern look that said I’d better leave it there. “No talking until this is done. Lucas is asleep across the hall in my guest bedroom.” As if he could read my eyes, or my body language, or just had some kind of glimpse into my very soul, Bennett assured me, “He’s safe, I promise you.”
I wasn’t stupid enough to think me declaring Alpha Law would stop Edward. Edward was used to doing and getting what he wanted, no matter the cost to anyone else. He cared not one bit about collateral damage. All he cared about was getting his way, no matter who he hurt in the process. It wasn’t even about Lucas–Edward didn’t want him–but taking Lucas would hurt me. And that’s what Edward thrived on the most.
“You just went a million miles away,” Bennett whispered, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the hum of the machine. The medicine it pumped out tasted weird; not bad exactly, but not great either, and my face felt slick with wetness from the spray. But the tightness of my chest was easing, and it did feel like I could take deeper breaths. The motion tugged at my bruised ribs, but I ignored them, the need for air outweighing the sharp pain they gave me.
My eyes held about a million questions, and I tilted my head, hoping I was conveying my need to ask them. Even though talking was about as difficult as breathing was right now. It felt like there was an elephant that had taken permanent residence on my chest.
Since he had ordered me to keep the mask on and not speak, I gave a tiny shrug of my shoulders in answer to his statement. There were about ten thousand things running through my brain right now, along with fragmented memories from our drive to Sweet Alps. I remembered getting Lucas food from a cute diner with 1950’s vibes, and going to the hospital to try to get in contact with Asher.
Things got really hazy after that.
I remembered being in and out of wakefulness, a female doctor with kind eyes and hands. A nurse who had looked at me with sympathy shining in her tired eyes.
And Bennett.
He had been there. He had brought Lucas to me. Had helped him up onto the bed. Had touched me. Had rocked my entire world with his touch.
It wasn’t that I was unaware of what was happening between us each time he touched me. I had read books, seen movies. I knew the lore of fated mates. I just never expected to stumble across my fated mate, at the worst possible time in my life.
With everything I was dealing with, that I was going to have to deal with, I didn’t have the energy to even address it with Bennett. I would just ignore it for now. Which was unfair to him and was the coward’s way out, but I justcouldn’t. Not now. Not yet.
I felt like if one more thing came my way, I would shatter into a million pieces. And I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst hadn’t even happened yet. Edward would come after me. And he would try to do the one thing that would hurt me the most. He would try to take Lucas. Declaring Alpha Law only protected us so much. But it wouldn’t be enough, not when dealing with the Clark family and all their money. My main focushad to be Lucas right now. Nothing else mattered. Nothing. Not even possibly meeting my fated mate.
No ‘possibly’ about it, that voice that had been silent for years whispered,he’s our mate. Our real mate. Not like that…other one.
I didn’t acknowledge my tiger. I wasn’t ready to hear what he had to say, now that he had finally decided to show back up. Having Lucas was the one thing that had kept me going, kept me from giving up. I would protect him with everything I had inside me.
