Page 53 of Want It All
If those other alphas had found me out here, they wouldn’t be handing me canceller and keeping a respectful distance.
The alarm increased in speed again, making the hairs on the back of my neck rise. ‘Theystillhaven’t stopped the alpha?’
Tristan glanced at me. ‘Have you ever seen a feral alpha?’
I shook my head.
Sebastian shivered. ‘It’s almost unbelievable. Their eyes go red as the blood vessels in them expand, and they can’t see you, can’t hear you. All they know is whatever caused their instincts to take over. An enemy, a threat … An omega.’
‘Their strength is increased multiple times by a huge adrenalin rush,’ Tristan continued, ‘which also blocks pain receptors. If they start to fight, they usually just … keep on fighting. Their humanity is stripped away, and the only thing that remains is their alpha. The creature that lives beneath our skin.’
‘Is that what Byron would have been like?’
I clapped my hands over my mouth almost before I’d finished the sentence, horrified, but Sebastian only looked thoughtful. ‘It must have been,’ he said. ‘I mean, that’s what happens, biologically speaking.’ He glanced at Tristan as something occurred to him. ‘Fuck, you don’t think –’
‘No,’ Tristan answered calmly. ‘Griffiths is in control. This isn’t him.’
The thought hadn’t even occurred to me; I couldn’t imagine Byron like that. ‘I didn’t … I didn’t think you knew him that well,’ I said tentatively.
Tristan peered through the gap between the blinds and the window. ‘I don’t. Not very well.’ He turned and gave me a searching look. ‘But I know this isn’t him.’
There was respect in his tone, even though they’d seemed distant lately. I supposed that you didn’t have tolikesomeone to respect them, though it made some small, secret part of me sad they weren’t better friends.
I wasn’t really sure why.
Sebastian stumbled back from the window. ‘Fuck, there’s somebody out there.’
Tristan’s back went ramrod straight. He pointed to the solid worktable in the middle of the room, its wooden top covered in tools. ‘Under that, both of you.’
My feet were moving before my brain registered what he’d said, even though there was no hint of a bark in his tone. Tristan had probably neverneededto bark; between his wealth-earned confidence and the dominance that poured from him like waves, I suspected people jumped to obey the faintesthintof a suggestion from him.
Sebastian and I dove under the table. It was closed in on three sides, and the tight space made me feel safer. I felt even better when Sebastian wrapped his arms around me.
A low, menacing growl came from outside.
Sebastian and I froze. It was one of the things I hated most about being an omega: my fight response was non-existent. It was freeze, flight, or nothing. My instincts weren’t encouraging me to look around for a weapon; they were screaming that if I stayed still and quiet, the scary alpha outside might not see me, might not scent me, and might move on to terrorise someone else.
‘I know you’re in there, little omega,’ the alpha growled, and I recognised the voice: Glynn, one of the men who’d tried to makeme walk with them during the discipline mixers. ‘Come out. Come to me.’
The outer door rattled as he tried the handle. I knew it was locked, but I wasn’t sure how locks stood up against six-foot alphas running on black-out levels of adrenalin. Sebastian clutched me tighter, his breathing erratic.
I was struck with the oddest urge to purr.
I forced myself to swallow it down; omegas purred only for their pack. It would be mortifying if I made my little rumble and he pulled away.
I settled for splaying my hand over his rapidly beating heart.
The door shook as Glynn tested his strength against it. ‘Come out, omega,’ he crooned again, and I broke out in gooseflesh. It felt all kinds of wrong, him speaking that way. It was metal over metal, a knife against a bottle. The shiver skittering down my spine left a bad taste in my mouth. ‘I know you’re wanting, know you’re hurting. I can smell it. I can make everything better. My knot is waiting just for you.’
Bile rose up my throat. There was no way in the world I wanted Glynn’s dick anywhere near me, but the fact that he was clearly turned on bymyscent made me wonder. If I’d scented him, would I want him back? Would my body decide that he was a good alpha, a goodmatch, because he was physically strong and my instincts liked the way he smelled?
They couldn’t have made a worse choice, and it scared me that itmight happen. Not just to other omegas, but tome. What if I scented someone one day, they made me slick, and I ended up with a bond mark on my neck, never to escape – but they were unsuitable? Sexist, manipulative, controlling? Abusive? Violent?
Sebastian pulled me closer as I shivered again. ‘It’s all right, Rosebud,’ he whispered. ‘It will be all right.’
I wondered which of us he was trying to convince.
‘Come out!’ Glynn roared, and I was scrambling out from under the desk before I realised what I was doing – Sebastian’s arm still tight around my waist as he moved with me – because that fucking alpha hadbarkedat me.
