Page 43 of Unsubmissive Omega
XANDER
There was an annoying buzz in my head when I awoke, a kind of staticky white noise that wouldn’t go away. It sizzled away at the back of my consciousness. Fatigue, maybe.
I flung an arm across the other side of the bed, hand tapping away at the place where my mate should be. The bed beside me was empty, the sheets cool.
Carefully, I prised my eyes open, my sticky lids opening reluctantly. The bright morning light was too much for me and I jammed my eyes shut again. Ooh, I wasnota morning person. And I had aches and pains in every conceivable part of me. I moved experimentally. Yup, I was gonna have a reminder all day of what we’d done last night. We’d exhausted ourselves between the sheets and fallen into a deep sleep in the early hours of the morning.
And overslept. At least, I had. And though I didn’t love waking alone, it had been energetic enough that I was grateful Darius had let me sleep in.
A yawn and a long, groaning stretch later, I was awake enough to wonder where my mate was.
I’m here.
I didn’t so much hear the words or the familiar voice, asunderstandthem. I looked around. The room was empty, Darius’s clothes were no longer on the floor. Was he in the bathroom?
I’m outside, in the yard. Come on out when you’re ready.
What the fuck? This was the weirdest thing ever. Was the guy in my head? Or having woken up alone after the torrid night of sex, perhaps I was imagining things?
We have a mindlink,came the answer to the question I hadn’t known I was actually asking, it’s common among mated pairs.
Oh, I hadn’t known. The mating manual hadn’t coveredthat.
Mating manual, eh? Is that where you learnt all those skills you were showing me last night?
Embarrassment heated my cheeks. Oh Goddess, had I lost all my privacy?
No, you haven’t. You’ll learn fast to only share the stuff you want to.
A green monster reared in my head, surprising me. This alpha was MINE, but he wasn’t sharing all his thoughts with me. How did he know how to compartmentalize? Had he been mated before? Or was he also mated to someone else? And naturally, my mind went to the blonde omega, even though I knew the truth of that now. Regardless, insecurity wound its way around my heart.
Reassurance and denial pushed down the bond to me, almost as strong as the pheromone bath he would have given me in person.
There’s been no-one but you. I’ve been practicing all morning. Just focus on the thoughts you want me to hear and push them to me. Let the others sit back.
I tried it.If I ever find you messing around with someone else, I’ll bite your balls off.And then I tried tonotfocus on the distracting thought that his balls had been in my mouth the night before, and how much I had enjoyed that.
There was a burst of humor in the bond, quickly followed by a flare of heat.
Notice taken. And yeah, I enjoyed that too. But unless you don’t want me to get any work done, I wouldn’t think about that right now. You haven’t quite mastered the thought shielding yet.
Horrified, I tried to put a stop to all thinking, just immersing myself in the present. I was filthy. I needed to shower before going outside. I needed to clean my teeth. I needed tonotthink about anything except what I was doing.
I set about getting ready, very,very, deliberately not allowing my thoughts to wander. Showered, dressed, and with teeth cleaned, I wandered into the kitchen looking for something to eat. There was a tray of what seemed to be blueberry muffins on the counter, and I grabbed one before heading out through the squeaky door.
Darius wasn’t hard to find. He was crouched down beside a wooden box in the yard, holding a panel in place, while his companion, who had his back to me, hammered something into the timber.
Darius looked up as I approached, his smile spreading across his face, eyes shining. Ialmostdidn’t notice his bare chest, the golden-brown skin shiny with sweat and sunlight, and thedark coils of his patchy treasure trail disappearing beneath the waistband of his blue jeans. He wore a knitted cap, despite the obvious contradiction of not wearing a shirt. I smirked. Darius was stylish no matter the conditions.
“Hey,” I greeted the men, totally unable to stop the self-satisfied smile creeping across my face.
“Hey, Xander.” Darius got to his feet, groaning a little, as if his body hurt as much as mine.
“Hey, Xander,” Darius’ companion said, his voice flat as he turned to greet me. It was Zendius, and although his lips were smiling, the smile didn’t reach his eyes, and a frown cast a shadow across his features. His nose twitched and wrinkled. He looked… disapproving, disgusted even.
Why would he…? Oh! Even having cleaned up, to another shifter I probably stank of sex. But why did he care? Shouldn’t he be happy his Alpha and Alpha Mate were finally getting along?
I remembered his comments about Dayla and Darius sitting in the office that day. Hadn’t he implied Darius and the tall, blonde omega were involved with each other? Ugh. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, trying to conceal it. I must have misunderstood him. He’d have known that was Darius’ sister.
