Page 24 of Outback Mate
I rip my gaze away from the reclining temptation.
I grab a clean blanket from the cabinet and lay it over her. “Here. This might help.”
It’s a thinly veiled attempt to cover her teasing form. Except it backfires. She immediately starts fussing with the blanket andpillow, moving them into different positions, chirping softly as she seeks the right spot for her meagre bedding.
She’s nesting.
And I’m screwed. So fucking screwed because it’s the most sensual act I’ve ever witnessed.
I’ve never seen an Omega nest. Even when I helped my ex through her heat, she wouldn’t let me watch her nest. It’s a highly personal act, and here Poppy is, doing it without prompting with a single sad blanket.
When she’s content with her meagre nest, she sits in it like a queen on her throne and turns to face me with a satisfied smile. “Thank you, Alpha.”
It’s a punch to my gut. I can imagine how this Omega with the ocean-coloured eyes would look at me with pleased pride as I gifted her proper nesting material for her heat.
I’d buy her brand new luxury pillows, and hand-woven blankets of the softest material. She’d want for nothing and have the nest of her dreams.
I shake my head, dislodging the image from my mind. Soft nesting material isn’t enough to keep an Omega happy. They need to feel close to their Alpha. I can’t do that. I’ve never been able to let someone else in.
“Don’t call me that,” I grunt, and watch her squirm with the blanket. I shouldn’t want to lie beside her and wrap her in my arms, but the instinct is insistent. “I told you, we’re not… I’m not… You’re my patient. Just don’t push it.”
The rain is pelting down on the tin roof with enough force that it’s drowning out any other noises, but I still hear her whimper.
I grimace. That was too harsh.
I open my mouth to explain, or perhaps apologise, when the clinic strobes with light as a huge streak of lightning flashes across the sky. A deep rumble of thunder follows and the room is plunged into darkness.
Chapter Eight
Doc
Poppy squeaks in alarm, her fear filling the small room like a thick fog. “What’s happening?”
“The storm has knocked out the power.”
“W-what?” Her voice trembles. “Will it be long?”
I frown. Is she afraid of the dark? She might be young, but surely she’s old enough to have grown out of such a fear.
“Could be a couple hours or days. I don’t know. It can take awhile for repairs to happen out here.” I tug down the slates of the blind, peering out the window. All the lights in town are out.
The weather is ferocious, flashes of lightning illuminating debris flying through the air. The damage is already catastrophic. A torrent of water streams down the main street, and branches from the gum trees litter the road. As a bornand bred Bodella citizen, I know what comes next. There are floodwaters coming and soon we’ll be cut off from the outside world.
Poppy whimpers as another clap of thunder ripples through the air.
Mate. Care. Protect.
“It’s okay, Poppy, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” I murmur, unable to stop myself from going to her. In the dark, I reach out, stroking my hand down her arm in a soothing gesture.
Her hand shoots up, clasping onto mine, and I let her squeeze my hand tight, anchoring her with the touch. “Don’t leave me, please. I’ll be good for you. I promise.”
She’ll begood for me.
My Omega will be good for me.
Fucking hell, those words devastate my willpower.
I swallow down the instinct to gather her up in my arms and kiss away her anxiety, but it’s difficult with the way her little sounds of distress tug at my heart. No, it’s not my heart. It’s something else. Something I can’t identify from my anatomy training. It’s deeper, yet ethereal. Tethered to me, but latched to nothing.
