Page 9 of Outback Mate
I rip my fingers from my mouth in horror.
What am I doing?
Her eyes are still closed, but if she opens them and see’s a strange Alpha sucking on his fingers with a hard-on while watching her unconscious form, she will freak out.
Rightly so. I’m being a creep.
Shoving my hands into my jean pockets, I take another step backwards before calling out, “Omega, can you hear me?”
She stirs again, groaning softly as she wakes.
My Alpha urges me to hold her close, tell her she’s safe in my arms and I’ll protect her. I ignore it, but for the first time in a long time, it’s difficult to block him out.
He’s louder than he’s been in years.
When the bundle of fabric in her lap moves, my concerns quieten as a tiny, furry nose emerges, twitching at the air.
A joey.
The sequence of events falls into place.
It’s clear what happened here, and it tells me she’s a city girl. Country folk know better.
The Omega swerved to avoid hitting the dead kangaroo and saved the little baby roo in her arms.
“Silly girl,” I mumble to myself, but an unfamiliar twinge flutters in my heart as I look at the wide eyes of the joey. I have an affinity for lost, orphaned animals, and it tugs on my heartstrings to know this Omega feels the same. “Sweet, silly girl.”
It’s cute. And made even cuter by the pretty little Omega holding it.
A clap of lightning streaks across the sky in the distance, followed by a boom of thunder. I raise my nose and sniff. Rain is near. I can smell the crackling ozone of the electrical storm growing closer.
The Omega jolts awake, her eyes springing open in alarm.
Big, blue eyes blink up at me, and it feels like the lightning strike has hit me. I feel a surge of electricity that awakens parts of me I thought would never see the light of day again.
My Alpha slams against my icy walls and roars in victory when they crack.
I can’t deny it. Not when she’s looking at me with those piercing baby blues.
She’s my scent match.
My Omega.
The bursting joy evaporates as quickly as it arose. It doesn’t matter that we’re matched. I’m not capable of being her Alpha. We can never be together.
How do I let her down easily?
Chapter Three
Poppy
Asound like thunder cracks.
I startle awake with a gasp and a shriek.
A figure looms over me, huge, imposing, and unmistakably Alpha.
I snap upright from my slumped position and scoot backwards, pressing myself into the metal of the car. I clutch the bundle in my arms close, protecting it on instinct.
