My heart thumped uselessly in my chest, because he was right. One more thing being an Omega had stolen from me. Not only my dreams, but my best friends. A small, annoyed part of me insisted that they’d left me behind long ago. I was just catching up.
Sadness, and fear, welled in my chest. It would never be the same again.
Now that I’d been rescued, and death from exposure was probably off the table, the gravity of the situation swamped me. Everyone would treat me differently now; I’d no longer be just Zaley. I’d be an Omega, with all the boons and pitfalls that would entail, starting with no longer just being able to be friends with the boys who’d made my childhood so damn idyllic. Now there would always be this tension between us.
Victor caved first, groaning as he ate up the rocky terrain between us and wrapping me in his arms. “It’ll be okay, Za. We’ll figure this out.” I sunk into those arms that had hugged me hundreds of times before. Arms that had held me while I cried about my eighth grade boyfriend saying he’d only dated me as a joke. Or when Pa died. Or when I’d fallen off my bike going down the hill. Sometimes those arms were attached to a different brother, but the hugs were always the same. They made me feel safe and anchored, even when I was a kid.
He stroked my back, and I inhaled deeply. His scent was familiar, yet different. The same woodsy smell he’d had since he discovered cologne as a teen, mixed with his body wash, but now there was a hint of something more primal and earthier beneath it. His Alpha scent.
I froze in his arms as my gut clenched with desire. I stepped back, my eyes flying to his face and his blown out pupils.
“Keep your hands to yourselves before we all do something we’ll regret later,” Xander growled, pushing his brother in the shoulder. Then his gaze dropped to my feet. “You’re not wearing shoes.”
I jutted out my chin. “Or panties. In case you’ve already forgotten, I was naked as the day I was born.” They all inhaled, and I regretted my big fucking mouth. Were they… scenting me? Geez, this was awkward.
“It’s four miles to the trailhead. You can’t do it barefoot.” Will looked around, like a pair of shoes might just fall from the sky.
“We’ll have to take turns carrying her,” Xander said gruffly, glaring down at me like this was my fault. He’d always been a bit of an asshole, but while it had been part of his sexy bad boy persona when we were teens, it was just starting to piss me off now.
“With no panties on?” Will sounded like he was choking.
Victor’s eyes went wide. “Yeah, that isn’t going to work. Hang on.” He toed off his boots, and I raised my eyebrows. His feet were fifteen sizes too big. Honestly, they were so huge, he may as well have been wearing canoes on his feet.
Then he spun around and dropped his pants. I gasped as he mooned me, his muscular and extremely biteable ass completely on show.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen his ass. We’d all gone skinny dipping enough as teens. It’d had the same effect back then as it did now, like I had a fever or something. The only difference was it had never made me this wet before. The cool breeze swirled up my sweatshirt and chilled the dampness on my overheated core.
Finally, Victor stepped out of his boxers, then pulled his jeans back up his legs. He stuffed his feet back in his boots and walked over to me, thrusting his boxers at me and trying not to look into my eyes.
The sexual tension in the clearing was enough to start a forest fire.
“If you’ve been wearing these for a week, I’m going to be pissed, Vic,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. Will snorted, and Victor gave him the finger.
“I turned them inside out for you,” he deadpanned. I gagged theatrically, and his laugh washed over me. God, I’d missed that sound. “I’m kidding, Zaley. I put them on this morning. They’re as clean as they can be, considering they’ve been hugging my sweaty balls all day.”
Xander huffed. “Not helping.”
I rolled my eyes and slipped the boxers on. “I remember the sixth grade when you hit puberty and stunk like a polecat until your mom forced you to wear deodorant, Vic. I’m not scared of your sweaty balls.” We all laughed, and it was like stepping back in time.
Once I was decent, Victor spun and kind of squatted down. “Let's get you back to civilization.”
I took a running jump and landed on his back, wrapping my body around his like a koala. It felt so familiar, it was like coming home. Like they’d never left and nothing had changed.
Unfortunately, that was just a fantasy.
CHAPTERFOUR
It tookus two hours to get off the mountain, and the guys took turns at carrying me, like I weighed nothing. I knew Alphas were stronger and faster than non-designated humans, but I hadn’t realized the physiological perks they had.
I was surprised when the feral cat followed us down the mountain, though. A big, shaggy, gray thing, McKnight tracked us from a safe distance. I wondered if it was just ensuring the intruders left its territory, but when we got to a truck, the cat climbed in the second we opened the door. The guys all looked at me like I’d sprouted a second head and become Snow White.
“Don’t look at me! I thought he hated me.” I lifted my hand to show them the cat scratch. “Maybe I just got animal magnetism as a superpower when I became an Omega?”
Xander rolled his eyes. “You don’t get superpowers. But you probably aren’t far off with the magnetism thing.” He looked at Will. “You going to get it out of my truck?”
“Fuck no. Look what it did to Zaley’s hand, and anyway, it obviously likes her. You don’t want it to come? You drag it out.”
And that was how I adopted a cat. Or a cat adopted me. Either way.