Emily returned to looking out the window, knowing that nothing that came out of her mouth would do any good. So he wasn't going to punish her right away—he was going to let it build.
"You can stop cringing like that," he said after some time had passed. "I'm not like that bastard Sloan."
A silent, dark laugh bubbled up inside Emily. She swallowed it down, along with her shock. There was absolutely no reason for mirth.
But Cade had noticed. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing."
"You think I'm lying to you? You really think I'm going to hurt you?"
Maybe it was because she'd been living with an alpha and his extraordinary senses for months, but Emily could actually feel the anger radiating from Cade, filling the truck like a poisoned cloud.
"I think you hurt people, yes. Your friends back at the bar made it pretty clear you liked to use your fists to solve your problems."
"On them," Cade shouted. "Not on you. Never on an omega."
"That's just because you've never had one around before."
Cade let out a frustrated growl that shook the window at Emily's side, and she clamped her mouth shut. What on earth was she thinking? Just because the day would end with her face down in her own blood, there was no reason to hurry the moment along.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Cade grumbled just as he made a hard right turn.
They'd arrived at his property.
Emily felt an involuntary shiver of terror, despite knowing all along where they were going. Actually being on this stranger's land made everything a lot more real. A sick sense of dread filled her stomach, and she struggled to draw in a breath.
"You need to turn around," she blurted, her hands clawing at the seat in fear. "You need to go back."
"Why?"
"Because your friend was right." Why couldn't he see the obvious? "This is going to end badly."
"Zeke ain't my friend," Cade muttered and kept driving.
Emily thought she'd lost the will to resist, but the farther down the narrow drive the truck went, the more frantic her breathing became, the stronger her urge to flee. She'd misunderstood everything. This alpha was never really the threat at all.
"No!" She was screaming, but she couldn't stop. "He was right. I have to get back to the bar before Sloan wakes up. He'll lose it when he finds out I'm gone."
Cade glanced at her, eyes narrowed. "You can't really want to go back to that omega-beating piece of shit."
Want? There was a fucking joke. What part of Emily's life for the last two months had anything to do with what she wanted?
"Y-you don't understand," she sputtered, desperate to make him see reason. "He'll come after me. He'll come after both of us."
"And wipe the floor with me, right?" Cade slung her previous warning back at her. "Nope—that didn't happen last time, and won't happen now. Don't worry, you're safe with me."
Like hell she was.
Emily felt like she was going to explode with frustration at this alpha's reckless stupidity. At best, this was a lateral move—same misery, different alpha. But at worst…oh, shit, at worst, Cade was headed for a one-way trip to hell, courtesy of Sloan.
Either way, Emily was a goner.
But no one had bothered to tell that to the tiny flame inside her, the rebellious spirit she'd never asked for. Emily couldn't outrun Cade, and trying would only provoke him further.
But that didn't stop her from yanking open the passenger door and throwing herself out of the truck.
Chapter Four
One minute Cade was rounding the final turn on the ascent toward his house, thinking he'd finally convinced the little omega that he meant her no harm, and the next—bam!—she opened the passenger door and jumped.
Cade slammed his foot down hard on the brakes, causing the truck to skid sideways on the dirt road. Behind him, a dust cloud rose into the air, obscuring the view in the rear-view mirror.
It didn't matter. Cade didn't need his eyes to know where the omega was—not when her scent was filling up his senses.
He hadn't been going fast when she'd decided to bail out—around twenty miles an hour—but she still hit the ground hard, tumbling over onto that sweet round ass.
Even after that, she still had some fight left in her. She jumped back up, dusted off her jeans, and took off running back toward the Central Road.
Cade cursed under his breath as he threw the parking brake and got out of the truck. What the hell did she think she was doing? For someone who'd been living with an alpha—even a sick, useless bastard like Sloan—she seemed to have forgotten that there was no way she could outrun an alpha. So why was she trying?
Because she's panicking, the voice in his head answered loud and clear.
Cade should have seen this coming. The scent of her fear had grown sharper and stronger with each passing mile. He probably should have guessed that she was about to do something desperate. But what the hell did he know about omegas?
He didn't like to advertise the fact, but Cade didn't know much about women in general. He'd grown up one of three brothers and attended an all-boys school until his nature became clear. Now that he was in the Boundarylands, he barely spent time with any women at all, outside of the occasional evenings he spent with the ladies who came to Evander's every Friday night. And hardly any of that time was spent talking.
For some reason, he'd figured that the helpless, beaten omega he'd found in the parking lot would be grateful for his help. Instead, she had risked a broken neck by throwing herself out of his moving truck.
Showed what he knew.
Even with a head start, and running like the devil himself was at her heels, it took Cade only moments to catch up to her.
"Hey…lady," he said as he jogged beside her, only now realizing that he didn't even know her name. Hell, he hadn't even thought to ask. No wonder she didn't think much of him with manners like that. "Stop this right now. Take a fucking breath, then come back to the truck."
She gave no sign she'd heard him, just kept on running, despite the fact that she'd obviously done something to her right knee, which threatened to buckle with every step. She must have injured it when she rolled out of the truck—and if she kept this up, it would only get worse.
Fuck. He didn't really have a choice here. Even though he knew she was going to hate him for it, Cade reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her short.
But he only succeeded in causing her survival instincts to kick into high gear. She spun around in his grasp and lashed out at him, kicking his shins and smacking his chest with her free hand, desperately trying to pull free.
"Let me go!" she screamed, her voice as anguished as it was determined. "I won't do this again, you son of a bitch."
She was afraid…of him. And while her ineffectual blows bounced off Cade without hurting a bit, the terror in her voice sliced right through him.
She feared him as much as that bastard Sloan. Maybe even more.
Cade looked down at his hand, circling her slender arm. It looked massive by comparison. Even her flesh was turning an unnatural shade of white where his fingers clutched her much too hard. If he didn't ease up, he'd end up hurting her accidentally.
Your friends back at the bar made it pretty clear you liked to use your fists to solve your problems.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Cade wasn't often in a position where he so overpowered another person, except with the whores, and they were used to alphas and not easily cowed. He instantly released her, but the omega surprised him, staying put instead of taking the opportunity to bolt again.
She stared at the imprint of his hand on her arm before crumpling to the ground in front of him. She covered her head with her arms and rolled into a protective ball.
"I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm so sorry." The words fell from her lips like a prayer, one she was obviously used to repeating. "I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."
For the first time in his life, staring down at the helpless, cowering omega, Cade had no idea what to
do. As the youngest of three boys, he had learned to stand up for himself early, and once he came to the Boundarylands, he'd never come up against a problem his fists couldn't solve.
But he couldn't fight his way out of this.
What Cade really wished he could do was to rip off Sloan's head to punish him for the pain and trauma he'd obviously caused this beautiful omega. But that satisfaction would have to wait. Right now, Cade's rage and bloodlust weren't doing this woman any good.
Unfortunately, Cade had no idea how to comfort, how to soothe. He'd never needed to learn. His family was loving, but they showed it with wrestling matches and triple-dog dares and pranks that sometimes ended up with someone getting stitches. Even his mother was more comfortable joking around than hugging.
But if he was going to help this omega—and for some reason, he really wanted to—then he was going to have to learn, and fast. At the very least, he had to figure out how to make her stop crying.
Cade wasn't sure why he felt drawn to her, other than the obvious reason that she was an unmated, unclaimed omega. But if that was the only reason, he'd have a raging hard-on and an overwhelming urge to simply fuck her tears away.
But that wasn't what he was feeling.
Sure, he was attracted to her—massively, staggeringly. But that wasn't the reason he'd brought her home with him. His little show of misguided chivalry was due to a compulsion to protect her that he couldn't ignore. To…take care of her. And if he had to comfort her first to do it, then so be it.
Cade looked around first to reassure himself, but of course, there was no one on his land to see what he was about to do. Awkwardly, he lowered himself down on his haunches by her side.
"Don't cry."
It came out a little harsher than he intended, and it was clear from her continued sobbing that his words had done nothing to break through her terror.
"Uh…please don't cry."
Nothing.
Not knowing what else to do, Cade gave her a clumsy pat on the back, but the shock of his touch only sent her skittering farther away.
Oh, for fuck's sake. Why did this have to be so damn hard?
Cade wasn't some touchy-feely beta trying to pick up a girl in a grocery store or some shit. He was a goddamn alpha. Alphas didn't soothe, they protected. They guarded.
But maybe that was the problem.
This omega had never felt the touch of a real alpha, of a man who wouldn't merely not hurt her, but would tear apart the whole goddamned world if anyone tried to harm her.
With sudden clarity, Cade remembered that was exactly who he was. Not only that—he was pretty damn sure it was what this omega needed, the thing that might just calm her down.
Dropping all pretense, Cade closed his eyes and blocked out everything but his instincts. He smothered the voices who'd told him he was too young or too cocky or too quick to fight and dug deep for who he was when he crossed the border for the first time, when he was filled with the rush of finally knowing he was where he was meant to be.
When he opened his eyes again, Cade knew exactly what to do.
He reached out and grabbed the woman and pulled her into his arms, wrapping his own tightly around her so that she was completely shielded from the outside world.
"It's all right," he told her solemnly. Let other guys do the sweet-talking. All Cade had was the truth, but his instincts told him that was all she needed. "I got you now."
She stilled in his arms, her only motion the rise and fall of her breath. Cade felt the tension slowly melt away. One last hot tear fell on his forearm, but that was all. She was finished with crying. Even her scent shifted, the sour sting of fear giving way to a deeper, earthier smell, like the gentle warmth of a crackling fire in the middle of winter.
Cade pulled her even closer, burying his face in her corn-silk hair and unconsciously matching his breath to hers. His next words came with no forethought at all.
"I've got you, and no one is ever going to hurt you again.”
Chapter Five
An alpha had her trapped in his arms, his hard chest pressed to her back, his breath on her neck. His voice was deep and rumbling and reached deep inside her so that she could feel him in every cell of her body.
Emily couldn't process what he was saying—all she could do was wait, frozen, for the air to be squeezed from her lungs. She knew what would happen. She'd be crushed until she almost passed out, then released only so that the torment could continue. Again and again and again.
Except…this time things were different.
This alpha was different.
Cade.
Emily turned the name over in her mind as the tension slowly drained out of her. It was almost as if his voice—or maybe it was his touch—was a powerful sedative. She didn't feel sleepy, exactly, just…limp. Boneless.
Relaxed…?
This was a feeling that Emily hadn't had in so long, she barely recognized it. But as Cade continued to murmur, almost purring, she felt soothed, even comforted. His arms weren't trapping her; they were loose enough that she instinctively knew he would let her go if she insisted now. Something had changed between them. Her terror was a disaster that he'd averted, a flash fire he'd put out.
Cade's voice was deep, like Sloan's, but otherwise, it had little in common. Sloan always spoke in a hoarse rasp, with a cruel edge that had frightened her from the start. Over time, hearing him talk came to elicit an automatic reaction in Emily: her heart started racing, and she shrank into herself, overwhelmed by the desire to disappear.
With Cade, it was different. His words found their way into her veins and flowed along with her blood, gently untying all her knots of tension from the inside out.
But as her intellect caught up with her emotions, Emily’s mind signaled caution. She had absolutely no reason to trust Cade, she reminded herself.
No one had to tell her what he was—an alpha, quick-tempered and violent by nature. She knew firsthand the strength in an alpha's muscles, the damage that those hands could do. And she knew how quickly an alpha's temper could be provoked.
But despite all that, Emily couldn't seem to rouse herself from the warmth of Cade’s embrace, the raw honesty behind his words.
I've got you.
No one is ever going to hurt you again.
It was almost enough to make Emily dare to hope again.
No. No! Just as quickly as that deceitful emotion appeared, she swatted it down. She'd survived too much to be tempted by hope's false promises ever again.
Still…after the day she'd had—hell, after the last two months she'd had—Emily deserved a little solace. What harm could it do to stay just a little longer in this temporary comfort?
No harm…as long as she didn't lose herself in it.
Which would be way too easy to do. Emily inhaled one last time of Cade’s scent—wood smoke and leather and pine—before reluctantly pulling away.
She settled back down onto the soft blanket of pine needles on the forest floor, half expecting Cade to grab for her again. But he didn't.
In Emily's experience, there were only two reasons an alpha ever touched an omega—when he wanted to hit her or when he wanted to fuck her. In neither of those scenarios did Emily have any choice in the matter. Whatever he wanted to do to her, she was powerless to stop him.
That was why she was so surprised when she lifted her head and found Cade still bent down on his haunches in front of her, his unusual gold-flecked eyes locked with hers. She detected no anger in their depths. No violent lust, either.
Emily struggled to define the emotions he seemed to be battling. The intensity of his gaze filled her with a strange awareness that bordered on discomfort. There was curiosity, yes, and perhaps a bit of frustration, but also…compassion? Concern?
But that was ridiculous. Those weren't emotions that alphas were capable of experiencing.
Emily suddenly realized she had been staring and immediately dropped her gaze. She struggled up to her feet, wincing at a sharp
stab of pain in her right knee as she tried to lock it.
"I'm sorry," she gasped.
"No, you're not." Cade made no move to rise, staring at her from his position near the ground. There was an almost feral quality to the set of his face that further stirred something inside Emily. "What you are is afraid."
Emily bit her lip, wishing it wasn't true.
"I guess I haven't really helped with that, have I?" Cade dusted his hands on his jeans before standing. "I should have realized that hauling you out of there so quick would only scare you more."
Not quite an apology, but a hell of a lot closer than she'd ever heard an alpha get.
Emily still didn't dare look at Cade. She focused on her dusty sneakers instead. They weren't much to look at, but at least they didn't make her stomach feel like it was doing somersaults.
"So," she said when the silence between them had gone on too long. "What happens now?"
She'd been expecting another round of commands— get back in the truck, sit in her seat, be quiet and stop asking questions—but Cade surprised her.
"What's your name?"
"Emily," she said after a moment's hesitation. "Emily Dover."
A trace of a smile flashed across Cade’s face, as though he liked the sound of it, and Emily experienced a rush of warmth that traveled through her whole body.
"Tell me the truth, Emily. Do you really want to go back to Sloan?"
The memory of Sloan's last backhand came into Emily’s mind, the sting of his hard knuckles digging into her cheek, but it vanished just as quickly, replaced by the memory of Cade's embrace.
It was so tempting to believe, to go along with the spun-sugar fantasy Cade was selling. But Emily had to be stronger than that. Omegas like her didn't get to make choices like these, and forgetting it even for a moment meant she would pay.
"I should," she answered honestly. "The longer I'm away from him, the angrier he'll become."
Cade shook his head and moved closer to her, but Emily instinctively took a step back, keeping distance between them. He didn't look pleased about it, but at least he didn't lash out at her.
Cade: The Boundarylands Omegaverse Page 3