There was something dangerous about his smell…and not just by beta standards.
His alpha brothers must have sensed it too. Why else would they be standing ready to attack?
The few trusted betas in the bar knew enough to take a step back. They wouldn’t be able to help in this fight. They’d only be in the way.
Just like the woman—
The Omega.
Paige.
Her arms were still wrapped around him, her face pressed up against his back. Kian pried the omega’s fingers away from his waist and pushed her back into his corner seat. She would be safer there. She let out a cry that stabbed through his heart.
Kian’s mind reeled at the instant connection between…but only for a moment.
A half second later, the door of Evander’s Bar swung open and the three intruders stepped inside.
Every alpha snarled in unison. The sound echoed off the walls and rattled the windows.
The wary man fell into a panic at the thunderous display. The acrid stench of his leaking urine filled the room as he turned tail and ran.
His violent friend didn’t do much better. Shuffling back until his heels hit the edge of the steps, he tumbled down on his ass.
Betas, Kian thought. So fucking predictable.
At least, most of them were. But not the man in the front. His icy wrath radiated straight from his core. Kian smelled nothing but self-interest and conceit rolling off the bastard’s hide. The beta met the gaze of each alpha in the room.
Kian recognized the beta for what he was in an instant. A man who craved power, but had none naturally. So, he did the next best thing, and he stole the power of others. Without control over those smaller than him, he was nothing. No one.
That’s why he’d come all this way for the woman. Not just because she was a witness to his crimes, but because his ego couldn’t stand the thought of his plaything turning on him. His pride demanded she pay.
The beta wasn’t looking to tie up loose ends; he’d come for revenge.
Usually, Kian would laugh off that kind of aggression—especially from a beta—but something about this bastard was different. He was smart. Determined. Cruel. Kian could see it in the man’s eyes.
“I’m not looking for trouble,” the beta said, his voice unnaturally calm.
Ty’s low growl rose up from behind the bar. “Too bad. That’s all we serve here.”
“I’m just looking for a woman,” the beta said.
“Try again on Friday night,” Ty said. “That’s when the whores come.”
Paige sucked in a sharp breath of fear behind Kian’s right shoulder. The beta’s eyes snapped to her instantly, his top lip curling up.
“I’m not looking for a whore. I’m looking for her,” he said, taking a step forward. “I’ll just grab her and get out of your—”
Kian slid over a step, blocking the beta’s path. “If you want to keep breathing, you’ll leave now.” He bared his teeth. His muscles tensed. “Without the girl.”
The beta, Craig, tilted his head back to look Kian in the eye. The first glint of wariness finally showed in the fool’s eyes. He had to know he didn’t stand a chance against an alpha. Still, the much smaller man didn’t back down.
“She’s my fiancé.”
A new fire caught inside Kian, making his blood boil. Every instinct inside him told him to tear the beta clean in half for trying to claim Paige as his own.
“She’s not your anything,” Kian snarled. Possessiveness dripped from his words. The beta’s eyes widened at the sound.
“Oh, so that’s what’s going on here. You were hoping for a taste before I took her away.” The beta gave an oily smile. “Well, that’s not a problem. Have at her, friend. I’ll be happy to drag away what’s left of her after you’re done.”
That was it. Kian’s last bit of control snapped. He roared in pure rage.
“Kian,” Ty yelled from behind the bar, but he barely registered the sound of his own name. Something was taking him over. A new emotion. Raw and uncontrolled. His arms flew up, ready to shred the beta, make it so he could never touch another woman again.
“Shit,” Ty shouted. “Somebody grab him.”
Two alpha rushed over and took Kian by the shoulders. They struggled to hold him back from painting the bar with the bastard’s blood, but Kian was fighting with new strength. A power he’d never had before surged through his body.
She didn’t belong to this filthy mutt. The omega was his, and his alone. And he would rip apart everyone in this bar to prove it.
Two more alphas latched on to his arms, but the beta still didn’t run. Instead, he reached for the waist of his pants. Kian caught a glimpse of the matte black handle.
A gun.
The one he’d brought to kill Paige.
Kian found the strength to throw the four alphas off his body, but before he could grab the puny weapon and shove it down the bastard’s throat, Ty jumped over the bar and brought his fist down on the beta’s face.
A loud crack sounded as bone snapped and tendons twisted. A brilliant spray of blood shot from the man’s nose as he crumpled to the floor.
Kian’s rage subsided a little at the sight of the man’s unconscious body.
Ty reached down and snagged the beta’s wrist. He dragged the limp body toward the door, kicked it open, and tossed the son of a bitch out onto the steps.
“Come get your boss out of my bar,” he roared. “And never come back.”
The lackeys didn’t wait to be asked twice. From inside the bar, Kian could hear them scuttling over to drag the bastard away. A few seconds later, a car engine roared to life before peeling off down the highway.
After that the tension in the bar eased. One by one, the men in the bar—alpha and beta alike—turned away and got back to business. Eventually, even Kian felt his fury simmer down to simple anger.
Ty, his closest and oldest friend, stayed by his side the whole time, the both of them staring at the closed door.
“You back with us?” Ty asked when Kian’s shoulders no longer rose and fell with each breath.
“Yeah,” Kian said. “Thanks for taking that guy out before…”
“Before you killed a beta without right in neutral territory and caused this my bar to be flooded with outside authorities?”
“Yeah,” Kian grumbled. “Something like that.”
Ty clapped a hand over his shoulder. “Don’t mention it.”
Kian looked down at the pool of dark blood seeping into the wood boards at his feet. “Should we clean that up?”
“Leave it,” Ty said. “Let it be a warning to any other son of a beta who thinks they’re tough enough to go up against a bar full of alphas.”
It wasn’t a bad idea.
“Besides,” Ty continued. “I’m pretty sure the smell of fresh blood is the only thing strong enough to distract everyone from the cause of your rampage back there.”
Kian turned his head to see the woman—the omega—still pressed up against the wall. Now that the physical contact between them had been broken, the haze of confusion had cleared from her eyes. There was no battle between instinct and reason. Her expression was crystal clear.
Terror.
She was paralyzed with it. Unable to move, barely able to breathe. Maybe it was the confrontation with her fiancé. Maybe it was the violent scene that had just unfolded before her eyes. Maybe it was the shock of realizing her true nature. Whatever fear gripped her, it was threatening to swallow her whole.
Ty let out a laugh, before letting his hand slip away from Kian’s shoulder. “Still think she’s not a threat?”
Kian grimaced. The truth was, he wasn’t so sure. This wasn’t a situation he knew. Alphas were a rare breed. Only a few hundred maturing into their true nature every year worldwide.
But omegas, they were even rarer.
At least, everyone assumed they were. After all, a woman needed to be in the presence of a compatible alpha to reveal her true nature…and
beta society made sure that rarely happened.
Kian knew only too well the culture of fear that was fostered against alphas. He’d grown up in it. Horror stories and legends were shared like gospel truths. Women were warned never to set foot in the Boundarylands for fear that the touch of a monster would change her into a slave to lust and sin.
No doubt that was what Paige had been taught. The look on her face revealed everything panicked thought swirling in her brain. She was sure that she’d not only become the property of a savage beast, but had become one herself.
Kian, on the other hand, wasn’t sure what to think. He hadn’t known this woman five minutes and he was willing to kill for her. To die for her.
Kian stepped away from the puddle of her ex-lover’s blood, and the full force of her scent crashed over him—sweet, and delicate, and downright irresistible. It reeled him in like a siren’s song.
Shit.
He’d walked into Evander’s tonight for a couple drinks, not a goddamned mate. He hadn’t asked for any of this.
But Ty was right. Her delicious unclaimed scent was growing stronger with each passing second, building as she more fully came into her own. It was only a matter of time before it became strong enough to interest every other alpha in a five-mile radius.
And if she were still in the building when that happened, Ty would be dealing with a lot more bloodstains on his floor.
Paige stared in horror at the massive hand the alpha was extending toward her. She could fit both of hers in his palm if she wanted to. And the truly terrifying thing was that there was a part of her that wanted to.
“Come with me.” Kian’s voice was just as low as before, just as commanding.
Paige shook her head, and pressed her back even harder against the wall. She’d made the biggest mistake of her life coming here.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t true. The biggest mistake had been trusting Craig, of answering any of his phone calls, of saying yes when he asked her out on that first date. How far back did she want to take this?
“It’s okay,” Kian said gruffly, jutting his hand out a few inches farther. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”
A cold chill swept over Paige as the blood drained from her face. “Is…is he dead?” she sputtered.
“Unfortunately, no.” Kian shook his head. “Just out cold. Broken jaw. Busted nose. Enough to make him think twice before coming back here again.”
Paige swallowed down past the lump quickly growing in her throat. She wasn’t so sure. Craig was a stubborn bastard…especially when it came to his pride. The bartender might not have given her a new life, but he’d given her a head start.
No matter how desperate Craig was to silence her, he was going to need some recovery time. If she headed out of here now, she’d be able to cross a few state lines before he woke up. She could ditch her car and phone somewhere around Wyoming and disappear entirely.
Paige inched to the side, going out of her way to avoid Kian’s reach. “Thank your friend for me, then,” she said. “And also thank your sister next time you talk to her, but it looks like I don’t need your help anymore.”
Kian threw out his massive arm, blocking her way. Paige stopped cold. Her eyes widened as another rush of fear shot through her. Fear…and something else. Something she absolutely refused to name.
“You know I can’t let you walk away, right?” he said, his eyes fixed on her. His light brown eyes. Or were they green? She wasn’t sure. They seemed to be a mix of the two. Paige fought against the urge to lean forward and see which color was stronger.
“Why not?”
“I think you know.” He didn’t give any other explanation. He simply reached out and took her hand. The moment his fingers wrapped around hers, a surge of warmth filled her chest. Every sensation she’d felt before came surging back. The sense of safety. Of protection. The absolute certainty that she was exactly where she was supposed to be.
With Kian.
But at the same time, her rational brain knew that couldn’t be right. There was no way she belonged here in the Boundarylands. She was normal. A good girl. A plain-vanilla beta.
There had to be some mistake. There was nothing special about her.
Kian, on the other hand, was spectacular. Intense, and strong, and so very big. Her eyes trailed up his muscular arm to his wide shoulder. Her gaze lingered on the sight of his broad chest, so big she could curl her whole body up on it if she wanted to.
And a part of her wanted to. Wanted to so badly.
It was the same part of her that had started mentally stripping the clothes off his body. First his shirt. Then his pants. The same part that imagined him sweating with exertion as he propped himself above her. As he shifted his hips between her legs. The part that calculated how wide she’d have to spread her thighs to accommodate his body. Imagined the feel of his nut-brown hair slipping between her fingers as she begged for more.
Whoa.
What the hell was that?
Paige had never had such a vivid fantasy before. Not ever. Not about Craig. Not about anybody.
And it wasn’t just affecting her head. The warm spot that had blossomed in her chest at the feel of his skin had grown downright hot…and shifted down.
Mortified, Paige pressed her thighs together as a wet spot grew between her legs. And grew. And kept growing.
She tried to shake the vision of Kian’s hard, naked body out of her mind, but it refused to budge. She pulled back, but he held tight to her hand.
“Let go,” she pleaded, scared she was about to humiliate herself right here in the middle of the bar. She looked up at him, hoping that he’d take mercy on her when he saw the desperation in her eyes.
She should have known better. His stony expression hardened. His nostrils flared. A new fire burned bright in those hazel eyes.
Oh, no.
She pulled with all her might, but there was no way in hell she could break free from his grasp.
“We need to go now,” he growled. He pulled her toward the door. Paige stumbled behind his long strides, doing the double duty of fighting both him and her baser instincts.
“No,” she yelled.
Or at least, she meant to yell. She meant to kick and struggle and fight, but for some reason, her body wasn’t obeying.
Kian didn’t say a word. Didn’t offer any explanation of where he was taking her, or assurances she would be all right. He only pulled her on.
Paige’s gaze shot around the bar, looking for anyone who might help her, but all she saw were alphas staring at her. Some weren’t just staring. They rubbed the front of their pants as Kian dragged her by.
Oh. My. God.
Were they…? No. They couldn’t be. Paige refused to think about it.
“What the hell is happening?” she said aloud.
“You’re happening,” Kian grumbled. “A goddamned unclaimed omega in an alpha bar. That’s what happening.”
Chapter Four
Kian wanted to wrap his arms around Paige’s waist and toss her into the cab of his truck, but he didn’t dare. Sure, he needed to get her and the intoxicating scent of her slick away from the other alphas, but he also knew there was no way he could pull her against his body and then let her go. Not after he’d felt the heat of her sweet arousal.
He’d end up throwing her down and taking her right there on the passenger’s seat. Tearing the jeans off her skin, burying his shaft between those lush legs, and claiming her right here in the parking lot.
Kian let out a roar of frustration. What the hell was his sister thinking sending this woman his way? She knew what could happen. Everyone knew.
Kian should have never let Paige get so close. He should have let Ty scare the frightened mouse out of the bar before she had the chance to talk to him. The chance to touch him. The chance to become what she really was.
But if he’d chased Paige away, she’d be dead right now. Kian knew that for certain. That cold-blooded beta fiancé of hers had been just minutes be
hind. She would have walked out of Evander’s Bar and into one of his bullets.
The thought rekindled Kian’s fury. He barreled down the steps to the parking lot. Paige stumbled behind him, and he lifted his arm to keep her from hitting the ground.
“Wait,” she called out. “Please, stop. Please.”
But Kian kept going. She didn’t understand he was doing her a favor. Those alphas in there—his friends, his brothers—might be content to paw at their cocks right now, but they wouldn’t be for long. Not while the heady scent of unclaimed slick filled the air.
Kian wrenched open the door of his truck and let go of her wrist, hurtling her toward the opening. “Get in.”
“But—” she started.
He closed the distance between them in a heartbeat. He didn’t let his chest touch hers. He didn’t dare. He was careful to keep a few inches of space between them.
He glowered down at her, allowing all his pent-up frustration to come through loud and clear in his voice. “Get. In. The. Truck.”
She stared up at him with wide eyes for a full second before spinning on her heel and practically diving inside. He slammed the door shut behind her.
There. That was better.
Kian took in a deep breath, filling his lungs with forest air. A thousand scents filled his head—moss, redwood bark, broken eggshells from the nest high above his head—but not Paige. He took in a few more, letting the familiar scents cool his head and his blood. He couldn’t linger long, though.
His instincts demanded that he drive her away from here. Somewhere safe. Somewhere private.
Kian grimaced as he opened the driver side door and was hit full in the face with her scent. He ground his back teeth together as he lifted himself up into the oversized cab.
What was he thinking? He was enclosing himself in a metal box with the one creature whose scent had the potential to make him lose control.
He was thinking he needed to get her away from this damned bar. Away from any more homicidal betas who might be hunting her down. Away from all the other alphas who wanted to take her and fill her and claim her as their own.
Kian: The Boundarylands Omegaverse: M/F Alpha Omega Romance Page 3