Kian let out a growl as he started the engine. Then he rolled down both windows as he peeled out of the parking lot. Fresh air rushed into the truck, cooling his blood as he pulled onto the Central Road, the one paved artery that ran through the entire hundred-and-fifty-mile length of the Boundarylands.
The cool breeze wasn’t enough to ease his engorged cock, but it was enough that after a mile he was willing to risk a glance over at her.
He instantly wished he hadn’t.
She’d scooted as far away from him as possible, her back plastered against the door. Hell, going by the look of sheer terror on her face, he thought she might decide it was better to shimmy out the open window and hit the pavement at fifty miles an hour than spend another second by his side.
Shit. If she moved that way he’d have to reach out and grab her again. Grab her…and hold her…and push her down…and…
A low grumble sounded deep in Kian’s chest as his cock surged with need.
Focus on her fear, he told himself. Focus on the part you don’t want to grind yourself into.
“Calm down,” he said, sounding gruff even to his own ears. He leaned his head toward the open window, drew in a full breath of cool night air still laced with salt spray off the ocean a few miles away. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
She shook her head, rejecting his words. “Please. You have to let me go.”
“I already told you I can’t do that.”
“If you want money, I can get more,” she went on. She obviously wasn’t listening to a word he said. “Just don’t hurt me.”
“Hurt you?” Kian tightened his grip on the wheel. “Why would I do that? I just saved your ass back there.”
“Please,” Her voice broke. Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I just want to go home. I don’t want to die. Not like this.”
Kian stomped down hard on the brakes. The tires on the truck squealed, locking over the hard asphalt. The second they’d stopped, Kian swiveled to the omega.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he demanded.
Her lower lip shook for a moment before answering. “You’re kidnapping me. You’re going to—” her voice hitched. “You’re going to force me to breed.”
“A second ago you said I was going to kill you,” he said, his voice overflowing with a mixture of confusion and frustration. “Now I’m going to breed with you. Which is it?”
She blinked. Confusion etched itself into deep lines above her brows. Apparently, there was some connection he wasn’t making.
“If the rape doesn’t kill me, then the birth will,” she said.
Kian shook his head. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What the fuck are you talking about? Who told you this shit?”
“Everybody knows that alphas are wild beast who live for violence and self-satisfaction. I know what your kind does to omegas. What you force them to do. We learned all about it in school.”
Fucking betas. He should have known.
“It’s bullshit,” he muttered in disgust. “Lies meant to keep you under control.”
“It’s not a lie,” she said defensively. “I’ve seen proof with my own eyes.”
“Oh, really?” Kian cocked his head to the side. It was painfully obvious this woman had never seen an alpha in the flesh until tonight. “A rogue alpha made it all the way down to Sacramento and started screwing women the sidewalks?”
“No. I saw a video on the news,” she spat back. “There was security camera footage of a woman coming in contact with an alpha on a reserve. He ripped off all her clothes, threw her over his shoulder, and disappeared into the woods.”
The image of doing that to Paige flashed through Kian’s mind. The only difference was he knew he’d never make it to the tree line. He’d take her right here in the middle of the road.
He tried to shake the image from his head, but it refused to budge. He reached down to shift his jeans, and his hand brushed against the outline of his over-sensitive cock. Every muscle tightened with desire.
Fuck. He was acting like a teenager, on the edge of blowing a load in his pants over a vivid story.
“Where was this video taken?”
“Germany, I think,” she said. “In the Black Forest.”
“When?”
“I was still in high school when I saw it,” she said, her eyes rolling up to the roof of the truck as she thought. “So, eight or nine years ago.”
“And that’s what makes you an expert on alpha behavior?” Kian wanted to laugh, but what came out was a bark of pure frustration. “Grainy footage of an isolated incident that occurred halfway around the world a decade ago?”
“It was terrifying,” she said. “It’s stuck with me ever since.”
Kian didn’t have any trouble believing that. Even now he couldn’t beat back the image doing all of that and more to the trembling omega in front of him.
“I’m not going to force myself on you.”
“Then where are you taking me?”
“Away from the dozen alphas you were driving wild with the scent of your lust.”
Paige’s whole face lit up with shame. “This isn’t lust.”
She leaned even farther back until she nearly blocked out the open window. The wind rushing in whooshed past her, picking up her essence and bringing it straight to him.
“The hell it isn’t.” Didn’t she realize the scent of her slick was so thick that it practically covered his tongue every time he opened his mouth to talk?
“So you’re not going to force yourself on me, but your friends were?”
Kian let out a growl.
“Stop talking about fucking,” he demanded. “Can’t you see what you’re doing to me?”
Paige’s eyes went wide. Her mouth fell open as she looked down at his lap.
It was too much for Kian to take. The vision of those pink lips wrapping around the head of his cock filled his head. Her tongue laving against his shaft. Her hands working the base.
Oh God.
The alphas back at Evander’s Bar had it right. He needed to take care of the unbearable pressure building up inside him before he did something he’d regret.
Kian threw open the door and jumped down on to the side of the road. He made it three strides back before he had to stop, lean against the wall of the truck bed, and free his cock. He let his head fall back as he palmed his shaft. He focused on the stars shining through the breaks in the forest canopy as he feverishly stroked himself.
Even as the first thrums of pleasure started to build up inside him, Kian knew it wouldn’t be enough. Not now that he’d felt the touch of an omega. Not now that his senses had been filled with the scent.
He pumped his cock faster, pushing his back into the side of his truck so hard that the locked tires skidded over the pavement. It would never be enough again. Not until he filled her. Made her writhe in pleasure. Made her beg for more. Not until he felt her convulse in pure satisfaction around his knot.
What the hell was going on?
No, Paige thought. She really didn’t want to know the answer to that question.
She gripped the door handle as the truck began to rhythmically rock back and forth. She refused to turn her head to see what was making Kian moan so deep and so loud. It was bad enough that her imagination was filling in the gaps.
But what she really didn’t understand was how those images were holding her captive. She should be taking the opportunity to open her door and run like hell.
But instead she was frozen, listening to an alpha jerk off so hard that it was pushing his parked truck to the side of the road. The warm spot between her legs grew even hotter at the thought. Wetness overflowed, and the inside of her thighs grew slick.
He could be doing that to me instead.
No. She pushed back the thought. She didn’t want this. Paige gripped onto her fear like a blanket. As long as she could keep hold of her fear, it was proof that this was all a mistake. That she was still more human than not. Still
normal. Still a good girl.
But good girls weren’t supposed to be anywhere near Boundarylands. They were supposed to hide. They were supposed to resist.
But where could she go? Back to her car at Evander’s Bar? Where a dozen riled-up alphas waited to jerk off all over her?
A deafening roar made her jump in her seat. Before Paige could catch herself, she looked out the back window. Kian’s head was thrown back, his eyes closed. His expression was strained, half ecstasy, half agony. The hand that wasn’t busy was spread along the top of the truck bed. As orgasm overtook him, it clenched into a fist.
Paige watched in horror as the solid metal twisted and warped under his fingers. Dear God, if he could do that to a truck bed, what would he do to her? She wasn’t some delicate flower, but she was flesh and bone. She’d break a hell of a lot easier than steel.
Paige swiveled back around as soon as his hands unclenched. Biting into her lower lip, she stared out the windshield to where the headlights were swallowed by the dense, dark forest only a few yards ahead. She barely breathed as he climbed back into the driver’s seat, but he didn’t say a word. He just started the engine and pulled back into the lane.
Apparently, they weren’t going to talk about what had just happened. That was fine. She had no idea how to deal with that conversation anyway.
Sorry you got so turned on by my presence that you had to make an emergency stop to rub one out by the side of the road.
Yeah, maybe it was just better to let it go, and try something more mundane.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
A long moment of silence passed. So long, that Paige thought he wasn’t going to answer.
“Home,” he finally said.
Paige gripped tighter to that blanket of fear.
Not his home.
Just home.
Chapter Five
There was no getting away from him. The realization hit Paige about five miles down the twisty mountain road.
It wasn’t just that her body had turned traitor somewhere along the way—that her legs refused to run, that her arms refused to fight.
There was also just his pure size.
Kian was huge. The breadth of his shoulders alone took up so much space that Paige had to make herself as small as possible just to keep from brushing up against him.
And she sure as hell didn’t want to do that again. Not after what had just happened.
It wasn’t just his shoulders either. Everything about him was huge. His massive hands practically swallowed the steering wheel. His width of his thighs pushed over into her side of the cab.
Paige had to twist herself into an uncomfortable pretzel, with one arm propped against the windshield and the other on the back of the cab just to hold herself steady. It was awkward as hell, but it worked.
At least it did…until Kian made a sudden turn off the road and onto a dirt path. The wheels jarred hard against the ragged surface, and Paige went flying up. She couldn’t hold herself against the force and pitched forward…right into Kian’s side.
All the warmth came flooding back in an instant—a mix of belonging and need. Paige pushed herself up and away before the sensation could swallow her completely.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, tucking herself back into her corner.
She watched Kian’s body tense, his fingers digging deeper into the leather-wrapped steering wheel. A low rumble sounded from his throat. She had no idea if it was a growl of annoyance or desire. All she knew was that she couldn’t take the tension much longer.
“How much farther?” she asked.
He didn’t look over at her. His eyes stayed fixed on the road outside the windshield, his lips pressed together.
“Five minutes? An hour?” she tried.
His jaw line tightened. “A few more miles.”
Paige swallowed down hard. She didn’t dare press him for more information.
She turned her head and stared out the windshield. The view did nothing to calm her nerves. Paige had never been anywhere so remote. All around her was dense forest wilderness, dark and deep. Intellectually, she knew the Boundarylands covered hundreds of square miles, but somehow being in the middle of it was different. It felt endless. Overwhelming.
Her fingers began to tap a nervous beat against the pane of glass.
“Impatient?” Kian asked, glancing at her hand out of the corner of his eye.
“Terrified,” she said honestly. After all, there was no point in lying. Kian had already made it clear that he could sniff out her true emotions.
His brows arched. “You’re scared of the woods?”
She was afraid of everything right now. She’d been in a constant state of fear since twelve o’clock this afternoon, and every passing hour just brought new horrors. But right now it was easier to focus on the woods.
“Of course,” she said. “It’s so dark. You can’t see past the trees. Anything could be out there. Just waiting.”
A flicker of a grin showed on Kian’s face. “There’s nothing out there.”
“But you can’t know th—”
“I know.” His voice was confidence itself.
Of course, he knew. Of course. Apparently, he could see, and smell, and sense everything out here.
“So, I’m all alone,” she said. Somehow the thought was even less comforting.
“You’re not alone.” He shot her a sidelong glance, one that sent a rush of electric tingles down the length of her spine. “You’re with me.”
Red-hot awareness flooded her body. She didn’t know how to react to the sensation. One part of her want to move closer. To wrap her arms around him. Sink into the warmth and the comfort that he promised.
But another part fought back hard. It demanded she run as far away as possible, no matter the cost. Fling open the door, throw herself out on to the forest floor, and disappear within the cover of the trees.
But she didn’t do either of those things. Caught in a vicious tug of war between the primal and socially conditioned sides of her mind, she could only sit frozen in fear.
The muscles in Kian’s jaw flexed. Another rumble sounded in his chest. This time she could tell. It was definitely annoyance.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he growled. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Then let me go,” she tried.
His chin lifted. His finger tensed. Underneath, Paige heard the sound of steel flexing and creaking.
“I can’t do that,” he said, enunciating every word, as if they were painful to say.
“Of course, you can,” she pleaded. “I won’t tell anyone about you. I won’t—”
A booming, bitter laugh filled the cab cutting her off. “You think that’s what stopping me?”
Paige blinked. She didn’t understand. “Then why?”
Kian stomped down hard on the brakes. The truck jolted to a stop, sending up a cloud of dirt that shot up and over the cab. The fine dust caught in the headlight beams, hovering in the air like pale red ash.
Paige pressed herself deep into the seat, as Kian’s arm reached across her and threw open the passenger side door.
“You want to go?” he snarled. “Then go.”
Paige sucked in a shaky breath. She looked out into the darkness. The chilled night air washed over the skin on her arms. Freedom was right there. All she had to do was step down. Let her feet touch the dirt road and run like hell. They weren’t so far away from Evander’s Bar that she couldn’t walk back. It might take a few hours, but she could make it.
So why couldn’t she move her feet?
They stayed firm against the floor. Her legs refused to budge from the seat.
Kian cocked his head to the side. A mocking sneer lifted one side of his mouth. “I thought you wanted to run,” he said.
“I did,” she said. “I do.”
“Then why aren’t you?”
Paige didn’t know. The pull she felt toward Kian was just too strong. Stronger than he
r sense of self-preservation. Stronger than another instinct. It overrode all reason.
“I can’t,” she admitted. Tears spilled down her cheeks at the realization. “Why can’t I leave?”
Another annoyed rumble shook the air between them as Kian turned back to the steering wheel.
“Because like it or not, I’m going to be your alpha.” He hit the gas, and her door slammed closed with the force.
Paige shifted in her seat, sitting normally on the bench. Only an inch of space separated her leg from Kian’s. But what did it matter?
She’d had her chance to escape, and she couldn’t do it. Because he was going to be her alpha.
Not an alpha. Not just some alpha. But her alpha.
Which would made her his omega.
The die was cast. Her fate was sealed. There was no hiding from what happened next.
Paige was silent as Kian pulled the truck to a stop next to his front door. She’d been that way for the last quarter of an hour. Ever since she’d realized the truth.
He cut the engine, and drew in a deep breath. Her scent was still driving him crazy, but his little tug time break on the road had taken the worst of the edge off.
It wouldn’t last forever, though. Even now, he could feel the need to claim her starting to rise in his blood again.
At this rate, both his hands and his cock would be callused by morning.
“We’re here,” he said. She didn’t answer, so he tried again. “Paige.”
She swayed slightly in her seat, but she made no move to get out. Her gaze was steady out the windshield, her eyes empty and unfocused.
Shock. It was clear that was what she was feeling. It wasn’t surprising. The woman had been through more trauma in one day than most people experienced in their lifetime.
But it didn’t change anything. Kian still needed to get her out of the truck, and he sure as hell didn’t trust himself to carry her inside. Wrapping his hands around her legs and her side, pulling her in close, reveling in the feel of her slight weight in his arms…
Yeah, none of that was a good idea right now. Not unless he wanted to claim her on the ground outside his door.
Kian: The Boundarylands Omegaverse: M/F Alpha Omega Romance Page 4
