Page 21 of Shared Omega

“No,” I gasp.

The branch gives out beneath the combined weight of me and the Alpha, and my stomach leaps into my throat I as I find myself tumbling head over heals. Branches and twigs whip at my body and the pillars of the dark trees whirl in my vision.

“Dog!” I scream as I plummet to earth.

CHAPTER 7: DOG

Three Alphas lie dead on the ground, and the fourth one, wounded, retreats into the depths of the forest. Smart move.

These were Farlander Alphas—twisted, inbred beings that are much different from the Alphas who inhabit the central ruins. They are called Farlanders because they have shunned the Source and live like filthy beasts in the hinterlands of the Zone.

I have no time to bask in my victory, however.

A piercing shriek from overhead grabs my attention, and I look up just in time to see Sloane and the last remaining Alpha falling toward the ground.

There is no time to think. Pure instinct takes over, and my muscles seem to move with a life of their own.

With an explosion of energy, my legs propel me upward toward the falling figures. My jump is perfectly timed. I reach the apex of my leap and begin to descend again just as Sloan’s body reaches me. The differential allows me to catch her without injuring her.

The other Alpha streaks past and lands with a hard, wet thud on a thick, gnarled root.

A moment later, I land too, but on my feet. I keep my arms loose to gently cradle Sloan’s body.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

Her eyes flutter open, and she looks around, dazed. Then those beautiful blue eyes lock with mine. By some trick of the moonlight, they seem to darken to a deep sapphire hue.

“Sloane, are you okay?” I repeat.

She nods wordlessly. Her close-cropped head is cradled in the crook of my arm. A tiny, almost imperceptible tremor quivers her lower lip, and I feel something stirring in my blood.

Her scent.

The smell of her body envelopes me like a cloud. It’s like nothing I’ve ever smelled before, unlike any perfume. It is raw, natural, feral, and feminine. As the warm aroma fills my nose, my cock swells inside my shorts.

There’s no question about it.

She’s an omega now.

Her body is scalding hot in my arms. Between the gaps in her ripped, black environmental suit, her flesh pebbles with goosebumps. She can smell me too.

“Dog,” she half whispers. “You…”

A pained groan comes from the forest floor nearby. Apparently the hard fall didn’t quite finish off the last feral Alpha, and the wretched thing is trying to drag its broken body away into the shadows of the forest. I have a sudden impulse to end the creature, to put it out of its misery.

But Sloane is quicker than me.

In a flash, she has sprung out of my arms.

“Sloane!” I shout.

In one fluid movement, she scoops her knife from where it has fallen on the leaf strewn ground and pounces on the Alpha. The steel glints in a quick motion as she draws it across the creature’s throat. Arterial spray patters on the dead leaves and pine needles like rain, then gradually subsides as the Alpha’s blood pressure drops and its heart finally expires.

Sloane rises, standing over the dead thing like a huntress. She spits, and wipes the bloody blade off against the thigh of her suit.

“You saved me,” she says without looking up. “Thank you.”

Something in her voice suggests that her pride has been hurt. Perhaps she feels that as a soldier, she shouldn’t need saving.