Page 16 of An Omega in Trouble

“No, just the keys. Thank you.”

I had never heard of a car coming with a hotel stay, but now was not the time to argue. I just thanked her and followed the man to the front where a sedan waited. All this took time, but I caught up with the omega just as he reached the highway and stuck out his thumb.

Pulling up alongside him, I reached over and opened the door. “Get in, omega.”

“No, it’s fine.” He began to walk down the roadside. “I’m just heading to town.”

“Then I’ll take you.”

He stopped and turned back, climbed in. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem, but you have to admit it’s funny to see you walking along the highway out here still in your clothes from earlier. I gather town is a pretty good distance.”

“That’s why I was hitching.” He leaned back in the seat and crossed his arms.

“Want to tell me why?”

“Not really.”

I changed lanes and sped up into the flow of traffic. “Then I’ll have to assume I did something to upset you and drove you away.”

“Alpha!” He turned sideways horror rounding hi eyes and lips. “Never. It wasn’t you.”

“Well, I was the last one you spent time with, right?”

“N-no.” He sniffed and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “You were great and the time I spent with you was the best ever. I just ran into a situation from my old life and probably overreacted.”

“I don’t think you overreacted. You don’t strike me as the type. If something frightened you enough to head out on foot without even packing first, it must be serious.”

“It’s, oh it’s embarrassing.”

“Omega, talk.”

And he did. My hands shook at the thought of it all. He’d been sold like a cheap trinket over a hand of cards. And if these guys were here to take possession, it was not going to happen. But for now, I listened and absorbed. And then I said, “Let’s continue on to town and get something to eat.”

Chapter Fourteen

Trace

We stopped in at a small store that was open twenty-four hours a day and picked up some jeans and a plain T-shirt. I stuffed the club attire would need cleaning before I returned it, so I stuffed it into the bag the store gave me.

Looking over at Azlan as he paid for my things, I couldn’t believe how this day had turned out. A date. New experiences. Romance. Shifting. And now danger lurking around every corner. It was like a whole movie plot jam-packed into twenty-four hours.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, threading his fingers through mine.

“It’s a lot,” I said as we left the store and walked out, aimless. I had to keep myself out of the hands of the people who thought I was a piece of property to be claimed but, other than that, I was completely at a loss about what to do next.

What I was sure of was that I could do anything as long as this man was beside me.

Not the way I should be thinking, but that was how he made me feel. And now that we’d shifted together and my bear had found the bond he’d been searching for since I learned about mates, there was no convincing him Azlan wasn’t ours.

The alpha looked around, for what I didn’t know. We were in the town outside the resort, miles away from where I should’ve been. In my bed. Resting for the next day.

There was nowhere else I’d rather be, despite the reasons we were here.

“I have a plan.”

Run far away from me and my trouble? I steeled myself for the plan. “What is it?”