Omega Hunted by Linsey Moon

18

Savannah watchedKasim gracefully maneuver around the kitchen. Even with his damaged foot he got around the kitchen like he was a pro. Of course, she was the furthest thing from a cook so she was probably putting him on a pedestal.

“I thought royalty and princes like you had people who do all the cooking for you,” she said, watching him sear a steak. “Even I don’t cook and I should. My mom said I could burn water.”

“We do have a cook, but I’ve always had a desire to know things and to take care of the people I love.” His eyes met hers. “And the people I will love. Cooking is one way I can do that.”

Savannah’s heart was racing. Why did he have to keep saying such perfect things. He was making it really hard to keep him in the box she’d put all of the alphas at the hunt in, and she needed him to stay in there. Didn’t she?

He looked away, back down at the food he was cooking for her and she took a much needed deep breath. She needed to put a little space between them so she moved to the small dining table and set it up for them to eat, and poured some water in glasses for each of them. It was the least she could do since she was no help with the cooking.

Kasim brought their plates over a few minutes later and sat them down. Before she could sit he was pulling her chair out for her.

“Thank you,” she said and she hoped he didn’t hear the nerves causing the slight warble in her voice. She shouldn’t be nervous. They were just eating some food then she was leaving and if she succeeded in escaping like she had hoped then she’d never see him again.

Still, he smiled at her when she took the offered seat and her heart raced when his fingers, wrapped around the bars of the chair, came in contact with her arms while he helped her scoot in. What was it about him? He wasn’t the only alpha she’d reacted to since being brought to be a part of the omega hunt, but she couldn’t deny he had the most overwhelming effect on her. He made her body and her omega instincts fight against her and the more time she spent with him the harder it was becoming denying those instincts.

Wanting a distraction from Kasim and the way her body was reacting to his presence, she cut right into her steak and started eating.

“Wow,” she said, mouth still full of the most delicious thing she’d ever eaten in her life. “This is amazing.”

Kasim laughed timidly. “Thank you.”

She cut another bite. “Seriously, this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”

“So you’re glad you agreed to stay with me for dinner then?” he said, a smile lighting up his face.

“God yes. I just can’t believe you let Nick cook when we got here earlier knowing you could do this.”

He shook his head and chuckled. “I seem to remember a certain beautiful girl telling me to get my foot propped up when we got inside. She didn’t sound like she was someone I should be arguing with.”

Grinning she pointed her fork at him. “You’re a smart man, Prince Kasim. There might be hope for you yet.”

“I would do anything you asked of me,” he said.

His eyes bore into hers and a heat began unfurling deep within her. With it came a new kind of hunger. One the rest of the food on her plate would never be able to satisfy. She wasn’t going to give into those urges, though. She couldn’t. It was about what was right, and this was not how any of them were meant to find their mate. Right?

She dove into her food. Eating bite after bite, barely giving herself time to swallow before she was shoveling the next bite in her mouth. She ate until she was full, then she ate some more. Kasim ate like a normal person, taking his time and taking deliberate bites. Even while he ate he never took his eyes off her.

She got this strange feeling like he could see her. Not just what she looked like on the outside, but the real her. The girl hidden under the tough exterior she was trying so desperately to emulate. The one who yearned for freedom and adventure her whole life, but never thought she’d have more than a life hidden behind the walls of her home.

The same one who had read every book she could get her hands on, some of them more than once. Those books included the romance genre and she used to dream of the kind of love Kasim spoke about earlier in the day. He would even fit into some of her favorite tropes. That made him, and everything her body was feeling while they finished their meal with his eyes on her, a big problem.

“What are you thinking?” Kasim asked when he finished his meal.

“What?” Savannah jerked in her chair realizing she too had been staring at him for way too long. “Oh sorry, nothing really. Just thinking about my life before this.”

“What was it like?”

“Simple. Boring sometimes.” She thought about that. “Okay, more than sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, when you’re living off the grid and providing everything for your family off the land where you live, there isn’t much leisure time. But the days are repetitive. I never got to meet new people and I knew I never would. Reading helped a lot. It gave me a way to live other lives and to fall in love, but after a while you remember the characters are fictional and they’re never going to invite you to a ball or hold you on their chest when you fall asleep at night.”

She blushed after she said the last part, then she looked around the cabin. “The day the DOA captured my family I argued with my dad. I’d broken one of our biggest rules and spoken to someone who had called out for help from the outside of our wall.

“I’m pretty sure it was a setup and they had figured out my parents were hiding an omega beforehand. He was just there to confirm, and I let him right in. Hours later my parents were handcuffed and I was taken, drugged, and brought here to be sold to the first alpha to catch me.”

Kasim moved in his chair and shifted close to Savannah. He put his hand over hers. There was still a small voice in the back of her mind telling her she needed to pull away, but it seemed that the more he touched her the more her will to push him away was dissipating.

“You can have part of that dream,” he said. “You can have the romance and adventure. Travel the world and see all the trees, new and old. It might not happen right away, but if you let me I will love you so big that one day you’ll fall in love with me too. We’ll have the epic love you desired in all of your favorite romance books. You will want for nothing. And I will use all my power and influence to free your family and bring them back home to you.”

Everything he said sounded perfect. She was at war within herself because it didn’t matter that she knew she should tell him no and walk away immediately, a bigger part of her wanted to say yes. That part of her believed him when he’d told her he hadn’t chosen to be a part of this omega hunt, but had been thrust into it by his father, the King. That above all he wants to find a mate he can love. Still, the part of her fighting against that side won’t let her agree. She also couldn’t find it in herself to say no.

“Kasim…” Savannah started, but he put a finger over her lips and everything she was going to say burned away under the heat of his touch.

“Stay with me, Savannah. Choose me. I won’t try to stop you from leaving when the sun goes down, and we both know I can’t chase you if you run. Please just stay. I can make you happy. I promise I will love you more than any of those characters in all the romances you’ve read.”

He moved in closer, bringing his hand around to the side of her face. His scent was so strong she could taste the cinnamon on her tongue. Then he kissed her and everything else fades away. All of her trepidation about being claimed, the worry and fear she experienced the last couple days. Even her guilt was washed away. Everything was replaced by Kasim.

He was the air, earth, water, and flame and she kissed him back with a hunger so insatiable she was sure she’d never have enough of him. It wasn’t long before she realized it wasn’t just Kasim’s delicious scent filling up the cabin, but hers too. Her scent had magnified and for the second time in as many days this alpha had her perfuming without any conscious thought of doing so.

Some kind of horn went off in the distance. Maybe somewhere outside, but she wasn’t sure and she didn’t care to find out. Kasim was all the mattered. He moved his lips, trailing scorching kisses along her jaw and down to her neck where it met her shoulder. She heard the obnoxious sound outside again and she wanted to curse whatever it was for interrupting the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Then she felt it and reality snapped back into place like a boomerang returning to its owner. That sound wasn’t just anything. It was the sound of the horn signaling nightfall and the restarting of the hunt. And those weren’t Kasim’s lips making her body writhe, not anymore. Those were his teeth pressed against the skin of her neck ready to stake his claim on her.

Savannah moved both of her hands between their bodies and pushed. She didn’t have to push hard. The moment she started pushing Kasim away he pulled back and stopped touching her completely.

His eyes were wild with lust and need. Savannah knew he was using all of his strength and willpower to keep himself from grabbing her and pulling her beneath him so he could sink into her in more ways than one and claim her as his mate for life. As badly as she wanted to stay and to just give in, she couldn’t quiet the voice in her head that told her to run. So that’s what she did.

With one last look at Kasim, she said, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too,” he said with a sad smile.

Then Savannah got up and rushed out of the cottage. She looked back once she was outside and she could see Kasim had kept his word. He wasn’t chasing her. He sat in the chair where she’d left him with his face buried in his hands.

It was almost too much to bear, so she forced herself to take off at a full run because if she didn’t, she would wind up right back inside that cabin thrusting her neck at Kasim begging for his bite and she wouldn’t do that. Not now.