assault. If any of the others realize what you’re hiding...”
“They’ll die,” Rath spat the words like an oath. “No one touches her.”
Rett nodded. “I’ll look into things more on my side. See if I can’t dig up some more info on what’s going on. I’ve had a feeling we had intruders for a while. And...” he paused, and for a moment Rath was sure he had something else to say, but then he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. You watch your back, little brother.”
And with that, he was gone.
“Watch my back? How?” Rath muttered. His brother was spending too much time among the humans. He was even starting to sound like them.
Rett was right about one thing, though. The safehouse wasn’t somewhere he could keep Savannah for long. This far from the citadel Lord Tane’s rule was still being established. The remaining L’crav were still smarting from the decision to strip control of Earth from them and transfer it to the newly formed H’thor clan.
He’d promised Savannah they’d stay for a while, though. He could keep that promise until she was properly healed and thoroughly claimed. That would make it easier for the Overseer to forgive him. If Savannah was happy with her new status, that would simplify everything. Especially when Lord Tane realized what it meant. The omegas on this world were different.
He made his way back, careful to check every shadow and crevice for threats. Nothing was going to endanger his omega. Not on his watch.
The only danger to his little shar’ai... was him.
Savannah woke up hot. Had she slept in until the sun was high enough to bake their little hut? She opened her eyes and immediately recalled where she was. No hut. No sun. She was far away from home... in an alpha’s bed. She kicked off the covers as another wave of warmth swept over her. Too hot.
A pitcher of water sat on the side table along with a glass, and she poured herself a drink, barely registering that the water was impossibly cold and chunks of ice even floated in the drink.
She must be feverish and dreaming. Had to be. It was too hot for ice to be forming in the water. She gulped it down. It was wonderfully cold but did nothing for her overheated status.
Without thinking about it, she snagged the silkiest of the blankets back into her lap, stroking it absently.
“Savannah?” She knew that voice. The deepness of it, the way it rolled through her and made her blood run even hotter in her veins. Rath. The alpha.
My alpha, a voice whispered somewhere in the back of her brain. Only that wasn’t right. Omegas didn’t claim alphas. Only the other way around. And he had...
She blushed. The things he’d gotten her to do. Willingly. To herself.
“Savannah, are you alright?” Rath prowled into view. He’d been in the kitchen, making something that smelled amazing. She should have been hungry, but she wasn’t. Or she was, but what she wanted wasn’t food. It was...
“I burn,” she whispered. “Something’s wrong with me.”
His movements changed and became more predatory as he stalked toward her. Rather than making her want to run—her brain telling her to do just that, to get away from the alpha with the black eyes—something else took over, and she snarled a warning at him.
He paused and then a deeper, entirely more dangerous growl echoed from his chest. “Savannah, are you sure of what you’re doing?”
What was she doing? “No? But I’m hot. I need... I don’t know. I want...” She ached and burned, her skin so sensitive it felt like it was on fire. “Help me.”
He moved quicker than she’d ever seen anyone move, and a second later she was in his arms. “Always.”
She whimpered as his hands smoothed over her skin, cool against her forehead as he tucked her hair back away from her face.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he murmured, the expression on his face softening. “You’re going into heat.”
“Nooooo,” she moaned, leaning her forehead against his shoulder. She couldn’t bear the thought of it—the need and the pain. “It’s not time yet.”
“Shhh. Being with me has brought it on. You are mine, little omega. Your body knows it.”
“My body is an asshole. I hate this. It hurts and I can’t stop it...” her words rode on the tail end of a snarl she hadn’t intended to utter.
He kept touching her, soothing her. It felt good. Right. “Not this time. No pain, little one. Not with me here.”
“There’s