Claiming the Vesper Omega

Chapter 4

Vesper POV

Cole is kind of crazy, and I love it. I feel normal around her. She talks a lot, and she’s unpredictable. It’s keeping me on edge and keeping me from worrying about running into Alphas.

The pizza place was completely full of Betas. She flirted with the waiter. A lot. He eventually got so flustered he walked into a table. She wrote her cell phone number on the bill when it came, beside a little heart.

“Do you think he’ll call?” Cole asks as we walk back to our room.

Honestly, I have no idea. I couldn’t tell if he was shy but flattered, or just kind of petrified.

“He’ll call,” I tell her anyway, making her smile.

She sighs. “It’s been so long since I dated, I barely remember what it feels like.”

“Me too,” I admit, kind of kicking myself once it’s out there.

Her eyes light up. “We should try to get a double date set up.”

Damn it. I shouldn’t have said anything.

“I don’t think I’m ready. Not yet,” I add quickly.

I might never be ready. Four more years of suppressing my perfume to get through college. That’s my end goal right now. Four years, no dating. I can’t risk a random Beta stumbling into the truth about me. Alphas aren’t my only problem. Beta men are curious about Omegas, in the same way Beta women are often drawn to Alphas.

“Oh. Did something happen?” Cole asks.

“My ex was with me for like five years,” I lie, thinking about Ryan, the boy I kissed on my sixteenth birthday. My only real friend in Silver Lake. He didn’t recognize the scent for what it was, because apparently, I smell like cake. He was also—unknown to me at the time—leaving town the next day, so I never saw him again.

Twenty years old, and I’ve only been kissed once. Sometimes I wish things could be different.

“Wow, that’s a long time. Sorry, it must have been hard. I’ve had a couple of bad breakups, but I’ve never been in a relationship for more than a few months at a time,” she confesses.

“I’m not ready to start dating again,” I add, making sure she doesn’t try to pull me into a situation that could expose what I am. Four more years. What happens after that, I can figure out later. I need to get my degree. It’s what I’m here for. Nothing else matters.

“Well, I am. So, you can live vicariously through me,” Cole informs me.

“Sounds good to me,” I tell her.

We walk across campus, and my heightened senses kick in. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. There’s an Alpha around. I can feel it. I can feel him.

I take in our surroundings carefully. It’s dark out, and we’re following a well-lit path a few other students are milling around on. I can’t see him.

He’s in the shadows. My gaze is drawn to the darkness, but I can’t see a thing.

It doesn’t matter. I can feel him. He’s out there. Watching. Waiting.

Could be he’s out here looking for his next conquest, or maybe he’s making out with someone in one of the dark corners between buildings.

I don’t know. I’m uneasy that there’s an Alpha nearby, hidden from sight.

I follow Cole into the building, and the tension inside me doesn’t start to dissolve until we’re back in our room, behind a locked door. I look out the window once we’re safe inside.

I don’t see any Alpha.

Whoever he is, he’s still hidden.

Jaxon POV

Four more f*****g years. That’s how long Dorian expects us to hang around this f*****g campus, how long he expects us to hide what Zephyr is, and pretend we aren’t knotting him nightly and marking him in places no one else gets to see.

All because Zephyr wants to go to school like everyone else.

When we found him, I thought our luck was changing.

An Omega just comes into his perfume, choosing us as his Alphas.

What were the chances? Slim to none, considering the odds of finding an Omega out in the big wide world. Most of them get picked up by the Omega Academy, placed in one of their glorified prisons until they’re deemed ‘ready’ for a pack. f**k knows what goes on in those places. Any that don’t get picked up by the Academy… Well, I don’t fancy their chances of survival at all.

I don’t like this plan Cass came up with to let Zephyr come to college. We aren’t the only Alphas around campus. If any of the others mark Zephyr for what he is, there will be c*****e.

I f*****g guarantee it.

One sniff of that crazy sweet, utterly intoxicating treacle-toffee perfume of his, and every Alpha at this college would be ready to fight to claim him. There’s nothing quite like knotting an Omega. Regular s*x doesn’t even come close.

Not that I would let any of those assholes get their hands on him.

I’ll break every bone in their bodies if they f*****g dare to breathe in his direction.

Hell, I might do it preemptively. Pick fights one by one.

Put all of them out of commission.

Make sure they can’t get near my Omega. Our Omega.

Cass claimed him first. He didn’t hesitate for a second when he realized Zephyr was ours.

I’m ashamed to admit, I did. Shock, I guess. I’d never looked at a guy before in that kind of way.

It felt impossible, until I caved to the mating bond and claimed him. The minute he was crushed against me, I knew it was right. He was made to be ours.

So, I stalk the campus, knowing if I come across another Alpha, I won’t be able to help myself.

Threats are made to be eliminated, and I’m in the mood to do some f****d-up s**t if the right person crosses my path. I pace around all damn night, keeping to the shadows. The restlessness I’m feeling will pass. Homicidal rage boils up inside me just thinking about the looks I f*****g know Zephyr’s going to get from everyone he meets. He’s going to be eye-f****d to death by the end of the first day, and there’s f*****g nothing I can do about it.

It doesn’t matter that Zephyr’s going to be taking suppressants to mask his perfume and mute his emotional responses. He can play-act as a Beta, but any real Alpha will spot the difference the moment they lock eyes with him.

I can only hope the influx of new students keeps any predatory bastards busy for a long, damn time.

Every new semester is the same. New blood, new Betas swooning over the Alphas. I f*****g hate it. I hated it before Zephyr came along, and I hate it even more now. I get propositioned left, right, and center until people realize I’m more likely to tear out their throats than pin them down on a bed.

I promised Zephyr and Cass I’d burn this rage off and come back before daylight.

I don’t think I can keep that promise.

Then, it happens. My rage is muted suddenly, another sensation replacing it. A surge of hope rushes through me, released by the primal instincts of my Alpha. The sharp shift in mood is jarring. It disorients me, stops me in my tracks. I don’t fully understand the feeling, but I trust my instincts enough to know to lean into it.

I stop walking and study my surroundings. No one’s following me. It’s not that kind of instinct.

It’s something else. I just don’t know what.

I look out toward the path that leads to the residential halls, the dorms.

My gaze is drawn to a girl with long, dark hair and big glasses.

She’s what this feeling’s about.

She’s looking around, too… almost as if she feels it.

Impossible. Betas don’t have heightened senses. For a second, she looks directly at me.

She doesn’t see me. It’s too dark. But it feels like a punch in the guts.

She’s f*****g gorgeous. Big, full lips. Deep, dark eyes.

Curvy body packed into tight jeans and an ugly-ass sweater.

She walks past with her head down, and I want to step out of the shadows and taste her.

Fucking hell. I’m going insane.

My d**k is jumping around in my pants like he agrees with my instinct to chase her down and kiss this random girl’s pretty lips, as if he’s completely forgotten I’ve chosen my Omega, my mate for life.

I’m definitely not going home now.

I won’t give Zephyr a b***r some random Beta girl just gave me.

This is so f****d. What the f**k is wrong with me?