Chapter Three
Two days.
That's how long it had been since Maddox had made the fateful decision to go back for the woman. Two days of worry and strain and other emotions he didn't care to name.
Much of the first day had passed in a dream-like fugue. He remembered laying on Randall's porch, feeling his blood flow into the omega's body. Once she'd stabilized, he'd carried her inside, placing her down on a bed that was far softer than anything he'd ever owned.
Then he'd waited.
He stood vigil at her bedside for the rest of the day and all through the night. He'd watched the rise and fall of her chest with every breath, listened to every thump of every heartbeat, afraid to let his guard down for even a second.
The next morning, Gail announced that the omega had turned a corner. Her vitals were strong, and she was would likely recover from her injuries. All she needed now was rest.
Randall had been only too happy to tell him that while the omega could stay under Gail's observation, it was time for Maddox to get the hell out of his house.
But Maddox didn't go far.
No matter how much he wanted to climb back in his truck and head home, he couldn't. He might not know her name, but the woman wasn't some unconscious stranger.
She was his omega.
It didn't matter that Maddox didn't want her. He needed her. Her scent sung with the memory of his touch. Her body was alive with his blood. Every part of her called to him, and there was no way he could leave her behind.
So he'd stayed on Randall's land. He'd paced around the house until he'd worn a path into the ground. He'd even been prepared to sleep, curled up like a pup, on the porch.
But before the moon had even crested the eastern hills, Randall threw open the front door. A deep scowl was etched into his face, but, at least this time, he wasn't wielding a club.
"You're not going to leave without her, are you?" he said.
Maddox looked the other alpha dead in the eye. Randall had to know the answer to that question better than anyone. "Would you?"
After a long moment, the alpha finally swung the door open wide.
"Fine," he said. "You can take her home."
Gail's strained frown met Maddox on the other side. "I don't think that's a good idea. She's stable, but that's not the same as healed. She still needs time."
"We're out of time," Randall said flatly. "She's already going into heat."
She was? Of course she was. No wonder Maddox couldn't drag himself away. Already her scent was finding its way down the hall and into his nostrils. Gone was the acrid tang of her fear and the dark cloud of impending death. Now there was a brightness to her scent, like the first green shoots poking through the snow in the spring.
Maddox had to resist the urge to shove Randall out of the way to get to her. Apparently, being outside had muted her scent just enough that he could keep his need under control. But now that filter was gone, and he felt the blood coursing through his veins with the force of the Niagara Falls.
"But if he takes her now, it might kill her," Gail protested as Maddox strode down the hall.
He knew she wasn't talking about him taking her home. She could rest and recover in his bed just as well as in hers. She was talking about him giving in to the instinctual desire that was already making his balls ache. The need to answer the call of her heat and take her hard. Fill her with his knot and deepen the bond between them.
This wasn't about him being a horny son of a bitch. This was the most powerful force in alpha nature, and it would not be denied.
"You think we're going to be able to keep him away?" Randall asked his mate, following close behind. "What do you want me to do, tie him up in the front like a dog? He'd still find a way to get to her."
Maddox was only half listening. He was focused on one thing and one thing only—getting closer to his omega.
Even so, he couldn't help pausing in the doorway when he saw her. She was still lying on the bed where he'd laid her down, but everything about her was different. It was clear that Gail's care had brought her back from the edge of death.
Her hair, her face, her whole body had been washed. The dirt and sweat were gone, leaving fresh, clean skin, burnished gold and pulsing with the hum of life.
Maddox tightened his jaw. She might be doing better, but like Gail said, she wasn't fully healed. The thick white bandage across her chest made that crystal clear. So did the stacks of medical equipment and supplies on the bedside table.
Gail appeared at the door beside him. The look she gave him was both troubled and apologetic at the same time.
"Please be gentle with her," the omega urged. "She's …fragile."
Maddox pressed his lips together. A part of him wanted to assure Gail he'd do his best, but gentle wasn't in his nature. And neither was lying.
Instead, he kept his mouth shut as he went to the bedside. Holding his breath, Maddox reached out and traced his fingertip over the rounded curve of the omega's shoulder. Her skin was silken and smooth and warm, and that small contact ignited every nerve ending inside him, like a match to dry tinder.
He couldn't wait any longer. Leaning over, he gathered the omega up in his arms. He cradled her close, but the feel of her body pressed against his didn't sate his hunger—it only made it grow stronger.
He wanted nothing more than to shred the thin gown that Gail had draped over her generous curves, revealing her breasts and nipples…her belly and thighs…and the sweet spot in-between.
Maddox growled at the sight, a low rumble that sounded like
