Knot Your Damn Omega: Chapter 32

Esme’s scent was heavy in my nose. I could already taste her on my tongue and all my senses were sharpening.

“You have a boundary?” Luke asked.

I nodded as we got further away from where I’d left her. “River on one side, seven-foot fence on two other sides. There’s plenty of room, woods and fields.”

As soon as she’d given the indication, it was something she wanted, I started looking. This wasn’t precisely where she ran when she left the city, but it was close enough she wouldn’t be out of her element. The watch on her wrist would let us find her anytime we needed to.

I’d also checked to make sure this section of land wasn’t frequented by anyone in particular. The couple of times I’d come to evaluate it, I also removed some of the bigger, more dangerous obstacles. A big bush covered in thorns, a sudden, brief ditch she could fall into in the dark. Some low-hanging branches.

Luke pulled the car to the spot I told him and killed the engine. He pulled out his phone, and I saw the dot on the screen showing where Esme was, and tried not to mark the location. “She’s moving?”

“She is.”

I pushed out of the car, pocketing my own phone. One of us needed to have one.

“Happy hunting,” Luke called.

Walking away from the car, it didn’t take long for me to be absorbed in the darkness. The sounds of night creatures, and the scent of earthy, fresh air. No sign of my Omega’s scent yet, but it didn’t matter. I would find her.

The thrill of the chase had always been something I was attracted to. The idea of letting your feral side free to act on these instincts we held inside of us? Beautiful. But it wasn’t for everyone, which was why I hadn’t truly done this until now.

Adrenaline sang in my veins, and I headed back to where I’d left Esme standing in the trees. From there, her scent would be a beacon to me. I knew my Omega wouldn’t make it easy, but there was nowhere she could hide. She was mine.

A possessive growl built in my chest, and I forced it to quiet. My thoughts needed to empty. This wasn’t the time for self-examination or anger about what she’d gone through. This was only about the two of us.

I let my Alpha rise, the strength of that side of me suddenly making my stride longer and my steps quieter. Long buried instincts showed themselves, and my senses sharpened. The woods no longer seemed as dark, lit by the sliver of the moon in the sky.

A cool breeze shivered between the trees, all the leaves rustling like a cascade of rain. The faint hoot of an owl overhead, and creaking of too-heavy branches.

There.

A trace of lilacs touched my nose, every sense focusing on the tiny trace of scent. I was close to where I’d left her. The mouthwatering flavor of her grew stronger. The tea under the flowers was bitter with anticipation, nerves, and the barest hint of fear.

I loved the sharpness of it, knowing my little Omega wasn’t afraid of me. She knew exactly what was going to happen and had every way to stop it if she wished. And that gave us both the freedom for anything.

The place where I’d left her was soaked with her scent. She’d stood here, waiting to get her bearings or for the car to disappear. Something. The pause was long enough to create a ghost of her, like a flare for my nose.

She’d headed straight away from the drop point, and the scent was fleeting in the wind, and because she’d obeyed. She was running.

I couldn’t control the hardening of my cock. She’d obeyed my order to run, and that alone was enough to make my body respond. The kind of trust it took for her to do this?

My baby was going to have the time of her life.

I followed the snatches of lilacs and brewed-too-long tea like they were shreds of fabric that had ripped off her clothes and left a trail. They wove back and forth—Esme’s attempt to mislead me.

All the way to the fence she wouldn’t be able to climb and back into the woods. At one point she led me in a circle, and I laughed, not caring if she heard.

Clever little Omega.

But the bursts of scent were growing stronger as she slowed down, unable to run forever. Rushing water was a low sound humming under everything now, blocking out the smaller sounds of the woods. I didn’t have to be as quiet, but neither did she.

I finally gave in to the urge to run, jogging along her twisting path toward the water. Her scent slammed into me—another flare. She’d stopped here by this tree on the edge of the woods before the open space between the safety of cover and the water. Imagining her looking for me, seeing if I’d already made it here, knowing she was wet with nerves and excitement.

It was all there in her scent, the deeper, richer layers of her arousal. Perfume she couldn’t control. Poor Omega, giving herself away with her need. My cock was rock hard now, aching to fulfill that need.

She wasn’t in sight, but the trail led toward the river. I stepped out from the edge of the woods and followed it to the edge of the water, where it disappeared entirely.

It wasn’t far across. A couple of rocks and a jump had me on the other side, and there was nothing. She hadn’t crossed the river. No, she’d used it to mask her scent.

The watch she was wearing was waterproof, but the river was freezing even in the middle of summer. It would slow her down. But I had no idea where she was now.

In the darkness, I smiled.

The hunt was on.