“Now, tell me what happened, omega?” I silently berate myself for using her designation instead of her name. “Sorry, I mean Alora. How did you get separated from your pack?”
She leans into me, and my eyes widen, but who am I to deny an omega seeking comfort from an alpha? Even though she just met him and he could be a serial killer for all she knows.
Not that I’m a serial killer. I could never.
I’m just glad she ran across me and not another alpha. Asmuch as I’d like to think the best of my fellow alphas, I know there are some real assholes out there. There are alphas—and betas and omegas—who would take advantage of the situation Alora has found herself in.
“I had to use the bathroom. We’d just passed one of the bathrooms—I mean toilets—so I told them to keep going while I ran back really quickly.”
Rage rushes through me. “And your alphas just left you?”
Her shoulders straighten as she frowns up at me. “Alpha and beta, actually, and of course they did. I don’t know how things work in your world, but in mine, I have the capacity to make my own decisions. I can take care of myself.”
Instead of responding, I just lift my eyebrows, and she makes a face.
“Okay. I can usually take care of myself. I just got turned around. Obviously, I went the wrong way. I thought I knew where I was going, but the next thing I knew, I was lost.” She pulls her cell phone out of her pocket. “My phone is dead—not that there’s much service out here. That’s why my phone is dead because it spent so long looking for service. Just sitting in the middle of the path crying wasn’t going to help me find them, so I kept walking.”
“While crying? That sounds like a recipe for disaster. Could you even see where you were going?”
Her bottom lip pokes out slightly as she wrinkles her nose. “Kind of. Not that I needed to see where I was going. I was just trying to find someone who could help me, and look, I found you.”
“And what if I were a serial killer, lass? What if I had killed you the moment you found me? Or took advantage of your vulnerability?”
“Are you planning to?”
I frown. “Well, no.”
“Then what does it matter?” She pulls away from me, hands going to her hips. “Are you going to help me or not?”
“Of course, I’m going to help you, lass. I just need you to understand that this wasn’t a good plan. Anything could’ve happened to you.”
Alora waves me off. “But it didn’t. Now, if you could stop going all alpha on me and help me, that would be amazing.”
I bite back a smile. Going all alpha on her?
Yeah, I guess that’s what I was doing, wasn’t it?
“Aye, let’s do that. Do you remember which path you and your pack took?”
She glares. “If I had known that, I would’ve found them already.”
I’m not sure she would’ve, but I’m not stupid enough to say that out loud. “Right. Okay, do you know where your pack was heading?”
“We were going back to the car. It’s getting late, and we didn’t want to get caught out here when the sun sets.”
“At least your pack isn’t complete eejits.” I hold my hands up in surrender when she turns back to me with a glare, eyes finding the falling sun behind her head. “Sorry. Let’s head back to the parking lot. We should have enough time to get there before the sun goes down.”
Alora bites her lip. “But what if they’re not in the parking lot? What if they’re still searching the forest for me?”
“Then they’re eejits,” I tell her with a shake of my head. “I assume they’re American as well?”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“It means that none of you know this park. The smart thing to do would be to head to the parking lot and call the park rangers.” I offer her my hand. “Which is exactly what we’ll do if they’re not waiting for us. My phone is in my car.”
She considers me for a moment before laying her hand inmine. “Thank you. For helping me, and for not being a complete asshole.”
I smirk. “That’s always my goal in life—not to be a complete asshole.”
