Vonn: The Boundarylands Omegaverse: M/F Alpha Omega Romance by Callie Rhodes (ready to read books TXT) 📕

There shouldn't have been anything interesting about watching someone fry eggs or stack kindling, but Stacy found herself riveted by the way Vonn rattled around the house like some efficient, oversized hausfrau.

She couldn't figure out how someone so huge could work with such grace and economy of movement. It was almost…balletic, in a way that fighting could sometimes be. There was a reason some NFL teams included ballet in their training regimens, though Stacy had little success convincing her own recruits to give it a try.

And she tried to imagine what Vonn would make of the suggestion. He seemed so sure of who he was, with a supreme confidence that didn't quite reach the level of arrogance.

Stacy found herself envying him. She wouldn't have been surprised if he never experienced a moment of self-doubt. Unlike so many of the men who'd passed through her training gym, Vonn's confidence was directly correlated to being capable.

It also went against everything she'd learned about alphas—that they were vicious, ignorant, and unpredictable.

And it wasn't just Vonn.

Sure, many of the alphas whom Stacy had come in contact with over the last week were loud, uninhibited, even a little wild—especially late at night when they emerged from the roadhouse full of drink and high spirits—but the same could be said about nearly every private who passed through Fort Blanchard, and plenty of the officers as well.

And then there was the fact that Vonn had outwitted her so easily. Placing the small pocket knife where she was sure to find it, discarding the pack on the patio to draw her outside where he could watch her every move while hidden.

Stacy hadn't just fallen for the ruse like a dumb recruit. She'd proceeded to give information away without even having to be asked. She could think of a few officers back in the beta world who would take great pleasure raking her over the coals for her mistakes. In fact, if any of them found out, they could easily use her failures to support their push to keep women out of the military altogether.

But why had Vonn been able to fool her so easily? After all, she'd done a stellar job of resisting manipulation when tested during Covert Maneuvers training.

The answer she kept coming back to was that it was connected to his ability to read her, the fact that he'd learned her so quickly.

Somehow, he'd been able to create a blind spot in her. Not trust, exactly, because Stacy didn't trust him as far as she could throw him—which was nowhere. Still, he seemed to know what she was going to do before she did it. How she would react to the feel of his—

Heat flooded Stacy's face. She would not think about those fevered, irrational moments she'd spent in his arms. The shame of it was almost enough for her to wish that the dummy pill had worked. Mainly because, after exposing her ravenous hunger for him, Vonn hadn't shown a lick of interest in her since.

He hadn't even acknowledged her when she followed him into the house, other than to point to the chair with a curt nod. After disappearing into the bedroom, he'd emerged a few minutes later in a clean pair of pants, then set about making breakfast without a word. Not that she expected him to ask her how she liked her eggs, but as he moved around the compact kitchen assembling dried herbs and thick bacon and a creamy wheel of cheese with practiced motions, he almost seemed to have forgotten she was there.

Stacy knew she should have felt relieved to be out from under Vonn's scrutiny, but she was left feeling ill at ease. Was ignoring her just another tactic to get information out of her? Or was the way he'd treated her earlier the real act, pretending to be lured by her dormant omega nature in service to some other goal? And what would that even be?

"If you've got a question, you might as well come out and ask it," Vonn said, pouring beaten eggs into the skillet with the frying bacon. Stacy's stomach was growling in earnest as the cabin filled with delicious aromas. "Keeping things to yourself won't protect you here. Remember, I can sense everything going inside you."

"If that were true, you wouldn't need me to ask the question," Stacy said.

"It doesn't exactly work that way. But I can guess—you're wondering what happens next."

"Anyone in my position would be," she countered. These non-answers were reflexive, even though she knew they wouldn't work on him.

"Funny you should say that." Vonn slid a spatula around the cast-iron skillet, folding cheese into the omelet. "Because I was just now thinking I've never heard of anyone being in this situation before—a captured beta soldier who is also a dormant omega, forced into the care of an alpha who's known to be looking for a mate."

Stacy sat up a little straighter, a frisson of alarm mixed with something else, making her nerves tingle. "You're…what?"

Finally, Vonn looked up, his expression bemused. "You didn't hear that around camp?"

"No." Stacy swallowed, trying to match his blank tone. "Why would I?"

"Even alphas gossip," Vonn said, flipping the omelet, which had puffed up golden and tempting. "Some of the brothers have big mouths. I went head to head with one of them over an omega a few months back and lost. No big deal."

"Oh." Stacy found that she didn't like the image that came to mind, of Vonn fighting over some other woman. She also couldn't imagine him losing.

Stacy caught herself, mortified. Her reasoning powers were definitely off, in danger of leading her nowhere good. She had to steer the conversation back on course. "You said I was forced into 'your care.' Strange way to put it, when I spent last night tied to a bed."

Vonn shrugged. "That was your choice, not mine. I would have been happy to have you under the covers with me."

Stacy berated herself, even