Chapter 3 #2
I reached across the table, my fingers barely grazing his knuckles. The brief contact sent electricity crackling down my spine.
Dominic’s fingers curled into a tight fist beneath my touch, a sharp intake of breath escaping through his clenched teeth as the connection between us pulsed.
“Of course.” He leaned forward as much as the bolted chair allowed. “I just want you safe, first and foremost.”
I noticed Blake had positioned himself near the guard, engaging in casual conversation about sports scores and weather. The guard’s attention was split between his duties and Blake’s surprisingly charming small talk.
“Blake’s doing a good job with that,” I said, trying to offer hope. “His investigator found Brian’s storage unit. We’re making progress. It’s just a matter of time before—”
“Time.” The word carried weight I’d never heard in his voice before. “That’s what they’re counting on. That I’ll break down and take a plea rather than fight. Brian—that little fuck—he was planning this for a long time.”
The thought of Dominic pleading guilty to crimes he didn’t commit made my instincts flare with protective fury. My scent sharpened, chocolate-leather taking on an edge that made the guard glance our way.
“That’s not happening,” I said firmly. “No plea. We’re going to beat this.”
Through the new bond, I felt his surprise at my fierce reaction, followed by something that felt like pride mixed with affection and worry.
“We might have a lead too—with the break-in at the Historical Society,” I continued. “We’re heading there after this.”
“Leo,” he said, eyeing me sternly with those silver-gray eyes. “You need to stay out of this. Let Blake handle the investigation—he’s got connections for that sort of—”
“I’m being careful,” I said, matching his intensity. “I’ve ran everything past Blake already and got his clearance.” I waved my hand dismissively. “Besides, it’s just sifting through old papers, really. Boring, not dangerous in the slightest…”
“Now you sound like your little pink-haired friend.” His expression suggested I didn’t have him convinced.
“No, no… paper-cut, at the worst,” I said. “Listen… everything stolen was from the early 1970s—right when the preservation guidelines were established. It’s just a hunch, but I think someone’s been covering up old corruption to enable new crimes.”
“Something happened to make the coverup suddenly important,” he said, immediately grasping the implications.
“I’m going to find out what,” I promised. “Vertex Acquisitions has been trying to develop the District’s properties for months. If someone needed to bury evidence of past development deals…”
I trailed off, my gaze going to where our fingers intertwined.
The moment he'd stepped through that door and I’d taken in his pine and cinnamon scent, the churning in my stomach has begun to settle.
The bond between us pulsed with shared understanding, minds connecting in a way that still felt miraculous and terrifying.
We’d barely had time to explore what this connection meant before they’d ripped us apart.
Dominic’s eyes darted toward the corner of the room, then back to me.
His alpha scent had been growing stronger throughout our conversation, and I could see the tension in every line of his body—coiled, barely restrained, like a predator holding back from pouncing.
The separation was affecting him as badly as it was affecting me, and something hungry was lurking behind his controlled facade.
“Leo,” he said quietly, his voice rough and edged with something desperate. “I need—I can smell how much you’re hurting. Your scent is all wrong.”
He glanced toward Blake, who had somehow managed to draw the guard into an animated discussion about local sports teams. Blake caught Dominic’s eye and gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“Think the Millers have a chance this season?” I heard Blake say loudly to the guard at the same moment I realized that Dominic was out of his chair, and already moving toward me.
He reached me in two quick strides and his hand closed around my wrist—not gently.
“Corner. Now.” The command in his voice made my omega biology sing even as alarm bells went off in my rational mind.
He didn’t wait for me to comply. His grip tightened as he yanked me out of the chair, the momentum causing me to crash into his hard frame.
I opened my mouth, but his hand muffled my indignant squeak.
He released me just long enough to spin me toward the corner with barely leashed urgency, my shoes squeaking against the linoleum as I stumbled.
His hand slid around me to press firmly over my belly, righting me as his other hand settled on my waist.
He crowded me against the wall, his broad shoulders blocking the view from the cameras. His breath was hot against my neck as he pressed close, his body a wall of heat behind mine.
I should have been concerned about the cameras, the guard, the manhandling, the impropriety of it all.
Instead, heat shot straight through me at his display of dominance.
“Dominic,” I whispered, my voice breathless. I pressed my palms against the cool concrete wall, my heart hammering as I felt the tension vibrating through him like a live wire about to snap.
“I’ve missed your scent,” he growled against the nape of my neck, his voice rougher than I’d ever heard it. “Seven days, and all I can smell is disinfectant and my own melancholia.”
Without warning, his hands slammed against the wall on either side of me, caging me in completely.
The sound made me jump, but what mortified me was the spike of arousal that shot through my body at being trapped.
He leaned his full weight against my back, pinning me to the wall with an aggression that should have frightened me.
Instead, I had to bite back a moan.
“The guard,” I whispered, my voice shaking with want I couldn’t hide.
“Shh,” he hissed softly, his lips against my ear. “I’ve been going out of my fucking mind. This is why I told Blake I didn’t want you to come here.”
When his nose brushed against the mating mark, he didn’t just scent me—he pressed his face against my neck with desperate hunger, breathing me in like he was drowning and I was air.
“Dom,” I gasped, mortified by how my body was responding to his rough handling.
“That’s it,” he rumbled. “Let me take care of you. Let me remind you who you belong to.”
He breathed in deeply, a sound that was more growl than breath, and I felt his whole body shudder against mine with barely leashed control. His teeth raked my skin. The bond mark tingled under his aggressive attention, and warmth began spreading through my chest for the first time in days.
“Your scent is so fucking wrong,” he snarled against my skin. “Stressed, exhausted, scared. I can smell the separation sickness eating you alive.”
“I’m okay,” I lied, even as my knees went weak from his proximity and the raw hunger in his voice.
“No, you’re not.” His voice carried that alpha authority that made me want to submit to anything he desired, but there was something wild underneath it now. “And neither am I. I’m barely holding it together here, Leo. Barely.”
I felt him press closer, felt the unmistakable hardness of his arousal grinding against my lower back with an urgency that bordered on desperate.
My own body responded immediately, heat pooling low in my belly despite our surroundings.
The mortification that I was getting this turned on by his rough handling in a prison visitation room only seemed to make me harder.
“I need to mark you,” Dominic said, his voice strained to the breaking point. “Need to scent you so deep you remember you’re mine even when they drag me away.”
Before I could respond, I felt his teeth against the mating mark—not a gentle nip this time, but a claiming bite that made me see stars. His arms came up on either side of me, muscles corded with tension as he fought not to completely lose control.
The bite sent electricity shooting straight through the bond, and I had to press my forehead against the wall to keep from crying out.
My body was responding as if we were completely alone instead of stealing forbidden contact in a detention center.
The knowledge that I was this aroused by his aggression mortified me to no end.
Tears gathered in my eyes, not from sorrow, but from shame at my own wanton desire and relief that he was finally touching me again.
"Let me give you what you need,” he murmured, his voice dropping to a rumble that vibrated against my neck. “What we both need.”
He bit down again, harder this time, then began ravenously scenting along the line of my neck. Each breath he took seemed to calm something wild and feral in both of us, but his grip on the wall beside my head was white-knuckled with the effort of maintaining even this much control.
“Dom,” I gasped, mortified when my hips pressed back against him involuntarily. I could feel exactly how hard he was, could smell his alpha pheromones spiking with raw want and possession.
“I know, baby,” he breathed against my ear, his voice rough. “I know… I want to fuck you against this wall so badly I can barely think straight.”
His crude words made me shudder with want, and I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood to keep from moaning out loud.
His scent was wrapping around me now—pine and sandalwood and raw masculine dominance that made the omega in me purr with contentment even as my mind reeled at how desperate we both were.
For the first time in seven days, the nausea completely dissipated and the gnawing ache in my chest began to ease, replaced by a different kind of ache entirely.
“Hey!” The guard’s sharp voice cut through our stolen moment. “What’s going on over there?”
Dominic stepped back immediately, hands raised, but his eyes held mine with blazing intensity. My face burned with embarrassment and arousal as I turned around, trying to compose myself despite the obvious evidence of my body’s response.
“Nothing inappropriate,” Blake said smoothly, moving to stand between us and the approaching guard. “Just omega welfare compliance. Scenting is specifically allowed under federal bonding statutes.”
The guard looked suspicious but seemed unsure of the exact regulations. “Visit’s over,” he announced. “Time to go.”
“Ten more minutes,” Blake said, trying to distract him.
Too late now.
My heart sank. The time we were allotted felt like nothing when measured against seven days of separation and a lifetime of questions ahead of us.
“Time to go, Steele,” the guard said sternly. His boots squeaked against the linoleum floor as he advanced on Dominic, metal handcuffs dangling from his hand with an ominous jingle.
“Be careful, you hear me?” Dominic’s voice carried urgent intensity as the guard cuffed him. “Keep that little nose of yours out of places it shouldn't be.”
“I’ll be careful,” I promised.
He huffed, those silver eyes boring into mine with a heat that turned my legs to jelly. “Whatever happens, don’t you dare put yourself in danger. Blake and I have other properties, places he can take you where you’ll be safe.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I won’t run. Not from my home and not from you. I’m going to bring you home.”
“Time’s up,” the guard said, more firmly as he pushed against Dominic's unyielding frame. His boots squeaked against the linoleum, failing to gain traction against the alpha's solid mass.
“Fuck, Leo!” Dominic rasped. “Omegas are supposed to listen to their alphas.”
I stepped closer and grabbed his face with both hands, pulling him down to me.
Our lips crashed together in a kiss that was desperate and claiming, utterly inappropriate for a prison visitation room.
I poured everything I couldn’t say into that contact—my determination, my love, my promise that I would move heaven and earth to bring him home.
Dominic groaned against my mouth, his hands coming up to grip my waist despite the cameras, despite the rules, despite the cuffs keeping him from embracing me. For three heartbeats, nothing existed except us.
“Steele!” the guard barked sharply.
I pulled back, breathing hard, and met Dominic’s blazing steel-gray eyes. “I’ve never been the obedient sort,” I whispered fiercely.
I had to wrap my arms around myself to keep from reaching for him as the door closed between us. I could still feel the ghost of his teeth against my neck, still smell his scent clinging to my skin. It wasn’t enough—would never be enough until he was free.
Blake’s hand on my shoulder was gentle but firm. “Come on, Leo. Let’s go.”