20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Gabriel POV
S he lingered in my mind long after we left the bedroom.
Vivian Reed, the Omega nesting in our spare room, was currently burrowed deep in a fortress of blankets and pillows, her scent curling around every soft fabric she could get her hands on. Nesting. Safe. Starting to trust us—at least enough to be here. But she wasn’t ours. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
I sat in the living room with Lucas, Theo and Dakota, a handful of case files spread across the coffee table, but my attention kept drifting down the hallway to the room she’d claimed. I could still smell her—Forget-me-nots and something sun-warmed and fierce—woven into every corner of the house now. She'd only been here a day, but it already felt like she'd reshaped everything.
"You're distracted," Dakota muttered, lounging on the couch beside me, tapping a pen against one of the files.
"I'm focused," I replied, not looking up from the file in my hands—a detailed report on the blood sample we'd collected from Vivian's shop. The DNA hadn't matched any in our database, which was both frustrating and telling. Whoever had attacked her was careful enough to avoid having their genetic profile recorded.
"Your eyes keep drifting toward her room," Dakota pressed, his voice low enough that only I could hear him. "You've read the same page four times."
I glanced up, meeting his knowing gaze. "She's a witness under our protection. Of course I'm concerned about her welfare."
Dakota snorted softly. "Right. That's all it is."
"We all are distracted," Lucas replied before I could formulate a response, his eyes fixed on the case file in his hands but clearly not processing the information. "Hard not to be with an Omega building a nest under our roof."
Theo glanced up from his tablet, adjusting his glasses. "It's a natural response to her pheromones. Even at this distance, we're all registering her distress and responding to it instinctively."
"I'm not distracted," Dakota grumbled, though the continuous tapping of his pen betrayed him.
I shot him a knowing look. "Your leg hasn't stopped bouncing since we sat down."
Dakota immediately stilled his leg, scowling. "Fine. It's... unusual having an Omega here. Especially one who's nesting."
"Unusual is one word for it," Lucas muttered, finally setting down his file with a sigh.
I leaned back, rubbing my eyes. We weren't getting anywhere with this case, not while our collective attention was divided. "Let's take a break. Get some fresh air, clear our heads."
"You mean get away from her scent," Theo observed quietly, his perceptive gaze making me uncomfortable.
"If that's what it takes to focus, yes," I admitted, standing up and stretching. The tension in my shoulders had been building all day, a physical manifestation of the protective instincts that had been screaming since the moment I saw that syringe in her shop.
Lucas gathered the files, tucking them into a neat stack. "We should talk about what happens next. The shop repairs are underway, but that's the easy part. There's still someone out there who specifically targeted her."
"And we're no closer to identifying them than we were yesterday," Dakota added, frustration evident in his tone. "The blood sample isn't in any database, the security footage is too grainy for facial recognition, and we've hit dead ends with Thompson's research contacts."
"We know they're organized," I pointed out, moving toward the kitchen. I needed coffee if we were going to make any progress tonight. "The attack was planned, coordinated. They knew Vivian's routine, her apartment location, and had been watching her shop."
Theo followed me, tablet still in hand. "They're also likely connected to whoever killed the other Omegas. The method—a syringe with an unknown compound—matches the pattern."
I nodded, measuring coffee grounds with practiced movements. "Which means they're either working for someone with significant resources, or they have those resources themselves."
"What about the research facility Thompson was working at?" Lucas suggested, leaning against the kitchen doorway. "We know they've been evasive about what exactly Thompson was working on. It can't be a coincidence."
I nodded, pressing the button on the coffee machine. "I've requested a warrant for their research files, but it's being blocked at every turn. Someone with influence doesn't want us looking too closely."
"Which only makes me more convinced that's where we need to be looking," Dakota stated, his expression darkening. "Corporate research facilities don't get this kind of protection unless they're hiding something big."
Theo tapped something on his tablet, brow furrowed in concentration. "It also seems Blackwood Industries is involved somehow.”
Dakota whistled low. "Blackwood? As in Senator Blackwood's family?"
"The very same," Theo confirmed, expanding the diagram to show more connections. "The Senator's brother, Marcus Blackwood, is the CEO. Their family has controlled the company for generations."
I frowned, watching the coffee drip into the pot. "That complicates things. Blackwood has serious political pull."
"And a reputation for being untouchable," Lucas added grimly. "His family has connections in every branch of government and enough money to make problems disappear."
"Which would explain why our investigation keeps hitting roadblocks," I murmured, pouring coffee into four mugs. "If Blackwood is involved, they'd have the resources to protect whatever Thompson was working on."
"And the resources to send professional killers after anyone who might compromise that work," Dakota added, accepting the mug I handed him.
Theo adjusted his glasses, still focused on his tablet. “I will have to do more research into Blackwood, but even with solid evidence.”
I sighed taking a sip of my coffee, "We need to focus on what we can prove. The attack on Vivian is our strongest lead right now. Someone wanted her dead, and they failed. They'll try again."
"Which is why she's here," Dakota said, accepting the mug I handed him. "Though I still think a safehouse would have been more appropriate."
"This is safer," I replied firmly, shutting down the argument we'd had multiple times already. "Safehouses have protocols, paperwork, officers rotating in and out. Too many potential leak points."
"And nothing to do with the fact that you're drawn to her," Dakota muttered under his breath, just loud enough for all of us to hear.
I shot him a warning glance, “And you aren’t…or Theo and Lucas?”
Dakota shrugged, not denying it. "We're all affected. But you're the one who brought her here instead of following protocol."
"She's safest with us," I insisted, though even to my own ears the justification sounded incomplete. The truth was more complex—yes, she was safer here, but I also wanted her close. Needed to know she was protected, specifically by us. By me.
Lucas gave a small snort. "We've all felt it. That pull. The way her scent gets under your skin." He tapped his temple. "Even when we're not in the same room, I can still smell those forget-me-nots."
Theo cleared his throat, a rare flush coloring his cheeks. "There's a biological explanation for our collective response. Omegas in distress trigger protective instincts in Alphas, particularly those with—"
"Save the science lecture," Dakota interrupted, though without real heat. "We all know what this is."
I set my mug down with more force than necessary. "What this is," I said firmly, "is a witness protection situation that's become complicated by circumstances none of us were expecting.”
"Complicated is an understatement," Lucas muttered, running a hand through his hair. "None of us expected to feel this... connection to her."
I picked up my coffee again, needing something to do with my hands. "Whatever we're feeling is irrelevant. Our job is to keep her safe and find whoever is targeting her."
"And the other Omegas," Theo added quietly. "We can't forget there are twelve dead Omegas whose families deserve answers."
A heavy silence fell over the kitchen as we all absorbed this truth. For all our protective instincts toward Vivian, she was just the latest target in a pattern that had already claimed multiple lives.
"I managed to hack into Thompson's personal email," Theo said after a moment, changing the subject. "Most of it was encrypted, but I found several exchanges with someone using the username 'Artemis.'"
I frowned at this, “Keep digging. Find out as much as you can without alerting anyone. We will keep this to ourselves until we have more information.” The others nodded, and we all went back to work, we needed to keep going and not distract ourselves.
Even if Vivian was the reason we were distracted, to protect her we needed to close this case.