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Onyx takes the empty glass and sets it on the coffee table before collapsing into my reading chair. He looks as exhausted as Ifeel, his long hair messed up from where I grabbed it, his shirt wrinkled and half-untucked.

"The heat seems to have broken," he says, studying me with those intense amber eyes. "For now, at least."

"For now?" I echo, pulling a throw blanket over my naked body. "You mean this could happen again?"

"Omega heat cycles typically last three to five days," he explains, as if discussing the weather. "The intensity comes in waves."

I let that sink in. Three to five days of this? I'm not sure I'd survive.

"But I'm not..." I start, then stop. After what just happened, I can't exactly deny what I am anymore. "How is this possible? I've been around shifters for years. Why now?"

"Some Omegas don't present until they meet a compatible Alpha," Onyx says. "Or until they're under extreme stress. You've had both tonight."

I laugh, but it comes out bitter. "So, breaking into my apartment and telling me my life is in danger triggered some dormant shifter gene? Great."

"I didn't know this would happen," he says, looking genuinely apologetic. "I suspected you might be a recessive carrier, but I didn't think you'd present so suddenly or so... intensely.

I pull the blanket tighter around me, suddenly feeling vulnerable. "So, what happens now?"

Onyx runs a hand through his hair, looking troubled. "Now we figure out who broke into your lab and why they want your research."

Right. The lab break-in. With everything that happened, I almost forgot about it. Almost.

"And we also need to figure out what's happening to me," I add. "Because I refuse to believe I'm suddenly a shifter after thirty-two years of being completely human."

"You were never completely human," Onyx says. "You just didn't know it yet."

I open my mouth to argue, but I'm interrupted by the buzz of my phone. It's somewhere on the floor, probably fallen out of my pocket when I was tearing off my clothes.

"I'll get it," Onyx says, spotting it under the coffee table.

He bends down to retrieve it, and I can't help but admire the way his jeans stretch across his ass. Even after everything we just did, I still feel a flutter of desire. What is wrong with me?

Onyx straightens up and glances at my phone screen before handing it to me. A small smirk plays on his lips.

"Popular tonight, aren't you?" he says.

I take the phone and see a text message from an unknown number. My heart skips a beat as I read it:

Don't bite more than you can chew.

Chapter 5 – Leo

"Detective Byers, a word."

Captain Raine's voice calls through the bullpen chatter, and I look up from my mountain of paperwork. She's standing in the doorway of her office, face as expressionless as ever. That's never a good sign.

"Yes, Captain." I push back from my desk, ignoring the sympathetic glance from my partner, Rodriguez.

The walk to her office feels longer than usual. I've been on edge since we found another shifter's body yesterday. It's the third one this month with signs of the Crimson Plague. The virus is spreading faster than anyone wants to admit.

Captain Raine closes the door behind me and gestures to the chair across from her desk. I sit, my back straight, and wait.

"I'm reassigning you," she says without preamble.

"Ma'am?" My fingers tighten on the armrests. "I'm in the middle of the Riverside case. We're close to…"

"Rodriguez will handle it." She slides a folder across her desk. "This is your new assignment, effective immediately."