Page 26

CHAPTER 26

Soren

My veins were buzzing with adrenaline and I swallowed down a growl. Frankie couldn’t deal with me if I freaked out right now. Not in this state.

I checked her pulse again, but it was steady and rhythmic, almost perfect for a resting heart rate.

Unlike the quick, panicky rhythm from earlier.

Her breathing was fine and she didn’t smell quite as terrified anymore.

I let her rest against my chest so I could clean the dirt and grime from her back. She was in nothing but her jeans and a sports bra, but thankfully, my body wasn’t reacting to that right now because I was too fucking worried to think about anything other than her well-being.

Never in my fucking life have I ever felt this way before.

I was legitimately scared and I honestly couldn’t remember ever feeling that emotion. I’m sure I have. Maybe as a kid or something, but nothing I could remember.

Pulling her out of that hole wasn’t what triggered me either. Frankie was a very capable person who could take care of herself.

What freaked me the fuck out was the way she’d reacted once she was back on solid ground. That kind of reaction was something I’ve only ever seen from soldiers with PTSD.

Once I was satisfied her skin was clean I grabbed my spare shirt out of my backpack and pulled it over her head. I gently guided her arms through the sleeves and then checked her pulse one more time.

I didn’t know why I was so afraid she’d pass out. It wasn’t like I couldn’t just carry her back to the car.

Maybe it was because I wanted to eradicate whatever it was that had her so scared she’d looked at me like that – like my brief flash of anger had crushed her heart and soul.

Telling her I wasn’t angry at her felt pointless. She would never believe me when I told her I was actually pissed at myself.

I should have paid closer attention to what she was doing instead of focusing so hard on finding something— anything to get her to smile at me again. I’d wanted her praise and recognition, drunk off her attention after she’d ignored me for so long.

I was a fucking idiot and she had me acting like I really was a rookie with no experience in the field.

Grabbing my water bottle, I twisted the top off with one hand and gently pressed the metal to her lips.

Her eyes popped open and a wave of relief flooded me. She was still conscious. That was something.

“Have some water,” I suggested. “Then I’ll check your leg.”

Frankie stiffened, but then relaxed. She didn’t take the water bottle from me though.

Gritting my teeth, I lifted it up for her and almost dropped the damn thing when those big blue eyes met mine.

What the fuck was wrong with me? Why was I acting like this? I had no fucking idea but it was really starting to fuck with me. I mean…I’d used my pheromones on her.

I’ve never used them with anyone before.

Ever.

For whatever reason, my instincts were driving me hard .

The scent of her fear and the death clinging to her skin had me ready to strip her down and rid her of it, but my shirt would be enough for now. I’d worry about why I wanted her to wear it later.

What was throwing me off even more than that was the way she was reacting to my pheromones.

The last thing I’d expected was for her to calm down and act so agreeable. Frankie was an alpha and another alpha’s pheromones usually came across as a taunt – an invitation for a fight. It didn’t matter that I was trying to reassure her.

My pheromones should be pissing her off but they weren’t.

I might be crazy, but I was pretty sure they were making her act almost submissive but that was impossible, right? There was no way that was actually what was happening here. I was just losing my mind.

That had to be it.

I put the cap back on my water bottle and put that away, checking her eyes again.

She was awake, but she didn’t seem very lucid so I shifted her body until she was resting against my backpack.

Grabbing her left boot, I ran my hands over her ankle and up her leg. “Does this hurt?”

Frankie shook her head, her hands reaching up to grip the shirt I’d put on her just like she had when I’d held her.

I switched to the other leg and she hissed in a breath, making me freeze.

My blood boiled in my veins and the urge to destroy whatever was making her feel pain overwhelmed me.

I held completely still, reminding myself that there was nothing for me to deal with other than an injured partner. She’d fallen into a hole on accident. All I could do was help her.

Some of that boiling heat eased and I took a deep breath.

I had to be gentle or I could hurt her and make everything worse.

“Tell me when it hurts,” I instructed, shifting my grip ever so slightly.

Frankie didn’t respond, but she winced slightly when I touched her ankle. The rest of her leg seemed fine so I went back down and took her foot, rotating it slowly. She didn’t react to that so I didn’t think it was broken, but it might be sprained.

“Frankie?” I pressed my thumb to the spot on her ankle that felt swollen, worried that she wasn’t saying anything.

“There,” she said, yanking her foot out of my grip. “It hurts there, you asshole. You don’t have to press so hard.”

I smiled slightly, relieved she seemed to be coming out of the shock. “I think it’s just a sprain, but I don’t want to take your boot off to check just yet. It’ll be impossible to put it back on.”

And if she walked around without her shoes on, it would draw too much attention.

Pulling out the travel packet of acetaminophen, I handed that to her as well as the water bottle. Then I pulled out a plastic bag and unfolded it, getting up to grab her shirt, jacket, and the leather harness she always wore to holster her gun. I didn’t want her putting any of it back on, but I didn’t want to leave them here either.

“Wait.” Frankie reached out for the jacket in my hand and I handed it over despite how worried I was that there might be something disgusting on it that would trigger her again.

But Frankie pulled her phone out of the pocket and a small, round shark on a keychain before handing the jacket back to me.

I didn’t ask about the shark even though I wanted to know why it was so important to her that she’d touch her jacket again.

Dumping everything in my backpack, I placed it on my front and turned around. “Climb on. I’ll carry you back to the car.”

“I can walk just fine.”

Biting my tongue to keep from arguing with her, I stayed in that position and waited for her to climb on while I was still being nice about it.

Otherwise she was going to get thrown over my shoulder and there was no way we could explain that without sounding fucking ridiculous.

I didn’t give a shit if someone saw me carrying her around, but I knew she did. Frankie was terrified of it actually, like she was positive the second she showed any sign of weakness, they’d pounce on her like hyenas.

My stomach turned and I beckoned her to climb on with my fingers, knowing I couldn’t keep doing this.

Frankie wasn’t a job to me anymore and I couldn’t keep pretending she was.

I may not understand exactly what was happening right now, but I knew I couldn’t use this moment against her. I couldn’t take the footage that was still rolling and send that in to my employer.

Lying to her should have been easy, but when I’d told her no one was going to find out, I’d meant it.

Whatever this was, it wouldn’t get out. I’d make sure of it.

Her small hands on my shoulders surprised me and I kept my eyes forward so I didn’t spook her. Frankie was like a traumatized animal. If I moved too quickly or too aggressively she didn’t react well.

Her arms slid over my shoulders before wrapping around my neck and I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the sensation of her against my back.

Frankie was tall and muscular but she was still a woman and all those curves felt sinfully soft, reminding me that, for whatever reason, she was trusting me in her moment of weakness.

I had no idea why, but I didn’t want to betray that trust. I didn’t want to lose this feeling I got whenever she held onto me like I was the only person in the world she trusted not to take advantage of her.

Lifting her up, I grabbed her thighs and pulled her high enough she could see over my shoulder. Her arms tightened around me and I did my best to ignore her scent mixed with mine as I headed for the parking lot.

Her breath tickled my ear. “Where are you going?”

“To the car.” I paused and glanced over my shoulder to see her face was right there. “You said you wanted to go home.”

Frankie searched my eyes again, looking for something. I didn’t know what, but it didn’t really matter because she was the only person who’s ever looked into my eyes without fixating on the fact that only one of them was red.

“We found a pit full of dead body parts,” she reminded me. “We can’t just leave without telling someone.”

I’d argue we could, but I knew it would only bite her company in the ass later.

“Are you sure?” I didn’t want to make her deal with that right now, not on top of everything else.

“It shouldn’t take long,” she murmured. “Let’s just get it over with.”

Frankie pressed her face into the side of my neck that didn’t have any scent blockers on and took a deep breath, like my pheromones really did help her calm down.

That was crazy, right?

Well, she wasn’t the only one.

I was falling all over myself to take care of her and just the idea of making her talk to those cops while she was hurt infuriated me. I didn’t want them touching her. Fuck, I didn’t want them looking at her either.

But I didn’t want to upset her so I made my way through the park back to the original crime scene and the second that Garcia dude came running over, I tensed.

Frankie slid off my back though, hopping on one foot while smiling at Garcia as if all this was no big deal.

I pulled my cap down a little farther and stood there like an idiot, watching her act totally normal as she explained what happened and what she found. Garcia called it in and sent officers over to the location I gave him, asking her a thousand questions.

And Frankie answered everything effortlessly.

No one asked about the shirt she was wearing but Garcia did try to get her to let someone take a look at her ankle. He even grabbed her arm to pull her over to the bench and that was about as much as I could take.

“It’s just a sprained ankle,” I assured the beta as I pulled her back and out of his grip. “But I’ll take her to the hospital to make sure.”

Garcia gave me a surprised look, like he’d completely forgotten I was there. “Right, of course.”

I pulled Frankie closer and forced myself to look at the path we needed to take instead of anyone who might feel a way about an alpha acting a little weird about his partner.

“Go get looked at, James. I’ll send over whatever we find once the reports are written up.”

“Perfect, thank you.” She smiled again and I got the feeling that smile wasn’t real.

Was that the way she smiled at me? I couldn’t remember.

Frankie tried to walk back to the car and I pulled her to a stop. “You’re going to make it worse if you walk on it.”

I could deal with the act in front of all the cops, but seeing her try to hide the pain was making me feel a little volatile.

“It’s fine,” she insisted. “It’s feeling better.”

Clenching my jaw to keep from arguing, I let her use me as a crutch until we were out of eyesight of the cops. Then I crouched down in front of her again. “They can’t see us anymore so climb on.”

Surprisingly, she didn’t argue.

Frankie wrapped her arms around my neck and let me carry her all the way to the car, but she did protest when I headed to the passenger door.

“I can drive,” she insisted. “It’s just walking that’s a little difficult.”

As if I’d let her drive in this state.

I set her down and pulled the keys off the hook on her belt, ignoring her completely.

Unlocking the car, I yanked open the door and threw my backpack in the back seat, ready to physically put her in the car if I had to.

Frankie glared up at me but I didn’t budge. I just stared down at her and raised an eyebrow, silently asking how long she was planning to act like a brat about this.

“This is my car,” she reminded me.

“Yes, it is.” I scooped her up and carefully placed her in the passenger seat.

“ Hart . What do you think you’re doing?” She sounded absolutely outraged, but her scent was still calm and relaxed so I ignored the pitiful attempts to get me off of her and reached for the seatbelt. “Soren!”

My name made me pause and I turned my head, freezing when I saw just how close her face was to mine.

“I can do it myself,” Frankie grumbled as she yanked the seatbelt out of my hand.

She was so fucking adorable right now that I didn’t know what to do with myself.

I wanted to take care of her. I wanted to kiss her. Maybe even see what she’d do if I let her scent just how badly I was losing my mind right now.

Would she be disgusted by my need to see her reach for me again? Would she think I was trying to undermine her when I did my very best to make her cry again? I wanted to see those tears I just knew she didn’t let anyone else see, but not because she was afraid.

I wanted to see her cry because she felt too good to stay composed.

The sensation that came over me…this ache I felt every time I thought about how this woman was trying her best not to show a single ounce of weakness – to the point that she was so incredibly isolated that someone like me could reassure her…

She should have her pack – her family. Frankie was a legacy alpha. She should be surrounded by people ready and willing to do anything and everything for her, but all she seemed to have was me.

How could I ever leave her?