Page 1 of Laced With Secrets

CHAPTER ONE

Morning sickness hit me like a freight train the moment I opened my eyes, sending me stumbling toward Blake’s guest bathroom with my hand clamped over my mouth. I barely made it to the toilet before my stomach emptied itself violently, the sound echoing off the marble tiles.

Please don’t let anyone hear that.

I gripped the cool porcelain rim, my knuckles white as another wave of nausea rolled through me. Eight weeks pregnant, and my body seemed determined to punish me for banning my alpha from my nest. Through the bond, I felt Dominic’s immediate concern spike from wherever he’d spent the night—probably still on Blake’s couch, the stubborn bastard.

Five days of this ridiculous standoff. I’d suggested Dominic take the guestroom while I bunked with Penny and Jake in Blake’s other guestroom, but he’d planted himself on that damned couch like he was guarding the front lines.

“I’m perfectly content right here, thank you,” he’d said, flashing me a crooked grin that showed off his fangs. My pulse quickened despite my irritation—he knew exactly what that smile did to me, damn him.

Meanwhile, Blake had taken to making pointed comments about his hospitality being “indefinitely available” while Penny and Jake watched our mutual stubbornness with expressions somewhere between worry and amusement.

I flushed and moved to the sink, splashing cold water on my face and then rinsing my mouth with Blake’s expensive mouthwash.

Once the churning in my stomach finally subsided, I dragged myself into the shower, hot water cascading down my body. I tugged on my most forgiving sweats and wrapped myself in an oversized sweater that hung off one shoulder.

The loose sweater I’d chosen was more about comfort than concealment—my body hadn’t changed visibly yet, but everything felt different and the soft fabric was a small comfort against my clammy skin. My hand drifted unconsciously to my still-flat abdomen.

God, I wanted to tell him.

I could picture his face when I finally shared the secret—the shock giving way to wonder, those steel-gray eyes softening as he processed what I was saying. The way his hands would probably shake when he first touched my stomach.

I’d rehearsed the words in my head countless times, my heart racing with each imagined conversation.

But then I remembered the cold calculation in his voice when he’d told me about the plan. Three hundred people’s jobs wasonly a small part of it. Those jobs were just collateral damage in Dominic and Blake’s larger scheme—to acquire the entire Historical District, gut the shops while preserving the facades, and turn our community into some sanitized tourist attraction.

And I’d been the key to it all, hadn’t I? The naive omega who could be seduced and manipulated into convincing his neighbors to sell.

The plan had been elegant in its cruelty. Approach an a local omega, seduce him, make him fall in love, then use that influence to smooth the way for acquisition.

I’d been so stupidly flattered that someone like Dominic would be interested in someone like me.

When had it changed for him? When had manipulation become genuine feeling? Before he took my virginity? It had to be before the mating, right?

He couldn’t have bonded with me if his feelings weren’t real. Could he?

The uncertainty ate at me like acid. How could I tell him about the baby when I still didn’t know if I’d been just a mark when we’d created it? How could I raise a child with someone whose love might have started as a calculated business strategy?

The knock came as I was putting on a pair of fluffy wool socks.

“Leo?” Dominic’s voice was soft, careful. “Are you all right?”

The concern in his voice made my chest ache. Even fighting, even sleeping apart, he was still taking care of me in the ways he could. He’d taken to hovering just close enough to be there when I needed him, but gone before I could push him away.

“I’m fine,” I called through the door, my voice hoarse. “Just stressed. You know how my stomach gets.”

“I’ll make you some ginger tea. That helps, right?”

He remembered. Of course he remembered—alphas were programmed to notice and remember everything that might help their omega’s health. Even when that omega was punishing him for a misaligned moral compass.

I pulled the door open, revealing Dominic’s tall frame filling the hallway. His dark hair was still mussed from sleep. The sleeves of his gray Henley bunched around his elbows, exposing the defined muscles of his forearms. He stood motionless, shoulders relaxed, steel-gray eyes meeting mine with quiet patience.

“That would be nice,” I managed. “Thank you.”

The kitchen smelled like fresh coffee and the promised ginger tea. Dominic stood in front of Blake’s elaborate espresso machine, a steaming porcelain mug in one hand. As I watched, he reached for the small amber bottle beside the coffee maker—his anti-seizure medication—and dry-swallowed a pill with practiced efficiency.

He didn’t make a show of it, didn’t look at me for acknowledgment. Just took his medication like he’d promised he would, proving without words that he was keeping at least one promise he’d made me.