Page 3 of Laced With Secrets

I was. My whole body was trembling with relief as his scent wrapped around me like a blanket. My body went limp against his, finally able to stop fighting and just accept what it needed. The pregnancy hormones seemed to amplify everything, making the neediness gnawing at me feel like a physical wound that only his proximity could heal.

“Y—you can scent me too,” I whispered, tilting my head to expose my throat to him. “If you want to.”

A growl rumbled through his chest, vibrating against my palms. “You know I do.”

He nuzzled into my hair, scenting me in return, and I felt his whole body relax. His scent grew richer, more intense, flooding my system with chemical signals that told my hindbrain everything was safe.

Alpha was here. Alpha would provide and protect and care for his omega and their?—

“Better?” he murmured, his lips brushing my temple.

I nodded against his neck, not trusting my voice. This was what I’d been missing—not just his touch, but his presence, his scent, the bone-deep certainty that my alpha was present and whole and mine.

“How have you been holding up?” I finally asked softly.

“Like hell,” he admitted, his arms tightening around me. “I can’t sleep, can’t focus. Blake threatened to sedate me last night if I didn’t stop pacing.”

Despite everything, warmth bloomed in my chest. “That sounds like Blake.”

His scent spiked with something darker, more possessive. “Yesterday morning I caught myself standing outside your door for twenty minutes, just imagining I could hear you breathing on the other side.”

His voice was rougher now, affected by our proximity and the way I was unconsciously nuzzling his throat. “We can’t keep doing this, Leo. This separation?—”

“It’s not really a separation.” I pulled back to look at him, though I didn’t step out of his arms. Just the loss of contact with his neck made me want to whimper. “We’re just one room apart. We can access each other if it’s really needed.”

“Even one room away is driving me fucking insane.”

I pressed my face into the curve of his throat again, my hands slipping under the soft cotton to map the ridges of muscle along his spine. “I’m trying to figure out how to trust you.”

“With what? I never lied to you about who I am.”

“Didn’t you?” The words came out softer now, less accusatory. The scenting had made me feel safer, more secure. Almost floaty even. “You approached me as part of your and Blake’s business plan. You seduced me to get access to district information. You planned to manipulate me into betraying people I love, people I’ve known all my life. How do I know when the manipulation ended and the real feelings began?”

He went very still in my arms. “You think I faked everything?”

“I think you’re very good at getting what you want. I think you saw a lonely omega who’d be stupidly flattered by attention from someone like you, and you used that.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “Successful. Sophisticated. Out of my league. And I do believe somewhere along the way it became real for you, but I don’t know when. I don’t know if that first time we… I don’t know if that was part of the plan or?—”

“Stop.” The word came out a clipped growl. “If anything, you’re out of my league, baby.”

But I couldn’t stop. The scenting had made me feel safer, and with that security came the courage to voice the fears that had been eating at me. “How do I know if you bonded with me because you loved me, or because it was convenient? How do I know?—”

“Because I chose you,” he said fiercely, his arms constricting around me until my lungs strained for air. But I didn’t want himto let go. “You derailed everything. You made me want things I’d never wanted before.”

The intensity in his voice, the way his alpha scent spiked with desperate sincerity, made something crack open in my chest.

“I believe you,” I said quietly. “And I know you’d destroy anything that threatened me… honestly, that terrifies me. That part of you scares me a little and I don’t know how to reconcile that yet.”

The silence stretched between us, heavy with everything I’d just unburdened on him.

“You still planning to go to the sheriff’s office this morning?” His fingers traced an idle pattern on my shoulder.

“I promised I would.” I glanced up at him, catching the shadow of concern in his gray eyes.

“I’m driving you,” he said.

“Dominic—”

“I’m not letting you go alone when you could barely stand a moment ago.” His jaw set in that way that brooked no argument. “I’m not leaving you to handle this by yourself.”