Page 3 of Not an Assistant (Tales of the Dreggageggon #4)

Heat & Fear

Z ahara

I don’t want to go back.

I tell myself I’m just overreacting. That this will pass. That whatever happened last night was some kind of temporary chemical imbalance. A fluke. But the moment I step into the building, every nerve in my body screams that I’ve made a mistake.

The scent is everywhere.

It hits me before the elevator doors even close. Sharp and smoky and sinful. Acheron Draven. It coats the walls of the executive floor like a warning or seduction. My knees wobble as soon as the doors open. My vision tunnels and heat rolls through me in waves.

I collapse just inside the threshold of the CEO’s office, my body trembling as I gasp for breath. I feel like I am on the precipice of losing consciousness, but I don’t pass out. I’m awake. Fully, painfully aware but I can’t move.

I’m pinned by nothing but his scent. The dominance. The biology. The bond. My body refuses to respond, kneeling me right there like some pathetic offering.

This can’t be happening, my mind screams.

I try to speak. Try to stand. But I’m shaking too hard. My limbs won’t cooperate. I feel the slick between my thighs growing with every breath, and I know he’ll smell me wherever he is in this building because I know he is still here.

He’ll know. And I won’t be able to hide the effect his scent has on me. My mind splinters as I try to figure out how this could have happened to me and how I can get out of here before someone finds me. I’m still on my knees when the door to his office opens.

I freeze, not that I was going anywhere, and I feel the blood drain from my face, but heat floods my core at the same time.

I listen to the approaching footsteps, but I don’t look up to see who it is.

They are heavy, deliberate, and measured like a predator approaching prey.

Panic and adrenaline help me finally scramble to my feet, trying to pretend I wasn’t collapsed like a pile of trembling hormones on the floor of a CEO’s private office.

But I’m too late. He sees me.

The Alpha before me is tall, dark, and has an air of danger around him.

In a tailored navy-blue suit that looks custom-made to fit his broad frame.

His dark hair is tousled like he’s been running his hands through it, and his eyes .

.. gods, his eyes. They are amber and glowing in the low lighting of his office.

Like molten metal. Like fire that sees everything and burns away all your lies.

He stops in the doorway and stares at me. And I can’t move.

“You’re here.” His voice is deep and rough and hits me like a slap to the chest. My thighs clench and my breath stutters. He steps into the room, and the door hisses shut behind him with a quiet finality that feels like the beginning of the end.

I should say something. I should apologize. I should fucking run. But I can’t because every part of me is screaming that this is the moment I’ve been waiting for my entire life.

He’s across the room in two strides. Not touching me, just towering over me. His eyes rake over me, and it’s like being stripped bare. My mouth opens but nothing comes out. He lifts his head slightly and inhales deeply.

The noise he makes—a low growl, primal and hungry—sends a shiver through me so strong my knees nearly buckle, again.

“You’re going into heat.” It’s not a question.

I shake my head. “No. I have an implant. I...”

“It’s not working,” he states flatly.

I flinch and his eyes narrow. “Do you know why?”

I shake my head again. My voice is barely a whisper. “Do you?”

He takes one step closer. “Yes.” That single word sends my heart pounding so hard I think I’m going to pass out. “It’s because of the bond.”

There it is. Out in the open. The truth that’s been boiling beneath my skin since the moment I stepped into his office. Spoken like a death sentence. Or a promise.

I swallow hard. “That isn’t real,” I whisper.

“It is.”

“Fated mates don’t exist,” I counter, praying I can wake from this nightmare.

He moves closer. The heat radiating off him feels like the surface of the sun. His eyes bore into mine, daring me to keep lying. “Apparently they do, my omega.”

I can’t argue with him, even though I really fucking want to. My body has already betrayed me. My scent. My slick. My trembling, aching, desperate need. I take a step back and he doesn’t follow.

Instead, he tilts his head and watches me with that terrifying intensity. “You feel it, don’t you?”

I nod. One single, small, helpless movement.

“Then why are you running from it?” He frowns as the words fall from his lips.

“Because I’m not yours.” The words fall from my lips in a broken whisper.

His smile is slow and dark, like a beast showing its teeth to its prey. “You will be.”

I should scream. I should fight. But gods, I don’t want to.

The only thing I want is for him to close the distance and touch me.

To press me against the wall and tear away every barrier between us.

My trembling thighs are soaked. My omega instincts are in full riot, and he can smell every bit of it.

I want to fall to my knees and submit to this Alpha more than I want my next fucking breath.

He inhales again and his eyes go darker. “You smell like surrender.”

I press my back to the wall and bite my lip, shaking. “Please ... don’t.” The lie tastes bitter on my tongue.

“Don’t what?” he asks with a tilt of his head.

“Don’t touch me.” I’m begging but it’s not what I really want.

“I won’t. Not until you beg me to.”

Fuck! The worst part is, I already want to. And gods help me, I just might. He turns away from me and toward his massive desk, and I finally remember how to breathe.

“Leave your cart. I’ll have someone else finish up.”

I don’t argue. No, I nod and walk toward the door that will lead to my escape.

“Go home, Zahara. And get some rest. You look like you’re going to fall apart,” he says with a soft smile. “You’re going to need all the energy you can muster for what comes next.”

I want to ask what the hell he is talking about, but I don’t. I don’t say anything as I walk past him. He doesn’t touch me. But his eyes follow every step like a promise.

He lets me go. But we both know I’ll be back.