Page 17 of Omega’s Fever (Prime Match #2)

Milo

What on earth does he think he’s doing?

One moment I’m sitting on the park bench with Kao, the next, Kellen explodes out of my building like he’s being chased by demons.

Even from across the street, I can see the fury in his dark eyes.

“Get inside!” His voice carries across the street, rough and commanding. “Now!”

My body reacts before my brain catches up. I’m already standing, heart hammering against my ribs. Beside me, Kao grips my arm. The teasing from minutes ago completely evaporates.

Kellen skids to a stop in front of us, barefoot on the cold pavement. The t-shirt I bought him yesterday clings to muscles that bunch and flex with barely contained energy.

“Inside,” he growls again. “Both of you. Now.”

I’ve never seen him like this. Even during our encounter in the courthouse interview room, when desire overwhelmed us both, he maintained a certain control.

This is different. This is an alpha protecting what his territory.

The primitive part of my brain recognizes it and floods my body with terror.

His eyes are locked on something behind me with the focused intensity of prey spotting a predator.

I start to turn, needing to see what’s put that look on his face, but his hand shoots out. His fingers wrap around my shoulder—not painful, but firm enough to root me in place. The heat of his palm burns through my jacket.

“Don’t look. Just move.” His voice drops low, controlled despite the wildness bleeding from every pore. “Both of you. Inside. Now.”

We start toward the building, my legs feeling disconnected from my body. Then I hear it—a whistle. Low and casual, the sound slithers down my spine like ice water.

Kellen’s fingers spasm against my shoulder, just for a moment.

“Keep walking.” Kellen says steadily.

But I can’t help myself. Some self-destructive impulse makes me glance back, needing to put a face to that voice.

The alpha from the supermarket sits on a bench around fifty yards behind the one where Kao and I were just sitting, lounging like he owns the entire park.

He raises his hand in a casual wave, fingers wiggling in a mockery of friendliness. My blood crystallizes in my veins.

I dash across the street, faster than I’ve ever moved before. Kellen stays behind us watching our backs.

The doorman’s eyes go wide as we burst through the lobby, but I don’t stop to offer explanations or apologies.

We bundle into the elevator and Kellen presses the button, then stands in front of us blocking whatever threat he thinks may be out there.

The doors close too slowly and then we are stuck in the tiny space with the great hulk of my alpha.

Kao looks at me wide-eyed. I can tell that he wants to make a joke to lighten the mood but he’s still not sure what’s happening.

Kellen’s scent fills the small space with cedar and adrenaline.

The moment we’re inside my apartment, Kellen shoves the dresser back against the door. The heavy wood scrapes across my hardwood floors, leaving marks. Right now, I can’t bring myself to care.

“What the hell was that about?” Kao demands, but his voice shakes slightly. He’s trying to maintain his composure, but he’s rattled.

Kellen doesn’t answer immediately. He moves through my apartment, checking everything. His bare feet make no sound on the floor.

I watch him move and feel that now-familiar tightness in my chest. This is what he was doing last night while I slept. Creating a fortress out of my apartment.

The apartment is dim, all the light blocked. Kao and I just stand there and wait helplessly while Kellen finishes prowling.

Finally, the big alpha comes back into the living room. He stands at an angle to the window, then moves the drape a fraction of an inch to look out. Then he frowns and moves back, but the tension in his shoulders relaxes.

“Have you got someone who can escort you home?” Kellen asks Kao without turning around. “An alpha you trust. More than one if you can.”

Kao exchanges a glance with me.

“I can ask my brothers,” Kao says.

Kellen looks at me and says, “You know these alphas? You trust them?”

Kao looks annoyed.

“Yes,” I say. I’ve known them since I was eleven.

“How many brothers?”

“Three.”

“Good. Tell them to come immediately. “

Kao calls immediately and even though he’s trying to sound calm, I can hear how nervous he is. His brothers are going to pick up on it too.

Kellen’s gaze finds mine. “You should go with them.”

“I’m not leaving.” The words come out steadier than I feel. “This is my apartment. You’re my—” I stop before I say ‘my mate,’ but we all hear it anyway.

My legs give out. I sink onto the arm of my couch, grateful for even that precarious support. Kao hangs up the phone and comes to sit next to me.

“My brothers are ten minutes out,” Kao says, pocketing his phone. “Was that him? The guy in the park? The alpha you said was being creepy at the store this morning”

Kellen freezes mid-step. The muscles in his back visible through his too-tight shirt go rigid.

“What?”

“This morning. When I went to get food.” The food that is now abandoned at the bench in the park. The words tumble out of me. “He kept... he kept showing up wherever I was in the store. Made some weird comments.”

Kellen’s jaw clenches so tight I can hear his teeth grinding. “What exactly did he say?”

I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly freezing despite the apartment’s warmth. “Something about his lawyer friend getting mugged in broad daylight.”

“Fuck.” Kellen’s hand rakes through his hair, leaving the short dark strands standing in desperate spikes. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“You know him.” Kao says.

“Cobb Sewell.” Kellen spits the name like it’s poison. “He owns—owned—the club. The one where I was arrested.”

Some instinct told me it was him, but now I have the name. This is the man who did everything that Kellen has been accused of.

My stomach lurches. The suppressants I swallowed this morning threaten to make a reappearance. I press my hand against my mouth, breathing through my nose until the nausea passes.

“We should call the police,” Kao says.

Kellen turns from the window, shaking his head and the pitying look on his face makes me want to throw something. “That won’t help.”

I know he’s right. “Then what do we do?”

“Nothing. He’s sending a message. Making sure I understand the consequences if I don’t play along.

” I can scent the protectiveness coming off of him.

It’s his natural cedar scent, darker and richer and it’s coming off of him in waves.

I look at the size of him, the enormous chest and arms. He looks indestructible.

I feel safe with him. Thank goodness for Judge Melkham, misguided as his intentions might have been.

“I’ll be safe as long as I’m with you.”

Kellen’s gaze snaps to me. “No. You are not. If Cobb and I were going one on one, I could take him easily but he’s never going to put himself into a position where that’s a possibility.

He’s too much of a coward to face me alpha to alpha.

He’ll have had a sniper or two elsewhere in the park if I’d tried to rip his head off. ”

He sounds as if he almost regretted not trying it anyway.

“I could quit the case,” I say. “Request that recusal again. Tell Melkham…”

“He’d would hold you in contempt.” Kellen shakes his head, jaw tight. “Besides, it’s too late now. Cobb knows you’re my mate.”

Mate. It feels perfect and strange at the same time.

“I—” I begin, but a knock at the door cuts me off, sharp and sudden. We all freeze, then a familiar voice calls out and I relax. It’s Kao’s brothers.

Kellen moves the dresser aside just enough for Kao to slip out. But my best friend pauses at the threshold, looking back at me with genuine concern.

“You sure you’re okay here?”

I glance at Kellen, who’s already moving to shove the dresser back in place. He looks like he’d tear apart anyone who tried to hurt me, sniper or no sniper.

“Yeah,” I say softly, meaning it. “I’m okay.”

Kao doesn’t look entirely convinced, but he nods. “Call me later. Let me know you’re alright. And Milo?” He pauses, choosing his words carefully. “Be careful. Both of them are dangerous.” He doesn’t lower his voice.

Then he’s gone, and Kellen’s securing the door again. We’re alone now. No buffer. No friend to keep things professional or safe.

“Both of them,” I repeat Kao’s words to him, tasting their weight. “He thinks you’re dangerous too.”

“I am.” Kellen doesn’t try to deny it, doesn’t pretty it up with excuses. “Just not to you.”

The certainty in his voice does something devastating to my insides. I move to the kitchen, needing something to do with my hands that isn’t reaching for him. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because you’re—” He stops himself, jaw clenching.

“I’m what?”

“Mine.” The word escapes like it’s been ripped from his chest. “My omega. My match. Even if it’s just chemistry talking, even if you hate it, even if it ruins both our lives—you’re mine to protect. I can’t—” His voice cracks. “I can’t not protect you. It’s not a choice anymore.”

His words send a thrill through me. The suppressants are supposed to stop this. They’re supposed to keep me rational and in control. But standing here in my kitchen with Kellen looking at me like I’m worth dying for, they might as well be candy.

“I don’t hate it,” I whisper, the admission scraping my throat raw.

Something flares in his eyes—hope and hunger twisted together into something that makes my knees weak. “Milo...”

“I should.” I grip the counter edge hard enough to hurt, needing the anchor. “I should hate everything about this. The match, the situation, the danger you’ve brought to my door. But I don’t. I can’t.”

He takes a step closer, then catches himself like he’s hit an invisible wall. “The suppressants—”

“Aren’t working.” The laugh that escapes me sounds brittle. “I’ve been taking over the recommended dose and they’re still not enough. Not when you’re here. Not when you look at me like that. Not when you smell like—” I break off, heat flooding my face.

“Like what?”

“So damn good,” I admit, the words barely audible. “Like safety. Which is insane because you’re the least safe thing in my life right now.”

“I would never hurt you. Never.”

“I know.” And I do. Despite everything, despite logic and reason and a lifetime of being careful, I know he’d let Cobb kill him before he’d let anyone touch me. “That’s what terrifies me.”

The space between us crackles. I can smell him—that particular musk that makes my omega instincts sing hosannas. My skin feels too tight, like I might split apart at the seams if I don’t touch him soon.

His breath catches, and the sound breaks my heart. “Milo...”

I take a step toward him, drawn by forces stronger than gravity.

Inexplicably, he takes a step back. “Milo, you need to get away. Forget the trial. You need to get out of the city. The country, if you can. Cobb will forget about you as soon as I’m convicted.”

“No.” I refuse to believe that is our only option: me far away, torn from my life, him in prison for years.

“I can’t lose you.” The words seem to tear out of him. “I know I don’t have the right. Know this is all kinds of fucked up. But the thought of Cobb hurting you, of you bleeding out in some alley because of me—”

“He won’t.”

“You don’t know him like I do.” Kellen’s hands clench and unclench at his sides. “He destroys everything he touches. Everyone who gets in his way. And now he’s noticed you. Because of me.”

I move closer still. “I’m not backing down, Kellen.”

I reach up, my hand trembling as it hovers near his face. He goes statue-still, not even breathing.

My fingers make contact with his jaw, and we both shudder. The slight scratch of stubble sends electricity racing up my arm. He leans into the touch with a sound that sends shivers up my spine.

“Milo...” His eyes open, dark and desperate as a drowning man’s. “If we do this, there’s no going back. You need to understand that. You are risking everything.”

“I know.”

I rise up on my toes and press my lips to his.

For a heartbeat that lasts forever, he doesn’t respond. Then his control shatters like glass. His arms come around me, pulling me against his chest with desperate strength.

My hands fist in his t-shirt, holding on as my knees tremble. Every point of contact burns through my clothes.

When we finally break apart, we’re both gasping like we’ve run miles. The scent of arousal hangs thick between us.

“This is insane,” I pant against his throat, tasting salt and need.

“Yeah.” His hands flex against my waist, holding me steady when I want to fly apart. “Probably going to get us both killed.”

We’re playing a dangerous game now. Both of us. And I don’t know if I’m going to survive it.