Page 45 of Omega's Fever

“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 thepitying 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…”