Page 75 of The Bounty

My arousal is gone, replaced with anxiety and a fear so deep it makes me shiver.

Sirens sound in the air as I climb into the car, Brock thrusting a water bottle into my hand before we drive away.

“How was there an alarm?!” Brock shouts at Killian, the tires screeching as he pulls a U-turn. “You fucking idiot, you didn’t think to check that? What if there were cameras in there?!”

“Cameras? To the place with no power?!”

Their anger clouds the car, the smell nauseating, and I whimper in pain.

“Shit,” Killian says, and hands me a bottle of pills. “Take these, baby.”

“Please stop fighting,” I whisper, my stomach cramping and embarrassing tears filling my eyes. “It’s too much right now.”

“Sorry,” Brock whispers.

But as I swallow the suppressants, waiting for them to kick in, I begin to panic.

“Dylan, were you listening to the scanner? Was there any chatter about the alarm?” I turn around in my seat to face him. He gives me a soft smile, his eyes kind as he shakes his head.

“Not that I heard,” he says. “Still a bunch of activity in Silver Lake, then a disturbance about a mile from here.”

But if they investigate, they’ll see the broken safe.

I shouldn’t have come.

Brock was right.

My hands don’t stop shaking as I place them on my thighs, forcing myself to take deep breaths.

He was fucking right. What if there was a battery-operated camera, what if they saw me, what if…

A low rumble soothes my senses, my inner Omega breathing a sigh of relief.

I turn to see Brock still eyeing the road, his expression carefully blank.

But he’spurring.

His purr soothes me better than any tranquilizer or meditation.

He didn’t want me here in the first place, and yet, he’s comfortingme.

I lean back in my seat and exhale, allowing the vibrations to resonate in my soul.

Alpha will take care of us.

And soon, the rumble intensifies, and all three of them are purring, the sound a primal lullaby.

The suppressants settle in my body, and I don’t realize I’ve fallen asleep until I wake up in Brock’s arms, carrying me through the entrance of the garage.

I register theDINGof the elevator and look up at him.

“You know, you’re really handsome,” I murmur. “But I don’t think you know that.”

He stiffens, then shakes his head. “I think you’re exhausted, and I’m taking you to bed,” he mutters. “Er…carrying you.”

“Hmm. Thank you for driving. I know you didn’t want to do this,” I whisper.

“I just didn’t wantyouto be hurt,” he says. “And I was an asshole about it.”