Chapter Three
Heat & Fear
Zahara
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.
