“Open the fucking door,” I command the security guard. Pointing at the door with one hand, nearly shoving his face against it with the other. I manage not too. My impatience and this hunger to help her is all consuming.
The guard eyes me carefully, sizing me up. He is bigger than me but hands down I have determination burning so fucking bright in my cells, I feel invincible. While he decides whether to leave me and run to safety like everyone else or punching my goddamn lights out, I work on dialling the rage down.
Once I’ve got a better grip on my mood and stop actinglike a fucking psychopath, I turn to try again. “Please, I need to get in that room. A girl…”
“What girl?” Everything about our interaction shifts. He tempers his own emotions now that I’m a little more rational and able to explain what is going on.
“I don’t fucking know who she is, but…”
He shuffles his feet, making his stance more wall than a man. He’s fucking huge too, his determination to protect is etched on his face. “Explain yourself.”
“I don’t know her name. I’ve barely said two words to her, but I feel like I’ve known her my whole life. And yes, that is extreme and makes no sense but at the same it perfectly does. I think she’s my mate.” The words rush out with little thought but at the same time it’s the truth.
“You think? Jesus, buddy, if we’re smashing down doors, I need a little more…”
“I know she is then,” I insist. Inside everything rages—a need to get to her starts consuming, and I’m worried I’m going to lose it.
He says nothing while he stares deep into my eyes, searching for the truth maybe. What he sees has him hammering on the door.
“Open up, Security. Open the door!” His voice is loud and somehow makes it over the noise of the blaring siren.
Noise from inside travels back, and the Security Guard turns in question silently asking if I heard the same thing. I hold up my hand, stopping him from speaking asmy ears attune to a different sound—desperate pleading. Another small cry for help barely audible comes from inside the office. This time he hears it, and the both of us drop straight into a near feral rage.
“Clear back,” he barks, his leg kicking out before he finishes.
“Fuck!” I scream, worried she is behind the door, but it’smy panic making me doubt what I already know—she’s on the far side of the room.
Together we race through the broken door lock but that’s where our paths deviate.
“She attacked me,” the Alpha screams, pointing down at the trembling Omega on the floor.
I have never seen anything like it. I never want to again. My chest fractures when what I was witnessing registered. She’s on her hands and knees but right at this second, her forehead is pressed to the floor and one of her hands waving back to his direction in surrender.
And that’s the point where the world’s orbiting stops. My centre of gravity was already shifting, but now it rights itself to a new north. Her.
Awareness expands around me, my senses splitting to take in everything at once. I hear the Security Guard barking orders at the Alpha, his voice sharp and unrelenting. The silence that follows is thick with unspoken rage. Though I’m not watching, I can feel the tension in the air—shifts in movement, the guard repeatedly asserting control of the situation. A handful of seconds later, the aggressive press of the two Alphas’ aggression fades into nothing. I don’t need to look to know they’ve left. When the guard appears, he’s alone. Without a word, he rights the broken door as best he can and takes up position against it.
“You’re safe now,” I murmur quietly as I kneel in front of her. “It’s Ben Franklin, from school.”
The lie burns on my tongue while my fingers twitch, wanting to reach out in comfort. I’d like to confess to her the truth, but now is not about me, it’s about making sure she understands no harm will get past either the guard, or me.
She shakes her head slowly, almost like she’s not agreeing with me.
And it’s a relief that the guard read it the same way.
“He’s right,” he confirms. “I locked the bastard in the office next to us. I nearly shoved my fist down his throat when he tried to tell me you attacked him. But Ben and I heard him, and we saw what we saw. I’ll stand up in a court of whatever goddamn law I need to defend you too.”
“And I already know the best lawyer on earth, who will take your case.”
You can see the impact of our words. Each one hits like arrows to a target, but it still looks like they hurt. Instead of soothing, it pulls me down to her level. Her eyes are spellbinding, reminding me of a different time, a different place, but I can’t figure out where.
“Please, let me help you,” I say softly, dropping down lower.
Her head is angled slightly to my direction and as she takes a shaky exhale, like she’s gathering strength, I swallow lungful’s of her scent. Cookies and cream.
I’m literally sent spinning, caught in a vortex as the barrier that kept me from recognising her shatters. My mind had known all along, but I’d clung tightly to the idea that it was cookies, cream, and a hint of citrus. But it’s not—and never was.
“Sin,” I whisper. Thunderbolts of realisation and awe, striking deeper the longer I look at her.
