And her breathing hitches in confirmation.
“Let me help you, Sin. We can work everything out, but right this second, I kind of need to hold you, if that’s okay.”
It guts me to see the hesitation in her, the pause before she lifts her head from the ground. But that’shisdoing, not mine. She only moves an inch, but when her eyes open, the vortex returns—pulling me under as I see her.
Her avoidances, the way she never made eye contact, or even barely breathed in my direction, makes sense. I was thinking she was overly timid, but it wasn’t that.
She knew who I was.
She knows I’m not Ben Franklin because one look at her blazing blue-hazel eyes and I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. This sweet-smelling Omega is my runaway Cinderella, my online SinDaBella. Words tumble out of my mouth instinctively. “New Year’s Eve was so long ago, but by god you have been with me every second since.”
The blue of her eyes outsparkles the green, and they glitter in awareness, highlighting the flush of pink to her cheeks. Her response lasts barely a moment before both get swallowed up by a darker emotion that scents a lot like regret.
“I’m sorry.” No one but me would be able to hear her apology.
“What for? What are you apologising for?”
Her eyelashes flutter down before she takes an exaggerated breath and falls still.
“She fainted,” the guard says unnecessarily.
I appreciate he doesn’t take a step towards us, and I’m glad I get to keep her secrets to myself since there’s no way he’d be able to hear us talking over the sirens blaring and the commotion echoing down the hallway.
He drops into full protector mode. “Jesus, the threat’s coming this way. You need to get her into a corner or under the desk.”
He’s already dragging whatever he can reach to bolster the door. I leave her to help him. And I can only do it knowing she’s mostly okay, and we’re about to ensure nothing can get in, making her even safer. Together we shove a huge, heavy oak desk across the door before adding other pieces of furniture. He finishes securing the door by sitting up against it, effectively becoming our first line of defence.
Once he’s in position, he flicks his chin. “Be with your girl.”
“I had an inkling, I wasn’t sure,” I admit, running a hand down my face.
“You’ll have to answer to me if you treat her wrong.” He flexes his huge meaty fists, glaring through me before he stops and shifts to become hyper vigilant.
If I hadn’t seen her moving her neck so easily, I wouldn’t lift her. But as I scoop her into my arms, a wave of guilt hits me. How could I not recognise her immediately. I know I was sick—but before I get caught up in self-recrimination, I push the thought aside. None of that matters now. I’ve found her.
And I’ll never let her go.
Settling against the farthest wall, I tuck us behind a cupboard that was too heavy to move. Softly, I begin singing to her—hoping my voice finds wherever she’s hiding and brings her peace.
My serenading only goes a few handful of seconds and she shifts, moving toward me more. Without hesitation, she curls against my chest, resting her head on my shoulder. Her warm breath fans across my face, reinforcing the truth with every inhale: she’s here, in my arms.
And she’smine.
Her scent. Not the citrusy version I latched on to from New Year’s Eve. But her actual scent does things to me as it fills my lungs and curls its way in deeper. Forging a hold on me similar to what only two other people have managed before. I fucking cannot wait until I get the chance to introduce her to Hen and Dominic. After explaining, very sheepishly, that my memory of her scent was muddled initially.
As distracting as she is and my mind whirling with thoughts about what will happen next, there’s still a part of me uber aware of our surroundings. I know the guard is here, but I also know I would do anything to ensure she remains as peaceful as she is right this second.
I tuck her to me, tightening my grip when the personrampaging through the hallways barrels past our door. The handle rattles violently, but from the sounds of it, he’s pounding or kicking on nearly all the doors he comes across.
The minutes that follow stretch out like a scene from a horror movie—quiet, but with the sharp edge of danger still lingering in the air. The guard and I stay quiet, communicating nonverbally until the tone of the alarm changes.
“That’s all clear.”
I go to shuffle around, thinking of putting Sin down to help but I’m not sure that’s the wisest thing to do. With the alarm off and the panic subsiding, the vicious anger I feel towards the coward Alpha currently in the office next to us takes hold.
Intentionally keeping the hint of violence out of my voice, I look at the guard but he’s already a few steps ahead. “Get him away from her. He needs to be charged, but first I’d like someone to look at her. She doesn’t look beat up but based on the aggression in the room, I don’t trust that other Alpha. I want medical staff here along with the Omega Mothers I was with from Rejoice.”
I get a quick nod of acknowledgement. He knows where my thoughts are, but he also doesn’t give me shit for speaking them. “I’ve called down to my manager. He’s sending up reinforcements, so I’m going to stay with you. We’ve had training on similar situations, so even though she might not remember us actually meeting, a part of her will be less freaked out because I’m more familiar than another random Alpha.” He waits to see if I’m happy with his explanation given what I said about her being mine before.
