by Nora Phoenix
"He's not my omega, and he's not in heat yet, but it won't be long. In fact, I met him just this morning. He's the reason for this whole mess. Not that he's to blame, but I was rescuing him from two attackers."
That certainly sounded like a whole different story than him attacking two civilians unprovoked, now didn't it? "That's not quite the version IA is communicating."
Sean shrugged, but Felix saw the flash of pain in his eyes. "I wasn't expecting anything else."
"You saw what they did to your former partner,” Felix commented, wanting to test the waters just a little.
He wasn't disappointed, as Sean shuffled his feet, suddenly finding the grass very interesting to look at. "Yeah, I did. I know what they can do if they want to get rid of you."
"Then you'll also understand that if you want to have a chance at fighting this, it can't wait. The longer you give them to fabricate evidence, the slimmer your chances of ever returning to your job."
Sean slowly looked up to meet his eyes. "Do you really think that after this I stand a chance? What are the charges against me anyway?"
Felix gave him the Cliff’s Notes version of the charges and the evidence Parks had produced. Sean's eyes widened, but then his shoulders dropped. "Well, that's pretty much what I could've expected, I guess. They left out the reason why I went outside though. I saw that cab enter the parking lot, and I heard subsequent screams. My partner didn't seem interested in finding out what was going on, so I went by myself."
Something dark and feral flashed in the alpha's eyes, making Felix shiver. "Let's just say that I was barely in time to prevent worse, and not by a lot. I don't regret what I did. Stealing the cab might've been wrong, but with the way Gia smelled, there was no other alternative to get him out of there safely. Every alpha we would have encountered would've gone crazy."
Felix frowned. "I've read Palani's blog, so I know the effect that smell has on alphas and betas. Why didn't it affect you?"
Sean shrugged again. "Honestly, I have no clue. I can smell him for sure," the alpha said, and Felix's eyes dropped to his crotch, where he thought he saw the outline of a large, erect cock. Was that the reason the cop was wearing his shirt untucked?
When he met the cop’s eyes again, he caught a slight sparkle there, but the man didn't say anything. "How do you know I will react to him then?" Felix asked. "Because if you aren’t helping him through his heat right now, we should be talking about your legal defense. Personally, I would much prefer to do that inside than standing outside in the rain."
Sean looked back at the door again, apparently hesitating. "I will open the door slightly, so you can test the smell. But you have to be honest with me, and you have to understand that if you even make so much as one wrong move, I will knock you out cold if I have to."
That line shouldn't sound as hot as it did, but Felix said, "I'm counting on it."
The cop punched in a key code, sheltering it with his hand so Felix couldn't see it, which was smart. When he opened the door, a whiff of something delicious tickled Felix's nose. He swallowed, his body instantly responding to it and his beta perking up. But it wasn't overwhelming, not in the way he'd seen described on the blog. He could still think, could still rationally analyze it as a delicious smell, one he wanted more of without being completely overpowered by it.
"I can smell him," he said, then opted for full honesty. "And he smells fucking fantastic and arousing, but I don't feel like I couldn't walk away if I had to."
Sean studied him for a beat or two, then nodded. "I'll ask him if he will allow you in there."
How refreshing, an alpha who actually asked an omega for consent. There was something he didn't encounter every day.
Felix waited patiently for Sean to return, and when he did, he gestured Felix inside. "He's in the kitchen, cooking."
The omega was cooking? He'd almost been raped that morning, and he was cooking? Felix questioned the sanity of that, until he realized the guy was days away from his heat. Maybe he had a nesting urge?
He could smell him more the closer he got to him, but it still wasn't overwhelming. Exceedingly pleasant for sure, and his cock hardened in his pants, but not unbearably so.
The omega turned around as Felix entered the kitchen. "Hi," he said, a careful look in his eyes.
"Hi. I’m Felix."
"Gia. Thank you for warning Sean about the arrest," the omega said, and god, he had the most perfect voice, melodious like the high notes of a piano. He sounded like a Chopin étude, the ones Felix's mother had loved to listen to while knitting.
"You're welcome," Felix forced himself to say, hoping he'd managed to come off sounding normal. "What are you cooking?"
Gia laughed, and if Felix had thought his voice was melodious, that topped it. “A stir fry, which is a fancy term for me throwing random stuff together. Cooking is my way of relaxing, of finding my balance. I just started working with what I could find in the cupboards and fridge here."
Felix’s stomach rumbled, reminding him he’d skipped lunch. "Well, it smells delicious."
Gia shot him an amused look. "I sure hope so, considering I'm a chef."
"You're a chef?" Sean and Felix said in perfect harmony, making Gia laugh even more.
"Technically, no. I'm an omega, so obviously, I can't be a chef. But I've got the skills and the experience to be one."
Felix looked at Sean, who stared at Gia with a look of admiration that had to mirror the one on Felix's own face. He sighed inwardly. Just his luck, finally meeting an omega who made him feel more, only to find out he already belonged to an alpha. Story of his life, always second choice, never quite good enough to be chosen first.
"Are you guys hungry?" Gia asked, and Felix wanted to marry him on the spot.
He and Sean each grabbed a chair at the dining table in the kitchen as Gia continued stirring something that smelled almost as delicious as he did. Felix forced his eyes away from the omega he could never have.
"So," he said to Sean. "Let's talk about the case against you."
4
It was surreal, Sean thought, the three of them sitting at the kitchen table as if everything was normal. As if they were friends catching up or guys on a date. Maybe not a date, because you didn’t date two people at the same time. Sean’s thoughts went to Lidon. Hmm, some people did date more than one person, as evident by the man’s three mates.
Still, they weren’t on a date, even if he wouldn’t mind dating either one of them. Felix was nerdy cute with his glasses and his messy dark hair. His blue eyes were sharp and expressive, showing his feelings. Sean liked him, and it wasn’t only because the guy had saved his ass.
And as if Gia’s smell alone wasn’t enough to make him irresistible, he had this spark about him, a pair of green eyes that reminded Sean of spring, and a smile that made his heart trip. And even though he’d looked adorable in Sean’s way-too-big clothes, the clothes he’d found in the cottage that were more his size made him simply look hot, with a toned body and a perfect bubble butt.
But the idea of dating either of them was crazy, let alone considering dating them both… Right? And yet his alpha insisted on communicating his interest in both men.
Sean didn’t even want a boyfriend. Sure, at twenty-seven, he was considered to be at the prime age to marry and produce himself an alpha-heir, but he hadn’t been interested at all. He’d been focused on his career, wanting to move up the ranks in narcotics. He wanted to prove to his father and brothers he could do it, that he didn’t need them to make it on the force. Well, he’d certainly fucked that up with his actions earlier.
“How will you fight those charges?” Gia asked Sean, bringing him back to the present.
He took his time answering, allowing the full flavor of the stir fry Gia had cooked for them to hit his tongue. Damn, the man could cook. Sean was no culinary expert, but if Gia could cook like this at his age, which Sean estimated to be around twenty, that was something to be in awe of.
“I’m not sure
I can,” he said when he’d emptied his mouth. “Or if I want to.”
“If you won’t fight it, you’ll get a dishonorable discharge,” Felix warned him. “And that will pretty much ruin your chances of finding a job as a cop ever again.”
“But if I fight it, what are my chances of winning? Honestly, Felix, you saw what they did to Lidon. Do I really stand a chance?”
He’d told Gia about the bogus charges against Lidon and how he’d never believed them. Lidon had tried to fight it but had ended up getting fired anyway.
Felix slowly lowered his fork, looking pensive. “I don’t know. There’s something odd about this whole case. The speed with which they came after you, for example. The fact that your partner, who is your brother’s best friend I might add, filed a fake statement to incriminate you, leaving out crucial facts. Those two guys who escaped a charge for sexual assault, probably by cooperating and giving false statements as well. It’s almost like they orchestrated the whole thing.”
Sean looked at Gia, who didn’t seem to take offense at the beta’s words. “How could they have orchestrated the attack on Gia?” Sean asked. “It wasn’t like they could’ve known how I would react.”
Felix looked embarrassed now, shooting an apologetic glance at Gia. “I didn’t mean to insinuate that your attack wasn’t real,” he said.
Much to Sean’s surprise, Gia put a quick hand on Felix’s slightly trembling one, which showed how much the beta regretted his unfortunate words. “I didn’t take it that way, I promise,” the omega said. “I understood what you meant, and even though I don’t know the first thing about the procedures, I agree it sounds fishy. What are you thinking? You must have a theory.”
Something stirred inside Sean at seeing those two joined hands, and at first he thought it was jealousy. But that wasn’t it, because it didn’t feel like he wanted to knock Gia’s hand off Felix’s or merely take it himself. It was more like he felt left out, like he wanted to join them. It almost made him wish he felt jealousy, because that would’ve been easier to understand.
“So maybe they didn’t orchestrate this specific incident, but they sure as hell jumped on it. Look, let’s be honest here. Cops have done illegal shit for decades, and they’ve often gotten away with it. If the department had wanted to, they could’ve made this go away, but they didn’t. Why? It feels to me as if they were looking for something against you,” Felix said, and Sean almost dropped his knife.
“They were,” he said slowly, putting the puzzle pieces together in his head. “Did you know the case against Lidon has never been officially closed?”
Felix put his utensils down as well, meeting Sean’s eyes. “I wondered how much pressure they put on you to testify against him.”
Sean winced as he remembered the way his father had railed against him, the way his brothers had shouted and yelled, furious he refused to bow to their demands and testify against Lidon. He couldn’t, not when what they asked him to do was lie. He’d never looked at them the same again, knowing they’d be willing to sell out a fellow brother in blue like that…and fucking lie and commit perjury to do it. Who had bought them off?
“Let’s just say the pressure was intense and leave it at that,” he said. “Christmas this year was not a lot of fun.”
“They’re trying to force you into testifying after all, so they can close the case against him and feel vindicated,” Felix said.
Sean leaned back in his chair. “The thought occurred to me. All the more reason why I don’t stand a chance.”
Whatever Felix wanted to say was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. “That must be Enar,” Sean said. “Lidon said he would stop by.”
Sean got up to open the door. There was no way he was letting Gia do that, not when he wasn’t sure who it was. It was strange to realize he’d never even met Lidon’s mates, Sean thought as he checked who it was. It was his own fault, he supposed. He could’ve reached out to Lidon after his suspension, but he hadn’t. That was on him.
There was an alpha outside, a tan guy with blond hair and a friendly smile. Sean cautiously opened the door, keeping his foot behind it to be able to slam it shut if he needed to. “Sean?” the man asked, and Sean nodded. “I’m Enar, one of Lidon’s mates. I’m here to check in on Gia.”
“Can you smell him?” Sean asked.
Enar smiled. “No, because I’m alpha-claimed. I don’t smell him at all.”
Huh, apparently they’d been correct about that. Sean opened the door. “Come on in.”
He still kept a close eye on the alpha as he led him into the kitchen, where Gia approached him with caution as well. “It’s so nice to meet you, Gia. My name is Enar, and just to assure you, I can’t smell you at all. Not even a little bit, so no worries at all, okay?”
Sean saw the relief hit Gia, and his whole body relaxed. “Thank you, alpha,” he said.
Something passed over Enar’s face. “If you don’t mind, I prefer to be seen and treated as a beta,” Enar said.
Sean blinked, catching a similar baffled expression on Felix’s face. Enar would what now? That was…unusual. One look at Enar’s face told him this was real, and it clearly meant a lot to the alpha. Okay then, he could do this.
“No problem,” Gia said with a soft smile.
“Sure,” Sean said. “I’ll try to remember.”
He had to add the last bit because he wasn’t sure he could break a deeply ingrained pattern that easily, but if it meant that much to Enar, he would damn well try.
“Can we go someplace where we can talk for a bit?” Enar asked Gia. “We’ll stay in the cottage, but I have some things I want to tell you that would be better in private.”
Doctor-patient confidentiality—Sean could respect that if nothing else. Gia nodded, and he and Enar walked into the living room, which could conveniently be closed as well. All the doors there had locks, Sean had noticed, which said something about the problems they’d been anticipating when building this cottage.
He sat down at the kitchen table again, finding Felix’s eyes locked on him when he looked up. “I’m sorry for what happened to you,” the beta said. “It’s especially unfair because you were trying to do the right thing.”
Sean wanted to shrug off the praise, but he couldn’t, because it meant something to him. “I wanted to kill those two bastards,” he said. “I still can’t believe I had the self-control to only shoot that alpha-asshole in the leg rather than blow his brains out.”
Felix shook his head, smiling softly. “I’m not. That’s not you. That level of rage, that’s below you. You believe in the system.”
Sean smiled back, strangely pleased at that praise. “So do you, and look where that’s gotten us.”
They smiled at each other, their eyes liking what they saw, and in a different world, Sean thought he might’ve asked them both out. “You certainly did a thorough background check on me,” he said. “Did you find anything interesting?”
Felix grinned. “Are you telling me there are skeletons in your closet, Officer Lilienfield?”
Gia had no idea what to expect from his conversation with Enar or why Enar even wanted to talk to him. But the guy seemed nice enough, he was a well-respected doctor with quite the reputation in the omega community, and they were staying at the ranch his mate owned. All good reasons to at least hear him out.
"I know this is a somewhat unusual setting, but I want to assure you that everything you tell me falls under doctor-patient confidentiality. I will not repeat a word of this conversation outside of this room, and that includes my mates, just so we're clear," Enar said, and that simple speech earned him major points with Gia.
"And you're under no pressure to tell me anything, so if you're not interested in talking to me, feel free to tell me to fuck off," Enar continued, and that made Gia laugh.
He wanted to remark on the absurdity of an omega telling an alpha to fuck off, but then the man’s quiet remark about wanting to be treated as a beta came to mind, and he decided aga
inst it.
"I wouldn't go quite that far, but I am a little curious as to why you wanted to talk to me," he said.
"A lot of omegas don't have access to quality healthcare," Enar said. "I know you don't know me, but I just wanted to make sure you have all the information you need to make informed decisions about your heat."
How about that? Apparently, there were still good people in the world. After everything that had happened to him in the last year, Gia had started to doubt it. Not just his personal life, which had been a complete clusterfuck, but all the political stuff as well. The news about the massive conspiracy around this Melloni gene he had, which apparently had been created deliberately in an attempt to bring back the ability to shift. The crazy Conservative Wolf Party winning the elections thanks to election fraud, initiating all kinds of laws to improve quality of life for omegas. The Anti-Wolf Coalition going nuts over all the new laws, resulting in violent protests.
And finally, just days ago, a vicious attack on the prime minister’s private ranch, resulting in his death. Democracy was hanging on by a thin thread, and no one knew what would come next. If there ever was a bad time to have a first heat, this was it, and yet, here he was.
"I was officially diagnosed with the Melloni gene this morning," Gia said. "But after what I'd read online, I already knew. The doctor I spoke to was kind, but not very knowledgeable. His basic advice was to get the hell home and stay away from everyone until my heat had passed. He estimated it was three days off."
Enar nodded, a kind look on his face. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but Palani, the reporter who blogged about the gene, is one of my mates. And the Hayes Clinic, which I run, not only treats omegas with a specialty in gene carriers, but also does several scientific studies. We're trying to gain as much knowledge about the gene as we can."
