Page 21 of Dodging Bullets

I chewed my lip, trying to work out how I could insist on seeing him to his door without sounding like a creep.

He shook his head. “But please, walk me to my door.”

I gave him a guilty, lopsided grin as he muttered about Alphas, and followed him up the stairs. There was an elevator, but it had a giantOut of Ordersign on it. Given how it was curling at the edges, the sign had been there a while. There was also graffiti throughout the stairwell, and despite August’s reassuring words, I didn’t like that he lived here alone. At least, I thought he was alone.

“Do you have a Pack, August? I just realized I don’t know very much about you. Is someone going to want to break my nose for walking you up?”

If he said yes, maybe I’d break that Alpha’s nose first for not taking proper care of his Omega. Who let their Omega walk into some other Pack’s home without accompanying them? And who let their Omega walk through a dark parking lot alone, or didn’t check on them once if they were late home?

We went up another flight of steps, and I tried not to stare at his ass. “Nope, no Pack,” he told me. “I’m committed to my work, and it doesn’t leave a lot of time for other things.”

Things like love and Packs.

“Married to the job. Apparently, it’s not just limited to us grunts,” I said lightly.

One more flight of stairs, then August scanned his way through another security door, moving quickly down the hall. Okay, so the security was all right, but it was still far too easy for someone to follow him through these slow-closing doors. Too easy for someone to take him in the stairwell and hurt him. I hated it.

He stopped outside a plain door with the number thirty-seven on it. “Well, this is me. Thank you for seeing me home.”

“It’s the least we could do. Thank you for having our backs tonight. We owe you one.”

August shook his head. “You don’t owe me anything. I’ll see you soon, Rio.” Then he was in his apartment, the door closed softly behind him, while I stood there and stared at it like an idiot.

Why did it feel like I should have kissed him?

Shaking my head, I left back down the stairs and out into the darkness. I’d walk a bit before I got a rideshare home. I needed to clear my head, obviously, and if I got lucky and someone tried to jump me, maybe I could get rid of a bit of pent-up energy too.

Twelve

Paloma

Ihad an anchor in the world, and my attachment to an almost perfect stranger might’ve been cause for concern, but it just felt right. Max had insisted that I sleep in my own room, that I needed time and space to process what had happened today, but he didn’t know what it had been like to be floating through this alone, and now have this barrier of safety surrounding me.

I feltfree.I felt like I could explore myself. It helped that I had a direct line to Llew’s feelings. Sure, it wasn’t all sunshine inside his head, but when he looked at me, the joy he felt took my breath away.

Despite all that, I still missed my home. I missed my friends, and the Brothers and Sisters who’d raised me. I missed the barn cat. It might have been all lies, but it was the only life I’d ever known.

All these jumbled thoughts swirling around in my brain was why I found myself creeping into the master suite as the sun just touched the horizon. I hadn’t slept, and my body was so tired that it was almost buzzing. I needed… Well, I guess I needed my Alpha.

The room smelled like Llew, like something wild and masculine. Earthy, yet somehow sweet. Llew was asleep, shiftingrestlessly in the bed. I hadn’t had time to look around his space yesterday, and I could see pictures of their Pack on the walls. Rio, Max, and Llew were in various poses, back when they were much younger. They must have grown up together, given that there was a picture of Rio with more than a little acne, his arm around Max. Llew was huge, even as a kid, and his grin was wide and carefree.

Who were these boys, and how had they become the damaged men who haunted this house now?

Creeping further into the room, I noted that the bathroom light was on, and the curtains were drawn tightly shut.

“No,” Llew whimpered, and my startled heart jumped in my chest. Looking at the bed, I knew immediately he was having a nightmare. His brow was sweaty, his eyes scrunched tight. The burned smell of his normal ocean scent told me it was bad.

I poked at the new bond in my chest where all Llew’s feelings sat, and I could feel his terror. I whined softly, climbing onto the bed, and I tried to gently push back his wild hair from his sticky forehead.

Suddenly, I was flipped onto my back, a hand around my throat. I went completely still, the panic in Llew’s eyes not directed at me, but some ghost. I couldn’t see the threats he saw, even as panic lit up my own body and I clutched at the wrist around my throat. He was so big, so strong. He wasn’t pressing too hard, but with enough force that my breathing was labored.

“Llew, wake up!” I squeaked, my Omega pheromones billowing around us. Llew’s hand flexed and let go, but he still didn’t wake. Instead, he dropped heavily onto my chest and buried his face into my neck. He sucked in deep breaths, a rumbling groan thrumming through his chest.

Something about the noise made my own body go lax, moving from terror to something else so fast, it made my head spin. When his hand slipped from my throat to wrap around theback of my head, his hips pushed forward, and I realized my thighs were around his waist and his cock was hard at their apex.

I’d touched myself before, even though it was frowned upon by the community, and if any of the Sisters had found out, I would have gotten a beating. Pleasure was not for Omegas on the Homestead. It was for married Alphas and procreating Brothers and Sisters. Never for Omegas.

But those fumbling touches had nothing on the feeling of Llew’s huge body between my thighs, or the way he ground down into me. The pleasure that coursed through my body made me understand how Melize could have tempted Bazric into falling. I knew I should wake Llew up, but instead, I took my pleasure from his sleeping form.

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