Page 3 of Truth or Lie

TWO

Leona

SPRING IN RUSSIA nearthe Gulf of Finland was a capricious thing. Frequently gray, sometimes snowy, occasionally rainy when the temperature crept above freezing. There had been snow blanketing the ground constantly since we’d arrived late in the previous autumn. A steady rainfall two days ago had revealed the first patch of bare earth I’d seen in months.

Today, we’d been blessed with a rare day of brilliant sunshine, pushing the mercury up to something approaching pleasant. I was Colorado born and bred. That, along with years of living in Montreal, had cemented my tolerance for chill, even if I didn’t actively enjoy it. Kam, who’d been raised in Kolkata, still despised the cold—but he’d kept a lid on his grumbling when Alex suggested we meet on the balcony of the guesthouse where we’d been staying.

The sheer amount of wealth on display in the Nikolayev estate was staggering. The wordguesthousebrought to mind a cute little cottage tucked away at the back of someone’s property. Nikolayev’s guesthouse was a three-story architectural wonder of curving walls, arched windows, stained glass, and modern amenities.

Every room featured a fireplace, and the basement had been dedicated to a massive gym, complete with its own spa. There was a hot tub, a sauna, and even a swimming pool large enough to do laps. I’d counted nine bedrooms, not including the two fully furnished omega nests. The decor was lavish, balancing on the knife’s edge of gaudiness. I would never in a million years have associated such a house with the dour Committee chairman.

Not that Nikolayev actually lived here, of course. This was theguesthouse. The main house was basically a palace.

Kam and I made our way upstairs to the second floor without meeting either Jax or Flynn. They were probably downstairs making use of the gym, trying to work off some of the frustration of inactivity. Depending on how long it took us to slap sense into Alex, maybe we could join them afterward and watch for a bit.

Kam cut me a sidelong glance. “You’re thinking about Flynn and Jax sparring shirtless.”

I frowned at him. “Okay, that was mildly creepy. How could you possibly know that?”

He tapped the side of his nose. “You’re perfuming.”

“Good lord,” I muttered. “My heat’s not even due for a week yet.”

“Welcome to the wonderful world of not taking pheromone suppressors,” he said. “You never had a chance to practice modulating your scent when you were young. It will come with practice, I expect.”

Kam, a purebred, had grown up with that sort of knowledge. I, on the other hand, had been born to beta parents, and had only presented as an omega at the age of fifteen. After that first, disastrous heat, I’d been on pheromone and heat blockers continuously until last year.

“Damn. That could be a real nightmare during negotiations,” I said. “At least, it might be if any of the betas can interpret changes in scent. There’s nothing like having every dignitary in the room privy to your innermost thoughts about Adonis belts.”

“More like having everybody in the room know that you’re horny in general,” Kam replied wryly. “It’s closer to smoke signals than Morse code, odama. At least it will be to anyone who doesn’t know you as well as I do.”

“Smoke signals?” I echoed, darkly amused by the comparison. “I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.”

After some discussion, Nikolayev and I had agreed that if we were going to be forced into open conflict with the beta social order, we’d approach it while being what we truly were. Not as the carefully sanitized, beta-friendly version of alphas and omegas, injecting ourselves with a cocktail of drugs so we wouldn’t perfume or cycle normally—but rather, as people with complicated lives and relationships, and an equally complicated biology.

Anyone who wished to communicate with me next week would be out of luck, whether they were a king, or a president, or someone’s low-level messenger. Next week, I’d be in heat, and therefore unavailable—period, end of sentence.

The idea was mildly terrifying, yet also exhilarating. It was only feasible because I was squirreled away in this impenetrable compound, guarded by armed soldiers and high walls. In a less secure place, it would have been like putting up a neon sign sayingHEY LOOK GUYS, I’M IN HEAT AND TOTALLY HELPLESS—COME AND GET ME.

Yet, if I couldn’t have a heat cycle in peace while staying on the Nikolayev estate in the middle of the Russian wilderness, then I’d never have a heat cycle in peaceanywhere. I might as well take advantage of the opportunity while I had it.

The guesthouse balcony had been constructed on the roof of the multi-vehicle garage on the ground level. Warmth rising from the heated garage had melted the snow on the balcony’s fancy brick floor. Nevertheless, it still would have been a chilly place to meet, if not for the roaring flames coming from a large fire pit situated in the center of the open space.

Three chairs had been pulled into a loose semicircle around the merry blaze. Alex sat in the leftmost seat, staring contemplatively into the fire. Even in such informal surroundings, her shoulders were an unbroken line of tension. Her back was to us, but I harbored no illusions—she already knew we were here. Alex was all alpha, and that included heightened senses. She’d probably heard our approach before we even opened the balcony door. Her obvious tension aside, the fact that she would give us her back like this was a huge compliment.

We crossed to the empty chairs. Kam took the center one, and I took the one farthest from her.

“How was the filming?” Alex asked.

“I think it went well,” I said, accepting the neutral conversational gambit. “We might have a nibble from an official in Luxembourg soon.”

“Have you spoken with Beckett today?” Kam asked. “Nikolayev said the doctor put him on bed rest. He’s probably going to go mental within a week.”

“Whelping is dangerous for an omega his age,” Alex said, in the carefully flat tone that she used to hide her emotions. “Especially one who’s never had pups before. To answer your question, no, I haven’t seen him today. I’ll go check on him when we’re done here.”

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