One: The Office Heat

Lucien's pov

Sterling Tower didn’t care that my body was falling apart so I had to find one way or another to push through.

I was halfway through telling the board how we were going to take Crane Shipping’s docks when the heat hit and I had to grip the table to keep from going down with it. Eleven years of wolfsbane tea and it still found me. 

"And with the acquisition we control sixty percent by Q4," I said, keeping my voice level, because Alphas didn’t stutter in rooms full of sharks. 

Another wave rolled through my gut and this one was worse. My glands burned at the base of my neck and my mouth filled with copper. Sweetness leaked from my skin and I knew if anyone caught it I was finished. 

"Mr Sterling?" the CFO asked, frowning. “Are you okay?”

“I am,” I managed a smile before scrolling to the next slide. “Here we have—” It hit me once again, almost sending me to the floor.

No, I couldn't hold it any longer.

"The meeting has been adjourned," I said sharply, and walked out before he could answer. 

I made it to my office in twelve strides, locked the door, and hit the glass until the walls went black. I tore the tie off and dropped to the floor because my knees weren’t going to hold me much longer. 

The scent was everywhere now and it was wrong. Omega.

No, I shook my head. I hadn’t been one in eleven years. The tea was supposed to make me permanent. Vaughn had said it when I was seventeen and terrified. 

“It's mandatory for Sterling Alphas.” He'd told me.

I yanked open the bottom drawer and dry-swallowed two suppressants but they did nothing. My hands were shaking and my stomach twisted and somewhere under the panic there was a small flutter that wasn’t scary. 

Fourteen weeks. I’d known for weeks and pretended I didn’t. 

My phone was in my hand before I could think. "Crane Security," I said when they picked up, voice clipped. "Rogue Alpha on Floor 40. Send someone now." 

I hung up and in less than five minutes, the door was kicked open and the last person I expected to ever see stood in the doorway.

Theo Crane stood in the wreckage and the second he inhaled his knees hit the floor like I’d shot him. 

He didn’t look at me like a man. He looked at me like I was a problem he hadn’t asked for, jaw clenched, eyes furious, breathing hard like the scent was choking him. 

98% match. That’s what the files said about fated pairs and I’d always thought it was bullshit until now. 

"Get out," I snapped, even as my voice cracked. "I called for restraint."

He didn’t answer. 

He quickly stood up and kicked the broken door shut behind him, before crossing the room in three steps. He stopped in front of me with his back to the door like he couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else seeing me on the floor like this. 

I hated him for it. 

"I’m not a rogue Alpha," I said, lifting my chin. "I’m Sterling." 

"You’re an Omega in heat," Theo cut in, voice low and cold. "And you’re pregnant." 

I flinched. "Don’t," I managed. “Alphas don't get pregnant, especially me.”

"I can smell it," he said flatly. "Two heartbeats, about fourteen weeks." 

The room tilted. I pressed a hand to my stomach because hearing it out loud made it real and I wasn’t ready for real. 

"Restrain me," I said. "That’s what I paid for." 

Theo crouched in front of me and for a second I thought he would then his eyes dropped to my trousers and to the way I was shaking and something in his face went hard. 

"Your uncle’s men are outside," he informed me. "You want them to see you like this?" 

"I don’t care what they see," I retorted. 

He didn’t believe me. He shrugged out of his dock jacket and threw it over me, covering me completely like the thought of anyone else seeing me that way made him sick. The jacket smelled like cedar and steel and docks and it was the last thing I expected from him. 

"Lucien," he said my name like it hurt him, like he’d been holding it for two years since Red Moon. 

"Don’t say my name," I whispered. 

Footsteps hit the hallway, it was sterling security. Theo looked at the door, then at me, and made a decision I could see in his eyes. 

"Hold still," he ground out and grabbed me and before I could fight his teeth sank into the side of my neck and the pain cut through the heat and the panic and left nothing but relief that felt like drowning. 

It burned and then it was done and he let me go like touching me had cost him something. 

When he pulled back there was guilt all over his face and I didn’t want it. I didn’t want anything from him but he'd temporarily marked me for thirty days to conceal my scent. 

"You assaulted me," I breathed, staring at the floor while my hand hovered slightly where he'd marked me.

Theo stood and turned to the door. "Rogue Alpha contained. Crane Security on scene. Clear the floor." 

The footsteps outside stopped and retreated. He looked down at me where I was still on the floor in his jacket and for half a second something soft crossed his face then it was gone. 

"Get up," he said. "We have to move before your uncle pulls the footage." 

I stood because I didn’t have a choice. My legs shook but they held. The mark at my neck was still warm and the scent was gone and all I could think was that eleven years of tea hadn’t saved me and now this bastard had seen me break. 

The private elevator doors closed behind us and I caught my reflection in the steel. I was pale, marked and looked far from my Alpha Self.

Theo didn’t look at me. He stared straight ahead with his hands fisted at his sides like he was still angry at his own body for wanting me. 

On floor 39, Caspian was already watching us.