The Secret in the City

I slammed the heavy oak door of my assigned bedroom, throwing the deadbolt with a sharp, frantic click.

I was breathing heavily when I pressed my back to the door and closed my eyes. I had such intense hand tremors that I could not open my bag. I searched through my lip gloss and design pens until I found my cell phone.

The period of six months. The words echoed in my mind like a death sentence. Dominic had me trapped. He had detected my son's weak scent which triggered his Alpha instincts to develop into a dangerous powerful obsession. I had only a few hours remaining before he began to search for me.

I unlocked my phone and used my shaky hands to make a call. The British voice on the other end answered after two rings.

"Miss Hart? How was the service, dear?"

"Mrs. Higgins, listen to me very carefully," I whispered, my voice tight with controlled panic. I walked around the Persian rug while I watched the bedroom windows with fearful eyes. "You need to pack Ethan’s bags right now. Leave the hotel immediately."

"Good heavens, Sophie! What’s happened?"

"The situation is compromised. We cannot stay at the hotel, and I cannot come back tonight, I ordered my body to leave the hotel, which I had ordered them to do when my maternal instincts took control. "You must travel directly to the backup apartment in Brooklyn using the private car I hired. You must not use my credit cards. Use the cash envelope I left in the safe. And when you enroll him in the private day school, do not use the name Hart tomorrow.

"What name should I use, dear?" Mrs. Higgins asked, her tone shifting to absolute, protective seriousness.

"Miller. Ethan Miller. And Mrs. Higgins?" I paused, swallowing the thick lump of terror in my throat. "Do not let anyone near him. If a man with silver eyes approaches you, you run. Do you understand me?

"I have him, Sophie. He is safe with me," she promised firmly.

I ended the call because my knees became weak. I sat down on the massive four-poster bed to hide my face with my hands. Ethan was hidden. He was a needle in the haystack of eight million people in New York City. My only task left was to spend six months inside this house without the apex predator who lived downstairs detecting my presence.

I spent the rest of the day hiding in my room while I refused to eat the dinner that a maid had brought up. But I couldn't hide forever. The contract stated I had to co-manage the estate. I had to establish my boundaries.

At midnight, the thirst and suffocating tension finally drove me out of my room.

The Steele mansion stood completely silent while the moonlight streamed through its huge hallway windows to create an otherworldly blue illumination. I walked down the grand staircase without shoes while I wore only a silk black robe which I tied around my sleep shorts.

When I reached the bottom step, a massive shadow detached itself from the wall.

I gasped and fell backwards.

"Evening, Miss Hart."

The man who stood before me was not Dominic. The man standing before me was a giant who wore a tactical black suit and had his arms crossed on his chest. The man had Beta wolf eyes which glowed amber after he transformed.

"Who are you?" I demanded with my heart racing in my chest.

"Marcus. Head of Alpha Steele’s personal security," the giant rumbled politely but firmly. "I am conducting my security patrols because Alpha ordered me to do so. The Alpha required two guards at each exit while three guards had to protect the perimeter. The doors have been sealed shut because of his command. Nobody gets in." His amber eyes followed the movement of my face. "Nobody gets out unless the Alpha gives his explicit permission.

My body became wet with cold sweat. Dominic had turned the estate into a maximum-security fortress after he brought me there. He had established barriers to stop me from escaping again.

"I'm just going to the kitchen for water," I snapped, masking my fear with a glare.

Marcus replied, "Of course, Miss Hart. Have a good night." He bowed his head before walking back into the darkness.

I walked past him while my feet made no sound against the marble floor of the huge kitchen. The room remained dark except for the light which the industrial refrigerators emitted. I took a crystal glass from the cabinet while my hands shook and started to run the water.

"You are walking back and forth like a caged animal, Sophie.

The low gravelly voice in the darkest part of the kitchen caused a shockwave of electricity right down my spine.

I turned here and there and the glass fell out of my hands. It crashed viciously on the marble floor, but we did not even glance at the fragments.

Domic emerged into the shadows.

He had shed his funeral suit. He had dark sweatpants, which were perilously low on his hips, and was completely naked at the torso. My breath hitched. The seven years had moulded him into the weapon of pure, deadly muscle. He had a jagged, silver scar that had been cut across his abdomen and this was in contrast to his very tan skin. But his eyes paralyzed me--flaming with a bestial, predatory silver in the gloom.

He was holding a tumbler of amber scotch in one hand and his eyes were looking painfully, torturously, over my thin silk robe.

it was impossible to sleep, I was able to say, and all I could say, in its silence, was pathetic and breathless. "Get your goons to cease to treat me as a prisoner, Dominic.

You are not a prisoner, he said to himself as he made a slow and measured step towards me. He placed his glass on the granite island thuddingly. "You're an investment. I'm just protecting my assets."

"I am not yours to protect."

This house is my place, everything, he grumbled.

Two gigantic steps brought him upon us. I supported myself back until my hips were touching the marble counter. There was nowhere left to run. Dominic put a hand on the counter on both sides of my waist, and totally enclosed me.

The scalding heat of his naked breasts was drunkening. The odor of winter pine and dark musk was so strong and thick that I felt my inner wolf whines in frenzied submissiveness. I laid my hands flat on his chest which was hard, to push him away but his skin was hot and his muscles were flexing under my palms.

Dont, Dominic, dont, I said to myself, as my heart beat frantic time on my ribs.

He bent forward and his face was so near that I felt his hard stubble rubbing against my cheek. He sniffed and his nose was dragging slowly along the receptive line of my neck. I tightened my jaws to suppress a moan and a dense, wet fire-pool had gathered between my thighs.

You rubbed your flesh, he said and his breath was hot on my ear. You were using my cruel lavender soap in our guest bath. You washed yourself to rags just to cover the smell.

I do not know what you are talking about.

The huge hand of Dominic reached out of the counter, and his long fingers clinging possessively behind my neck. He raised my head by throwing it back, so that I had to look into his dark, obsessive eyes.

You are a beautiful liar, little bird. You were not so good at it, you see," he rasped, his thumb caressing my up-and-down. But you did not do so to-night.

My blood froze. "What?"

Tremendous, ominous smirk crept in at the corner of his mouth. He pulled up close, his lips on my lips as he gave the kill shot.

My security network will keep an eye on all outgoing signals by this estate, Sophie, he whispered on my mouth. So, what is it you want to tell me... who is Ethan Miller?