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The Voss gala wasn't meant for people like me.
Crystal chandelier bled light over marble floors, men in tailored tuxedos and women in gowns that cost more than my rent, moved like the own the air, I hate it but hate didn't pay the rent and Voss Biotech paid triple for off the- books medic. "stay in the east Wing, no client contact, take care of the drunk's and keep your head down". My handler said. I nodded to myself, adjusting the silver mask that hid the lower half of my face. Beta Kade, that was my ID tonight, Safe, Boring and invisible. for 6 months it worked until the suppressants failed. The first sign was the temperature spike, one second I was checking a ceo's pulse for alcohol poisoning the next thing the room felt like it was on fire my, glands burned. Pre-rut. Shit, not now, not here. I fumbled for my emergency dose but it was too small for me, of course it was, the black market stuff had been getting weaker for weeks, I pressed my wrist to my scent glands trying to smother it, but it was like holding a flood with a paper. Then I smelled it. Clean, sharp like cold rain on steel, it caught through the cloying perfume and alcohol in the room and locked into me like a homing missile. Lucien Voss. I had never seen him up close but everyone in the city knew the s-class Alpha. CEO of Voss Biotech. The man who controlled 70% of the suppressant market, cold eyes, colder reputation, rumor said he hadn't gone into rut in 5 years because of his regimen. Right now, that's rumor was dead. He was across the ballroom hands fisted at his sides, jaw locked like he was fighting himself, even from twenty meters away his scent hit me - Dominant, possessive barely leashed. Omega's in the room where already swaying some dropping to their knees, Beta looked nauseous. Me?. My body reacted before my brain could stop it my knees went weak, heat pooled low in my stomach. Enigma. The word flashed through my mind like a death sentence, I turned to leave, but it was too late his eyes found me. Cold, Inhuman, Hungry. for half a second the entire room fell away, it was just him and me and the pull between us was physical. my body wanted to go to him but my instinct screamed to run. I made three steps back before his voice caught through the noise, low, commanding and mean for Alpha's to obey. " stop". my feet froze, not because I wanted to obey but because my body remembered what it was to be prey. Security moved in forming a barrier between us Lucien didn't look at them, he didn't blink. "Get him out of here, now; he said voice rough. Two guards grabbed my arms I didn't fight, fighting an S-class Alpha's command while in pre-rut was a good way to end up marked and claimed against a wall. As they dragged me towards the service exit I caught one last look at him he's mask had slipped he wasn't angry he looked desperate. Like he had just found something he couldn't leave without. The door slammed shut behind me. I pressed my back against the Cold wall and slid down hands shaking, my heat had started not yet but if I didn't get a real suppressant in some days it would. And somewhere in that ballroom, Lucien Voss was losing control for the first time in years. Because of me. "Find him". he said. Yeah good luck with that Alpha. I am not getting caught.RIAN POV The safehouse sat at the edge of a dead orchard, twenty kilometers past the last city checkpoint. One floor, no windows on the ground level, Lucien called it off-grid I called it a tomb with plumbing. But it had a lock that worked, a generator that hummed and no Task Force drones in the sky. For now that was enough. Theo collapsed on the cot the second we got inside. Kael didn't leave his side, he just sat on the floor beside him, close enough to catch him if he fell but far enough not to crowed. Lucien locked the door, checked the perimeter cameras twice, then turned to me. "You're pale," he said. "So are you," I shot back. He didn't smile. "When did you last sleep." "Before the breach." "Then sleep now," I shook my head. "Not until you you tell me what the council wants with Theo." Lucien's jaw tightened. "They want leverage. Omegas with instable heats can be weaponized. They wanted to see if they could force it and control it. "And Theo?" "They t
THEO POV The river route smelled like oil, rust, and old water. It was a smuggler's path-concrete embankments, rusted ladders and tunnels half-swallowed by the city. No cameras. No signal, just the sound of water moving fast and the occasional drip from overhead pipes. I leaned against Rian as we walked, my breathing still uneven. The forced heat had left me drained and shaky. Kael walked on my other side, close but not touching. Lucien led, gun in hand, eyes scanning every shadow, he hadn't spoken since we left the tunnel. His jaw was tight, scent sharp with restrained aggression. "Stop," Kael said suddenly. we froze. He held up a hand, listening, water dripping, our breathing, nothing else. "Sorry, I heard it wrong." Lucien didn't argue, he just moved us deeper into the tunnel away from the mainland. I stumbled but Rian caught me before I could hit the ground. "Easy, I have got you," he murmured. My eyes met his, glassy but clear. "I am sorry, I am slowing
RIAN POV The alarm didn't scream, it humed. I was awake before it finished its first cycle, that's what years of running does to you. Lucien was already on his feet, gun in hand, moving toward the door. Kael was outside, shouting orders I couldn't hear through the reinforced steel. "Stay with Theo," Lucien said without looking back. "If it gets bad, take the maintenance shaft. Code 7741." "Like hell i am staying," I said, grabbing my jacket. His jaw tightened. "Rian-" "No, not this time." I wasn't staying behind, not while Theo was still weak to run on his own. Lucien stared at me for a second then nodded once."Stay behind me."The door opened into chaos. Smoke, shouting. The smell of burnt wiring and ozone. Task Force units had breached the east wing, four of them, tactical gear, rifles raised. Kael was in front of them, hands up. "Stand down!" he shouted. "These are protected assets under section 9, clause 3!" "Bullshit, Rourke," one of the agents spat. "c
RIAN POV Dawn came too fast. No sunrise through the safehouse windows, just the artificial grey of pre-dawn and the low hum of the city waking up without us. Lucien had the car idling out back by 5:12 Kael was already checking out the main exits, moving like a man who had slept with one eye open his whole life. Theo walked on his own now, but his hand stayed braced on the wall, His heat had been forced down, not resolved, that left him raw and unstable. I kept my scent low and steady so he wouldn't pick up on my own fraying control. "Back door's clear", Kael said, not looking at me. "We have twelve minutes before the next patrol sweep". Lucien nodded once. "Move". No one argued, arguing got people caught, I kept my hand on Theo's elbow, he didn't pull way, that was new before he would flinch at any contact that wasn't medical, as we crossed the loading dock. Cold concrete under my boots, the smell of oil and rain. Lucien's driver wasn't there, Lucien drove, of course
The safehouse did not feel safe. It was too small, too bare - one bed, one bathroom, a kitchenette that looked like it had not been used in years, Voss Biotech owned a dozen of places like this. Lucien called it off-grid and I called it a gilded cage with better locks. Theo was two rooms down, sedated and stable, Lucien's medic had done what she could, Kael had not left his side since we got here and I had not asked why. Lucien sat on the edge of my bed, watching me like I might vanish if he blinked. His rut had passed but the tension had not, we were both drowning in instinct. "You should rest", he said quickly. "So should you, you look like hell", I shot back. He almost smiled at that. I pulled my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them, the silence between us was not comfortable, it was loaded, every word felt like it could tip us one way or the other. "Why me ", I asked finally. Lucien stared at me . "What?". "Out of everyone in this city, why did you fixate on me
The facility was silent as a tomb.Concrete walls, no windows, air that tasted like disinfectant an old fear. I had been in places like this before. They all smelled the same when you stripped away the bleach. Earlier Kael had come and he took Theo away to another room.The front doors blew inward with a roar of splintered metal and alarms, security scrambled, weapons raised, deep down I knew it was Lucien.He moved through them like a storm fast, brutal, precise. An S-class Alpha not on Suppressants was a natural disaster. I followed in his wake, keeping low, using the chaos to slip past, my mask was gone, my hoodie was too big, I looked like a kid who didn't belong in a firefight. Good they underestimated me. "Rian!". Lucien's voice cut through the noise, he had found me in under sixty seconds, of course you had, my scent was probably a bacon to him now. "Over here!". I shouted back, grabbing his arms as he passed. "Theo's in holding, level B2 and Kael's here".Lucien's ja







