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Liam clenched his jaw. “I may be a legacy alpha, Lucy, but I can only do so much with you filling this whole fucking room with your pheromones. Please…just this once, trust me.”
Did I really have a choice? I had no idea how to reel in my own pheromones. Even when I let them out at home, they barely changed Frankie’s scent. My presence had always been an illusion, or maybe just a phantom.
But Liam’s entire body was rigid as he fought against his instincts, and I knew exactly what I was seeing.
He found my pheromones pleasing.
Jesus fucking Christ, I couldn’t think about that, or this would end in blood because Liam looked like he was fucking starving.
“I’m scared,” I admitted, letting out a shuddering breath, but I didn’t try to pull away from him again. “I don’t know what to do.”
His grip on my face eased ever so slightly, and his eyes went from red lightning to molten lava. “I know, but it’ll be okay. You’ll be fine, I promise.”
Why did I want to believe him so badly? His voice was soothing and the vibration of it penetrated my skin until my bones hummed with the sound of him. Tears nearly spilled down my face as I fought against the part of me that felt so weak.
I was not weak – I was more than this need for an alpha I didn’t even know.
“What are you feeling?” Liam asked, his voice losing some of the growl as he sat on the floor, one leg on either side of me, but careful not to make contact.
For some reason, that empathetic consideration eased some of the tension in my body and I decided to try it his way.
“It’s hard to breathe,” I admitted, flinching when he released my face completely.
Oh, god, had I done something wrong? Was he going to do something else – something worse?
Then his hand settled on the side of my neck, almost cool against the heat of my skin, but it was gentle – barely there.
“You definitely have a fever,” Liam muttered, his eyes inspecting me from head to toe. “Anything else?”
I was speechless when he released my wrists, sliding his thumb up the inside of my forearm to push my sleeve up to my elbow. His eyes met mine when I didn’t answer right away and I didn’t understand what I was seeing.
He didn’t look like he was about to lose control anymore and I realized I didn’t hate the way it felt to be touched by him.
“Answer me, Lucy.”
Liam pulled me closer, his intense focus hypnotizing me. I didn’t even notice what he was doing until my bare forearm was resting on his shoulder. The weird haze in my head made me slow, and I couldn’t react even when I watched him pull the adhesive away from his neck.
“This is a bad idea,” Cas muttered, making me jump.
Oh, god, I’d completely forgotten he’d been in the room with us. What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I losing my mind? Why now? What the hell was I going to do about this insane fucking situation?
“Ignore him,” Liam murmured, dropping the adhesive to the floor before pressing my wrist to his neck. “Just focus on me, okay?”
Was it safe to be around Cassius right now, or was Liam the only one who could detect my pheromones?
“Lucy, look at me.”
It was impossible to deny that soft command and I looked up into those garnet eyes, holding my breath as I waited to see what would happen.
“What do you need?” His voice was fucking mesmerizing.
I had no idea what I needed, and I tried to tell him that, but my lips couldn’t form the words.
Dropping my gaze to his neck, I tried to figure out what he was doing – what I was feeling…
My fingers curled around the back of his neck, holding onto him against my will, and I realized I was leaning forward as if I had every intention of climbing into his lap. Pulling back was a knee-jerk reaction, but Cassius was ready for it. The hard chest against my back made me stiffen and Liam smiled lazily, his garnet eyes practically liquid metal now with the way they glimmered at me.
“Just breathe,” Cassius whispered into my ear, the gravel in his voice making me shiver. “The more you resist, the more it’s going to hurt.”
