The tote rips open when my elbow catches it. Flour spills down over my sleeve, my hip, and the pavement between us. White dust blooms between us, clinging to both of us. It should be funny. Itwouldbe funny if this were a story I told Priya tomorrow, about how I weaponized bakery supplies against a criminal and deserved a raise.
Instead, I can’t breathe.
I drag in a breath and start coughing, my lungs screaming for air as my strength starts to give.No! I can’t go out like this.I should have left the bakery earlier. I should have allowed one of my coworkers to drive me home. I should have...
A loud bang echoes through the evening, the sound of one of our apartment doors hitting the apartment wall. Heavy footsteps pound down the stairs and then the scent of cedar and whiskey cuts through the night.
Relief pours through me as my eyes drag past the man’s shoulder toward the building entrance, and for one impossible second, all I can think is Kade.
Not Mr. Kade Rourke from ten feet down the hall. Not the giant Alpha who holds the lift when he sees me coming with grocery bags and then stands a careful half-step away so hedoesn’t crowd me. Not the man who once left cough drops and ginger tea outside my door after hearing me hack up a lung through the wall.Just Kade.
The side door opens so hard it cracks against brick, the Alpha stalking toward us. One second, the man’s forearm is against my chest. The next, Kade has him by the back of his coat and hauls him away from me like he weighs nothing. Air rushes into my lungs so fast it hurts. I fold forward with it, coughing around blood and spit, my hands shaking as they scrape against brick. My knees try to give, but I catch myself on the wall because going down feels like letting the night win.
The man swings at Kade, catching him in the shoulder before Kade throws a punch into his face, sending the man stumbling into the bins.
“Stay behind me,” Kade growls.
I don’t have to be told twice as I stand there in my flour mess, pressing my back into the brick.
The attacker struggles to his feet, looking between the both of us, seemingly irritated by Kade’s appearance. The man lets out a small growl before taking off down the street, a flurry of flour flying off of him.
Kade starts to follow for half a step, then stops. His head turns toward me, and whatever he sees on my face drags him back faster than the chase pulls him forward. He comes to me slowly, both hands raised where I can see them, his chest rising hard beneath his black shirt.
“Emrys,” he purrs, a hint of worry mixed into that deep baritone. “Rys, look at me.”
I manage to raise my gaze to him, admiring the ink peeking just above his collar and the way the streetlight seems to make his eyes almost clear. Then my eyes drop to the flour smeared across his shirt and arms. It looks so stupid covering his ink. Andeven though I’m terrified and seconds from collapsing, I can’t help myself.
A laugh bursts out of me, coming in wet, broken huffs which then turns into a sob. My hands fly up to cover my mouth, but the moment my palm touches my lips, I flinch so hard my elbow hits the brick. Tears stream down my face at the new jolt of pain, Kade raising his hands in defeat.
“Okay,” he says softly. “Okay. I won’t touch you. Are you bleeding?”
I nod, then shake my head, because I don’t know. My lip is split. My shoulder hurts. My ribs feel like something is still pressing against them. The side of my face throbs where the man’s fingers dug in, and my throat feels scraped raw from the scream that never made it out.
Kade’s gaze moves over me, checking my face first and his jaw tightens when he sees my mouth. “Did he hit your head?”
“I don’t,” I whisper, but my voice barely works. “I don’t know.”
His expression changes, enough that the dangerous part of him shows through the restraint, there and gone so fast I might have missed it if I weren’t staring at him like he is the only solid thing left in the world.
Sirens rise in the distance, the reality of what could have happened bringing me back. I reach toward Kade, my hands trembling as they snag across his shirt. “Please,” I whisper.
I’m not even sure what I’m asking for until Kade lets me tug him forward. I press my face into his chest, sagging against him as his scent fully fills my lungs. In all the years we’ve lived in this apartment, we’ve never shared more than a few words but he’s always been in my head.
He’s always been mine and this right here just proves it.
It takes Kade a moment to soften before he wraps his arms around me. “I got you, Rys. You’re safe, okay? Fuck, I got you.”
His chest starts to rattle with an uneven purr luring me into the safety of his embrace when the night turns chaotic again.
“Hands where I can see them! Let go of him! Hands!!!”
Kade pulls away from me as I look ahead to see several officers rushing toward us with their guns raised. A shriek pulls from my throat as an officer sweeps past Kade and pulls me off to the side, two other guards nearly tackling Kade to the ground.
“No, what are you doing?” I struggle against the Beta who has me. “What—why? Kade?” A fresh wave of tears runs down my face.
Kade looks up at me from the ground, not even resisting as the officers pull his hands back to lock cuffs around his wrists. “Emrys was attacked and I was just—”
One of them pushes out a chuckle. “Oh, we know this poor Omega was attacked. We got a call almost ten minutes ago that an Alpha was hurting an Omega. Lucky for us, you were still here.”
