Page 21 of His Stolen Omega

And it was clear that should bother Elm, that he should be guarding against this man more than anyone else, and yet…He was tired, and Levi was the only thing that seemed to ease some of the ever-present anxiety.

“This is dangerous,” Elm mumbled, trying to talk some sense into himself. “You are dangerous.”

“I’m not the only one,” Levi replied. “If the Butcher is to be believed, you can become a serious threat.”

“To you?”

He paused to consider. “We’ll see.”

“What if I swore to lie to Kian about where I’ve been and never bring you up?” he asked. “Will you let me go? Better out there than in here, if you think I could become a problem for you.”

“Better dead, actually,” Levi said bluntly, giving no reaction when Elm recoiled. He merely dropped his hand, then stared him down while Elm glared, as though letting him throw a momentary tantrum like one might with a child.

“Here.” Fiora broke the moment by thrusting the cuff toward Levi. “Since you’re the only one who can get near him, you’re going to have to be in charge of logging his vitals.”

“I’m in charge of everything,” the alpha reminded calmly, turning to take the cuff and then moving to cinch it around Elm’s left bicep. He didn’t ask or give Elm time to react, merely attached the device and then hit the button, his eyes lifting once more when Elm let out a yelp.

“Something pricked me!” Elm had felt it against his skin just before the cuff started to tighten and read his heartbeat.

“It took a blood sample,” Levi explained.

“What’s next?” he growled. “Want me to pee on it?”

“We will be needing a urine sample, but no, that’s not the way we’ll get it.”

“Seriously?”

“The toilet has a built-in monitor,” Fiora said. “It’s already keeping tabs on your health.”

Elm blinked between the two of them.

“I told you,” Levi removed the cuff once it beeped, “this is an experiment.”

“And I’m a test subject.”

“You’re the test subject,” he corrected, the corner of his mouth almost lifting before he settled it back into a firm line and turned to face the Butcher once more. “The drug?”

“Too soon to tell if replication is possible,” Fiora replied, clearly able to follow Levi’s question. “This isn’t my area of expertise, but I already know you’ll reject the request to bring in anyone else.”

“Correct.” The alpha placed his palm against Elm’s neck again, thumb pressing lightly against his pulse point as he continued to speak with the Butcher, almost as if the move was unintentional. “Replace the guards. Now that the heat has passed, it should be fine so long as they keep their distance.”

“As instructed, no one knows what’s in here, just that the area needs to be kept secure.” Fiora pulled something from the cuff, a chip, and attached it to her multi-slate. “Shocking no one, his readings are unstable. Still dehydrated as well. I’ll get him to drink some electrolytes—”

Elm had no idea why he did it, but he made a sound of protest, pheromones flaring.

“Calm.” Levi pushed his own soothing pheromones, the skin-to-skin contact, his hand on his throat, helping to deliver them more directly.

He slumped against the wall, the blooming irritation at the center of his chest dissipating. Even understanding that no part of him could afford to let his guard down, Elm couldn’t help but feel relieved.

“This whole pheromone thing is exhausting,” he confessed. Mostly because he’d always been chatty, and even if these people weren’t his friends, old habits die hard.

He wasn’t sure he could make it through this with his sanity intact if he didn’t at least attempt to vocalize it somehow. Verbally working through his issues was the only way he knew how, it was a coping mechanism he could fall back on, even now.

Honestly, if he had more energy, he would be talking a mile a minute.

“You’ll get the hang of it,” Levi stated. Maybe reassuringly.

“How do you know?” Elm asked.