14

AIDA

"Hey."

"Hi, there." Byron closes the distance between us in the dream, his hand coming up to cup my face. His expression immediately turns to menace. "Oh, how I'm going to enjoy killing him."

"Are you really going to?" I know he's meant it every time he's said it, but there's a difference between meaning something and doing it.

"Absolutely."

I search his face for the crazy I missed with Lonny and find none. All I see is an unyielding determination to protect that I can't help but seek comfort in.

It's something that was missing from my life that I didn't realize until Byron spoke it to me.

"Now," he pushes my curls back from my forehead, holding them away so he can look into my eyes, "this is the part where we talk about you changing the plan, and I never did get to bend you over that table."

"Again, Aida."

I fall forward, my chest nestling against the soft grass, which still manages to feel like sandpaper against my sensitive nipples.

My fingers curl into the blades, my knees sliding into the soft dirt as Byron drives into me again, triggering a delicious ache where he stretches me.

He's been fucking me for what feels like forever in this strange dream world.

I don't even question whether it's real anymore. It doesn't matter. All that matters is what I feel when I'm here with Byron.

His strong hands land firmly on my hips to hold me steady as he slaps hard and fast through my pussy. And for my life, I don't even know what I'm supposed to be repeating.

" Aida! " He thrusts deep, making me choke on a moan, then stops.

If this is supposed to help me focus, it doesn't work. Now he's just a pulse in my passage, throbbing behind my clit in a way that has me shaking out my orgasm as I moan the reply he's been looking for.

"I—oh god—won't put, ah, myself in harm's way."

The pulse becomes a throb as he releases, bathing me in heat.

***

"So what is this place really?"

He chuckles and holds me closer to his chest. "I thought it was the safe place your mind made up?"

"Yeah, that was before I woke up barely able to walk the other day."

He laughs again and slides his hand down to squeeze my butt. "It's where fate brings my kind to our mates."

I lift to look at him. "And what does that mean that you think I'm your mate?"

"There's no ‘think,' baby. Fate doesn't lie." He pauses for a moment. "Although, it has been throwing some curve balls lately."

"How so? Because I'm human?"

His brows raise in confirmation. "There's that and the fact that I've been here before."

Something deflates in me, and when I don't respond, he sighs, tilting his chin to meet my gaze.

"I don't want to start our future with secrets. Until now, I thought the fate dream was a one-time thing between two wolf mates. I've never heard of it happening twice, but we're here, and I won't fight it."

I sit up, easing to sit as I pull my knees up. "So you already had a mate?"

"I did. She was amazing, and she died less than five years after we were fated. We had two boys—I mean, they're men now. Off in college, wasting my money changing their majors every ten seconds. Being reckless like youngins do," he chuckles, but the lightness I felt when he first declared me as something meant only for him has dulled.

"Hey," he sits up, too, pulling my legs so that they straddle his powerful thighs. My center collides with the hard ridge of his erection, and an uncontrollable tremor passes through me. "This isn't any less special because it's happened to me before. If I'm being honest, the fact that fate has bound us when you're not even a wolf means something. You're mine. I'm never going to question that."

I shrug. "Yeah. It's not like I haven't been married—twice."

He hums, seemingly waiting for me to say more. "You want to talk about that second one? I get the impression there's some tension there."

I'm shaking my head before he finishes.

Byron may have some fate-induced attraction to me now, but I'm not ready to shatter whatever idea of common sense he might think I possess by detailing the tragedy that was Lonny Smith.

"Then we won't, but if he's giving you grief, we'll have to deal with it sometime."

"Maybe later. I've got it under control for now. I can handle it."

"And, yet," he nuzzles beneath my chin, kissing a path across my pulse, "I'll handle it for you if and when that time comes. Deal with it, mate. I'm going to ride for you whether you want it or not. You're not alone anymore—ever."

The lightness is back, making my heart thump as flutters set up in my middle. There's also the fact that he's slowly grinding our pelvises together, sliding the thickness of his shaft between the slit of my pussy.

"I owe making love to you. Next time, I promise."

"You can now." I wrap my arms around his shoulders, shifting my hips so the broad head of his dick meets my core, and then I flex forward, urging him inside of me.

My breath hitches at the stretch I'm still not used to. The fullness is nearly overwhelming as I struggle to take more of him inside of me.

He's almost filled me when his hands come to brace my hips.

He presses a soft kiss to my mouth. "I want nothing more than to stroke through this perfectly wet pussy so I can watch you come again, but I have to go. Max is here, and from how he's kicking in my ribs, he's pretty determined to wake me up."

"What—"

But he's lifting me off of him and setting me away, his face calm but tense around the eyes as he starts to disappear.

I scramble to my feet, reaching for his faint form. "Are you okay?"

Those dimples flash just before he fades away. "Of course, baby."

***

"Oh, Doctor. You're here early." Umansky cuts me off from where I was rushing down the hall toward my lab.

"I woke up early, and I felt the need to check on Noel ."

It's more like I didn't sleep at all once Byron left me in the dream.

I'd awoken to find that most of the night had passed while we were together, but there were still a few hours before I could return to the lab.

Instead of trying to guess what was happening to Byron while I was away, I'd spent that time securing an old sitter I'd used when Zora was younger to watch her at a hotel I'd gotten for a few days.

In reaching out to Marissa, I realized that most of my feelings of isolation were self-imposed. She was relieved to hear from me after I'd all but disappeared from any social life but was more than happy to help. When I asked her to put the room on her credit card and gave her the total in cash, she made a face but didn't ask any questions.

Her confusion had been less concealed at the precise list of instructions I'd given for if I didn't show up at the end of the day.

I'd done my best to keep everything I was telling her from sounding ominous, but I'm pretty sure, if I don't come back, she's going to call child services on me or the police.

But the important thing is I trust her. She's from a part of my life before Lonny and before Genesis.

She was also one of the only people to check in on me with genuine concern when things were messy, offering to hang with Zora so I could have a break.

I hadn't taken her up on it at the time. Things still felt so fragile between Zo and me that I didn't want to foist her off on anyone. But I'm so grateful she came through now.

"Where's Zoe?" Umansky's shrewd glance behind me, like he's disappointed I'm alone, only validates my decision to keep her away.

"They accepted her back in school, so she's there."

His frown deepens, his gaze narrowing even more. "I wasn't aware her suspension had been lifted."

"Why would you be?" I tilt my head in question, and he comes to himself, plastering back on the fake smile.

"Well, education is important, so I'm glad she's back in school. This place must have been pretty boring for her." He goes for a chuckle but stops when I remain stony-faced.

Pursing my lips, I consider all I've been through and how I let it make me feel like I had to settle for scraps. And I'm so over his shit.

Stepping close, I stab my finger at the middle of his chest. It's an indictment, and I want that to be clear. "You threatened me and my daughter. You stalked us. You sicced your psycho son on us. You tried to imprison us in the basement. Just because you've realized you need me doesn't mean I've forgotten any of that. So, please, stop with the phony shit. Let me get to my lab so I can finish whatever the hell it is you're doing here that I'm pretty sure isn't curing cancer, and you can get out of my life. I'll do the job. Don't bring up my daughter again." I turn and walk away before he can respond, waiting until I'm out of sight around the corner before quickening my steps to the lab.

"It's not as bad as it looks."

My fists clench as I walk toward the holding cell where Byron's lounging lazily against the wall like his torso isn't a collage of deep blues and purples, and his face isn't swollen nearly to the point that he looks like someone else.

I rush to the door, yanking fruitlessly on the handle before slapping my hands against the fiberglass in frustration. "What the hell, Byron? You're really hurt."

He shakes his head, the one blue eye I can see shining with comfort. "One shift and I'll be good as new."

"Then shift!" My voice rises before I lower it instinctively.

"It's okay. I'll shift later. You never went back to sleep." It's an accusation.

"How was I supposed to sleep when god knows what was happening to you?"

"You're supposed to sleep like a baby, baby. All night, every night. Or I'm not doing my job."

"It's your job to make sure I sleep well?"

He comes right up to the glass, that blue eye blazing. "It's my job to either fuck you into the best sleep of your life or make sure you know that I've got you and you don't have to worry. Did you do it again or rush here to check on me?"

I want to pout about his face. I can tell by the look of his jaw and the slight slur in his speech that it's probably fractured. His eye socket's probably fractured, too. Ribs are definitely pulverized. His shoulder looks to be at a bit of an angle as well.

Most of these would be injuries that would lay a man down, but he's here arguing with me about the quality of my sleep.

"I did it, but only every three miles," I sulk, and he smirks, pressing his hand to the glass.

I raise my hand to meet his across the barrier, and even though something separates us, I feel the connection.

"I went back to tell you not to come today. Something's going on."

"Something like what?"

Byron's eye shifts behind me for a split second before Maxim's voice sounds out.

"Like you're not as special as you think you are."

I spin around, my gaze landing first on Max and then on the man standing next to him, and I go still.

"Good to see you, Aida. Although I must say, I'm shocked to find you at a place as prestigious as Genesis. I thought you'd be at some high school somewhere teaching Intro Chem. You are allowed around kids, right? There is no psycho-by-association list you've had to register with?" Richard Piper stands across from me, still little and squirrelly and the biggest hater I've ever come across in my career.

It's partly because of Richard that I lost my last position.

Most of my colleagues agreed that I was a victim of what happened, but Richard made a big fuss and pressured leadership to let me go.

He smirks as he walks past Maxim to close the distance between us. "Seems like you've been having some trouble synthesizing a hormone. I've looked at the mapping, and it's fascinating. It should not have taken this long to recreate. I've offered to step in and pick up the slack, so your services will no longer be needed. Wow—" He glances past me to the cell holding Byron, his eyes widening as he starts toward it in a trance. "Look at him. And he can really do what you said?" He looks back at Maxim, who nods.

"You'll get to see it soon. You see, we had a hard time getting him to turn, but then I realized that the one time he did, a certain person was in the room." His eyes lock on me, and I step back at what I see there. "She may have even been in danger. Shouldn't be too hard to recreate."

A prick stabs into my neck, and I turn to see Richard holding a syringe with the same wormy little smirk I always hated tilting his thin lips.

Beyond him, Byron's mouth is open on a soundless roar as he launches himself at the glass. A deep web splinters through the surface just as everything goes dark.