Senior Constable Isa Higgs couldn’t explain what compelled him to stand outside of Liam Haley’s hospital room and watch the young omega sleep. It was after midnight, and he’d had a long, stressful day following the liberation of the five omega prisoners from Dent and Udall’s illegal gambling ring, and Udall was still at large. He’d also kidnapped the mate of one of Isa’s constables, Karter Jenks, and their leads were thin.

He ought to be home, but his youngest boy was staying over with his two oldest, so the house was empty. Now that his mate was gone, Isa had no one to go home to, and the big house held no appeal. But he didn’t know what had driven him here, of all places.

The omegas were safe, the four in isolation were all healthy, and the fifth in ICU stable. Isa had read all their initial statements, knew the broad strokes of the things they’d suffered, so why was he drawn to Liam? Liam and his sweet, maple sugar scent that spoke to Isa in completely inappropriate ways. Isa was twice his age, for goddess’s sake, with three children, two of whom were Liam’s age and older.

But he couldn’t deny the pull he had toward Liam, or the way his maple syrup scent had wrapped itself around Isa while he held the young omega in his arms. And it wasn’t a paternal reaction, either. The only time he’d reacted to an omega like that was twenty-one years ago when his next-door neighbor, an omega he’d known most of his life, first showed signs of heat. Herris was only a few months his junior, their individual families already friends. Isa had been shocked to feel the mating bond with his oldest friend.

They’d mated a few days later, and that coupling had produced their oldest son Aven. Isa and Herris had created a beautiful life together, raised three children, and two years ago, Herris had grown ill and died within two months. It still didn’t feel real some days. Herris was all over their home, in the decorations, photos, and even the meals Isa still cooked if he was home. But after Herris died, Isa spent most of his time with his head in his work, training new constables and solving crimes. Never once had he imagined meeting another omega with whom he’d feel a mating bond.

And he absolutely could not admit he’d felt it with Liam.

Then why are you here?

If anyone asked, he could believably say he was checking on his charges. The five omegas in custody were the responsibility of the constabulary, theirs to protect until Udall was found and everyone involved in the ring brought in. Until then, none of these young men or their unborn offspring were safe.

Offspring forced on all of them by Lawry and unknown alphas. Descriptions varied by the omegas, so Lawry hadn’t used the same one, and with each omega deep in the throes of heat, the chance of any of them making a positive ID was slim to none. Knowing that set off a fresh blast of rage deep inside Isa. No one deserved to be treated how these omegas had been treated. No one deserved to be raped during heat, sold into slavery, and subjected to physical and emotional abuse for the amusement of rich men with money and power.

My Liam didn’t deserve this.

No, he couldn’t think of Liam as his—that could lead down a dangerous road. Liam needed stability and safety right now, not an older alpha panting after him like a pup who couldn’t control himself.

Still…something deep inside Isa rebelled at the idea of leaving Liam alone, even in the safety of this hospital.

A hospital ward from which eleven rescued omegas had disappeared last year, never to be found again. Isa believed they’d been taken to a better, safer life, but he had no proof. He didn’t know what he’d do if Liam disappeared like that.

I’d move on and not invest in an omega I can’t have.

In his bed, Liam jerked upright, both hands clasped protectively over his belly. Isa moved by instinct, stepping into the shadowy room, the only illumination coming in through the door and from a small light in the corner. Liam didn’t notice him at first, and when he did look up, his dark eyes wide, he didn’t seem startled or scared.

“Constable,” he said in that feather-soft voice.

“Hello, Liam.”

“Is everything okay? Is there an emergency?”

“No, nothing’s going on that you need to worry about.”

Liam relaxed against his bed, which was only half-reclined. “Oh, good. You can come closer. Then I don’t have to”—he made air quotes with his fingers—“shout at you.”

“My apologies.” Isa moved to stand beside the bed, and it took everything inside him not to take Liam’s hand. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“Not really. It’s weird. I used to fall asleep in that room and pray I’d wake up at home, my family still alive, before this whole nightmare. Now, I’m afraid of falling asleep and waking up back in that room.”

“It’s a natural thing to be afraid of. You’ve been through a terrible trauma, Liam, anyone would have bad dreams.”

Liam shrugged, then jumped, his right hand sliding to the side of his abdomen. “Oh, he kicked again. I think that’s what woke me up.”

Isa couldn’t stop a big grin. The first few kicks had always been the most exciting moments during Herris’s three pregnancies. Even though all his sons were beta, Isa treasured each life he’d created with his late mate. “Has he kicked a lot?”

“No, and I was getting worried. I figured he should have kicked by now, but Dr. Troi assured me I’m within the right range.” Liam grinned up at Isa. “Do you want to feel it?”

This is a very bad idea.

“Are you sure?” Isa asked.

“I trust you, Constable Higgs. I honestly don’t know why, but I do. And I don’t have anyone else to share this with.”

All of Isa’s resolve melted away at the quiet, sad way Liam said those final words. He eased onto the very edge of the bed, careful not to get too close, but Liam’s maple sugar scent still caressed his senses. Liam took his hand, and the contact tingled up Isa’s arm in a too-pleasant way. He pressed Isa’s hand to the side of his stomach, and they waited.

Moments later, the faintest thump hit his palm, and Isa gasped. The baby kicked a few more times in the same spot, and Liam laughed, the sound as soft and raspy as his broken voice.

When Dent confessed they’d altered all the omegas’ voices so they couldn’t call for help or scream too loudly, Isa had barely controlled his temper. Their five rescued omegas all had the same low-level voice and wrist tattoos as Liam. Dent had also admitted that completely muting Jax Orris, an omega who escaped their captivity with his own newborn six weeks ago, had been a mistake.

Isa had sent that information down to the morgue to see if any of their young Jack Does showed signs those tattoos, or of having their throats cut. It was easily something a surface autopsy would have noted.

But the changes to those men’s voices was irreversible. Jax would never speak again, and Liam would never shout across a room, or scream with joyous laughter.

After a moment of no more kicking, Isa eased his hand away. He wanted to keep touching Liam, offering him comfort like he had when he carried Liam down to the ambulance earlier that day. But Liam wasn’t his to coddle and care for, he was a victim and a witness, and Isa needed to treat him as such.

Damned maple sugar scent.

“I know it’s late, but I’m not ready to sleep yet,” Liam said. “Tell me about you?”

Talking about himself was an easy enough topic, but they really shouldn’t get to know each other on a personal level. “Well, I’m a Senior Constable, which means I’m a day supervisor over a unit of constables and patrolmen. I’ve been a constable for…gosh, nineteen years now.”

And you’re only eighteen. This is impossible.

“Why be a constable?” Liam asked.

“No specific reason. I’ve always admired the constabulary, so when I was in university, I decided to apply to the academy. They accepted me, and I’ve been here ever since.”

“You must enjoy it.”

“I do. And I work with some incredible people.”

Liam smiled. “You’re mated, right? What’s your omega like?”

Isa’s heart ached a bit, as it often did when he thought of Herris’s sudden illness and death. “I was mated, yes, to a wonderful man. We have three children.”

“You were mated?”

“Two years ago, my mate contracted a rare virus, and within two months he was gone.”

“Oh, Constable.” Liam clutched at Isa’s hand, his pretty face twisted with grief. “I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you.”

His touch should not be so calming.

But it was, and Isa couldn’t change that. He’d never heard of an alpha feeling the mating bond twice in his lifetime, but alphas and omegas mated for life. If one lost a partner, it wasn’t unheard of for the other to find a new mate, but that union was often out of necessity, such as help with child care. But to feel the bond with someone so young? And already pregnant with an unknown alpha’s child?

The idea didn’t repel Isa like it should. It made him want to take Liam home and protect him from all the evil men in the world. To make Liam and his unborn baby part of Isa’s family. And he could, too. As a mated alpha, he could become the legal guardian of an unmated omega, as long as he got permission from the courts. And given his position in the constabulary, the courts had no reason to deny him.

Except bringing Liam into his home was a terrible idea, and it would only keep temptation close by.

“Can you tell me about your sons?” Liam asked.

Isa swelled with pride whenever he thought about his boys, despite their strained relationship. “My oldest is twenty, and he’s at university. Aven is studying to be a secondary school teacher. Tarius is eighteen, finishing up secondary, and he’ll be starting his first semester at university in the fall.”

“Two in university at once? Wow.”

“Yes, but they earned the marks to go, and I’m proud of them both.”

“Must be a lot of studying at home.”

Isa’s smile dimmed. “Not as much as I’d like, but that’s on me. I was a right rotten bastard when I lost my mate, and Aven was already making plans to live closer to campus. He was eighteen, and Tarius sixteen, so Tarius was the age of majority and able to move out. They both live together now, on the other side of the province near the university.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. Shit, I keep bringing up sad stuff.”

“Stop apologizing. We all have sad stuff in our pasts. And that was a mistake of my own doing. Only my youngest, Demir, still lives at home with me, but he spends a lot of time with his brothers.”

“How old is Demir?”

“Just turned fourteen. He took his omegin’s death hard, and he blamed me for it, even though there wasn’t anything we could have done to prevent it. I try my best, but he’s as strong-willed as his brothers.”

“Are they alphas?”

That earnest question made Isa chuckle. “No, all beta, believe it or not. But they’re amazing kids, even if they don’t like me very much right now.”

“I can’t imagine not liking you.” Even in the dim light, Isa caught the embarrassment in Liam’s expression. “I mean, you seem like a compassionate person.”

“I’m also a bit of a hard-ass, which anyone who’s ever worked for me can attest to.”

“You seem kind of cuddly to me.”

Isa laughed out loud. “I do have a bit of a soft spot for omegas. So many of my cases lately have broken my heart, from Lawry’s halfway house bust to the Kell Iverson trial.”

“Kell Iverson trial?”

“That’s a story for another time, little one. You really should rest.”

Liam’s pout was adorable. “I’m not tired.”

“Would it help at all if I sit with you for a while?”

“I…yes? I think so.”

“Then I will.” He gave Liam’s hand another squeeze, and then moved to one of the guest chairs in the room.

Liam settled back, hands still protectively clutching his belly. Isa watched in silence as Liam closed his eyes. His body relaxed by degrees, until he seemed very much fast asleep. Herris had been able to do that for their boys growing up—calm them from their bad dreams simply by staying close. Isa was happy to have done that for Liam, but also a bit worried about what it meant.

On his way out of the ward, Isa did peek into the rooms of the other three sleeping omegas, simply so he could tell himself he hadn’t come specifically for Liam. It was a lie, of course, but it would justify any questions if the patrolmen guarding the ward started to gossip.

Isa called into division to see if there had been any new leads in the kidnapping of Jax Orris, but nighttime Senior Constable Lars said no. His only minor consolation with the lack of new developments was that they’d arrested the constable working with the ring, and he was cooling his traitorous heels in lockup. Lars said they were chasing down a few leads, but so far, they hadn’t found Jax or Udall.

His heart ached for Jax’s mate, one of his own constables. Karter Jenks was young and impulsive, but he’d been supportive and attentive to Jax from the moment the pair met six weeks ago, and he’d never seen the young constable happier than after Karter officially mated Jax. Isa understood the heartbreak of losing a mated omega, and he sincerely hoped they brought Jax home alive. Not only for Jenks, but also for Jax’s infant son.

He returned to an empty home, and the hollowness had never struck him as hard as it hit tonight. Maybe it was from being around Liam, a handsome omega who’d woken up a part of Isa that he thought had died with Herris. Maybe it was talking about his strained relationships with his sons, and how Demir preferred the company of his brothers to his father.

“And whose fault is that, you grumpy old jackass?” he asked his empty kitchen as he strode toward the fridge. He kept a bottle of Scotch in the cabinet above it, and tonight was a good night for a snort. Didn’t matter how late it was, he simply wasn’t tired.

He carried the glass of amber liquid out to the screened-in back porch. It was still winter and cold, but he barely felt it through his thick wool uniform coat. As a rookie patrolman, he’d walked a lot of nighttime beats in the dead of winter, so the cold had stopped bothering him years ago. He sat in one of the wicker chairs Herris had picked out for their porch a decade ago. The cushions had been changed a few times, but the furniture had held up.

The smoky Scotch went down smoothly, as it always did. He lived in a nice, quiet neighborhood, with one of the lowest crime rates in the province, and he’d never worried about his kids playing in the streets. Never worried they would get snatched off the sidewalk and sold into sex trafficking, like other beta teens had in Sansbury. He’d never had an omega son he had to worry about losing to a sexual pervert for one reason or another.

After nineteen years in the constabulary, the depths of evil some men were capable of continued to astound him. Hopefully, swift justice would be had for the other men left damaged in their wake. Maybe by helping these young men, Isa could work a bit of that black mark off his soul left by him driving away his own sons.

* * *

After last night’s small round of kicking, the baby decided to make a sport out of kicking at Liam’s bladder all morning. He tried to visit his fellow omega ward-mates, but he felt like the orange juice he’d had with breakfast was ten times the amount he actually drank, based on his bathroom visits. His new omega friends weren’t much better off, as they were all further along than Liam.

Three more months of this sounded like hell.

He’d returned to his room to watch TV for a while around mid-morning, and just as a game show contestant was about to win big, two figures appeared in the doorway to his room. Liam glanced over. The bigger man in a patrolman’s uniform was completely unfamiliar to him, but the shorter man seemed familiar. Not much older than Liam, definitely omega.

The omega stepped farther into the room, hands in his pants pockets. “Liam?”

Liam nodded. “Yes.”

“Do you remember me?”

He squinted at the young man, studying his dark hair and green eyes. The halfway house. “You were at Fynn’s house, too.”

“Yes, I was. Braun Etting. I arrived a few days before you were taken.”

Recognition finally hit him, because while Braun’s scent was familiar, it had also changed. “You were in a car accident. Your father was killed.”

“Yeah.”

“Were you selected to by an alpha to mate? Or were you rescued when the house was busted?”

“Neither.” Braun came closer, his expression nervous and wary, which seemed odd. “I came here to apologize to you.”

Liam startled. “What? Why?”

“The night you were taken, I watched it happen. From my bedroom window.”

Shock rolled down Liam’s spine, and he clutched at the thin blanket covering his lap.

“I didn’t like being in that house,” Braun continued, “so I had trouble sleeping. That night, I heard people in the upstairs hallway. I smelled unfamiliar alphas, and it terrified me, because they weren’t supposed to be there. And I was too scared to draw attention to myself, so I watched from the window while they carried you into their van.”

Liam gaped at the distressed omega in front of him, uncertain how to collect his thoughts. Braun had watched him be kidnapped and said nothing? Did nothing? He wanted to be furious about it, but Liam understood terror. He understood being so afraid you couldn’t move or do anything to help.

“I was so scared of that happening to me that the next night I escaped. I layered up my clothes and climbed the fence in the backyard. Eventually, I found help and when it was safe, I told a constable what I saw. It led to the bust of the house and we set eleven omegas free.”

“Oh.” Liam wasn’t sure what else to say. He was overjoyed that the other omegas had been rescued from a similar fate as Liam’s, and he was equally glad Braun had gotten out. But at the same time, he kind of hated them all for avoiding Liam’s fate. And the fate of every omega who’d been kidnapped and forced to fight.

“I’m so sorry for what happened to you,” Braun said. He seemed near tears, and the deeply ingrained need to comfort others reared up inside Liam.

“Thank you, but it wasn’t your fault.” The words tasted like ash on his tongue, but they seemed to make Braun feel better, and that was the point. “It was also months ago. I don’t blame you, Braun.”

“Thanks. If it helps at all to know, you were the last omega that Dent and Udall kidnapped. Well, from Fynn, anyway.”

Liam frowned. “What does that mean?”

Braun glanced behind him at the patrolman before answering. “Yesterday, Udall got away when they raided the fight ring. He was the one called Red. He kidnapped an omega who escaped him and tried to force the constabulary into a trade. But they rescued Jax this morning. He’s hurt, but alive, and Udall is in custody.”

“Hurt?” Liam’s mind spun out on the various ways Udall could have hurt this man named Jax.

And Braun seemed to track his thoughts perfectly. “Not like that. Udall didn’t rape him. The way Jax was left bound caused some damage to his arms and shoulders, but he’s in the hospital and getting care.”

“Have you visited him?”

“I will in a little while. I wanted to give him time with his family first.”

Liam frowned. “Family? Why was he in the halfway house if he has family?”

“Because after Jax escaped from Udall and Dent, he met his bondmate.” Braun grinned. “They’ve since mated, and his alpha has a large family. Plus, Jax has his own baby. Almost three months old now.”

“Then I’m happy for him.” And completely jealous. It sounded as if Jax had gotten away and found happiness for himself and his child. Liam smoothed a hand over his belly, uncertain if he’d ever have a happy life again. And this topic was entirely too depressing. “So, um, why the bodyguard?”

“Huh? Oh.” Braun glanced at the patrolman again. “Long story. Maybe I’ll tell you sometime. I’d like to keep in touch, Liam, if that’s all right.”

“Uh, sure.”

Braun borrowed a notepad and pen from the patrolman, then wrote a phone number down for him. “It’s my mobile. Do you know where you’re going next?”

“No idea.” Liam hadn’t given it any real thought, preferring to live in the now, and not worry too much about tomorrow.

“Well, they’ll probably keep you here for a few more days, until the constabulary is reasonably sure no one else involved in the fight ring is a threat to you. After I visit Jax, I’m going to hit the gift shop. Is there anything I can bring you? Magazines? Sweets?”

Liam shuddered at the idea of reading another magazine ever again. “Maybe a newspaper? I’d like to know what’s happening in the world.”

“I can do that. Take it easy, Liam. I’m glad you’re free.”

“Thank you.” Liam didn’t feel free at all. He’d gone from the prison of the halfway house, to the prison of his cell, and now the hospital was its own form of prison, with guards at the door to the ward. Granted, Liam no longer feared physical violence here, but what about when he was discharged? Where would he go?

Where would any of them go? They’d all been violated and carried the children of unknown sires. What alpha would ever want him as a mate?

Liam shoved the depressing thought away and tried to nap, but sleep didn’t come for a long, long time.