Returning to the sprawling law campus was as secretive an affair as leaving it had been. Kell wore a hoodie and ball cap on the walk to the apartment elevator. Two other men were on with them, and they paid him no mind—probably because he had Ronin’s scent all over him from their long, morning make-out session on the floor.

It had been the most glorious hour of his life, until Ronin got the call from Tarek, agreeing to a meeting with Braun, and Kell had wanted to weep for utter joy. After the details had been finalized, they moved their kissing to the sofa in the exact same position: Kell on top.

He loved being on top, having control, no immediate threat of being held down and hurt.

Ronin had gotten worked up enough that he’d eventually excused himself to the bathroom to take care of matters, and Kell hadn’t been shy about listening to Ronin’s cry of pleasure when he came. Kell had been turned on by the kissing, even if he hadn’t gotten hard—he hadn’t gotten fully hard during sex since his last heat-induced erection more than ten months ago.

Before Baby Branson was created.

No. Kell shook off the maudlin memory as the elevator reached the parking garage. They walked to a different car than before, but also with heavily tinted windows. Once inside, Kell took off the cap and hood, and then shook out his hair. He hated hats, but he’d gladly wear one if it kept his identity safe.

He watched the sights go by again, vibrating in his seat, unable to contain his joy. Ronin kept tossing him indulgent smiles. The drive seemed to take forever, and it also ended too soon, because Kell was enjoying the change of scenery. But his brother was so close now, and he couldn’t wait.

Cap and hood on, two patrolmen escorted him and Ronin into the building. Other officers and constables tossed curious looks their way, but no one approached or intervened on the walk to the hall of meeting rooms. He entered a different one than his previous meetings, and thankfully he wasn’t cuffed to the table this time, merely asked to sit in one of the chairs.

The patrolmen left him and Ronin, only to be replaced by Constable Jenks. The man shocked the hell out of Kell by shaking his hand after shaking Ronin’s. “I need a few moments of your time before Braun comes in,” Jenks said.

“Okay.”

The constable sat across from him and produced a tape recorder. Hit Record. All familiar stuff. “For the record, this is Constable Jenks speaking with suspect Kell Iverson. Also present is his attorney, Ronin Cross. Mr. Kell, to your knowledge, did your late husband have a security system in the house?”

“Yes,” Kell replied, curious at the line of questioning. “We had an exterior gate and a border fence with motion sensors to protect the property.”

“Correct, but what about inside the house itself.”

Kell frowned. “No, not to my knowledge.”

Krause hadn’t worried too much about internal security, satisfied that the border fence would protect his property and holdings. He’d also bragged more than once, usually when Kell was exhausted and hurting, that it was also to keep Kell inside the fence, so no sense in ever plotting to escape.

“Why do you ask, sir?” Kell said.

“We received an anonymous tip that suggested there might be video footage from within your home, either of the day of the murder, or of other daily activity.”

“What?” Kell’s stomach ached at the idea of there being recordings of the things Krause had done to him.

“It’s only a theory, because the tip was extremely vague, and I need a compelling reason for a judge to grant a new search warrant at this late juncture.” Jenks’s high eyebrows seemed to be asking Kell to give him a reason, any kind of reason, to persuade the judge.

He glanced at Ronin, who was watching Jenks with intent.

“I, um,” Kell said. He couldn’t recall ever seeing visible recording devices around the house, but that didn’t mean anything. Krause’s friends were as perverted as Krause himself, and he’d put nothing past his late mate at this point. “It’s possible he used covert recording devices, yes. Krause liked to humiliate me by”—he swallowed down rising bile—“fucking me with other men in the room, during heat and otherwise. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he had videos to show his friends.”

“Thank you,” Jenks said. “That’s all I need.”

Kell bit back an instinctive need to say, “I hope this helps,” because he was too horrified of there actually being video footage to want it found. Yes, it could help his case, but what if they found a recording of Kell murdering Krause?

What if they have intangible proof that I’m a killer?

He’d lose everything.

Except Ronin kept insisting his defense wasn’t about whether or not Kell slashed that glass across Krause’s throat. It was about Kell’s mental state after not only losing his child, but the accumulation of three years of abuse and rape. They couldn’t use spousal rape, because it wasn’t a crime, but Krause hadn’t been the only man to screw Kell in their bed. And in no case had Kell consented to that.

After Jenks left, Ronin squeezed his shoulder. “Are you all right, little one?”

“I don’t know.” Kell looked up into concerned eyes. “It makes me sick to my stomach to think there could be videos of the things Krause did, but it also proves I’m not lying about the things he did to me. And maybe…maybe we’ll know for sure who killed him.”

“Maybe.”

The door knob turned, and Ronin’s warm hand fell away. Braun’s smiling face filled the open doorway, and Kell leapt from his chair. He raced across the room and nearly lifted Braun off his feet with the force of his hug. Braun laughed and hugged him back. They stood there for a long time, simply feeling each other breathe, taking in their warmth and rapidly beating hearts.

Somewhere nearby, Ronin and Tarek were speaking quietly, but Kell didn’t care. He pulled back to look Braun over, delighted that he looked so healthy.

“You look amazing,” Braun said before Kell could. “A hundred times better than when I last saw you.”

“I feel so much better. It’s astonishing what not sleeping with one eye open does for your mental health.”

“And your physical health. You’ve gained weight.”

“So have you.”

Braun shrugged, but never stopped smiling. “Tarek is a great cook and he spoils me.”

“Same with Ronin. I try to do my share, but he enjoys it.” Kell glanced at their alphas, who stood on the other side of the room. “I finally understand what you mean about a kind alpha.”

“You do?” Braun tracked his gaze. “Ronin?”

“He’s amazing, brother. He’s gentle and patient, and he is working so hard to defend me against these charges. He uprooted his life to protect me himself, and I’ve never felt safer than when I’m with him.”

Braun studied him a moment, his nostrils flaring. “Holy shit, you guys bonded.”

Kell grinned and stuck out the tip of his tongue. “We did. Ronin told me he bonded with me all those years ago, when we were teenagers. He’s never mated, Braun. I can’t imagine it, but he’s been waiting for me without realizing it.”

“Wow. I’m so happy for you. Truly. Tarek vouched for Ronin being a good guy, but I had to hear it from you.”

“He’s wonderful.”

The room’s door opened again, and a patrolman came inside, signaling the end of their private reunion. At Ronin’s insistence, they sat across from each other at the table. Kell tried to ignore the officer, who was simply there to ensure they spoke on the record, and did not talk about the case.

“So what have you been doing all day long?” Braun asked. “I can’t imagine you have much freedom of movement.”

“I don’t, but it’s worth it,” Kell replied. “I read a lot. Ronin brings me all sorts of books from the library, and I’m kind of hooked on this mystery series right now about an omega and beta who team up to solve crimes that the constabulary can’t.”

Tarek snickered. Braun shot him a glare.

“What?” Tarek said. “Our unsolved crime rate is one of the lowest in the territory.”

Kell shrugged. “They’re entertaining. And I like reading about an omega who does something besides long to make babies.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Braun replied. “So you’re cooking more?”

“Yes, and I enjoy it so much. Krause never liked me cooking, and I’d forgotten how much I enjoy working with food.”

“And he’s quite good at it,” Ronin said.

Kell’s face warmed under his alpha’s praise. “Thank you. How about you, Braun?”

“I’m learning, but so is Tarek, who’s also a bit of a control freak in the kitchen,” Braun replied, giving Tarek a sly look. Tarek merely smiled.

“An alpha who’s a control freak?” Kell said in a deadpan voice.

Braun laughed. “Okay, good point. But that’s the only thing he’s really controlling about, other than his mindless need to keep me safe.”

“Sounds like Ronin.”

“They do realize we’re right here, don’t they?” Ronin asked Tarek in a faked stage whisper.

“They don’t care,” Kell retorted. “We’ve each spent the last few weeks cooped up with our alphas, and we need to speak like we would if you weren’t here, so deal with it.”

Ronin’s eyebrows drew up slowly, even as his smile widened. It took Tarek’s identical expression, as well as Braun’s unhinged jaw for Kell to realize what he’d said.

Our alphas. My alpha.

Kell had claimed Ronin in mixed company, and he’d done so instinctively, because Ronin was his, and vice versa. He’d only ever called Krause his alpha as a statement of fact, not of pleasure or intent. Not because he was proud of the man. Not because he truly wanted to be with him, even if all he could offer Ronin right now was baby steps.

“So how are you feeling, in general?” Braun asked. “You look great, but I imagine you’re worried.”

“I am.” Kell cut his eyes at the patrolman, who looked insanely bored. “But someone keeps urging me to have faith in a positive outcome. Physically, my heat started a week ago, but a doctor prescribed the block. He doesn’t think I’m ready for that sort of stress.”

“I’m glad. You need time to heal.”

Time to heal from whatever I don’t remember Krause doing to me. Time to heal after nearly dying giving birth.

“It could be an issue if the trial lasts longer than two weeks,” Kell said.

“Maybe you’ll get the block again.”

“Maybe.” Part of Kell hoped not, so he could mate with his alpha. The rest of him was terrified of an accidental pregnancy if he did, especially during the trial. The prosecution could see it as manipulation on their part, trying to make the jury sympathetic to a pregnant omega.

“If you do go into heat, I know an amazing nurse who could help you get through it,” Braun said. “My friend Serge. He helped me through my first, when I was being too stubborn to let Tarek do it.”

Kell purposely did not look at Ronin when he said, “We’ll see.” He had three weeks yet, before he had to worry about his heat.

Their conversation shifted to a movie Braun had recently watched, and it remained light until the patrolman signaled that the time period for their visit was over. He also looked away while Kell hugged his brother goodbye, memorizing the new curves of his formerly skinny body, the soft scent of his hair, in case this was the last time they held each other.

When they parted, Braun had tears in his eyes, but a determined look on his face. “I have faith,” Braun said. “I’ve got enough for both of us, okay?”

“Okay.” Kell kissed his cheek, and then waited with Ronin by his side as Tarek led Braun out first. He blinked back his own tears, grateful for the too-short visit, and already missing his baby brother so much his heart ached.

The patrolman stepped out. Ronin pulled Kell backward until his arms were looped protectively around Kell’s waist. “I won’t ask if you’re okay,” Ronin said, “because I know you’re not. But did this help?”

“Yes. A lot, actually. And I know seeing me smiling and hopeful helped Braun, as well. He knows I’m safe with you. I know I’m safe with you. Alpha.”

“Your alpha.”

Kell shivered at the want in Ronin’s voice. “Yes. It feels right, but it terrifies me, too, Ronin.”

“I know. At your pace, my omega. Always at your pace.”

* * *

The rest of the week passed both too fast and agonizingly slow, and Kell savored every moment he managed to spend with Ronin. As the trial date loomed, Ronin was intensely busy with preparation, both at the apartment, and in an office space provided for him in the courts building. So far, no one had informed Kell if any videos had been found of him or anyone else in the Iverson house, but he also hadn’t pushed himself to ask. He genuinely didn’t want to know.

Kell also endured two grueling sessions with two different mental health doctors, one hired by Ronin and one by the prosecutor, both to assess Kell’s state of mind. Not only now, but leading up to Krause’s death. Kell didn’t like either of the men, both alphas, because they sneered down their noses at Kell, even while asking invasive questions. He answered them, though, fully and to the best of his recollection.

The prosecution’s doctor even tried to hypnotize Kell, in order to help him recover his missing memories, but Kell couldn’t concentrate, so the effort failed spectacularly. By the end of both sessions, he had no idea what either man would report. Later that evening, though, Ronin seemed pleased by what he’d been sent moments before leaving his office.

“It will help our case, I promise,” was all Ronin would tell him.

The night before jury selection would begin—and Kell’s first formal appearance in front of a judge—he and Ronin were in their favorite positions on the couch, kissing with the same gentle passion as always. Ronin was hard beneath him, and while arousal burned in Kell’s belly, his own dick wasn’t perking up.

It didn’t surprise him, and it didn’t seem to frustrate Ronin at all. Kell’s only semi-positive experience with sex had been during his first heat, and then for a few heats after. But non-heat sex had been about Krause getting off, not Kell’s pleasure. And after three heats and no pregnancies, Krause had gotten meaner, fucking Kell to exhaustion during his subsequent heats.

And then the other men…no. He didn’t want to think about that while he was kissing his alpha and bringing them both so much pleasure.

His anxiety over tomorrow’s proceedings emboldened Kell to begin exploring Ronin’s neck. Dropping soft kisses over the whisker-roughened skin. Nipping at his Adam’s apple. Licking the soft skin behind his ear. Ronin gasped, his body trembling with each new touch, the hands on Kell’s hips occasionally flexing their grip. Kell couldn’t imagine the strain of going so slowly, of resisting the urge to hold Kell tighter and rut his erection against his belly, his ass, his body in general, until he found release. That he held back each and every time only compounded Kell’s feelings for the man.

It also made him want to do more for Ronin tonight.

He traced Ronin’s collarbone with the tips of his fingers, exploring new spots on his chest with light touches, learning the shape of the man beneath him. Ronin remained perfectly relaxed until Kell’s fingers ventured farther down, over the hard lines of his abdominal muscles. He stopped reacting to Kell’s kisses, so Kell stopped kissing him. Kell paused his explorations at the waistline of Ronin’s trousers.

Ronin’s eyes widened with wonder. “You don’t have to, little one.”

“I want to. May I?”

“Anything you want, you know that.”

Kell nipped his chin, then reached down to cup Ronin’s erection through cloth. Hard, thick, and pulsing hot, it made Kell’s stomach wobble in a not too scary way. His own stomach tight with want, Kell awkwardly undid Ronin’s belt and fly, giving himself just enough room to slide his hand inside.

No underwear. Kell’s brain exploded.

“You go commando?” he asked.

Ronin’s lips twitched. “I’ve neglected running laundry to the cleaners. I ran out of underwear.”

Kell started laughing, the sound coming from deep down in a place where he’d stored his laughter for so long. He laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes and nearly fell to the floor from the way his body shook—only Ronin’s strong hands on his hips kept him steady. Ronin smiled up at him the entire time Kell worked through his laughing fit, and then he brushed the tears of joy from Kell’s face with tender fingers.

“You’re so beautiful when you laugh,” Ronin said.

“Before you, I think I’d forgotten how.” He leaned down to brush a hard kiss to Ronin’s lips. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you.”

Kell believed him. He scooted down so he was sitting on Ronin’s thighs, with a better view of the bigger man’s stretched out body and obscenely tented trousers. Trousers he pulled down and out of the way, freeing Ronin’s thick erection. It didn’t scare Kell the way Krause’s erection did, because Ronin would never wield his cock as a weapon against Kell. Or as a punishment.

He shoved Ronin’s shirt up, baring his perfectly defined abs, and then took Ronin’s dick in hand. Precome pearled at the slit, and Kell used that to slick his way. Dragging the foreskin up and down over heated steel, hiding the glans, and then letting it peek back out. He watched his work, enjoying the task for the first time in his life, scared to look up and see if Ronin was enjoying it or not.

He’d die if he was doing this wrong; mostly Krause had made him use his mouth. But Kell wasn’t ready for that intimacy yet, or the inevitable fear of being choked that would follow.

Ronin panted out little moans, his hips jerking up, into Kell’s grip. Using those sounds as a guide, Kell stroked him harder, faster. The scent of musk and his alpha’s arousal made his mouth water, but still his own cock remained limp.

I might be broken, but I can still make my alpha come.

“So close,” Ronin said. “Oh goddess, so close. You feel so good.”

“I do?”

“If it’s you, it’s perfect. You’re perfect, my omega.”

“Yes.” He was far from perfect, but Kell loved hearing the words. “Come for me, alpha. Come!”

The command in Kell’s voice made Ronin whine, tense up, and then shoot across his own heaving belly. Kell stroked him through it, milking every drop of fluid he could from Ronin’s cock, before finally releasing him. Ronin panted through it, his eyes and cheeks blazing, so damned debauched someone would assume he’d just fucked the hell out of his omega, rather than gotten a simple hand job.

“Oh, Kell.” Ronin beckoned for him.

Kell slipped off him to kneel on the floor beside Ronin’s head, automatically taking the submissive position and uncertain why that had been his instinct. He’d given his alpha pleasure, but that pleasure hadn’t been demanded. It had been wholly Kell’s idea. So why was he on his knees?

Ronin turned onto his side, keeping their heads at an even level. “Thank you for that gift.”

“You’re welcome,” Kell replied, his own cheeks flushing from the praise. “I enjoyed doing it for you.”

“I’m glad. I enjoyed it, as well. Very much.” He glanced down at Kell’s lap. “Do you need anything?”

“After you clean up, will you hold me tonight? I need to feel your arms around me. To know you’re here, no matter what happens with the trial.”

“Anything you want, my omega.” Ronin kissed him lightly on the mouth. “Promise.”

* * *

Ronin didn’t expect to hold Kell all night long, but that’s what happened. After a quick shower, he’d found Kell in his bed, tucked under the covers, and he’d asked permission to enter. Asked permission to get into bed with Kell, who was in his regular sleeping clothes. He’d pulled Kell’s back to his chest and spooned his omega for a long time.

Eventually, Kell’s breaths evened out and he fell asleep.

Ronin held him still.

Tomorrow was a huge day. The first of many to come and probably the easiest. Jury selection could go quickly, or it could take days. And then the prosecutor would try to say Kell was a whore, a menace, and a murderer. It would be a week or more before Ronin could stand up and fully present his case. He didn’t look forward to that part. To dragging up every painful thing Krause had done to cause Kell pain, but it was necessary. The court needed to hear it. The media needed to hear it.

The whole world needed to hear Kell’s story of torture and abuse. Because maybe, just maybe if enough people saw omegas as human beings worthy of love and care, then maybe the laws regarding alpha/omega couples would change. If beta couples could be charged for marital rape, then so could alpha/omega mates. If domestic violence between beta couples was against the law, then it should also be for alphas and omegas.

And more than changing the world and their perceptions of omegas, Ronin needed a not-guilty verdict for Kell. He needed to take his omega home, pamper him, mate him, and plan a long, happy life with him.

Anything less was wholly unacceptable.