The locker room was quieter than usual when Tarek entered to change into uniform for his shift. No one was speaking or joking like they normally did during a shift change. Tarek would find out what was happening if it involved himself, and he couldn’t imagine it did—not unless someone had figured out he’d help harbor an unmated omega for a week. The thought made him slightly queasy as he changed.

His supervisor didn’t stop him in the hall or call him into his office, so Tarek relaxed about his possible discovery, and then went to get his radio and assigned car. He hated office gossip, anyway, so if it didn’t involve him, he didn’t care. His first two stops were both nuisance calls from elderly couples annoyed by teenage betas making too much noise in the streets with their motorcycles. Simple complaints he filed away.

Around lunchtime, he called Braun to check in, as he’d done for the past couple of days. Their interactions had been as platonic as possible, given Braun’s approaching heat, and he liked knowing if his omega was having a good day or a bad day. He’d been given work leave yesterday, after an alpha customer started hassling Braun.

It had taken every ounce of control Tarek possessed not to drive down there and take that alpha apart with his bare hands.

“It’ll be soon,” Braun said, his voice rusty and distressed. “By tomorrow, I think. Maybe you shouldn’t come over tonight.”

Tarek wanted to protest, but Braun was right. Not even two betas as strong as Dex and Serge could stop a lust-filled alpha from getting to his omega in heat. “Okay. Do you need anything? Can I send anything over?”

“My body wants you to send yourself, but I’m too scared, Tarek. I’m sorry.”

“I know, and I understand.”

“Thank you. You should see the cupboards now. This morning, Serge went out and bought enough groceries to feed us for a solid month.”

Tarek laughed. “Omegas in heat need to eat a lot in between…you know.”

“In between the insatiable urges to put my ass in the air and get fucked? Yeah, I’ve heard that too.”

The way Braun said it so bluntly sent blood right to Tarek’s cock. He adjusted himself, glad he was making this call from his car, in a mostly empty parking lot. If he wasn’t in uniform, he probably would have jacked off to the sound of Braun’s voice. He’d already rubbed one out every morning in the shower, hard as granite for his omega.

“You’re giving me mental images I don’t need while I’m on the clock,” Tarek said.

“Sorry. Talking about it makes me less nervous, you know? Normalizing something I’ve never experienced, so it isn’t as scary.”

“It isn’t meant to be a scary thing, Braun. It’s an act that’s meant to bring mates closer together, to seal their bond, and to create new life. It’s part of our natures, and don’t ever be ashamed of your heats.”

Braun let out a soft, breathy sound. “Thank you for saying that. It helps. I think the part that scares me is knowing I could completely lose control of my own actions. I don’t like feeling helpless.”

“I know you don’t, but you’ve got two good friends there to help you with anything you need.”

“Almost anything.”

“Almost.” And thank goddess Tarek’s friends were so hopelessly devoted to each other that even if Braun begged, they wouldn’t fuck him. They’d never betray Braun or Tarek in that way. And the fact that Braun would rather face the agony of an unmated heat, than accept the help of a beta aid meant the absolute world to Tarek.

Tarek’s radio squawked. “Damn it, I have to get back to work. I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Yeah.” Braun’s single, unhappy word ended their call.

He picked up the handset. “Car six, go ahead.”

“Bloom,” the dispatcher said, “got a call from the coroner’s office. One of their Jack Does matches fingerprints on one of your missing beta files.”

Hell.

“Which one?”

“Hershel Farrington.”

Tarek’s heart sank. “Cause of death?”

“Didn’t say, but the file’s being sent to your department office and a hard copy to the records room.”

“Thanks.”

Tarek put the handset down and drove back to the constabulary. While Tarek wasn’t a senior investigator, as a constable he had more input into active investigations than simple patrolmen. His car was his office, but responding constables had a central office where paperwork was handled.

The office clerk handed over the coroner’s file before Tarek could ask for it. Tarek took it to his desk to read. Cause of death was strangulation, hard thin object that could have been a plastic cord of some kind. Multiple contusions and lacerations. Defensive wounds. Evidence of penetrative sex and genital bruising, no tearing, so rape was possible. No fingerprints or evidence of who killed him.

The body had been treated with a chemical mix of bleach and white vinegar to remove the attacker’s scent, which suggested this wasn’t a crime of passion. The murder had been planned, because the killer knew how to keep the constables off their trail.

He returned to his car and called into dispatch that he was heading into the Narrows to give Mr. Farrington the bad news about his son.

* * *

Preparing for his first heat was a special kind of hell.

Braun had seen a doctor yesterday, who’d proclaimed him healthy and ready to carry a child, to which Braun had nearly laughed in his face. Maybe his body was ready, but his mind and heart sure as shit were not ready. Not after what Kell had gone through, nearly dying after giving birth.

The only truly helpful thing the doctor said was Braun would officially be in full heat when his passage began to self-lubricate, and it wouldn’t stop for the next forty-eight hours of his heat.

Fun times.

Braun paced the living room, unable to settle while Serge cooked dinner in the kitchen. His skin itched, as if a thousand tiny ants were crawling all over him. His dick was constantly throbbing, not completely hard, but one stroke away from it for sure. His balls ached in a dull, distant way, and he was stinking up the apartment with his arousal and omega pheromones.

Dex had set up an essential oils infuser that was supposed to help Braun relax, as well as disguise some of the odor so it didn’t attract every random alpha who walked past the apartment. And through all of the inconvenience, Dex and Serge had been amazing. Supportive and kind to a lowly omega they’d only known for a month, but treated like family.

I’ll pay them all back somehow.

The urge to touch himself was almost too strong to ignore, so Braun went into his bedroom in case he couldn’t control himself. Beating off in the living room was unacceptable. He picked up his phone, but it didn’t come on. Crap. The battery had been low during his earlier call with Tarek, and he’d forgotten to put it on the charger.

He plugged it in, then waited for it to power up. Missed call and voice mail from Kell. His heart leapt into his throat as he played the voice mail.

“He’s gone, oh my goddess, Branson’s gone, and I don’t know where, and I can’t believe that bastard adopted our baby out. Braun, my baby is gone!”

The words fell into an indistinct wailing that ripped a harsh sob from Braun’s throat. The message ended, and Braun dropped his phone.

Krause had given away Kell’s son for being beta.

Krause had given away Kell’s son.

Rage shattered Braun’s grief. He needed to get to his brother. It wasn’t even a question. Nothing else mattered. He peeked out of his room, but Serge wasn’t in the kitchen. The bathroom door was shut. Braun raced to the front door and grabbed Serge’s car keys off the hook.

And then he ran.

Braun didn’t know how to drive, but he’d watched every single time he’d ridden with someone this past month. He observed it in every film and television show he’d ever watched as a teen and young adult. And he’d paid attention to the route to Kell’s house.

Somehow he got there without getting into an accident, considering how badly his hands were shaking. He stabbed at the gate intercom. “It’s Braun. Let me in right now!”

The gate opened.

He hit the gas too hard and the car jerked forward. Braun slammed on the brakes in front of the house and sprinted up the steps. The door was already being held open by the same servant Braun had seen the last two times he’d come here, and he’d yet to ask the young beta’s name.

Today he didn’t care.

He raced past the guy and up the stairs, his heart pounding through his chest. Kell’s violent sobs reached Braun’s ears before he opened the bedroom door, so horrible was his brother’s grief. It punched Braun in the chest, and the actual sight of his brother broke something inside of Braun.

Kell sat on the floor by his big bed, some sort of small green blanket clutched to his chest. He rocked back and forth, tears streaming down his face, those awful sobs falling desperately from his bloody mouth. Braun dropped to his knees in front of his brother, heartbroken and furious at the bruises on Kell’s face, the blood on his lips, and the wounds Braun couldn’t see.

“My son,” Kell cried out. “My boy is gone. He’s gone.”

“I’m so fucking sorry.” Braun tried to hug him, but Kell wrenched away, scooting a few feet across the carpet. “Kell?”

“You shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t have called you. He’s so angry with me.”

“Angry about what? You had no fucking control over Branson being beta. None. And how dare he punish you for that by giving your son away!”

Kell held up the green blanket. “This is all I have. All I have left of him. Of my son.”

“We’ll get him back. We’ll find a way and we’ll get him back. Tarek will help, I know it.”

“Not even your constable will find that child,” Krause snarled, his deep voice trickling down Braun’s spine like ice water.

He stood and turned, hands clenched, ready to punch the unforgiveable bastard if he got within reach. “How dare you?”

“Don’t forget your place, omega.” Krause took two menacing steps forward. His nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. “My, my, an omega in heat has come to my doorstep.”

Kell was in front of Braun in a heartbeat. “No,” Kell said. “You stole my innocence, and I won’t let you steal Braun’s.”

“As I recall, you gave up your innocence quite willingly.”

“I was in the throes of my first heat. I mean afterward, when it hurt. When you were cruel. The way you’ve always been cruel to me.”

Krause slapped Kell across the cheek, hard enough to snap his head to the side. Braun growled and pulled his brother back behind him.

“Hit me and you’ll have an alpha constable up your ass in a not so fun way,” Braun snarled, finding courage in his anger.

“No alpha has ever been arrested for hitting an omega.” Krause cracked his knuckles, then scented Braun again.

“Who said anything about arresting you?”

Krause’s gaze flickered, but his sneer never wavered. He looked Braun up and down once more, and then that sneer turned into a smirk. “I’ll call your bluff.”

He pounced before Braun could react, faster than he expected. Krause punched him in the stomach, expelling all air from Braun’s lungs. He fell to his knees, chest seizing, unable to breathe. Kell screamed, and then something thudded. Hands grabbed Braun by the shirt and belt, and he was hauled out of the room.

Krause dropped him on the hallway carpet, and Braun tried to crawl away, even though he couldn’t breathe. Tears stung his eyes. He was going to suffocate.

The bedroom door slammed shut. A key jangled. Someone started pounding on the door from the other side. “Krause! Leave him alone! Braun!”

Braun dragged in a ragged breath, his grateful lungs spasming with the return of sweet oxygen. He crawled up to his hands and knees, only for a foot to his gut to knock him over again. He cried out as the pain sent his already sensitive system into a state of shock. He screamed for help, but no one was coming. The servants wouldn’t help him, and Kell was locked in his room, still screaming Krause’s name.

Not again. Please goddess, not like this.

Krause dragged him across the hall to another bedroom. Braun wriggled and writhed, fighting his body’s need to be fucked against his absolute terror of the man who was hurting him. Hatred and terror proved valuable allies, because Braun broke free and ran—four steps before Krause slammed him to the floor.

Braun screamed again, then threw his elbow back. He clipped Krause’s ear, but did little actual damage. Krause growled, his bigger body pinning Braun to the carpet. He clamped one hand around Braun’s neck and squeezed until Braun yelped from the pressure.

“Don’t stop fighting, little omega,” Krause said. “I love it when your kind fights back.”

“Fuck you!”

“Don’t worry, someone will be fucked soon, and it won’t be me.” Krause lifted his hips up and started working his own belt.

Panic seized Braun’s heart. He tried to move, but the hand on his neck and the legs caging his had him pinned down. He wasn’t yet in full heat, his body wasn’t ready for this, and he knew Krause would make it hurt.

“I don’t consent,” Braun yelled. “I don’t consent.”

Krause leaned down, his bad breath puffing into Braun’s ear. “I don’t care. You Etting omegas were born to bleed on my cock.”

White hot rage sent one last blast of adrenaline through Braun’s system. He didn’t think. He snapped his head to the side and bit the first flesh that presented itself, clamping his teeth down until that flesh ripped and he tasted blood.

Krause howled in pain and shock, and then his weight was gone. Braun spat blood and scrambled for the door. A hand grabbed his ankle and yanked. Braun twisted onto his back and kicked out with his free foot, nailing Krause in the stomach. Blood poured down Krause’s neck from the wide wound on his cheek. He grabbed Braun’s other ankle, tugging him closer, and Braun scrambled weakly at the carpet, finding no purchase. No weapons.

Braun was very quickly losing this battle, but he’d never stop fighting, no matter how much he bled in the end.

Krause jabbed him in the stomach, and that was it. Braun couldn’t breathe again. He shook and spasmed, and he wept for what was about to happen. Krause reached for Braun’s belt and yanked it out through the belt loops so hard Braun’s lower body lifted off the floor.

“I’m going to wrap this around your neck, little omega, and choke the shit out of you while I fuck you. Again and again, until your heat’s over, and if you aren’t pregnant after, I’ll choke you to death and bury your useless ass under the rosebushes.”

Braun fought the big hands wrapping the leather around his throat, biting at fingers, but too weak to stop what was about to happen.

Noise in the hallway made Krause look up. Braun took this one final chance while Krause was distracted. Krause’s pants were open, his junk hanging out. Braun didn’t have a lot of windup room, so he aimed the toe of his sneaker at Krause’s balls and kicked with all his might.

Krause screamed in the same moment that a familiar voice shouted his name.

“Tarek!” Braun cried out. He didn’t know how Tarek had found him, and it didn’t matter.

His alpha burst into the room in a cloud of rage and pheromones, his familiar spicy scent making everything okay again. He stormed over to Krause, who was clutching his crotch and swearing, grabbed him by the shirt collar, and hauled him up to his feet.

“How dare you touch what’s mine?” Tarek growled.

“He’s unmated,” Krause spat back. “You have no claim and no business here.”

“He is legally mine to protect, which makes anyone trying to claim him my business, you piece of shit.”

“He consented.”

“I did not!” Braun rolled onto his knees, careful not to make eye contact with the two seething alphas. “I did not consent to this. I came here to see Kell and he attacked us both.”

“Where is Kell?” Tarek asked.

“In his room where he belongs,” Krause replied. “You have no business interfering in my relationship with my omegin, Constable. Now take your piece of trash and leave my home before I report you for trespassing.”

Tarek gave Krause a firm shake, and then sent the man crashing backward into the bed. Krause growled, but didn’t attack. Tarek scooped Braun up in his arms like he weighed nothing and carried him out of the room. Braun wrapped his arms around Tarek’s neck as Tarek’s scent wrapped around his body.

“What about Kell?” he whispered as they passed the locked door. Kell’s soft sobs still bled through, muffled by the heavy wood.

“I can’t legally do anything right now,” Tarek said. The fury in his voice was at odds with the gentle way he held Braun. “What did Krause do to you?”

“Mostly punched me in the stomach and pushed me to the ground. I bit his face, though, and I kicked him in the nuts.”

“I saw.” Tarek kissed his cheek as he descended the stairs. “I’m so proud of you. I’m angry with you for coming here alone, but I’m proud of how you fought. You stood up for yourself.”

The familiar servant watched them leave from the corner of the foyer, a sad, desperate look on his face. Braun hated leaving, knowing Krause could use his temper against anyone in the household, especially the beta servants.

“How did you find me?” Braun asked, once they were in Tarek’s car. “Where’s Serge’s car?”

“Your phone. You left it in your room, and as soon as Serge realized you were gone, he checked your phone. He called me when he saw the missed call from Kell. I swung by to get him, since it was on my way. He already drove the car away. I didn’t want him going inside and getting involved.”

“I’m so sorry I got you guys into this mess.” Braun wrapped his arms around his middle. Tarek’s scent and pheromones, trapped in that small car, was sending his arousal into overdrive. He could fall into full heat at any moment.

“What the hell were you thinking going out alone this close to your heat?”

“Serge didn’t listen to the voice mail?”

“It’s password protected.” Tarek reached across the console to squeeze the back of his neck, reminding Braun of the bruises there, and he flinched away. Tarek frowned, then moved his hand to Braun’s thigh. “What happened to Kell?”

Fresh tears stung Braun’s eyes. “Krause let someone adopt Kell’s son. He took his baby away, and Kell was a mess. He still is a mess, and there’s nothing I can do to help him.”

“Fuck, I could go back and kill that monster for what he’s putting you two through. Why the hell would he give Branson away?”

Braun wiped his eyes. “He wasn’t an alpha.” Misery swamped him, even as cock stiffened from Tarek’s proximity. “Krause wants an alpha heir, period, and he’ll end up killing Kell in his quest for one.” Krause’s words to Braun hit him like a fist to the face. “Krause said he was going to fuck me through my heat, and if I wasn’t pregnant after, he’d kill me and bury me in the backyard.”

The long, low growl Tarek emitted both terrified and elated Braun. It terrified him because it hinted at the level of violence Tarek was capable of, but it elated him, because he knew Tarek would always protect him from men like Krause. He’d protect Braun from the world.

“I knew I couldn’t stop him,” Braun said, “but I fought as hard as I fucking could. I never would have stopped fighting, because he wasn’t my alpha.” He covered Tarek’s hand with his. “He wasn’t you.”

“That’s it, you’re coming home with me.”

“I am?” The idea of going to Tarek’s home, of being alone with him during his heat, no longer scared him.

“Yes, you are. I love my friends, but I won’t trust anyone else with your safety. I’ve already taken precautions in case this happened.”

“Precautions?”

“I installed two locks on the inside of the bedroom door, and you’ll have the keys to both. I can’t get in, and you’ll be the only one to decide to let me in.”

“You did that?” Braun should be upset about the presumption, but all he felt was affection and gratitude. “Thank you.”

“Dex and Serge will still come by, and I have two beta neighbors who can help with feeding you, keeping you clean.”

“Clean?”

“Forty-eight hours of masturbating and constant self-lubrication? You’ll need a lot of showers to stay comfortable.”

“Oh.” His doctor hadn’t mentioned showering frequently. He hadn’t mentioned much of the home-care stuff at all, only the medical parts.

Tarek twisted their hands so they were palm to palm, fingers laced, and the constant contact was fucking with Braun’s body. “One of my favorite childhood memories was watching my father take care of my omegin leading up to and during his heats. Father was so attentive and gentle when they weren’t hiding behind closed doors. And through each of their six pregnancies.”

“Holy shit, six?” Braun’s passage clenched up at the idea of birthing six children.

“Yeah, six. I was the last. My parents were very old-fashioned in their views of sex and didn’t believe in condoms. If the goddess was to bless them with children, they’d care for them all.”

“Wow.” Now that Tarek was opening up about his personal life, Braun wanted to know more. It was distracting him from the way his lower body was warming, loosening. “Why did they stop after you? Did your omegin’s heats stop?”

“Not exactly. My birth was a difficult one, and my omegin nearly died. My father refused to put him through that again, and my omegin didn’t want to take the heat blocks, as they went against nature, so after conferring with multiple doctors, the consensus was a total removal of the womb. The heats stopped after that, but I don’t imagine their sex life did. They could continue loving each other without putting Omegin’s life in danger.”

“I wish I could do that.” Braun nearly bit his tongue off for saying it out loud. “I mean, for Kell. So Krause can’t do this to him all over again.”

“Why does the idea of having children of your own scare you so much, firecracker?”

“Because having an alpha heir is an obsession with mated alphas. Having two omega sons turned my father into a raging monster.” He untangled their hands and showed Tarek the heel of his left hand where the skin was paler and rough. “One day, for no good reason, he pressed my hand against a pot of boiling water just to hear me scream. He said ‘the way you screamed is how my heart screams every time I look at your ugly, useless face’.”

The steering wheel creaked dangerously under Tarek’s hand, his attention divided between Braun and traffic on the road as he navigated their way across the city.

“That was just one of a thousand other things he did to us,” Braun continued. “All for existing and being omega. You’re the only alpha who’s treated me like I matter, but it’s still hard to trust in you. It’s hard to trust that mating won’t make you cruel, too.”

“All I can give you is my word that I won’t.” Tarek sighed. “But my word isn’t good enough.”

Braun closed his eyes against a rush of tears. “I want it to be.”

“So do I, sweetheart. So do I.”