Liam woke with his stomach churning and his tongue too big and too dry in a mouth that felt like cotton. The air smelled of flowers.

Roses.

What happened? Liam remembered the shower and Damon's hand. His heart sped up until it was pounding, and Liam opened his eyes. Without his glasses, everything farther than two feet was blurry. His nose itched. He tried to scratch it, but his hands and feet were zip-tied to a heavy wooden chair.

Liam’s heart began to pound.

Damon had abducted him and tied him to a chair. After dressing him?

He’d been naked except his towel coming out of the shower, but now, he wore perfectly pressed white slacks and a light blue button-down shirt. A necklace hung from around his neck. It was an old locket of some sort. The metal was scuffed.

The smell of roses was overwhelming. He made out blurry vases on a dresser near the vague depression of a drawer. Vases were lined up along the walls too.

This wasn’t a house or apartment. The bed, television, and carpeting had the generic feel of a budget motel. Liam should know. He and his pets had overnighted in enough of them as they were driving across the country.

Shit.

"How did you get in my hotel room?" Liam asked.

"Master key. I'm lucky the place was still using an old system. With the newer systems, it's hard to create a master key, but with the older ones, it's a snap. Obviously, it was meant to be. The two of us. I had begun to doubt, but now I know."

Liam swallowed. If only he had pulled the deadbolt. He'd gotten comfortable and careless, and now, now he was probably going to die.

“Help!” Liam shouted.

“Quiet,” Damon said from behind him. "No one will hear you. But I'd rather you didn't scream."

“Help!” Liam rocked forward, trying to pull the chair away from Damon’s voice.

The alpha put his hands on Liam’s shoulders on either side of his neck. “It’s me. You’re safe.”

Fuck.

Damon’s false empathy only made Liam’s situation more disturbing. “I want to go home,” Liam said.

Damon started to massage Liam’s shoulders in slow, deliberate motions. Liam had never been so tense. He tried to pull away, but the bindings on his wrists tightened. Damon said, "Relax. You liked this, before."

“You tied me to the chair.”

“Only because you ran before. That hurt me. I know you’re an omega and weak, but still, it hurt me. I love you. Tell me you’re sorry.” Damon’s fingers dug into Liam’s flesh hard enough to make Liam wince. Damon’s hands were getting closer and closer to Liam’s throat. “You must be sorry.”

“I’m sorry,” Liam said, heart pounding. He was sorry he’d said yes to Damon’s first date, sorry he’d put up with Damon’s bullshit so long, and so very sorry he hadn’t gotten back in his car and drove for his life the moment he glimpsed Damon outside of the pharmacy.

He was so fucked. Damon had always been a little intense, and especially after, but as scared as Liam had been, he hadn't expected anything this deranged.

Or maybe some part of him had suspected Damon was capable of this, which is why he'd run.

Damon's voice grew sharper, and he leaned over, his breath tickling Liam's ear. "I thought you liked this. Don't you?"

"It’s nice." Liam’s stomach roiled. He wanted to throw up.

"Good. You smell so good." Damon's lips brushed Liam's cheek.

Damon smelled good too. It was only biology, but Liam had always liked it when Damon held him close, and Damon’s smoky, ginger-tinged scent surrounded him.

Not now though. Damon smelled good, but his touch made Liam's skin crawl.

Another wave of nausea washed over him, and Liam realized it had to be morning. Or at least early enough in the day so that his morning sickness was contributing to the profound sense of nausea he already felt with Damon touching him.

"What time is it?"

"Just before dawn."

Liam had been missing seven hours. Had Gunnar come to the room and found it empty? Had he started searching for Liam? Didn’t it take at least a day for an adult to count as missing? Even if Gunnar was able to get the ball moving faster, considering he was a cop, Liam still had no idea where he was and no way to call for help. If the motel Damon had chosen was anything like the ones Liam had stopped at, counting on the fact no one would check the room and notice his animals, then Liam was on his own.

On his own with a madman.

Damon kissed Liam’s cheek again.

"I don't feel so good," Liam said. It didn't take much work for his voice to sound weak. Between the morning sickness and the remnants of whatever drug Damon had given him to knock him out, he felt weak. His bladder was also full, and his shoulders and wrists hurt firm having been kept in this position, tied to this chair, for who knew how many hours.

"I'm sorry I had to give you the needle. I should've trusted you wanted me, but you ran, and every time I found you, you were never the same."

Every time he had found Liam?

"How many times did you find me?"

"Three. I saw you other places, but I was only able to hold you just for those three."

The floor creaked behind Liam, and Damon's hands were off of his shoulders, to Liam's relief. Damon walked around the chair and knelt in front of him, putting his hands on Liam's thighs and looking up into his eyes.

"I should have known they were wrong. I tried to bring out what was good in them, but it was too late. They were only moths."

"I'm sorry," Liam said, hoping it was the right thing. Maybe if Damon got a little closer, he could… What… Head-butt him? Bite him? Liam surreptitiously tried to test the binding around his wrists, but each movement only made them tighter.

It would do no good to lose the circulation in his hands.

"I want to take care of you," Damon said. "I never meant to scare you."

And kidnapping him, drugging him, and tying him to a chair wasn't scary?

"Can I get some water?" Liam asked. "Or some ginger ale?"

"You always tasted so sweet. Like sipping a rose."

Liam's mouth tasted more like sipping a skunk right now, and it was all he could do to keep himself from puking. At least Damon hadn't gagged him. If he'd been gagged, and he threw up, he might've choked. Small favors.

"I want to kiss you."

Before Liam could argue, Damon was standing, his lips moving closer and closer.

Liam turned his face away, as bile rose to the back of his throat.

"Kiss me," Damon demanded, putting his hand under Liam's chin and forcibly turning his head. Then Damon's lips were on his, and Liam couldn't stop the gorge from rising, then the acid taste of vomit. His mouth filled and he was puking. Damon jumped back, coughing and cursing. Pain blossomed on over Liam's cheek as Damon punched him.

Liam tasted blood.

Liam threw up again, the inside of his mouth and the left half of his face throbbing as his guts turned inside out and he spewed across his lap and the floor.

"I'm sorry," Damon said. "I'm so sorry."

It was exactly the same apology he had given when he'd choked Liam until he almost blacked out.

Liam had to stop deluding himself. Damon had tried to kill him, and while Liam had rejected that with his mind, in his heart, his body had known. His animal brain had known, and that's why he had run so far and so fast. And now, his animal brain knew again that if he couldn't get out of here, Damon would finish the job. Maybe not in this moment, but eventually. Damon was unhinged, his fixation on Liam would eventually overwhelm him, and Liam would end up dead in this chair.

"I didn't mean to hit you. I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't mean to hurt them. Let me get you something to clean yourself up." Damon crossed the room, opened the door to a small bathroom and went to the sink, turning on the water.

Alone. Finally.

There was a pile of blurry items on the nightstand next to the bed. Maybe one of them was Liam’s glasses. Was that the hotel phone? Liam rocked back-and-forth in the chair, trying to inch it closer to the table.

He'd barely made it a few inches before Damon left the bathroom, carrying a wet washcloth. Gently, he wiped Liam's face. He pressed a kiss to the throbbing, aching bruise that must've been forming on Liam's cheek where Damon had hit him. And then he wiped the washcloth over the bruise as well.

"Maybe if I can get a shower?" Liam ventured. If he could just get out of these bonds, he might be able to run. Or do something.

"I changed you into these clothes while you were sleeping. Do you like them?"

"They're very nice. I just-” Inspiration struck. “I'm sorry I got them dirty." Liam wasn't sorry at all, but if he could convince Damon he was harmless, then maybe Damon would give him a little freedom. "I have to pee. Please. I don't want to go to the bathroom on myself."

"Of course not. You wouldn't choose to defile yourself. You're too good."

Liam shivered. Damon stood, "I'll be back."

He went and knelt next to the bed, rifling through a dark blur that Liam assumed must've been a bag of some kind. With his features softened and blurred by Liam's terrible eyesight, Liam tried to convince himself that Damon was farther away. If Damon stayed far away, maybe Liam would have a chance.

Damon returned carrying a reusable, wide mouth bottle.

"What's that?" Liam had asked for water, and maybe that's what Damon had brought because he couldn't intend to… but Damon knelt beside Liam again and unbuttoned his pants.

He pulled down Liam's zipper and pulled his pants open.

Liam was wearing blue silk briefs. It was a garish, shiny piece of fabric Liam would never put on himself. His stomach churned as Damon opened the flap in the underwear and held Liam's cock.

Damon held the mouth of the bottle over his cockhead. "Go ahead, baby."

Liam's stomach heaved again, but all he had in him was bile. It rested acidic in the back of his tongue.

Damon pushed the bottle up, so Liam’s flaccid cock was fully inside. He took his hand away and let Liam’s cock hang, as he rubbed Liam’s bare thigh in a slow, circle. "I know this is hard for you. But let me take care of you."

It was mortifying. Damon's eyes were shining as he looked up at Liam, his hand steady like a metronome as it caressed Liam's inner thigh through the fabric of his pants.

Liam shut his eyes. He had to pee, and as much is it galled him to give Damon even the small concession, he really didn't want to soil himself.

This is nothing, Liam told himself. It’s a biological necessity. Just do it.

Slowly, the urine came. The stream hissed white noise against the inner walls of the plastic bottle. Soon, there was nothing left but a couple of tiny drips.

"That's right. You are so good. So perfect."

"I'm tired. Can I lay down?"

"Soon. I'm going to take you home soon."

Damon pulled a perfectly folded tissue from his pocket and dabbed the head of Liam's cock before pushing it back into his underwear and zipping him back up again. He kissed Liam on the forehead and smoothed his hair down as though Liam were a doll. "Just a little longer. I'll get you something to eat. And then I want to hold you, just for a little while. I didn't understand love until you left me, but now I know. I love you. I will never stop loving you."

Liam kept his eyes shut until Damon’s footsteps padded away from him across the thin hotel carpet. Only then did he open his eyes.

He began rocking and pushing the chair toward the nightstand where he had seen the phone. He didn't know if he’d be able to dial out, but he had to do something. He couldn't stay here.