Page 29 of Surge of Heat

We head out of the med area, and Aydan places a hand at the small of my back. I look up into those baby blue eyes of his, and the look he gives me is possessive, tinged with jealousy and anger. It’s not hard to figure out that a lot of complicated emotions are swirling between us right now, but I’m glad to see he doesn’t completely hate me.

Taking the elevator to the lab floor, we get off and head into the main room, practically skidding to a halt when we spot Evander talking to Dr. Abigail and Dr. Duncan. All eyes turn to us as we linger in the doorway, and Granger shifts nervously beside us.

“Well, come in!” Dr. Duncan calls. “I know you met Mr. Gable already.”

“Mr. Gable?” I ask, confused.

“The owner of Specter Inc,” he says, gesturing to Evander.

My jaw drops open, and my gaze swings to his. “YouownSpecter Inc?”

His entire body stiffens, and I can’t read his expression. “I’d intended on telling you…”

I don’t know why that upsets me so much, but it does. Here’s this man who has been telling me to trust him over and over again, who did everything he could to get me to come here, and he was hiding this big secret the whole time.

Turning away, I head back for the elevator, needing time to think.

“Sam!” he calls after me, but I don’t look back.

“Leave her alone,” Aydan says angrily.

“Get out of my way,” Evander orders, a deadly calm to his voice.

“Not a fucking chance.”

“Someone is just dying to get the shit beat out of them again, aren’t they?”

“Just try it,” Aydan growls.

I whirl back around and see both men squaring off, just feet from each other. If I don’t get in there, someone’s going to get hurt. So as much as I need time away from all of this, to process, I slip between them.

“Enough. Just get away from each other.”

Evander slips an arm around my waist and pulls me against him. His scent— that of burnt electricity and leather washes over me—and my heartbeat races. “We need to talk,” he says breathlessly, his gaze focused on me.

It gets harder to breathe as I squeeze out of his touch. “No.”

“Don’t touch her.” Aydan grabs my hand and tugs me toward him. This time, the scent of smoke, fresh pine, and the copperness of his blood washes over me. I don’t like the scent of his blood, I hate it actually, but the rest of him makes me want to nibble on his neck, just a little.

“You don’t fucking touch her,” Evander snaps, his calm mask slipping as he tries to pull me back toward him.

Tension is brewing. I don’t know what to do. These two are about to rip each other’s throats out, and I have no idea how to calm the situation.

“Mine!” Granger suddenly yells. He grabs my free wrist and yanks me out from between them.

I go flying into his big body, and he grins down at me. “Shall we go talk to the scientists and see if they’ve learned anything new about dragons?”

The tension eases. I reach up and hug him tightly before pulling away. “That would be perfect.”

We ignore the two men and cross back through the room, avoiding the lab tables and coming to stand in front of the big screen that’s monitoring the dragons, where Dr. Abigail and Dr. Duncan are waiting. Both scientists have clearly been watching our interaction with interest, but have the good sense to look away when we come over to them. Maybe because of their manners, or maybe because Evander is their boss.

Their boss. The person running this whole place. And a fucking liar.

Aydan and Evander stop behind me, but luckily for them, they give me a little space. Still, their presence is a little overwhelming. Their scents are absolutely intoxicating.

I stand there for a minute, breathing them all in. Granger, Aydan, and Evander smell amazing. Their scents are so different, and yet, they do something to me on a primal level I don’t understand. It’s like a sense I didn’t know existed is there, creating an awareness of them that’s powerful.

While Dr. Duncan and Dr. Abigail? Their scents are strange and unexpected. Dr. Abigail smells like papaya, melon, and mango… probably due to her shampoo or body wash. While Dr. Duncan smells like mandarin and oakwood, a scent that is part cologne and part him. Neither scent makes me feel anything, good or bad. It’s simply like they just exist to my instincts.

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