Page 57 of Into the Fire: After
“ProGenE”—Gail pronounced it likeprogeny—“was Callaway’s first big research project when he worked for Wainwright’s pharma division. It was the pitch that got him hired, actually. He claimed he could find the designation gene, determining what designation a child would become up to eight years before presenting and with ninety-six percent accuracy.”
A chill ran up my spine. I looked at the memo again. “This is almost fifteen years old. What happened?”
“Some schism between Wainwright and Callaway. He left the company, amid a mountain of NDAs and gag orders. Afterward, Wainwright Corp. did all they could to erase Callaway from their corporate history. He’s nowhere to be found on any archival tax records, employment files. Nothing.”
I held up the page. “But this remains.”
Gail nodded. “This remains.”
Mybreathcameinsharp bursts. Sweat burned at the corners of my eyes. Fire branched out through my veins like lightning from the point where I fucked my beta.
Brooks knelt before me, that head of beautiful honey-kissed curls bent down to the mattress. Every inch of him was a study in art made life—the knobbed line of his spine, the elegant curve of his shoulder. The downright sinful cheeks pressed back against my pelvis as my cock sank into him again, and again.
I leaned over his back, planting open-mouth kisses at his nape. “Goddamn,” I muttered against his skin. I laid over him so mylips rested against his ear, holding myself up on my palms so as not to fully crush him. “Feel so fucking good, babe.”
His knuckles were white where he gripped the sheets, his cheeks flushed when he turned his face to the side. “Need you deeper, Alpha.”
Say no more, love.
One hand clutched at his hip, the other at his shoulder, and I thrust as fucking deep as I could. He gave a choked moan, burying his face in the mattress.
“My perfect mate,” I said between gritted teeth.
Unleashing myself on him, I felt the fissures beginning. That roughness inside that was my alpha scratching at the door I’d locked him behind. Wood splintering. Shards catching in my skin.
World going gray. Smooth now rough. Like it had been in that place. When the alphadrenaline had surged for the first time in my life and I hadn’t actually beenLinanymore. Just the wolf.
“Stay with me, Alpha,.” Brooks’ fingers layered over mine where they dug into his shoulder. “You’re safe. We’re all safe.”
I breathed through my nostrils, willing the human to stay in control. I slowed my onslaught. I twined my fingers with his, holding tight to him as if he was all that kept me from dropping off a deadly cliff.
“You’re my everything, Brooks.” I burned behind my eyes. “I start breaking inside, and you’re what keeps me whole.”
Brooks turned around, pulling off my cock as he faced me, grasping my face in one hand. “You,” he breathed, “are always whole. You”—A languid kiss landed on my collarbone, and the hum of words prickled my skin—“are you. And you are your wolf.”
Slow, thorough kisses marked his journey across my chest and up the opposite side of my neck. Warm palms smoothed up and into my hair. Fingers threaded through the strands with thebarest tension of a pull that brought goosebumps over my body. Brooks dragged the very tip of his tongue up until he could draw my earlobe into his ear with a careful, decadent nibble.
Then he whispered, low and slow into my ear, “You’ve always played a balancing game between them. But however the scales fall, you arealwayswhole.”
A different heat overtook me then. Burning embers of shame.
I’d always felt the part of a head alpha down to my core—effortlessly controlled, patently dominant. Even where I’d been challenged, my strength had always come from my easy restraint. The question of validation had never even arisen. I’d always justbeen.
Since Phoenix, though, I had more sympathy for Caine than I ever had in my life. Ferality broke something inside me. Or, if not broken, shifted. It altered my body, my chemistry. It added doubt to the mix.
And he knew, my sweet beta.
My head dropped down, burying my face among his curls. Salt and eucalyptus that normally erased all unease were only half measures.
His words moved me. I hated that I didn’t believe them.
“I don’t feel like I’m balancing.” My broken whisper was so faint I barely heard it myself. “I feel like I’m tipping over. How the fuck am I supposed to lead us?”
Strong arms circled my waist. “No one claimed you had to be perfect to lead this pack,” he answered, holding me so gently I could’ve melted. “You certainly don’t have to be perfect to lead me.”
I pressed myself further into his scent. Tried to absorb his body into my own so I’d never have to go without his love, his loyalty, his trust, his support ever again.
He held me to him. My tears dried on his skin. His arms cradled me to sleep.
