The alarm split the air like a blade.
Sharp. Shrieking. Instant.
It echoed through the hallways, a high-pitched wail that sent staff scattering in confusion. I'd pulled it from a blind spot behind the east hallway conduit panel, where the camera had long since shorted out. They hadn't bothered to replace it. They never thought anyone would be stupid enough to try something.
They forgot I wasn't stupid.
I was desperate.
And that made me dangerous.
I kept my head down and moved fast, blending in with the chaos as people flooded the corridors. Orders were shouted, boots pounded the floor. Emergency response teams swarmed out from the med wing, shouting codes and status checks into radios.
I didn't answer any of them.
I just moved.
Past the staging bays.
Past the secured wing.
Until I reached the boss's office.
Empty.
The moment I pushed the door open and saw it, I didn't breathe a sigh of relief. I didn't feel relief at all. Only more urgency.
The scent was still heavy here.
Nine's heat. His pain. His fear. Stuck to the walls, to the furniture, to the boss's desk like smoke.
Nyx snarled inside me. Her pacing had reached a fever pitch.
Now, Rhea. Now.
I crossed the room in three strides, yanked the hidden latch behind the bookcase, and pulled open the back door that led to the reinforced private chamber. Where they had taken him.
He was still there.
Crumpled on the floor.
The heat clung to him like a second skin, sweat slicking his brow, cheeks flushed to a painful red. His lips were parted, chest rising and falling in short, shallow bursts. One hand fisted weakly in the fabric of the carpet. The other was curled near his chest.
His eyes fluttered open the moment he sensed me.
"A...Alpha..."
It wasn't even a whisper. It was breath and instinct.
I dropped to my knees beside him.
"I'm here," I said, reaching out to gather him up.
He melted into me immediately.
Shaking. Burning. Pressing his face into the crook of my neck like he could crawl inside my skin.
He's in pain. Do something. Now. Nyx was close to breaking through, close to forcing the shift just to tear apart anything that had dared touch him like this.
But I didn't need claws.
I had him.
My mate.
"Shh," I murmured, rocking him, stroking his hair back from his temple. "You're safe. I've got you. I've got you."
He sobbed—soft and broken, a sound that twisted something deep in my chest. His body was still too hot, still wracked with the aftershocks of his heat cycle.
He buried his nose against my throat again, inhaling like my scent was the only thing keeping him tethered.
Like he didn't trust the world around him, but he trusted me.
I didn't have time to fall apart.
"Can you stand?" I whispered, pressing my lips to his hair.
He whimpered in response, but I felt the faintest nod against my neck.
Good.
I slipped an arm under his knees and another around his back. He weighed nothing. A feather. A whisper. I carried him out the same way I came in—back through the office, through the service corridor, heart in my throat the whole way.
Cameras were down for now. Alarms still blaring. It wouldn't take long for them to reset. To realize I was missing.
But I didn't care.
I had him.
I ducked into a back storage room near the medical wing. No one used it except for dumping expired syringes and useless supplies. It stank of chemicals, but it was quiet.
I laid him down gently on the old padded bench and sank to the floor beside him, cradling his head in my lap.
"Alpha..." he breathed again.
This time, there was a touch of something else in his voice.
Relief.
Recognition.
"I'm not leaving you," I whispered. "I'm not going anywhere."
His fingers twitched, reaching for mine. I let him find my hand and hold it, even though he was too weak to grip. He didn't need strength.
He just needed me.
Nyx finally settled, laying herself down like a wolf curling around its mate. He's here. He's safe. For now.
I bent forward, brushing a kiss to his temple.
For now.