There was a weight of possibility in the night air as I walked back along the deserted streets, my chest still throbbing with the startling burst of passion which I had just felt. The moon was low in the air above the roofs, and was shining a silver light that might be whispering some secrets I was not ready to hear.
The house was too quiet as I came inside. My instincts put my guard on. There was the faintest scent in the air--hot and deadly and decidedly Alpha. It was not the familiar perfume of Daniel, my husband. This reeked more sharply, intoxicating, and forbidden.
My body betrayed me at once. My heartbeat quickened, my skin rose and a shiver ran through me. I knew what it was--my Omega instincts were at work, and they were leading me off in the direction of danger instead of safety.
"Welcome home."
It was a low, even voice that had a gravity that made my knees knock. Adrian, my stepson, came into the light out of the darkness before the kitchen door. His black eyes were glittering with something that I was unable to recognize--curiosity, challenge, longing?
"Adrian…" I breathed, my throat parched. Why are you here at this time of the night?
He tilted his head on one side and had a masked face, but his presence was enormous. "I was waiting. You have it--you have been--all of late. I wanted to check whether you are fine.
His words were above reproach, but the lingering expression of his face, the manner in which he traced a line, with his eyes, along the curves of my form, as though he could read the thought that lay within my heart, but could not utter it.
I was trying to suppress the tempest with a wacking laugh. "Don't worry about me. I can hold my own."
However, as he brought himself nearer, the air between us became electric and I realized that that was not true. My logic had ceased to be hearkened to by my body. His fragrance was overwhelming, and it was like velvet ties around me.
Well, perhaps, said Adrian, it is a deadly thrust, but the powerful also, at times, must have one who is looking at them. looking at them.
The silence was complete, and only the beating of my heart could be heard. I should have left. I ought to have retired before I was beaten. But I stayed, in between the world I had a world I wanted.
It was the first time ever I knew this was not some passing spark. It was the beginning of something I was not aware I had the strength to combat.