by Nora Phoenix
The cop's eyes softened even as he closed the distance between them and stood right across from Gia. "I know what you have. The Melloni gene. I don't know why, but I'm not overcome by your smell. Please, allow me to help you."
He didn't have a choice. It was either trusting the cop or knowing that the first alpha he ran into would rape him after all. So when the cop held out his hand, Gia took it, not expecting the slight jolts of electricity that coursed through him at their initial contact.
Then the cop started walking, breaking into a half-run, dragging Gia with him, and he went along. He had expected the cop to lead them to his vehicle, but instead, they made a run for the cab, which still sat there, the engine running. In the distance, footsteps could be heard, then a man shouting.
"Get into the car," the cop yelled at Gia, and he obeyed, knowing this was his best shot. He dove into the back seat where he'd been sitting only minutes earlier, before everything had gone to hell in a handbasket.
"Get the fuck back here," an angry male voice shouted, and Gia assumed the alpha cop running toward them was the partner the cop had previously referred to.
He didn't ask, because the cop jumped into the car, closed the door, and instantly floored it. They sped out of the parking lot, sending small bits of pavement flying. When Gia looked over his shoulder through the back window, the other cop shook his fist at them, his face distorted in a furious, menacing glare.
Gia turned back around, taking a few deep breaths. The leather of the seats was cold against his bare skin, reminding him he was buck naked. Not that that was his biggest problem right now. He swallowed, forcing himself to remain calm.
"Where are you taking me?"
2
"Felix, we need you in conference room A."
As usual, Felix’s boss, Jeffrey, didn't wait for him to communicate his agreement in any way before he walked off again. Felix let out a frustrated sigh, knowing that was about as much of his annoyance as he could show. If he had been able to find a different job, he would've quit right after he’d started working there a month ago, but sadly, beta lawyers were not in big demand.
No matter the changes the new government had realized in the status of alphas, betas, and omegas, trying to make them more equal, the reality still was that some jobs were considered alpha jobs, and a lawyer was definitely one of them. Then again, so was being a cop, so working as a lawyer for the police union was about as stupid as it got for a beta.
Felix supposed he should be grateful he even had a job, even if it had come because his predecessor had been violently assaulted and had to quit. The man’s notes had made for interesting reading material, that was for sure. Felix had always been good at reading between the lines, and Duer Hovart’s notes had contained entire books between the lines.
He grabbed his legal pad and his phone and headed to the conference room, unsure of what to expect now. When he walked in, he found his boss there, but no one else, and he frowned in confusion.
"We have the head of Internal Affairs joining us through teleconference," Jeffrey said, and that explained everything.
Felix sat down next to his boss, facing the teleconference screen, where Evan Parks, the head of IA, was already staring at him. As always, Felix had to force himself to stay calm under that man's ice-cold stare. He’d met him twice in person, and that was twice more than he’d wanted to.
"Good morning," Felix said, trying to start off on the right foot.
"Let's get to business. We’re short on time here," Parks said.
Right. No polite pleasantries then. That promised little good for what was about to follow.
"Per internal protocols, I'm informing you we intend to arrest officer Sean Lilienfield," Parks said, and Felix had to fight hard not to show any reaction on his face.
He recognized that name instantly. When he’d started this job, he’d read through all of Duer’s files, and one of his biggest cases had been against Detective Lidon Hayes. It had been nasty as hell, and Felix’s mind had been blown by all the weird inconsistencies. But thanks to his near perfect memory, he remembered the name of Detective Hayes’s partner at the time: Sean Lilienfield.
Officer Lilienfield still worked in narcotics as far as Felix knew, having been assigned a new partner. So what the hell had he gotten himself involved in that IA wanted to arrest him? Felix couldn’t help but be suspicious after everything he’d read about that case against Detective Hayes. It had contained holes bigger than a pickup truck, and the man still had gotten fired.
"On what grounds?" his boss asked, sounding more interested than like he was objecting. Then again, they hadn't even heard anything more than a name, so Felix supposed he couldn't expect his boss to object just on principle.
"While on a stakeout earlier this morning, Officer Lilienfield broke protocol by abandoning the house they were staying in, against his superior's explicit instructions. He then intervened into a civilian affair without permission, using unauthorized force against two civilians. Officer Lilienfield fled the scene by stealing a car, as witnessed by his partner."
Damn. That was some serious shit and nothing like the charges Felix had been concerned about, which had been more along the lines of the same fabricated evidence they had accused Detective Hayes of. These were not the kind of charges that were easy to fake, so what the hell was going on here?
"That's quite the wild west story," his boss commented, and now there was a hint of disbelief in his voice. The man was a total asshole, but Felix had to admit he usually was on the side of the cops they were supposed to support, not on Internal Affair’s side. Detective Hayes’s case excluded, but Felix had found evidence in Duer’s notes the man had been fed false information there.
"We’re confident we’ll have him under arrest by the end of the day, if not sooner. If he asks for a union lawyer to be present, we expect you to show up instantly and make this process as smooth as possible. We have no doubt Officer Lilienfield will cooperate with a swift handling of his case."
Oh, all kinds of alarm bells were now ringing loudly in Felix’s head. Parks had listed a shopping list worth of charges against him but was expecting Lilienfield to cooperate? What kind of weird ass logic was that?
"Why would a swift handling of his case be to Lilienfield’s advantage?" Jeffrey asked, and while it wasn't the first question Felix would've come up with, it certainly wasn't a bad one.
Parks folded his hands in front of his chin in one of those studied gestures that made him look like an idiot. "He'll want to avoid further embarrassment for himself and his family," the man said rather cryptically.
What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Something Felix intended to look into.
"We’ll give this matter our full attention and priority," his boss promised Parks, who looked dubious at that cliché assurance.
"Please make sure that you do," Parks said. "We want to close this chapter as quickly as possible to prevent further embarrassment for the force. This is not the kind of conduct we expect from our officers."
"Of course, it would help if we could get the incriminating evidence against him as soon as possible," Felix said smoothly, and Parks’s head jerked toward him. "That way, we can convince him it's useless to try and fight it against overwhelming evidence," he continued, and the man’s somewhat tense expression relaxed.
"Right, right," he said. "I'll make sure to get the statement from his partner sent over as soon as possible."
"Thank you," Felix said, having learned a long time ago being overly polite got him much further than being snarky with alphas. "Is there any chance there is video evidence? Was Officer Lilienfield wearing a body cam?"
Parks shook his head. "No. But we also have corroborating statements from the two civilians he attacked, one of whom was the driver whose cab he stole."
The man had stolen a cab? This case got more and more interesting by the minute. What could possibly possess a narcotics cop in good standing to steal a cab? There had to be more to this case.
"Well, we'd appreciate any evidence you can send us so we can assist you in making this a swift trial," Felix said, earning a look of approval from both his boss and Parks.
It wasn't even ten minutes later that he received the secure transfer of the statements in the case, and as he started reading, his unease grew. Igor Babinsky, Lilienfield’s partner, claimed the cop had suddenly left the house during a stakeout against his explicit instructions while Babinsky was using the facilities. When he discovered Lilienfield was gone, he did a perimeter search and found him in an adjoining parking lot, where he was assaulting two civilians. According to the statement, Babinsky drew his weapon on him, causing Lilienfield to flee the scene in a cab.
As if that story didn't raise Felix’s eyebrows high enough, the statements from the two civilians Lilienfield had allegedly assaulted were even more ridiculous. First of all, they contained no credible explanation of what the two men were doing in a parking lot on the south side—not exactly a tourist destination—or even how they knew each other.
They also claimed Lilienfield had attacked them unprovoked, had threatened them with his gun, had actually shot one of them, then handcuffed them while kicking them repeatedly. They stated he'd only stopped when his partner had shown up on the scene, and then they described him fleeing away in the cab.
Felix was neither a detective nor a trial attorney, but even he could see this case had holes the size of a small Caribbean island. And if all that wasn't reason enough for him to be suspicious, a quick background check into Igor Babinsky didn't reveal much encouraging news either. He'd been accused of police brutality and even sexual assault against a witness, but had gotten away scot-free every single time. The old adage if there was smoke, there was fire came to mind. If a man had been accused of something on several occasions, what were the odds of him being truly innocent?
But before he could fully give in to his sense that there was something off about this case, he had to do a little digging into Sean Lilienfield’s background. The man was twenty-seven, unmarried, and relatively new to narcotics. His record as a police officer was squeaky clean, and he’d come highly recommended to narcotics.
Felix quickly discovered the reason for Park’s cryptic remark about his family. The man came from a blue-blooded family: his father and two older brothers were on the force, as were countless uncles, cousins, and other family members. Being a cop seemed to be their family business, and Parks was right—that was a strong argument for why Lilienfield might fold quickly. The pressure from his family had to be enormous.
In fact, it made it even more remarkable that the rookie hadn't folded under that pressure and joined in the attack on his former partner. Sure, he hadn't exactly spoken out in his defense, but he hadn't spoken out against him either, which was more than could be said for a lot of other cops.
Felix glanced through the files on Lilienfield’s father and brothers, seeing several complaints about questionable behavior, though nothing had ever stuck. Huh, that was interesting. Lilienfield’s older brother had been at the academy with Igor Babinsky, and a quick check on their files showed they were still best friends. You'd think a friendship like that would prevent him from selling out his best friend's younger brother, but apparently not. Had Lilienfield somehow pissed off his family, and was this their way of getting back to him?
Felix didn’t trust this case one bit. But most of all, it was the connection to Detective Hayes that Felix didn't trust. That case had been so fucked up from the start, such a clear case of a fabricated charge that had gotten the man fired. Duer had known too, as was evident from his notes, but he hadn't been able to stop it.
In fact, Felix had been surprised to even find those notes on Duer’s computer, though in his defense, they weren’t in any official files, and Felix had had to dig around a bit to find them. But what he’d found in those notes and through some in-depth online searches had been crazy.
With all that in mind, Felix didn't like this one bit. He wasn't sure what Lilienfield had gotten himself into, but he did know it couldn't be as stupid as these reports made it out to be. He had to find a way to warn him about what was coming, but how?
Duer. He had to check with Duer if this case made him suspicious as well. A quick search in the system revealed a cell phone number, and before he could talk himself out of it, he called it.
“Yeah?” a muffled, somewhat tired-sounding voice answered.
“Is this Duer Hovart?” Felix asked.
“Yes, gimme one sec.” He heard shuffling before the man came back on the line. “Wait, who’s this? The caller ID says police union?”
“My name is Felix Roland, and I’m the guy who took over your job.”
“Oh, okay. Not to be rude, but what do you want? I’m not really in the mood to socialize.”
Felix took a deep breath. “I need your opinion on a case against Sean Lilienfield.”
“Did you say Lilienfield?” Duer asked, his voice sounding much sharper now.
“Yes. As in Detective Hayes’s former partner.”
“Start talking, and make it fast.”
Sean hadn't known where else to go, not with an omega who smelled like that, so he'd driven the cab to his apartment. He'd let the omega inside, then had gone to park the cab a few blocks away. He'd left the keys in the ignition after wiping his fingerprints off them, as well as off the steering wheel. His hope was that it would get stolen so it would be harder to trace back to him, but of course, if they did a decent swipe of the car, his DNA would be found anyway.
When he got back to his apartment, the omega had locked himself into the bathroom, which Sean couldn't blame him for. What a horrible mess this was, for the poor omega in the first place, but for Sean as well. It was only a matter of time before Igor would report him, and then the cops would come looking for him. That meant they couldn't stay there, but where else could they go?
"Are you okay?" he said through the door.
He winced as his own words registered with him. Of course the omega wasn’t okay. He’d barely escaped getting raped by two men, and he had no guarantee he was safe from Sean. Hell, Sean himself couldn't even assure him he was safe. For all he knew, that smell would get to him in a few minutes, and he'd be ramming down that door.
"Yeah," came the hesitant reply.
Sean sank down to the floor in the hallway, right next to the bathroom door. "My name is Sean Lilienfield," he said. "I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to properly introduce myself, but things got kind of hectic."
He heard a shuffle inside the bathroom and then a small thunk against the door. "I think your lack of propriety can be excused under the circumstances," the omega said, his voice sounding as if he'd sat down on the floor as well.
"If you want to get dressed, there are some clothes of mine in the laundry basket. They may not be sparkling clean, but you may want them anyway."
"Thank you. I've already availed myself of a shirt and shorts, though they're more like capris on me."
Sean smiled at the omega's sense of humor, even more remarkable under these circumstances. "Can I have your name?"
"Giacomo," the omega said after a short hesitation. "But you can call me Gia."
"Gia, it's a pleasure to meet you, though I wish it had been under different circumstances. I hate to say this, but we can't stay here for long. That angry guy shouting at us as we drove off, that's my partner. My guess is we don't have long until he sends someone to my apartment."
Even more because he'd switched off his com, which was about the biggest violation of department protocol ever, but he wasn't telling Gia that. They didn't have time for all the details anyway.
"You said you know what I have," Gia said.
"Yes, the Melloni gene, right?"
"How did you know?"
God, there was a question with an answer that could take an hour to explain. They didn't have time for that, but Sean understood he needed to give Gia something to help him trust. "The reporter who broke the st
ory, Palani Hightower, he's one of the boyfriends of my former partner. Ever since Lidon, that was my partner's name, got fired under suspicious circumstances, I've followed the story. Palani's blog explains in detail what the gene entails and how to recognize it in an omega."
"I was on my way home from the clinic," Gia said, and Sean had to strain his ears to hear him through the door. "I just got diagnosed after taking the test a few days ago. The doctor warned me that my heat would start soon and that I'd have to sequester myself. I figured I would be okay with the quick cab ride home, considering the driver was a beta."
Sean let out a sigh, his shoulders sagging low as he leaned against the wall. "I'm so sorry."
What else was there to say? He'd read the stories on Palani's blog about the young omega guys who'd committed suicide after being sexually assaulted or raped, simply because the gene caused them to smell a certain way, making them irresistible to alphas. It was unfair to a degree Sean couldn't capture in words, and so he didn't even try.
"Why are you not affected?" Gia asked. "You're an alpha, so why can't you smell me? Are you taking blockers?"
Sean had wondered the exact same thing during the frantic drive to his apartment, and he hadn't been able to come up with a single satisfactory explanation. "I have no idea. I can smell you, make no mistake, and I can detect your heat is close, but I don't have that urge the other men had."
He could add that Gia's smell had made him iron hard since he'd caught a whiff of him in that parking lot, but he figured the omega didn't need to know that level of detail, not after what he'd been through. Besides, it was just an erection. Granted, it was a stubborn one, and he didn't think he'd ever been so hard in his life, but it was nothing more than that.
"I don't know if I can trust you," Gia whispered.
"I know, and I don't blame you. I'm not sure why it's not affecting me in the same way. But please, Gia, you have to let me take you to another place, a safe place. When my coworkers come looking for me, it's not gonna end well for you."