But as her body relaxed, her mind began to race.
Dom’s evidence seemed legitimate. The incorporation papers, the military records, the photos of other communities that had suffered Crown Mountain-style attacks. His explanations made sense in a way that her original theory didn’t. Professional mercenaries wouldn’t investigate their own crimes. They wouldn’t set up legitimate businesses with public documentation.
And they sure as hell wouldn’t rescue a police officer from an assassination attempt.
The water cascaded over her face, washing away the last of her certainty about his guilt. Maybe Gabriel was wrong. Maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe Steel Protection really were the good guys, and she’d spent a week building a case against an innocent man.
Her bear stretched beneath her skin, testing the boundaries of Dom’s alpha suppression. The animal had been mostly quiet since the cabin, subdued by his overwhelming presence, but now it stirred with the first tentative acknowledgment that maybe she’d been fighting the wrong battle.
Valeria’s body betrayed her with a flush of desire. Dom’s scent seemed to permeate everything, even through the steam and soap. Pine, leather, and alpha musk that made her bear purr with need.
She pressed her forehead against the tile wall, fighting the arousal that built between her thighs. This was insane. She was a police officer investigating a murder case. He was her primary suspect, or had been, or... God, she didn’t know what he was anymore.
The mate bond pulled at her, insisting this was what she’d been waiting for her entire life. Her bear wanted to submit to his strength, to let him claim and protect and possess her completely. Valeria bit her lip to stifle a moan, hating how much she wanted exactly that.
She turned off the water before she could do something stupid like touch herself while he was twenty feet away. The gray sweatsuit was enormous on her smaller frame, the sleeves hanging past her fingertips, and the pants pooling around her ankles. But it was clean and soft and warm.
When she emerged from the bathroom, Dom’s eyes tracked her movement across the small cabin with predatory focus. She felt exposed despite being fully clothed, hyperaware of his gaze on her body.
“Better?” he asked, his voice rough.
Valeria nodded, not trusting herself to speak. The cabin felt smaller somehow, the walls pressing in as his alpha energy filled every available inch of space. She needed to move, to pace, to burn off the restless energy building in her chest.
But there was nowhere to go. Three steps in any direction would bring her back to where she started, always within his reach.
“You can’t just keep me here like a prisoner!” The words exploded out of her before she could stop them, all her frustration, fear, and unwanted desire channeling into anger.
Dom stood slowly, his expression patient. “I’m not keeping you prisoner; I’m keeping you safe.”
“This is kidnapping! You’re controlling me!” She began pacing the narrow space between the bed and the kitchenette, energy crackling through her like electricity.
“You think I wanted this?” Dom’s voice carried a note of frustration that matched her own. “You think I wanted my mate to think I’m a killer?”
“Don’t call me that.” The words came out laced with poison. “I’m not your anything.”
“The hell you’re not.” His voice dropped to a growl. “You felt it the second you saw me. Don’t pretend you didn’t.”
Valeria spun to face him, anger flaring bright in her chest. “What I felt doesn’t matter. What matters is that Becca is dead, and you…”
“I what?” Dom stepped closer, his presence overwhelming in the small space. “I saved your life? I brought you somewhere safe? I’m trying to protect you from the same people who killed her?” He faltered. “I can’t lose you before I even have you.” Thedesperation in his voice made her chest ache. She could see the truth in his eyes. He was as trapped in this situation as she was. “Valeria, please…” His voice softened, hands raised in a gesture of peace.
The mate bond pulled at her with increasing intensity, his scent filling her nostrils, her bear demanding she submit to his strength. The conflict between what she wanted and what she knew was right tore her apart.
“Let me GO!” She shoved him hard in the chest, all her pent-up frustration channeling into the blow.
Dom didn’t fight back, didn’t retaliate. He caught her wrists as she swung at him again, his grip gentle but implacable. “Stop,” he said quietly. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
That only made her fight harder. She twisted in his grasp, trying to break free, trying to get past him to the door. To escape this cabin, this situation, these feelings that threatened to drown her completely.
Dom backed her against the wall, using his body to cage her without causing pain. His hands remained gentle on her wrists despite her struggles, his touch careful even as she fought him.
“I’m trying to protect you, not hurt you,” he said, anguish clear in his voice.
Their faces were inches apart now, both breathing hard from the struggle. Valeria could feel the heat radiating from his skin, could smell the desire mixing with his scent. His body pressed against hers, every point of contact sending electricity through her nerves.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?” Dom’s control was cracking, his voice rough with need. She could feel the change in the air between them. His scent spiked with arousal, and her bear responded with a purr that she couldn’t suppress.
“I can smell how much you want this,” he growled, his nose almost touching her neck.
