CHAPTER 248: CHAPTER 248: BREATHING RIGHT SIGNED AWAY

Trevor’s jaw tightened as he rested his chin lightly against Lucas’s hair, holding him close enough that he could feel every shallow breath. He slowed his heartbeat intentionally, syncing with the steady rhythm he pushed through his pheromones, calming the one he had promised to shield.

"I’ve got you," he murmured, though he knew Lucas might not even hear him right now.

Lucas’s body began to ease a few moments later, muscles unlocking one by one under the familiar warmth and scent of his mate. A soft sigh slipped past his pale lips, and then he pressed his face deeper into Trevor’s blazer, the fine fabric darkening where silent tears soaked through.

Trevor said nothing. He shifted his hand to the back of Lucas’s head, his fingers threading gently through soft blond hair, holding him steady against the world outside this room.

Each tear was a reminder, each shudder a mark in Trevor’s mind of what would be paid back in full. He kept his voice low, steady, and absolute. "No one touches you. No one."

Lucas’s fingers tightened faintly into the soft material of the blazer, a wordless response that carried as much trust as it did exhaustion.

Trevor pressed his lips briefly to Lucas’s temple, still holding him through it, and let his gaze lift over his shoulder to the door where Windstone stood, silent and waiting. The look they exchanged was enough. Windstone would begin the hunt.

—

Trevor didn’t loosen his hold, not even when Lucas’s breathing began to slow into a steadier rhythm. Instead, he shifted his grip and rose from the settee in one smooth motion, carrying him as though the weight barely registered.

Lucas didn’t protest; he just let his head rest against Trevor’s shoulder, lashes lowering until his eyes stayed shut. The faint, uneven breaths gradually evened out, his body relaxing fully in the security of the hold.

Trevor carried him through the quiet halls, past staff who stepped quickly aside, their eyes averted but every one of them feeling the tension radiating from their lord. The door to their bedroom opened without a sound, and Trevor crossed to the bed, setting Lucas down with a care that was almost at odds with the fury still simmering in his chest.

Lucas shifted once, instinctively turning toward the warmth when Trevor drew the covers over him. Within minutes, his breathing deepened, the last traces of tension leaving his face.

He adjusted just enough to settle back against the headboard, one arm still wrapped around Lucas, his other hand combing slowly through soft blond hair. Every so often he’d press a kiss to the crown of his head, grounding them both. Lucas’s fingers remained curled into his blazer, even as the steady pull of sleep began to drag him under. Then, without taking his eyes off Lucas, he reached into his pocket and pressed the recessed button set into his watch strap.

Somewhere in the mansion, a soft chime would alert Windstone that his presence was required.

Windstone entered without a sound, closing the door behind him. He stopped a measured distance from the bed, his expression composed but his eyes still carrying that cold fury from earlier.

"Report," Trevor said, his voice low, careful not to disturb the omega in his arms.

"The courier," Windstone began, "was a hired intermediary. Paid in cash. He claims he didn’t know the contents... only that it was to be delivered directly to the Grand Duchess." His gaze flicked to Lucas, then back to Trevor. "The payment trail ends in one of the lower districts, but I’ve already set our people on it. The box itself was crafted here in the capital."

Trevor’s jaw tightened, his fingers never stopping their slow, calming motion against Lucas’s hair. "What was in the box?"

Windstone’s lips thinned. "An omega’s collar. Platinum links, diamond-studded. With a card."

Trevor’s eyes darkened, the quiet in them more dangerous than a raised voice could ever be. "Read it."

Windstone didn’t hesitate. "’Diamonds suit you, Lucas. You’re breathtaking when you’re mine.’"

The room seemed to contract around them. Trevor’s fingers stilled for a fraction of a second before resuming their slow, steady rhythm through Lucas’s hair, his pheromones never faltering, warm, grounding, and heavy enough to keep him in that deep, unbroken sleep.

"Fuck." The word slipped out low, almost voiceless, but edged with a promise. He knew that line. He’d seen it in the shadows of Lucas’s memories, the ones that left him shaking in silence. Diamonds. Collars. Ownership dressed as devotion. Trevor had never put either near him, even when instinct screamed to claim him that way.

Christian Velloran.

’No.’ Trevor’s jaw flexed. This was more than him. This was someone who knew everything. Someone who knew Lucas’s past life... and had come back carrying it.

Windstone stood silent, waiting.

Trevor’s gaze stayed on Lucas, his thumb brushing once along the curve of his mate’s temple, the gesture at odds with the steel threading his voice when he finally spoke. "Find them."

Windstone inclined his head. "Already in motion, Your Grace."

"Not just the courier," Trevor said, tone low enough that it felt like a private oath rather than a command. "Everyone. Every hand that touched that box, every mouth that spoke those words. I want names, movements, and motives. I don’t care if you have to pull the sewers apart to get them."

"Yes, sir."

Trevor’s eyes never left Lucas’s sleeping face. "When you find them..." His voice slowed, colder now. "Don’t send them to me. I’ll come to them."

Windstone’s pale green eyes flickered with understanding, a brief flash of satisfaction breaking through his usual reserve. "Understood."

There was nothing more to say. Windstone slipped from the room as quietly as he had entered, leaving only the soft sound of Lucas’s breathing and the steady pulse of Trevor’s pheromones filling the air.

Trevor adjusted his hold just slightly, enough to draw Lucas closer, chest to chest. His mate’s scent was threaded with sleep now, untroubled for the moment, but Trevor could still feel the faint imprint of the earlier panic beneath it. It would be days before it faded entirely.

He pressed a kiss into blond hair, eyes fixed on nothing, thoughts narrowing to a single, absolute truth. Whoever had tried to drag Lucas back into that darkness had just signed away the right to breathe freely.