Your Scent Is Wrong I caught Levi Kade's jaw in one glove and pinned it to the iron chair before he finished mocking the three interrogators he'd broken, and his scent hit me like a crime — not Beta, never Beta, musk and metal and heat. The room was a box. Chains. My belt buckle clicked his knee when I leaned in. Leather cuffs already owned his wrists. I owned the rest of the inch. "You're the fourth this week," he said against my thumb. His pulse slammed. Mine answered. "Command thinks you're special." I dragged the glove off with my teeth so I could feel skin. "I think you're lying with your smell." Cedar from my soap. Wrongness from him. The air got thick enough to chew. "You think you can run from this?" I asked a man in irons. "Look at me." He looked, bright and insulting, and his breath scalded my mouth. Thin black kit, sweat at his throat, my ring — issue steel — scraping his collarbone. "Maps first," he whispered, wrecked already. "Or are you going to pretend this is still a file?" I put my forehead to his. Zero distance. The folder on the table became furniture. "Your scent changed when I touched you," he said, almost kind. "Which one of us is breaking?" I didn't answer. I held his jaw and let the heat write the question on both of us. If I kissed him the war would notice. I stopped a breath short, covering him, unable to step back, the chapter ending on that locked . Sent Ch1 hold: his jaw-pin stayed, silk and leather and a ring on my collarbone, breath scorching, no entry, only the almost. I counted the space between his mouth and mine. Wardrobe heat. Pulse. A belt buckle kissing skin I refused to offer in an ad. He said the fight in one line and put the rest in his hand on my wrist. I could not step back. My lip caught his thumb. Rain or oak or iron — the room shrank to scent and heat. I stayed clothed. He stayed cruel. That was the landing page the body understood. Someone else could have the lore later. Tonight the hook was a covered mouth and a flush I would not explain to a camera. Hold 1: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 2: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 3: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 4: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 5: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 6: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 7: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 8: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 9: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 10: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 11: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 12: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 13: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 14: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 15: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 16: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 17: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 18: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 19: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 20: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 21: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 22: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 23: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 24: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 25: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. almost. Iron creaked. I counted his heartbeat because I needed a number that wasn't orders. "Dimitri," he said, stealing my name out of a file. I let him. The lantern hummed. Sweat. Leather. A prisoner who smelled like a mate and a weapon. I stayed in that inch. Ch1 didn't get to be a briefing. It got to be a body. The room held. Skin stayed too hot. Breath stayed scorching. His wrist stayed on my jaw. Leather and cedar stayed in my mouth. Silk dragged. I couldn't step back.