He was facing the biggest election of his life against a lunatic alpha. He had to mate with a woman he didn’t know or care to know. He was in---

His thoughts cut short.

Was he? Could he be?

His heart pounded. A thick knot formed in his throat making it painful to swallow.

He looked over the railing to the fireplace below where he’d first seen Felicity Shaw walk into his study. She’d walked in here strong, but nervous and beautiful. She’d taken his breath away and filled him with a ravenous need he’d never felt before. In under an hour, he’d kissed her and had been ready to take her on the floor.

He’d thought she was his bruid. A heavy weight sat on his chest that steadily got heavier and heavier. She should be his bruid.

He realized the truth with stunning clarity.

He loved Felicity Shaw.

She was strong, beautiful, smart, funny, and imperfect. She made him want to be better. She made him want to step down from his lofty position and change. He wanted to take care of her, for her to rely on him to protect her. He wanted that distinct honor on his hands. He wanted her smiling at him, waking up next to him with her soft smile. He wanted all that gorgeous arousal she had for him and he wanted to taste it, touch it, every single day until he knew her inside and out.

He had to speak to her. He had to tell her. And he had to do it now.

Dom strode to his desk, picked up his phone, and dialed her number. The phone rang on and on. He hung up and called her cell phone again. He’d paid her bill for the next twelve months so her phone couldn’t be shut off. There was no reason she shouldn’t be at home and answering her damn phone right now.

Slamming the phone down he disconnected the call and dialed Graham.

The guard answered immediately. “Aye?”

“Put Felicity on the phone.”

A heavy pause. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Dom.”

Dom’s breathing grew heavy as anger filled him. Something was wrong. Something bad. He knew it deep in his soul as surely as he knew he loved her.

“Mind telling me why?”

A long sigh then, “She said she doesn’t want to speak to you. She said you might try calling one of us.”

The muscle beneath Dom’s right eye twitched. “What?”

Surely he hadn’t heard any of that correctly.

“She’s been acting strange ever since Helena came by. I tried not to let her in by the stupid guard on duty let her pass.”

The floor was taken out from under him. He collapsed back into his char. Helena. At Felicity’s. He knew without being told. He knew exactly what she’d done and why.

“Strange how, Graham?”

“She’s been really quiet in the house and she’s getting dressed up. I think she’s going out.”

“I want you to drive her straight here.”

“I can’t do that, Dom.”

“Excuse me? I couldn’t have heard you correctly,” Dom said slowly. Churning, hot anger built inside his cold bones.

“Your brother pays me, not you, Dom. I’m sorry, man.”

“Never mind. I’ll be right there.”

Another heavy pause. “Not sure that’s a good idea.”

“I don’t care what you think.”

Dom slammed the phone down and was out of the house in the next second. His heart raced in a way it never had before, in dread.

He drove too fast to be safe but arrived at her house just as her front door opened and she stepped out. Her eyes flew to his and he had a moment to see sorrow there before her expression grew blank.

What the hell is going on here?

She knows about the lie, you ass.

He wanted to roar and take off heads, and most of all, he wanted to tear that blank expression off her face until she was smiling up at him again. He jammed the car into park then hopped out of his seat.

“What’s going on here?”

Graham stepped in front of him blocking him from Felicity. His body tensed as he locked eyes with the bodyguard. A deadly cold came over him, readying him to fight.

“Step aside, Graham.”

“I can’t do that, Dom.”

Dom took a step forward ready to let his fist get acquainted with the stupid bodyguard.

Then she spoke. “It’s okay, let him up.”

Dom glared at Graham as he slowly stepped to the side, then Dom mounted the steps to her front door. He kept waiting for her to smile and tell him with was a game or a joke, but she didn’t.

Instead, she stood in her doorway, blocking it. She looked incredible. She wore a flowing black skirt that fell to her knees, a pair of high heels that did incredible things to her calf muscles and showed off trim ankles, and a soft pink blouse that fit her breasts perfectly while showing off her slender neck. A lovely neck that he wanted to curl his hands around so he could feel her pulse pound as she rode him; a neck he wanted to lick every inch of until he finally, slowly, sank his fangs into her and tasted her.

“Going out?” he said.

“Yes, I am.”

One hand curled into a fist. He looked away to reign in his temper then looked back down at her. “You mind explaining how I left here this morning after nearly fucking you and now you’re giving me the cold shoulder?”

A blink was the only sign she gave that she heard him. “Stay here.”

She walked into the house, grabbed something off the kitchen table, then held it out to him. His gut clenched. It was bad. Whatever was on the paper was the cause of all of this change.

Dom grabbed the paper and felt his blood run cold.

It was a picture of him and Julianna at a campaign ball. She was smiling demurely up at him and he had his hand tucked around her waist. The picture was taken at one of the balls he’d taken Julianna to after he told Felicity that he’d broken it off with Julianna. The headline above the magazine article read: V-Society’s most glamorous new couple!

Fuck.

“I can explain.”

Could he? He had lied, after all. He would have done anything, would still do anything, to keep her close.

“I’d love to hear that, but if you’ll excuse me I have somewhere to be.”

She squeezed past him and locked the front door.

“Where are you going?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Bullshit it isn’t.”

Still she didn’t scream at him, she didn’t hit him, she wouldn’t even look at him. The pain in his chest was crushing.

“Felicity, please—”

“Don’t,” she said, and then strode down the steps. Toward Graham

He followed her, panic and anger mixing into something desperate and ugly. “I can explain this.”

“I really don’t care.” To Graham she smiled softly. “I’m ready now.”

The bodyguards filled the SUV as they prepared to take her wherever she was going. She looked ready for a night on the town.

Dom considered his options. He could stand there like an idiot and watch his woman drive away with her guards or he could do something about it.

He decided. In a flash, he had Felicity over his shoulder and shoved into the passenger seat of his car. Graham rounded on him and Dom let loose a punch that broke teeth before the guard had a chance to move. The other guards hesitated. After all, Grayson might have hired them but Gray was Dom’s brother. He could see the apprehension of attacking their boss’s brother glinting in their eyes.

“She’s coming with me. You can follow us or not, that’s up to you.”

He stared them down. Graham wiped the blood from his mouth looking furious and ready for a fight, but he turned and nodded to his team. “We’ll follow behind. Do anything stupid, Dom, and I’ll take you out. You hear me?”

Felicity tried to get out of the car, but he shoved her back inside and slammed the door shut. Racing to the other side, he had the car in drive and peeled out before she could try to jump out.

It took several minutes before he felt calm enough to speak. “I deserve an explanation,” he said.

She snorted. “I don’t think you deserve anything.”