The change from the palace’s pressurized, gold-leafed insanity to the cool afternoon air of the courtyard should have been a relief. For Liam, it was like swapping one cage for a more mobile version of the same thing.

Arik’s hand had not left his side. It was a constant, radiating heat that seemed to seep through Liam’s coat, grounding him in a way that made the walk across the black-stone driveway far more bearable than it had any right to be.

Arik’s motorcade was waiting. Three sleek, obsidian-black vehicles sat idle, their ether-turbines emitting a low, rhythmic purr that Liam’s engineer brain instinctively recognized as the high-efficiency Agaronian standard. They didn’t emit smoke, but rather a faint blue-white discharge around the vents.

Liam stopped as they reached the primary transport. He looked back, expecting Mezos and Noah to follow them into the cabin. He needed the buffer. He needed Noah’s annoying commentary or Mezos’s stoic silence to dilute the sheer, overwhelming presence of the man currently steering him.

Instead, Mezos and Noah stopped at the second car.

Noah offered a cheerful, two-finger salute before disappearing into the back. Mezos simply gave Arik a short, sharp nod and followed Noah inside.

"They’re in the wrong car," Liam said, his voice flat.

"No," Arik said, guiding him toward the open door of the lead vehicle. "They are exactly where they are supposed to be."

Liam looked at the interior of the car: deep leather, polished dark-wood accents, and enough privacy glass to hide a conspiracy. He looked at Arik. "I’m not getting in there alone with you. It’s bad for my blood pressure and your diplomatic immunity."

"Your blood pressure is currently stable," Arik murmured, his gold eyes finding Liam’s in the bright midday sun. "And my immunity is the least interesting thing about me. Get in, Liam. We’re wasting daylight."

Liam climbed in, mostly because standing on the driveway made him feel like a target for Felix’s distant observation. Arik followed, the door closing with a heavy, vacuum-sealed thud that cut off the world.

The silence inside the car was immediate.

Warding hummed beneath the panels in a low, almost imperceptible current. The privacy glass darkened by degrees until the palace courtyard became a blurred smear of stone, gold, and people who were no longer Liam’s problem for at least the next several minutes.

Liam sat on the far side of the cabin and immediately realized the word ’far’ had become decorative.

The car was spacious. Technically. In the same way, a laboratory containment chamber was spacious until one had to share it with an unstable reaction. There was enough room for two people to sit without touching, but not enough room for Liam to stop being aware of Arik. The scent came first, of course, because apparently the universe had decided Liam’s dignity should be assaulted through every available sense. Warm stone. Sun-heated walls. That cursed note of caramel underneath was faint and not nearly as aggressive as it had been in the corridor.

Liam folded his arms. "Where is the security protocol panel?"

"There isn’t one for guests," Arik said, his voice dropping into a low resonance that seemed to vibrate through the leather seats and straight into Liam’s bones.

Arik didn’t move. He sat in casual, predatory stillness, making the cabin feel five degrees hotter. In the palace, Liam had been preoccupied with politics, sneering at George and bristling at Felix. But here, sealed in a space of Agaronian engineering, the distractions were stripped away.

Liam became violently aware of the biology in the room.

He had known Arik was a dominant Alpha, of course. He’d seen the reports. He’d felt the crushing weight of the prince’s presence in the chasm. However, in this enclosed space, the measures lost their theoretical nature. Arik was massive. Seven feet of broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, lethal intent folded into the seat beside him with the grace of a caged panther. Liam’s mind, which was usually a fortress of gears and logic, was now preoccupied with the terrifying realization that if Arik moved his knee two inches to the left, it would be between Liam’s legs.

His pulse, which had already become erratic after the fight with Felix, got even faster as he recognized he was an omega being cornered by an extremely powerful alpha.

"Why are you looking at the floor?" Arik asked.

"I’m checking to see if the floorboards are strong enough," Liam said, his voice a little higher than he liked. "Your people build heavy. I wanted to see if the suspension was suffering."

"The suspension is rated for five times our combined mass," Arik murmured. He shifted, the dark charcoal fabric of his tunic rustling. The scent of sun-warmed stone and that maddening, addictive caramel flared, thick enough to taste. "Look at me, Liam."

Liam’s spine went straight.

"No."

Arik’s mouth curved faintly. "No?"

"No," Liam repeated. "I have decided looking at you is bad for my concentration."

Arik shifted again, the leather creaking, and Liam’s body registered the movement before his mind could process it. His knee did not move between Liam’s legs, because apparently Arik had chosen not to die today, but the possibility had already occurred, and now Liam’s imagination needed to be executed.

He took a careful breath, and when it hit his nose, he knew he had made a mistake.

Arik’s scent went with it.

Liam closed his eyes.

Second mistake.

The absence of sight made the scent worse.

"Stop breathing so loudly," Liam snapped.

Arik was silent for one second.

Then, very softly, "I’m not."

Liam opened his eyes and looked at him before he could stop himself.

Terrible decision.

Arik was watching him with those gold eyes, calm and bright in the dim cabin. He hadn’t lost any of his formal composure, but inside the private car, Arik looked like sin incarnate. He was still too big, too close, too alpha, and too aware. Broad shoulders. Long legs. One hand resting loosely over his thigh. The other near the armrest, relaxed enough to be insulting.

Liam became aware of his own body in a way he despised.

His wrists under his sleeves. The heat at the back of his neck. The faint tightness in his chest. The fact that his scent blockers were good but not divine and that if Arik leaned close enough, he might still catch something.

’Absolutely not.’

Liam pointed at him. "Stay there."

Arik looked down at the finger, then back at him. "I am sitting."

"Sit with less intent."

The alpha moved again, this time leaning back into the seat.

It was thoughtful.

He put space between them on purpose, which made Liam instantly aware of it. Arik’s long body settled deeper into the leather, one arm resting along the side, shoulders relaxed, knees angled away just enough to give Liam more room.

Liam hated that it helped. His lungs took a normal breath before his pride could stop them.

Arik saw that too, of course.

The bastard saw everything.

"Better?" He asked softly, and his voice was still low enough to make Liam’s skin crawl.

"No."

Arik’s mouth curved. "Liar."

"Hah," Liam said, tightening his arms over his chest. "Said the man having his motorcade take us to his palace and not the lab V."