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All of which are now familiar, although it has been many years… and the fucker has filled out in that time.

“What the fuck do you want?” I demand.

“This is Seven,” Flint says. “The Master Stag.”

“I have come to collect my ward,” Seven, aka the golden giant, says, facing me fully and giving me an up-and-down critical assessment.

My mind skips back. “Ward?”

“He believes she is living among us,” Flint elaborates.

I am still none the wiser, but the way Seven is eyeballing me amplifies my aggression.

“My ward is young and unmated. Her mother wrote, but alas, the letter was delayed. I have come to take her home.”

“You are no wolf shifter. This is a wolf pack.”

Seven sighs heavily. His smile is more of a grimace. “Clearly not.”

I get the distinct impression he thinks I am an idiot of the highest order… some things never change.

“Deer,” Flint offers like I do not already know what Seven is. “His ward is a doe.”

“Stag—Master Stag and herd leader,” golden bastard corrects with a measure of bite. His attitude has not improved over the last decade, it would seem, and he was not the fucking leader of all back then. “Females of our kind are treated with the highest respect. She will be treated as a queen.”

My mind feels like it is moving slowly over this information, and it should be making greater sense.

“Fortuna,” the stag prick says slowly like he is dealing with a simpleton. He turns to glance back at Flint. “I believe she goes by her childhood nickname, Fawn.”

The malaise inside me reaches a fever pitch, and my mind turns alarmingly blank before rage slams into me. Queen, he called her. He is the king and is seeking to make Fawn hisfuckingqueen. “Over my dead body,” I grit out.

Seven rolls out his shoulders and cracks his knuckles. “I did not come here planning a death match, but if you insist.”

The actual fuck? The bastard is borderline insane. He is in the midst of a wolf pack surrounded by… lots of fucking wolves, and he casually drops a challenge against the pack enforcer like it is a trifling matter standing between him and afternoon tea.

The fucker has balls, I’ll give him that.

But Gods, my mind is reeling. My body is in a riot.

Fawn… Fortuna… A doe shifter…

How did I not know?

Why does so much suddenly make sense?

She is not a human. She is a shifter. And I’d stake my life on her being an omega as well.

She is also mine.

I stab a finger in his direction. “She is already taken—fuck off.”

Then. Not waiting to see how my declaration is received, I spin around and take off for Fawn.

“Stop him,”I snarl at Glen and Clay.

“Have you fucking seen him?”Glen says.

“Slow him, then,”I growl.