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“Officer Salo, that’s enough.”

He turned around and growled at the open door. Linda stood with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. “Go take a walk.”

He grumbled under his breath and stomped away, and Linda turned towards Marlowe. They embraced like old friends, and I shot Elias a confused look. He simply raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

“I’m so sorry you went through all that, sweetie. You ever need a girls’ night to get away from these males let me know, okay? You have my number?”

“Yes, thank you so much for listening. I’d love to hang out and meet your friends.”

After swaying, they finally separated, and Linda pinched her cheek. “You be careful out there. And you two…” She stopped, her eyes darting between me and Elias. “She is precious cargo, do you understand? Protect her with your life.”

“Umm… okay?” I replied. Like that wasn’t already a given. Shehumphed, then escorted Marlowe back to the exit while Elias and I trailed behind. I watched all the eyes that continued to follow her, biting the inside of my cheek to stay grounded.

Cam had warned me she attracted a lot of attention, but I wasn’t prepared for quite this, the feeling like I might need to fight off every other alpha on the planet to keep her safe.

The rest of the pack all had ways to protect Marlowe—Elias had law, Nolan had status, Archer had science, and Cam had money.

But me? I had my fists.

I needed to get back in the gym, work out some of these frustrations in the ring. Stay in peak physical condition so I would be ready to take someone out if they ever even tried to touch her—vamp, shifter, human, or whatever else was lurking in the shadows.

“They were nice!” chirped Marlowe, reaching for the car door. I didn’t want to shatter her reality and let her know what they’d been saying about her when she wasn’t in earshot, so I just nodded my head.

Elias, however, could probably guess. He’d managed to stay cool and professional until that moment, when he slammed the door shut before Marlowe could get in, spinning her around and pinning her to the car while he kissed her furiously, claiming her for both his own peace of mind and where some of the cops could see, making sure they knew exactly who she belonged to.

If she didn’t belong to me, too, I would have been choking on jealousy. Instead, it just looked insanely hot.

I wasn’t interested in men, but I wasn’t so insecure that I couldn’t admit when another guy was attractive. So watching my beautiful omega being kissed by an equally beautiful pack mate, and knowing she considered me on par with all these alphas, made me want to knot her for the third time in twenty-four hours.

But I was the new guy, and I had a feeling my pack mates wanted to make sure they had time with her, too.

“Elias,” she sighed when he finally pulled away. “Is everything okay?”

He grumbled, resting his forehead on hers while closing hiseyes. “Having to hear exactly how close you were to being taken away from us, how that bloodsucker had his fangs in you, and then deal with all those alphas feeding and eye-fucking you… it was rough.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered something in his ear, something just for him to hear. I watched his face melt, breathing her in deeply as he nodded and slipped into her comfort and reassurance.

“…besides,” she laughed, “I only had like, two donuts. I’m still starving, should we get something to eat?”

He gave her a peck on the nose, and then reached behind her to open her door. “Of course, California. What do you want?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t had much of a chance to explore Maiingan Hollow’s restaurant scene.”

“Do you like paninis?” I asked. “There’s a new place that opened up on Main a month or two ago. They’re pretty good.” Marlowe’s eyes sparkled as she smiled at me. Moon, how could she be in another male’s arms and still make you feel like you were the only one in her world?

“That sounds perfect.”

All these alphas were onto something.

Watching Marlowe eat was soul-satisfying. Not just because she looked so happy, or because she’d ordered the sandwich I recommended and told me it was delicious, or even the simple act of providing.

It was also knowing where that hunger was coming from, that her depleted energy was caused by me and my pack fucking her senseless.

My cock twitched at the thought of what her heat would be like. Cam had told me she’d just had one, and it was before they were bonded or really knew each other, so they hadn’t done anything besides keep her safe. I had no idea how they’d managed to keep their knots to themselves, because every time she looked at me, I felt like I could lose control and take her right then and there. Elias was sitting next to her, his arm lying across her shoulders while his thumb traced lazy circles along her upper arm.

There weren’t as many potential threats in the restaurant, but a couple of alphas kept sniffing the air and we had already contained our possessiveness enough at the police station.

I reached over the table and wiped a drop of mayonnaise from her lips and chuckled. “Are you always a messy eater?”