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Megan looked around me down the hall, changing the subject. “No omega today?”

On the one hand, I was happy that Megan seemed excited to meet Marlowe and officially welcome her to the Wilk family, but it also sucked to be reminded once again of her absence. “No, she’s out of town with Elias at the moment.”

She looked at her nails and snorted. “Figures. That guy never liked staying here too long.”

Well now, it seemed Seth wasn’t the only one hanging onto some bitter resentments.

Megan had had the biggest crush on Elias back in high school, but by the time she’d grown the nerve to ask him out, senior year was almost over and he’d turned her down, saying he wasn’t interested in a long-distance relationship because he wasn’t planning on sticking close by.

She was happily engaged to a beta right now, but I knew the rejection had still hurt her quite a bit. I could only hope the story never reached my territorial omega.

Reading my mind, her eyes widened. “Please don’t tell Marlowe about how I asked him out once! I wanted to invite her to join my book club, but since she almost killed me overyou, I can’t imagine how she’d react…”

I grinned. “She was fresh out of her first heat after years of being on hormone suppressants, she’s much calmer now.”

Megan nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. “I mean, I’m not worried she’d actually hurt me—I could just sit on her and be fine. But I heard what some betas said about her, and I wanted to let her know we’re not all insecure harpies. Plus, she’s family now, right?”

My chest puffed with pride. “She is.”

She playfully punched me in the arm. “Then let me know when she gets back. We meet every other Saturday at the wine bar.”

“The wine bar?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow. “I thought you said this was a book club?”

She gave me a pointed look and shook her head in disappointment. “Males…”

“Okay, whatever. I’ll have her reach out once she’s back so you can get drunk on the pretense that you’re talking about books.” “Now you get it,” she said with a wink, shooting some finger guns. “I’m heading out of here in about an hour, let me know if

you need help with anything.”

I continued towards my office, bursting with excitement forMarlowe. I couldn’t wait to tell her about Megan’s offer, especially after she’d been so worried about making female friends here.

I didn’t want her to feel like an outsider in my town, or to be afraid every time she stepped out of the house. And as much as I was personally happy escorting her wherever she wanted to go, I knew she was similar to Elias in her appreciation of alone time and independence.

Making a group of friends, especially other females, was the first step in her finding her footing outside of the pack.

My happiness was short lived when I passed by Seth’s office, however, finding him also working overtime this weekend. He stepped out into the hall at the sound of my approach. “Well, well, well… you decide to actually do some work for once?”

He was looking particularly punchable, but I’d recommended him for this position for a reason—he wasn’t afraid of me. Normally that was good, because I didn’t want to be surrounded by “yes men.”

On days like these, though, I really just needed some breathing room.

“Did you want something?” I asked plainly, ignoring the bite to his tone. “I have some contracts I need to look over and…”

“I’m calling an emergency town council meeting on Monday.” I furrowed my brow in confusion. “Okay, what about?” “You, obviously,” he smirked, crossing his arms. “You and

your pack.”

The look on his face, so serious and obviously pleased with himself, just made me laugh. “Sure, and what exactly needs to be discussed about my pack?”

I stepped up to him, enjoying when he flinched under my alpha gaze. I didn’t always need to bark to intimidate people, not that I made a habit of doing that. But he wasn’t deterred for long. “Your omega is causing problems. The alphas are in a frenzy, causing violence in the wake of her scent, and something needs to be done about it.”

I punched the door frame behind his head. “You leave her out of this! She’s a shifter who deserves to live here just as much as the rest of us.”

His eyes darted to the splintered wood where my fist had made contact. “Case in point. Not to mention, she brought a whole squadron of vampyr warriors to town. Who’s to say they won’t be back? Or end the truce over her?”

Taking a deep breath, I centered myself, trying not to make his case about violent alphas any further, despite the urge to shift and tearout his throat growing inside me.

Besides, he wasn’t wrong in his concern over the vampyrs. I knew the attack would put the town on edge, but I had already taken several steps to let the people know I would make sure it didn’t happen again. “I sent a letter to the Conclave last night, they’re going to deal with the Vampyric Council on our behalf. We don’t have to worry about them anymore. As far as the alphas in town, there’s obviously going to be an adjustment period—we haven’t had an omega here for a hundred years. But they’ll get used to it and won’t act out once they’re used to her scent.”