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He nodded wordlessly.

“And don’t let the others give you too hard a time, or give yourself too hard a time, either. Your punishment is mine to dole out alone, understood?”

He let out a small, sad chuckle, squeezing me as hard as he could. “I can’t wait.”

Roland began to tap his foot in annoyance. “We haven’t got all night, let’s wrap this up.”

Cam growled, leading me towards the general like I was a convict in some kind of sick prisoner exchange.

“Safekeeping means you don’t fucking touch her,” he warned, giving me one last claiming kiss on the temple.

Roland grabbed my arm and pulled me into his chest forcefully. “Unless of course she wants us to,” he replied, his fingers digging into my skin. “I mean, we couldn’t exactly blame her for being attracted to the strongest alphas of our kind.”

I kept my biting remarks to myself, sending love and reassurance to my pack through the bond.

Cam inhaled, closing his eyes briefly as he received all my affection. Then he looked at Roland again, his confidence and defiance renewed. “Doubtful. We’ll see you in three days.”

“You’re riding with me,” Roland commanded when we left the building. Each alpha had his own town car and driver waiting for him, ready to take us all to wherever they were staying.

Torin scratched his cheek, looking at the general like he was trying to decide if it was worth it to argue with him. “Fine,” he said. “But we’re going to have to work out some kind of system here. You can’t just hog her the whole time.”

I was going to give myself an aneurysm holding back all the things I wanted to say, but considering Roland had already made it clearhe thought I was too mouthy, I needed to keep quiet for the time being.

If he wanted an empty-headed, simpering female, then I would play the part.

He gestured for me to sit down first and then followed in, scooting towards the middle. His scent was overpowering in the small space, but not in the sexy, mouth-watering way any of my guys were. This alpha reminded me of gasoline and gunpowder, and I breathed through my mouth to keep from getting sick.

When the car door closed and the driver took off, he pounced. I yelped as I was dragged onto his lap, his hands roaming and his nose running up and down my neck.

I really hoped they were staying somewhere in town, because I wasn’t sure how much of this I could handle. If the Conclave was together, all five alphas fighting for my attention and company, I could play them off each other in the hopes that they’d be too busy arguing to actually do anything.

But alone? I was much more vulnerable, and there was no one to stop them.

“Exquisite,” he sighed. “Absolutely perfect.”

I didn’t react, keeping my body tense as he nibbled on my ear. “Tell me omega,” he said, his voice deep. “How does it feel to be with the strongest alpha in the world?”

Like dog shit.

When I didn’t reply, he got annoyed. “I asked you a question, omega.”

My continued silence became uncomfortable for him, and he attempted to switch it up. “I see, you’re just intimidated by my power. You don’t have to worry, I’ll take good care of you. Tell me about yourself.”

His hands ran through my hair, but when I still didn’t respond he growled and grabbed me roughly. “Speak!” he barked.

It was strange—the urge to obey flitted through me for a moment, but didn’t stick around long enough for me to carry out his orders. I wondered what made me immune? From what I’d gathered, I should have actually been even more susceptible. This was definitely going to be a godsend in the days to come.

So instead of saying anything I flinched, and then burst into tears.

“Wait, what are you doing?” The panic in his voice was almost laughable, his discomfort in my display of emotion overwhelming him.

Such a “strong alpha,” indeed. “Stop crying!” he barked again.

I sobbed harder, rubbing my eyes to smear my makeup so I’d appear even more pathetic.

Roland dropped his hands but didn’t move me off his lap. He was too confused to say anything, clearly trying to work through what had gone wrong in his approach.

Gee, I don’t know, maybe it was when you all told me I didn’t have basic rights?