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The actor sighed and plastered a fake smile on his face as he greeted the unexpected guest. “Can I help you?”

A familiar voice spoke from the porch. “Good evening, I’m Detective Linda Oakley with the Maiingan Hollow PD. May I come in?”

Before Torin could even respond, the alpha female walked straight past him inside, nodding at the Conclave. She stood tall, hands clasped behind her back. “I’m sorry to disturb your evening, but I’m here to collect Ms. Linden.

Roland’s grip on me tightened and Theodore snarled. “Like hell you are!”

She ignored the senator’s comment and gestured towards me. “It’s time to go, Marlowe.”

Brennan scooped me up off Roland’s lap so the General could stand and look down at her. “What makes you think you have any authority here?”

To her credit, Linda didn’t flinch or back down. Her alpha temperament and experience on the force probably gave her all the tools she needed to deal with alpha male assholes. “Unbonded omegas and those whose bonds are being contested need to be housed in female-only spaces. It’s part of the Omega Haven Act of 1902, as I’m sure you’re well aware. And we just so happened to have re-opened the Omega Sanctuary here in town this very evening to ensure Ms. Linden’s safety.”

Eamon growled and started to move towards her, but Torin held out his arm to stop him. “Whoa there, buddy, perhaps this is for the best.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Theodore replied with a growl.

Brennan reluctantly put me down. “I think it means we can admit we weren’t going to wait until after the Rite to start knotting this sweet little thing.” He took my chin and raised my face to look into his. “Let’s wait til this is official, hm?”

Roland gritted his teeth as he thought it over, then released a short sigh. “Fine. We can postpone this get-to-know-you session for now.”

“Oh, thank god,” I replied, wrenching myself from the tech mogul’s grasp. “I didn’t know how much longer I was going to be able to keep this up.”

The pack turned to me in surprise, and I wrapped my arm through Linda’s. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Wait…” Torin reached out to touch my arm but I dodged him. “What’s that supposed to mean? You weren’t scared of Thorne or the rest of us?”

I laughed, delighted as their faces contorted with confusion and anger. “Me? Scared of a bunch of assholes?” Eamon flinched, as though he was actually hurt that I didn’t like him. “Hell no. I mean, at first I was just going to play you like a bunch of chumps, which wasn’t too hard because you’re all idiots, but that seemed like a pain. So then I was considering just shifting and tearing out your throats while you slept instead, but my wolf doesn’t care much for the taste of old alpha blood. I mean, if you think about it, you really should have been way more scared of me then the other way around.”

“Hold on!” Roland commanded, his eyes narrowing. “What do you meanshift?”

Oops.

“That wasn’t in the report,” Theodore added. He stepped up closer, his face inches from mine. “Who else can shift here? How?”

I hadn’t realized that Nolan had left that part out. I probably shouldn’t have said anything either, but the wolf was out of the bag now.

At least the looks on their faces were priceless.

Linda pushed him away and started guiding me back to the door. Without turning around, I stuck up my middle finger. “Later, bitches!”

Everyone but Torin erupted into a series of growls, snarls, and shouts, but right before the door closed, I overheard him chuckle. “Shit, I think I’m in love…”

20

MARLOWE

“Idon’t think goading them was very wise,” Linda warned as she turned the heat on for me.

I was still in my tiny party dress, and my legs were shaking uncontrollably in the cold car.

“Whatever, they needed to be knocked down a peg or two,” I grumbled, my teeth chattering. “Do you really have an Omega Sanctuary?”

“Well, kind of. I sent my husband to his mom’s house for the time being, so the Sanctuary is technically just my place. But I’ve invited some of my friends to stay with us and keep watch over you until the Rite.”

The Rite. Thank god Elias had known enough about old shifter laws to be able to invoke it, but it still angered the crap out of me that females could just be fought over and then forced to live and sleep with whoever won.

I had all the faith in the world in Julian, but my mind ran through so many what-ifs that I thought I might puke.