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“Fine,” Walden growled. “Tell me about Tully.”

Walden ground his teeth. My scent turned sharp, more chemical. I stared out the window, refusing to confirm or deny. Agonizing heaviness drove me deeper into the chair, my limbs like weights. It rained earlier, and the sparse street lights reflected on the puddles on the ground. Was Tully soaked to the bone?

Her name was so sweet on my tongue.

We’d jerked off together.

On paper, it sounded crass, and nobody would understand, especially not Walden. What we shared changed the fiber of my being. I bathed in her desperate breaths. Time ground to a halt when Tully asked me to find pleasure with her. At the peak of my orgasm, with her cries echoing in my ear, we were one.

I existed with Tully in a brief, all-encompassing moment.

I know Tully felt it too, the emotion behind the action. She’d reached out tome. Until her true name fell off her lips andshattered everything. As soon as her voice trembled, I knew it was over.

The moment she ended the call, I fought the animalistic urge to claw through the screen and find her.

“Baylark Pack doesn’t need any more bad press and I don’t like surprises.”

“Tully means more to me than reputation. Is that why you’re searching for her? Because it might help your mayoral campaign?” The sharpness of my reply left me torn inside.

Walden flicked me a frown before taking a turn down another thin street.

“Lloyd, I have a long history with Tully Hartlock. Our families were inseparable until she presented as an omega. I mean, her parents were always strict, and she was a nervous kid. Nobody could have expected the HLA—” Walden shot me a look as my tongue dried. When he continued, his voice was rougher, like he picked his words out between land mines. “The last time I saw her was two years ago, at her parents' funeral. I’ll never forget the look on her face. Surrounded by a crowd of people and so fucking alone. When I got the chance to talk to her, I offered my help, and do you know what she did? This wisp of an eighteen-year-old tore strips off me for even attending. I honored her wishes and thought, like everyone else, she decided to live a private life. She had the fortune to disappear, right?”

“Not to add another complication, but remember Fenella and her stolen scent? I could be wrong, but I swear it was Tully’s,” Ajax added.

Tully said she was saving for a new place to live. Adding scent stealing to the mix made it sinister. Sweat prickled down my spine. What mess was Tully Hartlock tangled in?

“I don’t remember her scent, if I’m honest. What stayed with me from our last interaction is smaller. Her bottom lip wobbled when she told me to leave the funeral. I always wondered if I’dstayed a moment longer, then she might have taken the comfort I offered. It’s not ambition that has me in this car, Lloyd. It’s guilt.”

Walden’s phone rang before I could reply, and it came through the car speakers.

“Y-you want Tully Hartlock?” Sybil, Walden’s sister, tripped over her words.

A jolt zipped down my spine. Want was too tame.

“Sybil, you’ve got info?”

“Even better, I’ve got a location. Walden, you better get there soon. She’s being hounded by paparazzi.”

My ribs tightened to the point of pain. Walden plugged in the address and whipped the car around so fast the tires screamed. She was in an alleyway, one accessible only by foot down a dead-end street. Where had she been running to?

“What’s the plan?” Ajax asked as Walden drove too fast.

Walden didn’t answer, and I couldn’t speak. Knots twisted my stomach as we spilled out of the haphazardly parked car. It only took three strides to get to where Tully crouched in the alley, with two men towering over her. Her hoodie swallowed her and I couldn’t see her expression, but the hunched shoulders told me enough. I plucked at Walden’s sleeve, recognizing the determined set of his brow.

“She might not want our help,” I said.

“I’m not walking away from her this time.”

I twisted my hands together as we got closer. She’d blocked me. She didn’t want me. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my chest as we neared Tully. Ajax blocked the entrance, tossing a curious look backward.

“There you are, darling. I told you not to carry everything yourself.” Walden bumped the man with the camera, and it fell out of his hands onto the ground. The back snapped open andthe memory card tumbled out. I crushed it under my heel with a fake gasp.

Tully’s head whipped to us. Her pupils dilated and shimmered with glossy, withheld tears. I sucked in a deep breath and her scent filled my lungs. The richness of ripe figs surrounded me, bursting with mouthwatering sweetness and a hint of the earthy soil. Drizzled over was luscious, rich honey, like afternoon sunshine. I wanted to taste it on my tongue. It sent my insides roaring. But it was all wrong, sharp with fear.

Walden and I shared a look.

“Hey, you ruined my camera.” The paparazzi huffed a breath before he realized who he was talking to. “Oh, Baylark Pack.”