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“It’d be a real shame to miss you.”

I’m sure she’d love to flirt with Walden and watch me disappoint an entire ballroom of people.

Absolutely. Not.

25

Ajax

I turned the car off and checked my notifications. My stomach clenched when I noticed the two missed calls from Walden. The looming gala kept me far too busy when all I really wanted was to curl up with my omega. Tully had snuck under my skin and made a home in my heart.

Another call from Walden lit up my screen and I answered.

“What’s up, boss?”

“H-he’s coming.” I froze at the tremor in Walden’s voice. “The High Prince of Astaly. I just got an email from him, a personal one. Ajax. This is beyond—”

I almost dropped the phone. Walden could have told me he’d stepped down from the foundation and it wouldn’t have surprised me as much as this news. Astaly, our Designated neighbors across the ocean, were powerful and famously insular.They didn’t allow outsiders to cross their borders without rigorous checks. The royal family was haughty and mysterious. We’d only ever interacted with the high prince, who would inherit after the queen died. It was a great honor, and a terrifying weight to host him.

“Security?” I gasped through my tight throat, a million different contingencies running through my mind.

“He’s bringing his own team, but it’s more complicated. He’s asked specifically to meet Tully. We need to convince her to attend.”

My throat went dry, and I worked it for a moment before finding my voice again.

“Walden. She said no.”

Tully returned from the foundation dinner, much too quiet. She’d complained of a headache and went to bed early. Walden was perplexed. In his opinion, the night was a success. I watched her closely throughout and she seemed quiet, but calm. Walden insisted that Tully had charmed everyone. But the next morning, she said she didn’t want to attend the gala and was unlikely to change her mind.

“We need this.”

Heneeded this. It would be a huge win for his reputation.

“You can’t think of anything at the dinner that upset her?”

“Nothing, well, there was a moment where her scent turned bitter, when Toni was speaking with me. You know there is no threat there.”

“Flirting, you mean?” I growled.

Toni was notorious, determined to use whatever skills she owned, including a honeyed tongue and long lashes. She was the right balance of savage and smart, and I might have respected her if we didn’t also suspect her of having ties to the HLA.

“I don’t flirt, and besides, I need to keep her close for our investigation.”

“And I suppose I can’t tell Tully any of this,” I sighed.

“The less people that know the better, especially after the official investigation was closed from lack of evidence.”

I ground my teeth. We were doing our own private investigation into the flirty, bold human and I hated that Walden was right. If she really did have ties to the HLA, we didn’t want to give up our advantage.

“Are you home? Could you speak to Tully? Lloyd and I will be here late tonight and Pan is out for dinner, doing, well, you know.”

My brother was having his monthly dinner with our parents, the one I wasn’t invited to. It was unspoken between my brother and me, and another typical snub from my parents.

“I’ll talk to her, but I’m not convincing her to do something she doesn’t want to do. Prince or no prince.”

Walden tried to add something else, but I hung up the phone. I ignored his call as I bounded up the stairs and knocked on Tully’s bedroom door.

“Come in.” Tully’s voice sounded small.