Page 33 of Fetch Me A Mate (Shifter Mates of Hollow Oak #1)

DIANA

T he Council summons arrived on Tuesday morning, delivered by a grim-faced courier who wouldn't meet Diana's eyes. She read it twice before the words sank in.

"Emergency review of innkeeper licensing and ownership transfer. Anonymous complaint filed regarding operational irregularities and questionable management decisions."

"What does it say?" Rowan asked, emerging from the kitchen with coffee.

Diana handed him the official paper. "Someone filed a formal complaint. The Council's calling an emergency session."

"What kind of complaint?"

"Doesn't specify. Just says 'serious concerns regarding human suitability for supernatural community leadership.'" Diana sank into the lobby chair. "After everything. After the soft reopening, the community support, the successful events."

"This is connected to yesterday's visit."

"You think your pack did this?"

"I know." Rowan crushed the paper in his fist. "This is exactly the kind of pressure tactic he uses. File anonymous complaints, trigger bureaucratic reviews, force people into impossible positions."

Diana stared at the crumpled summons. "The Council meeting's tonight."

"I'll come with you."

"No."

"Diana—"

"I said no." She stood, smoothing her skirt with hands that only trembled slightly. "This is about my fitness to run the inn. My capability as a human in a supernatural community. You being there just proves their point."

"What point?"

"That I need protection. That I can't handle things myself." Diana moved to the window, looking out at the square where people were going about their normal morning routines. "That I'm weak."

"You're not weak."

"Then let me prove it."

Rowan set down his coffee with controlled force. "You don't understand what you're dealing with. This isn't about inn management or community fitness. This is warfare."

"It's my warfare now."

"Because of me. Because they're using you to get to me."

Diana turned to face him. "Is that what you think? That I'm just collateral damage in your pack politics?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Isn't it?" Diana pulled the summons from his fist, smoothing out the wrinkles.

"Because standing here right now, listening to you talk about this being warfare and pressure tactics, I'm wondering if I ever had a real chance in this town or if I was always just the human who got caught in the crossfire. "

"Diana."

"No, let me finish." Her voice stayed steady, professional.

"I came to Hollow Oak to build something.

To earn my place through work and competence and genuine care for this community.

But everywhere I turn, there are whispers about whether I belong, whether I'm suitable, whether I can handle the responsibility. "

"Those whispers are manufactured."

"All of them?" Diana gestured toward the door. "Or have some people always wondered if Miriam made a mistake choosing me?"

"The people who matter know your worth."

She laughed. “Well, it feels like the only reason anyone defends me is because you're standing behind me, ready to bare your teeth at anyone who questions my competence."

Rowan stepped closer. "That's not true."

"Then prove it. Let me handle this Council review alone. Let me stand or fall on my own merits without the wolf shifter hovering protectively in the background."

"I won't abandon you."

"I'm not asking you to abandon me. I'm asking you to trust me to fight my own battles."

"This battle exists because of my choices. Because I helped Sarah, because I refused to go back, because?—"

"Because you chose to stay here with me." Diana's voice softened. "And now that choice is costing the town I’ve grown to love."

"The town loves you too."

"Some of it does. But there's enough doubt, enough suspicion, that an anonymous complaint can trigger a full ownership review.

" Diana folded the summons and tucked it into her apron pocket.

"I need to face that doubt directly. Prove I can handle whatever they throw at me without supernatural backup. "

"What if you can't? What if they've already decided to remove you?"

"Then I'll deal with that too."

Rowan stared at her for a long moment. "You're really going to do this alone."

"I have to. Don't you see? If I let you fight this battle for me, I'll never know if I truly earned my place here or if I just got to keep it because my mate was scarier than the people trying to take it away."

"I'm not your mate yet."

The words hung between them, sharp and unexpected.

"Right," Diana said quietly. "My mistake."

"That's not what I meant."

"It's exactly what you meant. And it's exactly why I need to do this alone." Diana moved toward the stairs. "The inn needs to be cleaned for tonight's inspection. Gerald Finch will be here within the hour, looking for any excuse to add to the complaint list."

"Diana, wait."

She paused at the banister. "What?"

"Whatever happens tonight, whatever they decide, it doesn't change how I feel about you."

"Maybe not. But it might change how I feel about myself."

Diana climbed the stairs without looking back, leaving Rowan standing alone in the lobby. She had work to do, a case to prepare, a community to prove herself to. Again.

By noon, the inn was spotless. By two, Diana had organized every document, receipt, and permit the Council might request. By four, she'd changed into her best dress and Miriam's locket, armor for the battle ahead.

At five-thirty, she walked across the square toward the Council Glade, spine straight, chin high, ready to defend everything she'd built.

Behind her, the inn waited like a held breath, beautiful and vulnerable and entirely dependent on whether its human keeper could convince five supernatural leaders that she deserved to stay.