Page 25 of Protected Promise

“Sawyer, this is Landon Lowery, Alpha of the British Columbia Pack.”

“The new pack recently accepted by the Grand Council?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Sawyer eyed Landon curiously.

“Kaitlyn, is what he said true?” Damon asked.

I sighed. “Yes.”

I was so embarrassed and just wanted to crawl under a rock.

“She has no intentions of taking a mate,” Sawyer said softly. “I hope you are aware of that.”

“I wouldn’t be so certain. If he is her true mate, well that has a way of changing people’s opinions,” Thomas said affectionately as a very pregnant blonde woman waddled over to his side.

“Wow. There is way too much testosterone going on right here. I’m going to need you all to take a deep breath and two steps back.”

“Lily, not now,” Thomas warned.

“What? A hostile environment is not good for the baby.”

Much to my surprise, all six Alphas present did as she asked.

Alpha.Landon was an Alpha. He wasn’t just some friend visiting for the celebrations. He was here supporting someone just like the rest of them.

I didn’t particularly have anything against Alphas. Sawyer had tried his best to do right by me, and he’d stepped in to intervene when he found out the truth.

“Does he know, Kaitlyn?” Damon asked.

“This isn’t the time, D.”

“He’s your mate. He needs to know.”

“I said not now.”

“Know what?” Landon turned to me with questions in his eyes.

“Later,” I whispered.

I didn’t want to explain my past to him. It was no one’s business but mine. I was going to punch Damon when this was over.

“You tell him, or I will tell him,” he threatened.

I was shocked. Damon had sworn he’d keep my secrets. I couldn’t understand what had changed or why he was airing it out in the open now.

Landon pulled me around to his front as if he refused to turn his back on the other Alphas. He stared into my eyes. I could see his wolf was close to the surface. I sighed. I hated seeing the uncertainty there and knowing it was my fault.

I shouldn’t care what Landon thought. He was nobody to me, but even as I thought the words, it felt like acid burning up through my chest. I didn’t want to care. I knew absolutely nothing about this guy, but I cowered at the look shining bright in his eyes and hoped he’d never look at me in that way again.

“We’ll talk later, okay?”

“Let it be, Damon,” Karis told him. “Kaitlyn can handle herself.”

I wasn’t sure what he had or hadn’t told her about me, but I sure was grateful for her intervention that seemed to instantly calm him down.

“Whew, I think we’re finally finding some peace here, this is good. This is real good. There’s just one thing left to ask really,” Thomas’s mate said. “Where the heck is the bathroom around here?”