Page 4 of The Honor of Being Hers (Terms of Devotion #1)

Lauren hadn’t planned to fall asleep. She certainly hadn’t meant to do it on the faintly lemon-scented duvet of a hotel room still buzzing with the weight of Ryan’s scent memory in her brain.

However, sometime after the shower, after Justin had braided her damp hair and Rachel had curled beside her on the edge of the bed with her tablet, it had happened.

Now, late afternoon light fell across the window like a slow leak of time, and someone was knocking at the suite door.

Rachel was already moving, elegant, unhurried, but unmistakably alert.

“Who is it?” she asked through the door, her voice more formal than usual.

“It’s William. I have Kyle and my packmate, Tyler, with me.”

“Ryan is not with us,” Kyle added.

Rachel opened the door to find William Orton standing in the hallway, his imposing frame filling the doorway.

Even in his tailored navy suit, his formidable bearing was unmistakable—spine straight, shoulders square, hands clasped behind his back in parade rest. His composure was carefully controlled, but not quite hiding the tension around his steel-blue eyes.

Behind him, Kyle’s familiar presence was reassuring, though his expression was grim.

At William’s shoulder stood Tyler Harlan, whose gentle features and warm hazel eyes seemed at odds with the careful restraint in his posture as he fought every instinct to step closer to the room where Lauren’s scent lingered.

Lauren sat up slowly, brushing the sleep from her eyes as they stepped inside.

The hotel room’s neutral air conditioning couldn’t quite mask the subtle shift in atmosphere as three Alphas entered her space.

She noticed William’s hands were steady, but his breathing was carefully controlled—the behavior of an Alpha working hard to manage his response to being so close to his scent match.

Tyler’s eyes found hers immediately, and she could see him struggling with the same pull, the same need to close the distance between them.

“I apologize for the intrusion,” William said, his tone clipped but not unkind. The OmegaSafe lapel pin gleamed silver against his coat. “But I’m afraid we didn’t have the liberty to wait. We need to talk about the suppressants you’re taking.”

Lauren’s stomach dipped.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, voice steady, even as her palms went damp.

“We believe your suppressants have been tampered with,” William said, his voice carrying the controlled authority of someone accustomed to delivering difficult news in military briefings. Each word was precise, measured, and chosen for maximum clarity with minimum emotional impact.

His body language remained deliberately neutral, no spikes of aggression or protective fury, despite what she suspected he was feeling.

“When you perfumed this earlier, there was a distinct chemical note to it. This is a well-known side effect of malfunctioning or failing suppressants. I cross-referenced your medication schedule with the calendar. Something doesn’t add up. ”

Rachel let out a breath behind her. “What do you mean?”

“Timing. Composition. Chain of custody. The last refill shouldn’t have degraded so quickly unless it was exposed to heat or improperly handled. Or,” he paused, “intentionally diluted.”

Lauren swallowed, her throat dry. “That’s not possible. They’re delivered to my building’s secured box. I pick them up the moment they arrive.”

“Which makes it more likely the issue is upstream,” Tyler said carefully, his therapist’s training evident in his gentle tone and the way he leaned slightly forward, making himself less imposing. “At the compound level. Or that of the distributor.”

“I’m running a trace,” William added. “But in the meantime, the odds of an unintended heat just increased, and due to the dose you’re on, you can’t take any more.”

The words fell into the room with quiet weight.

Lauren closed her eyes briefly. “And?”

“I’m invoking OmegaSafe. Emergency-tier.”

The words carried weight she could feel in the air, not just authority, but responsibility.

When an Alpha invoked emergency protocols, they were legally and personally liable for the Omega’s well-being.

It wasn’t a decision made lightly, and when the head of security at OmegaSafe, did so, it definitely wasn’t something you ignored.

Her mouth went dry. “You can’t be serious; you don’t have that kind of authority over me.”

William’s expression didn’t shift. “I do when there’s a credible threat to an unbonded Omega. I’ve documented the incident and scent deviation. The protocol is in place.”

He paused for a moment before continuing in a softer voice, “I’m sorry, we’re getting to know each other under these circumstances.”

Kyle stepped forward slightly, the movement protective but not crowding.

“Lauren, they’re right. I caught the chemical tinge in your scent, too.

Something’s wrong with your suppressants.

” His familiar presence helped ground her as the weight of the situation settled over the room like a heavy blanket.

She looked between the three Alphas. Kyle, her trusted cousin; William, whose reputation preceded him wherever he went, and whose protective instincts she could practically see vibrating beneath his controlled exterior; and Tyler, whose gentle presence felt like an anchor even as her reaction to him made her nervous.

“So, what?” she asked, already knowing the answer. Her cousin was leaving on an already postponed business trip.

“You come with us,” William said, and for the first time, she could actually hear something personal beneath the professional composure.

Protectiveness. “Temporarily. Our estate is under an active OmegaSafe certification. Full protocol rooms. Private quarters. Scent filtration. No pressure to bond. No contact outside of agreed parameters.” He paused, meeting her eyes directly.

“I’ve seen what happens when Omegas are left vulnerable during suppressant failure. I won’t let that happen to you.”

That made her pause.

Tyler stepped forward then, holding out a folder with those graceful hands she’d noticed earlier.

His movements were deliberately slow, non-threatening, the kind of careful approach he probably used with anxious patients.

The folder he handed to her wasn’t thick.

It contained just three pages, clipped neatly with a simple metal clip.

The paper was cream-colored and felt substantial between her fingers.

The top read: Rules & Protocols: Temporary Omega Safe Proximity Agreement

Lauren stared at it.

“We’re not asking you to stay because of the way our scents match, Ryan, or any of us,” Tyler said. “We’re asking you to stay because of you. Because, if something happens, I need to know you’re not alone.”

“I won’t be,” she said. “I have friends. You know that.”

“And I trust them. But they’re not registered guardians under OmegaSafe. And if you go into heat without warning, you could be in danger.”

“I won’t,” she interrupted. “Not again.”

William’s voice was calm, but firm. The tone of someone who’d made life-or-death decisions and lived with the consequences. “You can’t guarantee that. And I don’t want to gamble with your safety.”

The silence stretched uncomfortably. Neither was willing to budge until Lauren finally let out a breath.

“Okay. I’ll read it,” she said.

Tyler nodded. “We’ll wait.”

The first page was simple. Location, time frame, consent guidelines. One week, renewable. No physical contact without verbal consent. One Alpha in the room at a time unless otherwise agreed. Omega can end proximity at any time. No marking.

The second page detailed schedules, including shared mealtimes and check-ins, as well as optional activities, which were not mandatory but available and encouraged.

The third was the most detailed: grounding options, scent as part of comfort protocols. It included safe words. A ranking of sensory thresholds. Emergency contacts, too, including her cousin, her physician, and Justin, listed as emotional backup.

And beneath it all, the most important line: No bonding without express, written consent by all parties outside of a heat, witnessed by Kyle and Justin, submitted in triplicate to OmegaSafe.

Lauren read it again. Slowly.

“This is real,” she said.

“Yes,” William said.

“I’m not being managed or controlled.”

“Never.”

She looked up at him, eyes sharp. “What about the more intimate rules? I don’t see them here. And what if I change my mind?”

“Then we’ll drive you home,” Tyler said.

“If necessary, we’ll take turns sitting outside your flat.

But we’d rather not. As for the intimate rules, we didn’t think this was the time or place for them.

We’ve a contract we can use as a base at home.

We’ll send the final version to Kyle and Justin if you wish.

I’m assuming they have a good idea of your boundaries. ”

Lauren exhaled, then nodded slowly, “This doesn’t mean anything changes.”

“No,” William said. “But it does mean we don’t lose you to some random Alpha with impulse control issues or worse.”

“And we have a chance to get to know you without any sort of pressure on you,” Tyler added.

Those words had a surprisingly strange effect on her.

Rachel smiled and handed her a pen without being asked.

Feeling incredulous about the events of the last few hours, she signed.

William carefully collected the papers and slipped them into a protective folder. “Thank you,” he said simply. “For trusting us with this.”

And somehow, she believed he understood precisely what it had cost her to do so.