I still remembered the first time I'd encountered him, weeks ago now, outside Marley's shop. The way he'd appeared from nowhere with his cold eyes and wrong scent. The way he'd called me Reid's "acquisition," like I was property to be transferred. The way he'd looked at me — like prey, Sawyer had said when I told them. Marley had intervened, threatened to call the sheriff, and Easton had retreated with that hollow laugh and a promise that we'd see each other again soon.
He'd kept that promise. Since then, he'd been a constant presence lurking at the edges of our lives — watching from across the street when I went to town, asking questions about me to anyone who would listen, sending his lawyers after theranch with paperwork designed to bleed us dry. Every piece of equipment that broke, every worker who quit, every legal challenge that landed on Reid's desk — it all had Easton's fingerprints on it.
I was in the kitchen helping Kol prepare lunch when the sound of tires on gravel made us both freeze. It wasn't the familiar rumble of Reid's truck or Nolan's SUV. This engine was different — sleeker, more expensive, completely wrong.
"Stay here." Kol's voice dropped low, all traces of his usual warmth vanishing as his golden eyes went sharp and watchful, his body shifting between me and the window in one fluid motion, his sunshine scent souring into something dark and protective.
"Kol—" I started to protest, my hands still covered in flour from the bread we'd been making, my heart starting to pound against my ribs.
"I mean it, Aster." He turned to look at me, and I barely recognized the Alpha staring back — jaw tight, shoulders squared, something dangerous lurking beneath his sunshine surface, his golden eyes burning with an intensity that made my Omega want to submit. "Stay inside until we know who it is."
He was out the door before I could argue, and I watched through the window as he crossed the yard toward the sleek black truck that had pulled up to the main house. Reid was already emerging from his office, his stride long and purposeful, his dark eyes fixed on the vehicle with an intensity that made my stomach clench, his cedar scent carrying on the breeze sharp enough that I could smell it even from inside. Sawyer appeared from the barn, moving with that predatory grace that always made him look like he was hunting something, his pale eyes narrowed and his scarred hands curling into fists at his sides. Nolan stepped out of the clinic, wiping his hands on a towel,his usually gentle expression hardening into something I'd never seen before, his sandy hair ruffled by the wind.
Four Alphas. All converging on the intruder.
I should have stayed inside. I knew I should have stayed inside. My instincts were screaming, and I'd never been good at ignoring them. I slipped out the back door and circled around the house, keeping to the shadows, positioning myself where I could see without being seen. The black truck's door opened, and a man stepped out — tall, broad-shouldered, wearing clothes that probably cost more than everything I'd ever owned combined. His hair was dark and perfectly styled, his jaw sharp, his smile the kind of polished that made my skin crawl. He smelled like expensive cologne and something rotten underneath — ambition without conscience, desire without boundaries.
The same man from town. The same predatory smile. The same wrong scent that had made my hindbrain scream to run.
Easton.
"Reid." His voice was smooth, cultured, carrying across the yard like oil spreading over water, his hands spreading in a gesture of false welcome, his perfectly tailored suit jacket shifting with the movement. "It's been too long."
"Not long enough." Reid's voice was flat, cold, his hands hanging loose at his sides in a way that somehow looked more threatening than if he'd been making fists, his dark eyes boring into Easton with barely contained fury, his jaw tight enough that I could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin. "What do you want, Easton?"
"Can't a neighbor pay a friendly visit?" Easton spread his hands wider, the picture of innocence, but his eyes were scanning the property with a hunger that made my stomach turn, cataloging everything like he was already deciding what to change when it belonged to him, his tongue darting out to wethis lips in a way that made me think of snakes. "I heard you've been having some... difficulties lately. Equipment problems. Workers leaving. Thought I'd check in, see if there's anything I can do to help."
"We don't need your help." Sawyer's voice was a growl, low and dangerous, his pale eyes fixed on Easton with an intensity that promised violence, his body coiled tight like a predator about to strike, his earth and leather scent sharpening into something that smelled like a coming storm. "We don't need anything from you."
"Sawyer." Easton's smile widened, showing too many teeth, his gaze sliding over the scarred Alpha with something that looked like amusement, his posture shifting into something deliberately casual and dismissive. "Still as charming as ever, I see. Tell me, does Reid keep you on a leash, or do you just heel naturally?"
Sawyer moved forward, a snarl ripping from his chest, but Reid's arm shot out, catching him across the chest, holding him back without looking away from Easton, his fingers pressing into Sawyer's shoulder in silent command.
"Say what you came to say." Reid's voice was steady, but I could see the tension in his shoulders, the barely contained rage simmering beneath his controlled exterior, his jaw tight enough to crack, his cedar scent so sharp it burned my nostrils even from my hiding spot. "Then leave."
"Fine." Easton sighed like he was dealing with difficult children, straightening the cuffs of his expensive jacket with deliberate casualness, his dark eyes glittering with malice poorly hidden behind a veneer of civility. "I'm here to make you another offer. A generous one. More than this land is worth, honestly. Enough to set you and your... pack... up somewhere else. Somewhere smaller. More appropriate."
"The answer is the same as it's been for the past five years." Reid's voice didn't waver, his dark eyes boring into Easton with cold fury, his spine straight and his shoulders squared, every inch the Head Alpha defending his territory. "No."
"You should reconsider." Something shifted in Easton's tone, the polished veneer cracking just enough to show the threat underneath, his smile turning sharp and predatory, his eyes going cold and calculating. "Things have been difficult lately, haven't they? And they're only going to get worse. Equipment breaks. Workers leave. Legal challenges pile up. It's exhausting, isn't it? Fighting battles you can't win?"
"Is that a threat?" Nolan's voice was quiet, clinical, but there was steel beneath it that I'd never heard before, his hazel eyes cold as he stepped forward to flank Reid, his pine scent carrying notes of something sharp and dangerous, his usually gentle hands curled into fists at his sides. "Because it sounds like you're admitting to something, Easton."
"I'm simply observing." Easton shrugged, his expression all innocence, but his eyes glittered with malice, his lips curving into a smirk that made my blood boil. "Bad luck happens. Especially to people who refuse to see reason."
"Get off my land." Reid's voice dropped to something low and deadly, each word precise and final, his Alpha authority rolling off him in waves that made even my Omega want to bare her throat, his dark eyes burning with a fury that seemed to make the air itself tremble. "Now."
Easton laughed — a sound like breaking glass — and turned toward his truck. Then he paused, his head tilting, his nostrils flaring, his entire body going still like a hunting dog catching a scent.
"Ah, yes." His voice changed, sharpening with interest, his lips curving into that same predatory smile I remembered from outside Marley's shop. "I almost forgot. I wanted to properlyintroduce myself to your little acquisition. We met briefly in town, but Marley was so rude about interrupting us." His eyes were scanning the property now, searching. "Where is she? The pretty little Omega who growled at me like she had teeth?"
Every Alpha went rigid. I could smell their scents spike — cedar and pine and earth and sunshine all sharpening into something aggressive and protective, a wall of Alpha pheromones that made the air feel thick and heavy, pressing against my lungs like a physical weight.
"You stay away from her." Sawyer's voice was barely human, his pale eyes blazing with murderous intent, his scarred hands curling into fists at his sides, every line of his body vibrating with barely contained violence. "You don't look at her. You don't speak to her. You don't even think about her."
"That's none of your concern." Reid's voice was ice, his body shifting almost imperceptibly to block Easton's line of sight toward the house, toward where I was hidden, his shoulders broadening like he could physically shield me with his presence alone.
"Oh, but it is." Easton's voice was silk and poison, his eyes still scanning the property with predatory patience, his nostrils flaring as he searched for my scent, and then they found me.
