I'd thought I was hidden. I'd thought the shadows were enough. His gaze locked onto mine with the precision of a predator spotting prey — the same look he'd given me that day outside the fabric shop — and his smile widened into something triumphant and terrible.
"There she is." He took a step toward me, and every Alpha moved at once — Sawyer surging forward with a snarl, Kol flanking left with his fists raised, Nolan moving right with cold determination in his eyes, Reid positioning himself directly in Easton's path like an immovable wall. "There's the prize. I can see why you're all so... protective." His tongue slid across hislower lip, his eyes traveling over me in a way that made bile rise in my throat. "Even prettier than I remembered. Tell me, little Omega — have you reconsidered my offer? I could give you so much more than these... cowboys."
"Don't." Sawyer's voice was barely human, a snarl ripping from his chest, his pale eyes blazing with murderous intent, his hands curled into fists that shook with the effort of not attacking, every muscle in his body coiled tight and trembling with barely leashed violence. "Don't even look at her."
"Still unbonded, I notice." Easton's eyes were still on me, assessing, hungry, making my skin crawl like insects were skittering across it. "Still unclaimed. Just... waiting for the right Alpha to tame her. To show her what a real Alpha can provide."
Something snapped inside me. I stepped out of the shadows, my chin lifting, my own growl building in my chest — low and feral and warning. The same growl I'd given him that day in town, when he'd cornered me and called me an acquisition. I might be an Omega, but I'd survived years on my own. I'd fought off Alphas who thought they could take what they wanted. I wasn't prey.
Not anymore.
"I told you before and I'll tell you again." My voice came out steady, sharp, surprising even me with its ferocity, my eyes locked on Easton's with a challenge that made his eyebrows rise, my hands curling into fists at my sides, my scent shifting to something bitter and dangerous. "I don't need taming. I'm not your acquisition. And I'm not interested in anything you have to offer. So you can take your money and your threats and get the hell off this property before I show you exactly how feral I can be."
Silence stretched across the yard, heavy and thick. Then Kol let out a sound that was half laugh, half growl, pride and awemixing in his sunshine scent, his golden eyes bright with fierce approval as he looked at me.
Easton's expression flickered — surprise, then something darker, more interested, his tongue sliding across his teeth in a way that made my skin crawl. "Still feisty. I like that. It'll make breaking you so much more satisfying than it would have been if you'd just submitted like a good little Omega."
Sawyer moved. One second he was standing with the others, and the next he was inches from Easton, his hand fisted in the expensive fabric of the Alpha's jacket, his face a mask of lethal rage, his pale eyes burning with a fury that seemed to glow in the afternoon light.
"If you ever speak to her like that again," Sawyer's voice was gravel and broken glass, each word dragged out like it was being ripped from somewhere deep and dark, his breath hot against Easton's face, "I will tear your throat out with my bare hands and watch you bleed out in the dirt. Do you understand me?"
Easton's eyes widened, genuine fear flickering across his features before he schooled them back into something calmer, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. "You're threatening me? In front of witnesses?"
"It's not a threat." Sawyer leaned closer, his voice dropping to something almost intimate, almost gentle, which somehow made it more terrifying, his grip tightening on Easton's jacket until the fabric creaked. "It's a promise. Touch her. Look at her wrong. Even think about her. And I will end you. No one will find the body."
"Sawyer." Reid's voice cut through the tension, sharp and commanding, his cedar scent crashing over them both like a wave. For a long moment, Sawyer didn't move. I could see his muscles trembling with the effort of not finishing what he'd started, could smell the violence rolling off him in waves, could see the war raging behind his pale eyes.
"Sawyer." Reid again, softer this time, his hand finding Sawyer's shoulder. "She's safe. Let him go." Sawyer released Easton with a shove that sent the other Alpha stumbling back against his truck, the expensive metal denting slightly under the impact. His chest was heaving, his hands still curled into fists, but he stepped back, positioning himself beside me, his body a wall between me and the threat, his hand finding mine and gripping so tight it almost hurt.
"Get. Off. My. Land." Reid's voice was thunder, his Alpha authority crashing down like a physical force, making even Easton flinch, his dark eyes blazing with a fury that seemed to darken the very air around him. "And don't come back. Ever. The next time you set foot on Longhorn property, I won't hold them back."
Easton straightened his jacket, his composure slipping back into place like a mask, but I could see the rage burning beneath it, the humiliation of being threatened and dismissed, his hands trembling slightly as he smoothed the wrinkled fabric.
"This isn't over." His voice was cold, controlled, but shaking slightly at the edges, his jaw tight with barely suppressed fury. "You can't protect her forever. And when you slip — and you will slip — I'll be waiting."
He climbed into his truck, the engine roaring to life, and tore down the driveway in a spray of gravel. We watched until the vehicle disappeared from sight, until the sound of the engine faded into nothing, until the dust settled back to earth.
Then Sawyer's grip on my hand tightened, his whole body still trembling with unspent violence.
"Are you okay?" His voice was rough, wrecked, his pale eyes searching my face for any sign of damage, his free hand coming up to cup my cheek like he needed to touch me to believe I was real. "Did he — are you —"
"I'm fine." I squeezed his hand, feeling the tension slowly drain from his grip, leaning into his touch. "I'm okay. He didn't touch me."
"He looked at you." Kol appeared on my other side, his golden eyes dark with something fierce and protective, his sunshine scent still carrying storm clouds, his hand finding my shoulder and gripping tight. "The way he looked at you — like you were something to be owned —"
"She's not." Reid's voice cut through, and we all turned to look at him. He stood with his arms crossed, his jaw tight, his dark eyes burning with a fury that made my heart ache, his cedar scent slowly settling from sharp aggression to something warmer, more protective. "She's not something to be owned. She's pack. Our pack. And we protect what's ours."
"He's not going to stop." Nolan's voice was quiet, clinical, but I could hear the fear beneath it, could see it in the tightness around his hazel eyes, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. "You heard him. He's going to keep coming until —"
"Until we stop him." Reid cut him off, his voice hard, his jaw set with determination. "Permanently."
We moved inside as a unit, four Alphas surrounding me, their bodies forming a protective barrier that should have felt suffocating but instead felt like safety. The kitchen seemed smaller with all of us crowded into it, the air thick with mingled scents — cedar and pine and earth and sunshine, all of them carrying notes of aggression and protectiveness and something deeper.
Fear. They were all afraid.
Not for themselves. For me.
"We need to talk." Reid leaned against the counter, his arms crossed, his expression grim, his dark eyes finding mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. "About what happensnext. About —" He paused, his jaw working, a muscle jumping beneath the skin. "About bonding."
