Marley pulled a chair up across from me, her expression grim, her weathered hands folded in her lap, her brown eyes dark with worry as she studied my face.
"Easton Branston." She said the name like a curse, her lip curling with disgust, her voice dropping low and serious. "Owns Branston Ranch, east of Longhorn. His daddy was a reasonable man — hard, but fair. Kept to himself, respected boundaries, didn't cause trouble." She shook her head, something dark crossing her weathered features, old anger surfacing in the set of her jaw. "Easton's nothing like his daddy. He's been trouble since he presented, and it's only gotten worse since the old man died and left him everything."
"What kind of trouble?" I wrapped my hands tighter around the cup, trying to stop the shaking, trying to focus on Marley's words instead of the memory of Easton's scent, his smile, his eyes.
"The bad kind." Marley's voice was flat, hard, her jaw tightening as she leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. "He wants Longhorn. Has for years. Keeps making offers Reid won't accept, keeps trying to find ways to force them out. Legal pressure, buying up surrounding land, poisoning the well with other ranchers." Her eyes went flinty, old anger surfacing in the lines of her face. "There have been... incidents. Equipment sabotaged. Fences cut. Cattle gone missing." She paused, something darker crossing her expression, her voice dropping. "Workers harassed. Threatened. A few years back, one of Reid's hands ended up in the hospital after a 'bar fight' that nobody saw start."
My stomach dropped, cold fear spreading through my veins, my grip on the cup tightening until my knuckles went white.
"And he's a lone Alpha." Marley continued, her voice dropping lower, more serious, her gaze holding mine with fierce intensity, willing me to understand. "No pack, no bond, no mate. Just him and that big empty house and all that money and all that want." She reached out and gripped my hand, her fingers rough and strong, her touch grounding. "Lone Alphas go unstable without pack bonds to ground them. They get... obsessive. Territorial. Dangerous." Her grip tightened until it almost hurt, her brown eyes boring into mine. "You need to stay away from him, Aster. He's not right in the head, and from the way he was looking at you..." She trailed off, her jaw tightening, something pained crossing her features.
"From the way he was looking at me what?" My voice came out barely above a whisper, dread pooling in my stomach, my heart pounding against my ribs.
"Like he'd found a new toy." Marley's voice was grim, her grip on my hand tightening further, her eyes fierce with protective fury. "Easton doesn't like being told no. And you — a feral Omega with four Alphas courting her, living on the land he wants?" She shook her head slowly, something pained crossing her features, her voice dropping to barely above a whisper. "You need to tell Reid about this. Today. Don't go anywhere alone until those boys know what happened."
I nodded, my throat too tight for words, my mind racing with everything she'd told me.
"I mean it, Aster." Marley's voice softened slightly, something almost maternal creeping into her gruff tone, her weathered thumb stroking across my knuckles. "That man is dangerous. Don't underestimate him just because he wears nice clothes and speaks pretty words. The snake in the garden was the prettiest creature there, and look how that turned out."
"I'll tell them." My voice was steadier now, the shock fading into something harder, more determined, my spine straightening. "As soon as I get home."
"Good." Marley released my hand and sat back, her expression still worried but slightly less tense, some of the fierce protectiveness fading into relief. "You want me to call Trent, have him drive you back? I don't like the idea of you walking alone."
"No, I'll..." I hesitated, the thought of walking that road alone suddenly making my skin crawl, Easton's scent still lingering in my nose. "Actually, yes. Please. If it's not too much trouble."
"It's no trouble." Marley was already standing, already moving toward the phone on her counter, her movements brisk and purposeful. "That's what pack is for — even extended pack." She paused, looking back at me over her shoulder, her expression softening, her brown eyes warm despite the worry in them. "You've got good people looking out for you, Aster. Let them."
Twenty minutes later, Marley's husband Trent — a quiet, solid Alpha with kind eyes and hands like dinner plates — pulled up to the main house at Longhorn. He'd made small talk during the drive, asking about my sewing and commenting on the weather, clearly trying to put me at ease. I appreciated the effort, even if I couldn't quite relax, my mind still spinning with Easton's cold eyes and wrong scent.
"You gonna be okay?" Trent's voice was gentle as I climbed out of the truck, his weathered face creased with concern, his kind brown eyes studying me carefully, his scent calm and grounding.
"Yeah." I managed a smile that probably looked as shaky as it felt, my hand gripping the door frame for support. "Thank you for the ride. And thank Marley again for me."
"Will do." He tipped his hat — an actual cowboy hat, worn and sweat-stained from years of work — and waited until I was inside before pulling away, the rumble of his truck fading into the distance.
The house was warm, smelling of dinner cooking and Alpha and home. I could hear voices in the kitchen — Kol's bright chatter, Nolan's calm responses, Sawyer's rare rumble of contribution. Reid's steady baritone underneath it all.
My pack. My home. Mine.
The fear that had been coiling in my gut since Easton's smile transformed into something fiercer, something protective. He wanted to take this from me. Wanted to hurt the people I loved. Wanted to use me as a weapon against them.
I wouldn't let him.
"Aster?" Reid appeared in the kitchen doorway, his dark eyes warming when he saw me, his mouth curving into a smile that made my chest ache with how much I loved him, flour dusting his forearms from whatever he'd been helping make. "We were just about to send out a search party. How was Marley's?"
The smile faded as he took in my expression, my posture, whatever he could read in my scent. In an instant he was crossing the room, his hands coming up to cup my face, his eyes searching mine with sharp concern, his thumbs stroking across my cheekbones.
"What happened?" His voice was low, urgent, all the warmth replaced with something harder, his dark eyes scanning my face for any sign of injury. "What's wrong?"
"I'm okay." The words came out automatically, but my voice shook, betraying me, my hands coming up to grip his wrists. "I'm fine, just?—"
"You're not fine." Reid's jaw tightened, his nostrils flaring as he took in my scent, his dark eyes going sharp with alarm. "You're shaking. You smell like fear." His nostrils flared again,and something dangerous flickered in his expression, his whole body going tense. "And you smell like another Alpha."
The others had appeared behind him — Nolan with worry creasing his forehead, his green eyes dark with concern, his gentle hands wiping flour on a dish towel, Kol practically vibrating with anxiety, his amber eyes wide and scared, his honey-blonde hair mussed from running his hands through it, Sawyer silent and tense with his pale eyes fixed on my face like he was cataloging every sign of distress, his massive frame coiled like he was ready to fight.
"What happened?" Kol's voice was higher than usual, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides, his scent spiking with fear so strong I could taste it, his whole body trembling with the need to do something. "Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you?"
"No one hurt me." I took a breath, steadying myself, letting Reid's hands on my face ground me, letting the warmth of all four of their scents wrap around me like a shield. "But something happened. Someone..." I swallowed hard, my throat tight. "Can we sit down? I need to tell you about Easton Branston."
