“Is that all you have to say right now?” I roll my eyes. “This is serious.”
“Maybe we should all lighten up?” Ezra laughs nervously, but he isn’t fooling anyone. “Having a stowaway in our house is a little funny.”
Riven rubs his chin. “It’s so statistically improbable that I can see the potential for humor.”
“Nothing about this is funny.” Calder swats at invisible flies. “She is a Sinclair!”
I plant my hands on my hips. “She has a name.”
“We could go to jail.” He ignores me, pointing at Ezra. “And you, you’ll be in the most trouble. You’re a professor, remember?”
“I don’t think you’d do well in jail, Ezra.” Riven frowns in earnest. “You hate being stuck inside.”
Ezra’s forehead wrinkles in concern. The thought of being away from his plants seems to bring the severity of the situation home. His plants are his babies.
My stomach lurches at the sight of Tyler Blandon on-screen. “As if this can’t get any worse.”
“We’re devastated.” Tyler’s nasally drawl makes my skin crawl. Kyro and Shea stand behind him, flexing their muscles like they’re advertising the hideous matching shirts they’re wearing. “All we want is our Kady-kins brought home. She’ll be missing us. We’ve hardly gone a day apart since we met.”
Hale’s fists curl as Tyler talks.
“Why did you pick them?” Calder’s forearms are corded with tension. “A beautiful omega like you could have picked any alphas to be your fake pack.”
He thinks I’m beautiful? I pull at the edges of Hale’s T-shirt. It sits just above my knees, but now that I’m surrounded by four hot alphas, I feel like I have way too much skin on show.
“Fake packs aren’t exactly easy to find, especially on short notice,” I retort. “How often have you had to find one?”
“Well…” Calder flounders.
“Exactly!” I make my point with a flourish. “I did the best I could. I never expected any of this to happen.”
“It’ll be okay.” Hale’s comforting scent sends a wave of calmness through me. “We’ll think of a way out of this.”
The reassuring safety I felt with our limbs tangled together in his bedroom feels like a lifetime away, his double-knot now a distant memory. It doesn’t matter how good it felt to be in his arms, we’ve got a situation to deal with.
Riven cranes his neck to get a better look out the window. “They’re getting closer.”
Calder’s borderline hysterical, tugging on his wavy hair. “No one cares about the helicopters!”
“Dude, you really need to chill.” Ezra puts a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t I make you something to help? I have a tincture and some calming balm that’ll take the edge off.”
“Keep your herbal mumbo-jumbo away from me.” Calder shoots him a look of disgust. “Don’t you have some carrots to pull up or something?” Next, he sets his sights on Riven. “Can you stop looking at the sky, and get your head back inside the building for one minute so we can talk?”
“But—” Riven tries to object.
“Don’t take it out on him, Calder.” Hale steps in between the two of them. “This isn’t his fault. Let’s all take a breath, okay?”
Only we have no time to take a moment or think of a plan before a loud pounding comes from downstairs.
We all freeze, looking around as the bashing continues, then the yelling starts.
“Kady!” Warren’s gruff roar booms up the stairs. How did he manage to find me here? “Are you in there?”
My heart drops into my stomach. “That’s my dad’s bodyguard.” Panic sweeps through me. “Shit, he can’t see me like this!” I throw off Hale’s T-shirt, not having time to dwell on the fact that I’m now standing in my underwear in front of the guys before sprinting back to Ezra’s room where I put my clothes on in record speed.
Thumping continues to reverberate from the floor below. It sounds like they’re trying to ram the door down. The guys seem frozen in a state of shock when I return.
Hale’s the only one who seems capable of talking. “Are you okay?”
