“Let themstarve?” My voice went into a high-pitched shrill range.
“Demi, our engagement party is in four hours. You need to focus on—”
“I’ll see you at the hotel.” I hung up and turned to Sage as anger at my future father-in-law rolled through me.
“Take me to the alpha.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“You heard me. I need to speak to my future father-in-law. Now.”
“Uhhh, I don’t know where he is. He could be in his office, or at a meeting, or—”
I sped across the mall to where Eugene and Walsh were watching me with concern. “Where is the alpha right now?” I asked Eugene. “I need to speak with him, and I know you have his schedule.”
His eyes narrowed. “He’s busy getting things ready for your engagement party.”
“Where? At the hotel, then?” I asked.
“Demi, what’s this about?” Eugene looked worried for me, and I hated that I had to play coy, but I wasn’t sure how many people I should drop the Paladin alpha bomb on.
I shifted my stance. “I just need a word with my future father-in-law. It’s a surprise for his son.”
He checked his phone, tapping something out. It dinged with a response.
“He’ll see you. Come on.” Eugene started to walk away out of the mall and into the parking lot where my Range Rover was parked, next to an identical one that Sage and Walsh drove.
So he texted him? And he said he would see me? Under the grounds that this was a surprise for Sawyer? Surely he wouldn’t have believed that after Sawyer just called him and made my request.
I guess I was about to find out.
I droveacross campus and out of the Sterling Hill gates before heading into Werewolf City. Eugene sat shotgun as I passed the tall downtown buildings and made my way to the Hudson Plaza Hotel.
My driving was getting better, or so I thought, until I saw Eugene white knuckling it as he grasped the edges of his seat.
“Oh calm down, I’m not that bad of a driver,” I scoffed just as a passing car honked at me.
Jerks.
Eugene chuckled. “You see that white dotted line?”
I nodded.
“You’re supposed to stay on theinsideof it.”
I knew that. Obviously. But this was a damn SUV and sometimes that was hard. I swerved a little, bringing it back inside the line, and his fingers relaxed.
The hotel came into view at the end of the street then, and it was breathtaking. Over a thousand wolves had RSVP’d tonight and I was told even more would come to the wedding. That was like a small country. I didn’t even know a thousand people, but Sawyer did. He knew them all. By name.
“Don’t tell him what you are,” Eugene said out of nowhere and I froze. “He knows you’re part Paladin. Sawyer had to tell him after you were taken. But don’t tell him you’re their alpha.”
My breath hitched in my throat. “Sawyer told you?”
Eugene shrugged. “I said I wouldn’t protect you unless I knew everything. I don’t like secrets. Secrets get people killed.”
He was probably right. I’d asked him to stick his neck out for me and he didn’t even know who he was protecting. “I’m sorry. Should have told you everything.”
This man was going to be protecting my family, our future children. I didn’t want there to be anything unsaid between us.
