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One breath in, one breath out. “Remember, Vaughn, you can’t kill him,” I muttered to myself. Then I raised my voice. “Can I help you?”
Beau jumped like I’d fired a shotgun behind him. Fucker hadn’t even noticed we weren’t all with her. “Uh, yeah, I was hoping to talk to Isolde. Our conversation earlier was cut short.”
“Our Omega is sleeping right now.”
He snorted and shook his head. “Your Omega. I get it. You don’t have to piss all over her to stake your claim. It just makes you look like assholes.”
I stared at him, waiting for him to fill the silence. Guys like Beau didn’t know how to be quiet. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around before back at me. “Are you just going to stand there?”
“Until you leave? Yes.”
“I have every right to be here.”
“You have a right to be on this property. You do not have a right to stand outside our rooms like a stalker. So fuck off.”
“What the hell is your problem, man?” His face was too red. He’d been drinking, and his voice rose. “All I want to do is talk to the woman I was with for four years. That’s not a fucking crime.”
“No,” I admitted. “It’s not. But Isolde doesn’t want to talk to you. Because you were together for four years and then you put her out on the curb like your weekly trash. So untilshesays she wants to have a conversation with you, I expect you to keep your distance. Be a good boy and don’t speak unless you’re spoken to.”
Beau came at me, and I stood my ground. I wasn’t going to hit him. If he wanted to hit me, that was fine, but it wouldn’t work out well for him when my eye was black and he had to explain why.
“You think just because you’re with her now you get to talk to me like that? You don’t knowshit.”
“I know enough. You’re drunk, Beau. Back off before you do something you regret.”
He growled. “I’m more likely to do somethingyou’llregret, and I will talk to Isolde any time I choose.” Regardless of the words, he left, lurching across the big lawn through the magnolia trees and toward the main house.
No wonder this guy didn’t have a pack. Pack bonds were inherent, but you also had to be open to that connection. Pack life was about sharing. Your life, your possessions, love, however it worked out for the people involved. If he was this possessive over someone he’d broken up with, I didn’t think it would work well for him.
I waited until he was out of sight to go inside, smiling when I saw Isolde curled up in the middle of the giant bed with everyone else around her, watching, entranced. Like Isolde was a dragon egg at the center of our hoard.
Which she was.
The most precious thing imaginable.
“He’s gone?” Joel asked.
“Yeah, but don’t expect him to stay that way. There’s something up with him. He really wants to talk to her. I can’t imagine why. He was drunk.”
Rowan growled softly. “I’m starting to put a picture together of this guy, and it’s not a good one.”
I didn’t disagree. Something didn’t fully add up. Isolde didn’t want him back. She’d made that clear, and I had no reason to doubt her. Plus, she was a terrible liar.
But Beau?
He wasn’t acting like a man who’d moved on. When Isolde wasn’t looking, he watched her. What he’d said to Rowan and Hawk was an attempt to scare us off. Now he’d tried to corner her twice.
Whatever it was, it didn’t sit well with me.
No matter what happened, with him or otherwise, we would be her shield.
Because it was about fucking time she had one.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
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ISOLDE
