I’m fine.
We’re all safe.
But something stirs within me, uneasy. I stare at Donall’s silhouette through the sliver of the open door.What does he want?The alpha doesn’t even know Oli. What on earth could be so important that he wants to talk to someone other than Rhett?
Donall shifts from one foot to the other, letting out a loud huff. Then his eyes catch mine, and he freezes. All at once, his gaze sharpens like a blade, and his back straightens, long and tight.
Without a word, without an invitation, Donall barges right into the apartment.
What the fuck?
My breath catches and my body stiffens as Donall crosses the threshold like the rules of basic human decency don’t apply to him. As if Rhett’s absence somehow opens the door wide to his entitlement.
Donall marches straight to me, bold as ever, his heavy boots booming against the hardwood of the entryway before stepping down into the living room.
Intomyspace.
I panic.
There’s nowhere to go. I’m squished in the center of the couch, Dolly still dozing in my lap, unaware. I glance toward the hallway, willing someone—anyone—to reappear. But I don’t call out. I can’t.
My body won’t move. My body’s stuck frozen.
Donall stops a few feet away from the couch. His eyes narrow and his head tilts, studying me like I’m some kind of riddle. “What was your name again?” he asks, voice smooth, but with an edge I don’t like. “Autry, right?”
I swallow and my lips part. “Yes, sir,” I whisper.
His smile twitches, like he’s pleased with himself. “Thought so.” He inches to one side, edging around theroom to the far side of the couch, like a predator circling something soft. “How’ve you been?” he asks. “Settling in okay?”
I nod, letting my hair fall forward to shield my neck. I don’t want him to know that I haven’t been marked yet. That I’mvulnerable.
Donall chuckles softly and his fingers flex. “You know,” he points right at me, “your face has been stuck in my head for weeks now.”
My stomach drops.
He looks familiar to me, too. I noticed it at the party. Something in the shape of his jaw and the sound of his voice. I couldn’t place it then. And I still can’t.
“I kept asking myself how I knew you,” Donall says, still moving around the room. Dolly finally lifts her head. She doesn't growl—just watches, confused. “I thought to myself, did I see her at another event? Maybe in passing? Or were you a cousin of one of my mate’s friends?” He pauses, now standing on the other side of the coffee table. The narrow strip of reclaimed wood is the only thing that separates us.
My blood rushes in my ears, making my eyes water.Help!But the words won’t actually leave my mouth.
“But then, late last night,” Donall says, voice quiet now, intimate in a way that makes my skin crawl. “I was lying in bed, thinking about it. And suddenly…it hit me.” His dark eyes widen like it was a lovely surprise. “And I knew exactly where I saw you.”
Before I utter a word, a sharp voice cuts through the silence.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Myrick.
The beta strides into the room fast, his eyes locking onto Donall—then flickering to me. The shock on his face shiftsinto something harder. Anger. He moves like he’s ready to put himself between us, shoulders tense, posture all alpha instinct.
Donall barely flinches.
“Relax, beta.” Donall’s hands lift slightly as if he’s innocently been caught mid-conversation at a dinner party. “I was chatting Autry up,” he says smoothly, like we’re old friends. Like this isnormal.
Myrick’s jaw flexes. “You’retoo closeto our omega,” he snaps, stepping up to the back of the couch. He’s so close I can feel the warmth of his body. It helps. A little. “Rhett wouldn’t like you inside while he’s away. He’d bea lot happierif you waited in the entryway.”
For the first time, Donall’s smile slips into something colder. He laughs once, a soft sound that feels more like a warning than amusement. “That may be,” he says, eyes still on me, “but Rhett’s not here.”
