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After all Linden’s father had done to him, after all he’d been through bearing the surname he was born with, the new one would never be taken for granted.

“And to answer your question, yes. From what Sasha said to Wade, he’s certain his friends can assist him.”

“Well, that’s great,” I said dejectedly.

“We’re going over there,” Graeme announced, looking at me. “Come on.”

“Absolutely not,” Avery declared, his moonstone-colored eyes glinting silver. “He figured out another way to fix whatever the issue is, and if it’s a question that involves lupine society, which I suspect it does, Linden has that wired. And don’t forget, he’s married to Wade, and there’s no one more logical and good at figuring out a problem than my partner.”

After a moment, Graeme said, “I let him down.”

“You were caught up in the mate thing,” Avery soothed him, leaning in close. “That makes sense. He’s an omega, I’m an omega—your protective instincts came out because you want him to be with his mate, as I’m with mine.”

“Yes. And I never meant to imply that you would need permission to do any⁠—”

“I know.” Avery put his hand on Graeme’s chest. “Again, you want Sasha with his mate.”

“Deacon would protect him with his life.”

And I would. No question. “Thank you, Graeme.”

Quick nod from him before his face scrunched up and his eyes widened.

“What’s wrong with… oh.” I realized at the same time as everyone else did that Lauren and Ellie had decimated the box of cream puffs.

“Those are yummy,” Lauren passed judgment before she belched.

Ellie thought that was hysterical, and because she’d just taken a drink, when she laughed, milk came out of her nose. Lauren found that to be even funnier.

“Your children will be awake until this time tomorrow,” I told them all.

Gigi whimpered, and it was my turn to laugh.

5

SASHA

Sometimes, as you were going through the motions with one thing, in the middle of it, your brain kicked in and you thought, huh… I should have made a different choice. The second I looked across the room and saw Deacon sitting on the couch at Graeme Davenport’s home, I should have run. The fact that they wanted me to speak in front of him, and then Mr. Davenport questioned me about why I didn’t want to speak in front of my mate—my mate. The words had echoed inside of my brain—meant one thing. Deacon had told him.

It made sense. Both people knew when they found their true mate; it wasn’t a secret to one part of the pair. Fated mates were real, which meant that not only had Deacon known, and rejected me, but at some point, he’d then conveyed his disappointment and displeasure to his cousin’s brother-in-law. I thought, for a brief, terrifying moment, that I was going to vomit on the cyne’s dining room table and make the adults, and children alike, scream. Fortunately, I was my mother’s son, and she had schooled me to never allow others to see my emotions… unless they loved me. She and my father, my grandparents, new friends I was making—all of them, I would allow to see. But no one else.

I’d held it together until I got out of the house and bolted. I had never been so happy to be fast as when I was running away from the mansion in Lincoln Park. But the interaction had made other decisions clear as well. For instance, I was never going to another gathering in my life.

Even though I liked dressing up and enjoyed sampling all the different kinds of food and drink, and most of all, walking from room to room, taking in all the decorations, which were always over-the-top beautiful, it would be a cold day in hell before anyone saw my face at one again.

If Graeme Davenport knew that Deacon Houghton-Crowne didn’t want me, or, more specifically, any omega ever, then I would never let any member of the jarl have me in their sights again. I would not be fodder for the rumor mill.

Of course, I didn’t discuss any of this with Wade or Linden as I sat in their living room showing them pictures on my phone of the relevant parts of Wallis Sutton Wellington’s diary.

“I think I’m missing something,” Wade said afterward. “Why is this a big deal?”

“Because the person accepted into the jarl, the one who carried on a bloodline, has absolutely nothing to do with said bloodline,” Linden explained.

“No, I get that. It’s a scandal. It’s very ‘they’re not Robert’s kids, they’re Jamie’s.’”

Linden stopped reading from my phone and did a slow pan to Wade.

“What?” Wade asked.