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I frown. “Who’s Francis?”
“A palace guard,” she says quietly. “One you’re about to lose once the Trials are over, I’m afraid.”
Wolf snaps his fingers. “Oh, that Francis. That’s too bad. I like him. Why are we losing him?”
“You’re about to see for yourself.” She falls into step behind me as I head to the door, then she smiles and peeks out from behind my back to give her friend a wave once I’ve opened it. “Come to make your confession, have you?”
He arches a brow at her. “Says the Omega who’s just ridden out a heat she wasn’t supposed to have had with the royal pack who’s supposed to be sequestered in their quarters, trying to decide between myself and Casey.”
“Is that where they think we are?” Kaz asks as he motions for them to come in. “Please excuse the state of the place, but we weren’t expecting company, obviously. I wouldn’t have invited you in at all were it not for the fact that you may be seen if you stay out there.”
Antonio waves him off as if he’s an old friend. “No problem. We get it, and yes. That’s where they think you are. Rumor has it Maddie was dismissed the night of the ball, and after you got rid of her, you locked yourselves in to make your final decision.”
“So the queen has no idea where we are?” Maddie asks, incredulous.
Kaz scoffs. “I have no doubt she knows exactly where we are.”
Honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t been dragged out of here by our ears, but I have a feeling the queen likes it this way. Being able to influence the narrative while we’ve been ‘busy.’
“That actually works out pretty well for us,” Wolf says, grinning as he darts a glance between the two of them. “What’s this, then?”
Francis shifts on his feet, but then he raises his chin and looks our packmate right in his eyes, which I doubt he’s ever done before. “Antonio and I have chosen one another. If you’ll accept my resignation, I’d like to leave with him once the Trials are over.”
“Of course, mate,” Kaz says, reaching out to shake the other Alpha’s hand.
He seems taken aback, but he shakes with Kaz and steps back as he looks us over. We’re all shirtless—except for Maddie, and Francis sighs as he shakes his head. “Things are heating up out there. I realize you’ve been tending to your Omega, but you ought to consider returning to the palace as soon as possible. Antonio and I have been doing what we can to fan the rumors of you being holed up in your quarters, but media speculation is becoming rife that you’re in a deadlock or something.”
“Clearly, we’re not,” Wolf says, still grinning. “We made our decision ages ago. As far as we’re concerned, the only decision still to be made is whether we’re going to attend the Final Ceremony or disappear into the sunset with our Omega.”
“We’re attending the Ceremony,” Kaz decides out loud as a smirk tugs at the corners of his lips. “I have a plan.” He turns to the other two. “How did you find us here? Did you check to make sure you weren’t followed?”
“Maddie mentioned Wolf bringing her here last week,” Antonio says. “After you ran out of the ballroom like your asses were on fire, and I discovered she was gone, it wasn’t so much of a leap that you’d have come here. It’s the closest, most private place I could think of.”
“We weren’t followed,” Francis adds as he bows his head at us. “As far as anyone else knows, Antonio is freaking out about how long it’s taking you to choose him, and I took him for a walk to calm his nerves. We, uh, we took the scenic route.”
“With that, he means we walked around randomly for ninety minutes before eventually doubling back around the edge of the forest and following the perimeter fence here. No one would have followed us around for that long, and we kept looking over our shoulders. You’re good.”
“The perimeter fence?” I ask as my heart stutters in my chest. “You do realize there are cameras out there, right?”
“They’ve been hiding in the bushes?” Antonio frowns. “That’s just weird. Hardly anyone ever comes back this far, so I doubt they’d be on that side of the grounds, but we also didn’t see or hear anything out there.”
Relief swirls through me, but at the same time, just because they didn’t see the cameramen doesn’t mean they weren’t there.One thing at a time, though.
Besides, if they did get pictures of them, it would only have been a photograph of an Omega and a servant walking around the grounds. Nothing too scandalous or harmful to anyone—unless they were caught holding hands or something. In which case, I suppose the whole world will know soon that we haven’t chosen Antonio and he hasn’t chosen us.
Francis starts backing out when Maddie suddenly folds her arms over her stomach and her shoulders hunch. “We’ll leave you now, but come back to the palace soon.”
“We’ll see you tomorrow for the Final Ceremony,” I assure him as I walk them out, locking the door behind them as Kaz peels Maddie’s sweater off and Wolf drops to his knees before her.
“Need a little more, Mads?” he teases as he rolls her jeans off and glances at Kaz. “As soon as we’re done here, you’re laying out your plan for us.”
He nods. “We’re all in this together. If you don’t like it, we’ll revisit riding off into the sunset and becoming beach bums, okay?”
“I was looking forward to that,” Wolf murmurs before he leans forward to breathe Maddie in. “I’m looking forward to this too, though. “Someone get my pants. This really could be the last time for this heat, and my knot wants to pass Go.”
I groan but lean over to help him out. Even as I’m doing it though, trepidation runs through me about what’s in store for us tomorrow.
Right here, right now, we’re safe and happy in our nest. We’re all on the same page. It feels like we’ve made it through the worst, but the real world is waiting for us out there and none of us have an idea how bad it’s going to get once we rejoin it.
