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He wasn’t, and I hadn’t realized it until the door snicked shut behind him.
Now that I’m no longer filled with a desperate need to burrow into my nest for the next… I don’t know, twenty years? I can think about what Cian went downstairs to do.
“Do you think he’s going to punch Lawrence in the face?” Della asks when I don’t respond.
I frown at the door.
Cian doesn’t seem like the type. I can see Kylian walking up to Lawrence and punching him in the throat. Rune too. Not Cian. He’s too serious. He wouldn’t.
Then I recall the way his lips tightened when I shuddered, and I remember his calm façade Della saw right through.
I’d go after Cian, but after all the effort everyone put in to protect me, I’d rather not ruin it all by letting Lawrence get a sniff of me. “I hope not. Lawrence can be vindictive.”
Della huffs. “Well, I hope Ciandoespunch him in the face. And then I hope he shoves Lawrence outside and flattens him with his limo.”
I whip my head toward her. “Della!”
A tiny, quiet part of me hopes it too. But Della is spontaneous, always has been. She doesn’t need any encouragement to do what she hopes Cian will.
She crosses her legs and lifts her chin. “Well, Ido. If he reverses and does it a couple more times, then I’d cheer. Maybe even do a cartwheel or two. I’d land on my head because I never mastered them, but I’d give it my best shot.”
I have to turn my face to hide my smile. “That’s an awful thing to wish for.”
“Yup,” she agrees. “Doesn’t mean I’ll stop.”
Her smile slips off her face the longer we study each other. “He likes you.”
I look away.
“You like him too, don’t you?” she asks quietly.
I don’t respond.
It’s not the first time we’ve talked about guys. Mostly it was celebrities on TV or the boys at school Della had crushes on. Talking about Cian, Rune, and Kylian just feels… weird. I’m not ready to talk about how I feel orwhatI feel with anyone. Even Della.
“The second Lawrence turned up, they all jumped to protect you. And you trusted them. There’s something between you all, isn’t there?”
I get to my feet and start pacing. “They’re alphas, Della. I’m not sure my future lies with any alpha. Not after…”
I stop talking.
It isn’t because I don’t trust Della. I do. Even if Lawrence appeared so soon after she did. Della is still my little sister, and I’d rather she didn’t know about alphas preying on omegas in free heat clinics. The more she knows, the more danger she could be in when it all comes out.
“Why were you working in Lawrence’s garden?” I ask instead.
She studies me for a beat, as if she knows I’m holding something back. I brace myself for her to wheedle the truth from me, something Della is far too good at. She surprises me by sighing instead. “Do you remember the day you perfumed in the garden?”
As if I could forget it.
I nod.
“Well,” Della explains, “Lawrence was carrying you away. Mom was yelling at me to go inside, and when I wouldn’t, Lawrence’s guards knocked me to the floor.”
I gape at her, shocked. “Theyknockedyou to the floor?”
She shrugs as if it was nothing. “It was no big deal.”
I know Della, and that shrug means those guards did a lot more than that. “Shoved you or hit you?”
