Blake didn't jump out of the police cruiser. It was Harold, who looked taller and wider at the shoulders in his sheriff's uniform. Its khaki imparted an extra dose of masculinity to his complexion. A handsome man, but not Blake. Nowhere near Blake.

Harold's glance traveled straight to me, but even if I had time, I wouldn't have been able to wipe off the disappointed expression. Not when every fiber of my being yearned to fall into Blake's sturdy embrace. He alone could comfort me.

A slow, sardonic smile stretched Harold's lips. "Blake is right behind us, to make sure his pet project didn't suffer any lasting damage from the big, bad rogues."

Blush rose on my cheeks—could everyone read me like a book, or was it just Harold?

"In the meantime," Harold said, "I need to ask you a few questions about the attack."

"Of course." The damnable pin still prickled my butt, so I squirmed a little, trying to dislodge it. Unfortunately, the mermaid skirt hugged me all the way to my knees. Mastering as much dignity as possible, I pulled the skirt away from my backside. With a shaking hand, so it wasn't very dignified.

"I'll just change, can I?" Once the words were out of my mouth, I realized I was talking to a cop. "Eh...if you don't mind, Beta? Please?"

Harold frowned. "Actually, I mind. I already wasted too much time on investigating one Omega in peril."

My heart sank. I wasn't important enough; I was used to it. But the rogues trashed Beas's shop because of me. "There...there was significant property damage."

Harold swept the palace with a bored gaze and clicked his tongue. "So, is anything missing from this trash heap? Looks about the same as always."

"Harold Almarr!" Bea the Elder advanced on us. Shadows of fatigue circled her eyes, but she planted her hands on her hips and she held her chin high. "My shop is vandalized, and this poor girl has just been held at gunpoint! Your father wouldn't approve of your brazen attitude."

Harold scoffed. "Oh, no! How would I live my father's disapproval down?"

"Now, that's the right question you should ask yourself! You should also be ashamed." Bea straightened, despite looking drained. "Your job is to protect us, to protect this town and the pack, including the Omegas, before Blake has to step in. It doesn't matter what you've wanted to be. You are a Beta, so act like one."

"A solid piece of advice from a thornback! Well, let me try." Harold's smile soured, and he gripped his temples in mock despair. "What would I do without our brave Alpha and this itsy-bitsy Omega to help me? Woe is me, the Beta!"

Bea the Elder sighed and caught the wall. "That's a clown, not a Beta."

Harold tossed his head back and laughed uproariously.

"Are you okay?" I asked Bea who had gone pale, but she waved away my concern. "Don't worry about me. I'm just getting too old for this sort of thing. Shifting, fighting rogues..."

I shuddered. "It was terrible! Do the rogues attack often?"

"No." She shook her head, as if to say, what is this world coming to?

Guilt racked me. I wasn't just putting the pack in danger by being an inept Omega. I was putting the most vulnerable people in the pack in danger...Harold wasn't taking the attack seriously because I was involved. I bet, if the rogues had attacked Scarlett, the sheriff would come in swinging!

"I'll go back and rest a little. Once you are done with this..." Bea the Elder shot a dirty look at Harold, "with the Beta, come see us and we'll finish the fitting."

Bea stalked away, but Harold ignored her grit, focusing on me. His lips twitched in disgust, but his voice brimmed with fake enthusiasm.

"O happy day!" He dazzled me with one of his enigmatic smiles when it was impossible to tell if he was happy or amused. "I finally can talk to our valiant Omega!"

My heart thumped in my chest, because something beyond his douchebaggery grabbed at my senses. Something potent and pure, the way the manly power should manifest itself, not in mocking the helpless.

I spun around toward the source of the strength, nudging Harold out of the way. "Excuse me?" Half-in-disbelief at my gall, I pushed past him to the entrance of the shop.

What else could I do?

Blake was here!

Ah...I hoped he was here, as I stared at the crowd of human tourists milling on the broken glass under the watchful eye of a Gamma deputy.

Then my heart thumped again, so strong this time, I had to clutch my chest to keep it inside the ribcage.

Blake!

—and he entered Bea's ruined shop, proving I wasn't insane.

He looked haggard, with his cheekbones sharp enough to slice cheese, and his hands clenched at his sides. He lost a leather band that held his hair in a knot, so it hung to his shoulders.

"Celeste!"

I made a tiny gurgle in my throat. I swear, my heart was beating louder than that, but he heard it and started smiling.

For a brief second, nothing else existed for me. The agitated tourists, flashing lights, debris...only Blake's smile and a flock of butterflies in the pit of my stomach. They were flapping their wings so hard, my stomach should have vibrated like a phone on mute.

In short, it was perfectly perfect. My lips stretched in a stupid, dreamy, unstoppable smile.

"Celeste," said another voice, not Blake's, next to me.

I cringed, because anything that wasn't a part of Blake was unwelcome.

Yet, the voice was insistent, so it was important. And it was important to keep our bond secret. Loathing to break the sweetness of the shared moment with Blake, I sighed and forced myself to step away from my fated. "Yes, Harold?"

"Are you ready to give your statement?" There was nothing suggestive in his words, but oil oozed from his tone. "Perhaps, we can go somewhere more private?"

Wait, what? Where did the scorn go? Was Harold suddenly flirting with me? Why?

I got my answer right away, because Blake was on top of us in an instant. His mouth contorted. With his hollowed-out cheeks and fly-away hair, he looked both wild and absurdly hot.

"Harold, if only your response time to a rogue attack was as fast as you try to get into every new girl's pants, we wouldn't be standing here," he said in a tightly controlled voice.

I stretched toward him, dreaming of tracing the powerful lines of his face.

Harold tossed his head. "The perimeter alert didn't go off, Alpha. We were here as soon as we got the eyewitness' reports about the disturbance."

"What?" Blake frowned. "How?"

"Rogues have magic." Harold shrugged. "It's vulgar, but it has potency. I'll get someone to run the diagnostic on the barrier—"

"Not someone. You. Tonight. Now."

"That was what I meant, Alpha." Harold didn't seem pleased, but he showed far less piss and bluster in Blake's presence.

A rugged breath escaped Blake. "Good work."

Only because Harold's shoulders relaxed after this scarce praise, I realized how stressed out he had been by his Alpha's displeasure. The strange man cared about his position, no matter what airs he was putting on.

"Same to you, Alpha," Harold said smoothly, like Blake was his best buddy. "Seen no one else able to project the Alpha's roar this far. How are you even standing?"

Blake ran his hand across his face. "Had to."

"Even for an Omega and a couple of thornbacks!" I almost expected Harold to start slow-clapping, but he limited himself to exclaiming amazing! Absolutely amazing!

From Harold, it sounded more like Unbelievable! Absolutely fucking unbelievable! but I knew Blake enough to think, that's so Blake! He was upright. Powerful. Solid. All about his duty to the pack. He would have done this roar thing Harold was gushing about for anyone, not just for me...

Or would he?

I felt a pang of jealousy, which was fortunate. Otherwise, I'd have embarrassed myself by throwing myself at his neck, hugging him and blowing our cover.

Blake let go of his temples. His eyes lit up as they stopped at me.

I tingled. I melted inside like butter. I should be in his arms, cradled and comforted, and to hell with all the rules...Blake! Oh, Blake!

"Blake!" This wasn't my voice.

It was Mie, who burst into the shop with her arms full of glossy shopping bags, at least ten of them. The biggest one was labeled Tealitefull, the name that grammatically incorrectly gave away the bag's content. I could bet my new dress against my old jeans, that it was industrial quantities of designer, organic, mating urges-calming chamomile tea for Blake.

Mie panted for breath and her face glowed with a sheen of perspiration from rushing to the shop. Yet, she came between Blake and me quicker than she did everything, which was quick.

A foxy smile curved her lips until she realized Blake and I could maintain our incendiary eye contact over her head. And that we were doing it.

"Oops!" She let three bags slip out of her hands and thump to the floor, one of them hitting my foot.

"Mie!" I cried out, since simple words, big emotions were the best I could do, just like her.

Blake didn't speak.

Being Blake, he dropped into a deep squat to collect Mie's bags.

"You gave me such a fright!" Mie had barely regained her breath, but the questions came out at a machine-gun speed. "Blake? Are you alright? Why are you up after this roar? Goddess are you trying to kill yourself?"

The latter questions were thanks to Blake returning to standing way slower than instinct made him go after the falling bags. He turned so white in the face; I gasped too, expecting him to pass out.

Mie gave me a side-eye. I warned you, Omega. If you hurt Blake in any way—

"Everything is under control now," Harold said before Mie could start a fight with me. "Our heroic Alpha can rest now. I'll secure the scene and town."

"Blake!" Mie put so much snap into his name, I couldn't believe she was merely a Gamma. Or maybe it was her Mom's voice.

When she twisted her head to me, I gulped, fighting an absurd desire to brush my hair and blow my nose.

"See what I mean when I say that you have your work cut out for you?" Mie asked me. "Roaring like that, then racing here! He needs a proper, good, useful vacation."

She didn't have to eviscerate me with her gaze to hint that when she actually didn't mean vacation. She meant a proper, good and useful mate.

A sorrowful sigh escaped me. I knew I had to do better, be more powerful, okay? I just didn't know how!

"Thank you for your unwavering support, Mie," Blake said with a crooked grin that brightened his pale cheeks a little. He shoved the bags into her hands.

"My pleasure," Mie said.

Blake glanced at me longingly. "They are right. Harold can take it from here, and I need to get back to the office."

He didn't just sound apologetic. No, apology alone wouldn't have set the tremors in my lips and fingers. He yearned to hold me as much as I yearned to be held by him.

We were so screwed!

"I value your trust in my abilities, Alpha." Harold said with a thin smile.

Blake's upper lip curled, showing off his canines. "I'm too tired to play your games, Harold. So, I'm going to give it to you straight. You can do the job, so do it. Report to me once you're done. Any time, day or night."

"I would never call upon you at night! No need to disturb your...ah...rest with a matter so small." His gaze rolled over me, showing clearly how small I was, and where, in his opinion, I would spend this night. In Blake's bed.

I burned with shame, speechless. Yes, everyone always thought little of me, but not this little as to assume this. To debase my connection with Blake...though, of course, we kept the real thing secret, and... Oh, Goddess! Were I to pretend to be a cheap slut to keep up the appearances?

"Day or night!" Blake barked, protecting my honor in the straightforward way he did everything.

Harold bowed slightly, with his arms held out wide. He even wiggled his wrists a little, but his smile twisted. "Once again, thank you, Alpha, for your trust. Thank you very much."

Blake turned as if to leave, but stopped. "Don't sniff after Celeste, Harold. She hasn't shifted yet, so she's off-limits. For everyone. Do you hear me?"

"Do you still seek to surprise me, Alpha?" Harold snorted. "Because this is exactly what I expect of you: to defend tradition."

"Glad you understand me so well."

"I also expect you," Harold burrowed his carmine gaze into Blake, "I expect you to follow the rules. I mean, it shouldn't be hard for you. You do nothing but."

Mie swiveled her head between me and the two men, then slipped in between them. She sniffed the air noisily and waved her hand in front of her nose.

"Goddess protect us! So much testosterone in one room! Blake, please, go rest before your next teleconference. Once Celeste is done with her fitting, the two of us will go straight back to The Olympian. I swear."

Blake exhaled slowly, gave Harold one more stern look and left.

He didn't even say goodbye to me.

After blasting the rogues with his undiluted macho energy; after racing to town to see if I was alright; and after almost biting Harold's head off in a cock-measuring contest...he didn't bother to say, bye, Celeste.

But then, he went to the boundary of what was physically possible for me and he pounced on Harold.

Flushed, confused and inexplicably happy, while down-in-the-dumps, I took in a deep breath. Men! Can't live with them, can't live without.

"Do you want to give a statement or not, Omega?" Harold glared at me, then at his watch. "Because if you'd rather sigh and stare into the distance, we can save ourselves some time."

"Statement. I have to...yes," I mumbled, crying inside. Harold was obnoxious, and he made me feel tiny, but I had to have him on my side.

My sordid landlord ran with the rogues, so that was probably why they came today.

Blake's roar, the magnificent and wonderful thing that saved me from a silver bullet through my heart, also made me the rogue's prime target.

Even without knowing about our fated bond, they wouldn't stop trying to take me and do sordid things to me, to lure Blake out of his stronghold. Because when they threatened me, he roared, showing that I was his vulnerability. Which meant that they would come for me again, to get to Blake through me, and through Blake—to the pack.

Even if Harold despised me and wouldn't blink to see me tormented by the rogues, he had to protect the pack. Had to. It was his job, while I couldn't shift and protect myself.

Why did it always come down to how pathetic I was?

Goddess, if you're listening? Please, grant me strength and the Mark of Luna. Please? Before the unimaginably bad things would happen to us.