ra

ow had paralyzed the street. Butler's guards stopped

ief. When he recognized the figure in the window, the

red, bowing his head in a clumsy show

ost powerful Alphas in the Northern Ridge Dominion, a ruler who controlled his own independent territory and commanded forces loyal t

me. People lowered their heads and averted their eyes, sudd

en-gold eyes remained fixed on me, and something

was a man of his stature intervening in a petty street squa

ony railing and dropped to the street below. He landed silently, wi

h his power, a palpable pressure that made it hard to breathe. The lower-ranki

trembling legs to obey. I wou

s taller than I'd realized, a mountain of a man who blocked out the morning sun. He looked down,

gan, my voice still

, silencing me. The touch was electric, a jolt of heat that shot

my ear, and murmured in a voice only I cou

emained lazy and conversational, but the authority behind it silenced the entire

egan to tremble at his sides, but he k

one more time, and then, loud enough for everyone o

dropped li

n, the glance I had cast toward the restaurant window, Alpha Travis's intervention, and now his unmistakable

cess what was happening. He wasn't exposing me.

nto naked fear. His eyes moved between Kane and me, as though he could not reconcile

he confusion around us pleased him. With deliber

covering my ruined dress, enveloping me in his scent. It was a clean, sha

t his temple. Whatever fear kept him cautious was clearly losing ground to wounded pride. He

d me first!" he blustered, his voice cracking. "By Pack

. He was right. An Omega, especially a wolfless one,

was a low, rumbling sound that held no h

steadying. Then he turned back to Butler, and ev

ated softly. "An