The air between us didn’t just vibrate; it hummed like a severed live wire.
My skin still prickled where their scent collided with mine. Rich cedar, rain-slick sage, and dark spice filled the room, tangling so violently with my jasmine and black tea that my throat tightened.
Damian stood three feet away, staring down at me as if I were a ghost that had just broken through the floor.
"Well, well," Luca said, breaking the silence with a low chuckle from the door.
He didn't move away from the wood. Instead, he tilted his head, his lips curling into an easy, dangerous smirk.
"I didn't expect Hale's party favors to be this generous," Luca said, his dark eyes sparkling. "A runaway Omega who smells like heaven and belongs to me."
"Shut up, Luca," Adrian muttered, his voice gravel-rough.
"Why should I?" Luca countered, stepping forward and spreading his hands. "You felt that jolt just as clearly as I did, little brother. But look at her. She walked straight to our room. That makes her mine."
The casual ownership in his voice struck a nerve so raw it turned my blood to slush.
I looked at Luca, my chin lifting. "I belong to nobody. Step away from the exit."
"Feisty," Luca purred, closing the distance between us by half a step. "I like that. You don't know who we are, do you?"
"I know exactly who you are," I said, keeping my tone level and flat. "You're three suits with bloated bank accounts and too much ego. And right now, you're standing in my way."
Adrian let out a short, incredulous laugh from the table, scratching the back of his neck. "She's got teeth, Damian."
"Enough," Damian barked.
The command dropped over the room like lead weights. His silver eyes hadn't blinked once. He towered over me, his massive shoulders blocking out the city view behind him.
"You haven't answered my question," Damian said, his voice dropping into a register that rattled the crystal glassware on the desk. "Who are you?"
"Nora Reed," I said. "Now move."
"Reed," Damian repeated. His brows knit together. "The director running Hale's corporate communications."
"Former director," I corrected. "My resignation took effect about four minutes ago."
"And the bond?" Damian demanded. He took another step, his Alpha presence flaring outward, heavy and suffocating. "You felt that pull. Don't lie."
"I felt a chemical inconvenience," I replied coldly. "Nothing more."
"A chemical inconvenience?" Luca laughed again, though the humor in his tone thinned out into sharp disbelief. "Darling, that was an unbroken mate link. Our biology just locked onto you. You don't get to shrug that off like a spilled cup of coffee."
"Watch me," I said.
Damian reached out, his large fingers hovering an inch from my wrist before he stopped himself, his jaw clenching hard enough to crack enamel. "You are not walking out of this room until we understand what just happened. Adrian, call our private physician. We need blood panels immediately."
"You're not testing anything," I snapped, cutting him off mid-sentence.
Damian’s eyes narrowed into slits. "I am not asking for your permission, Nora. Three Alphas just bonded to one Omega simultaneously. That hasn't been recorded in over two centuries. You will sit down, you will answer our questions, and you will let us handle this."
"Handle me?"
A dry, sharp laugh slipped past my lips. It sounded harsh even to my own ears.
"A man told me he loved me this morning and got engaged at six," I said, staring directly into Damian's silver eyes without flinching. "Today is no longer accepting applications from Alphas."
The entire room froze.
Adrian’s mouth actually fell open. Luca stopped twirling his watch, his smirk vanishing into complete confusion. Even Damian seemed struck mute, his imposing frame stiffening as my words sank into the heavy air.
They were used to being obeyed. They were billionaires, apex predators, men who snapped their fingers and bought out rivals before lunch. Nobody spoke to them like they were disposable.
I didn't give them time to recover.
I pivoted on my heel and headed straight for the heavy mahogany door.
Luca was still standing close to the frame, but he was too stunned to shift his weight in time. I reached out, grabbed the brass handle, and dragged the door wide open.
"Nora, wait," Damian commanded, snapping out of his daze.
His heavy steps closed the distance behind me. A large hand reached out to grasp my shoulder, ready to yank me back inside.
"Damian, don't!" Adrian shouted.
A hand caught Damian’s forearm before he could touch me.
I glanced back over my shoulder. Adrian had moved with blinding speed, his tattooed fingers digging into his older brother’s bicep, holding Damian back with sheer physical force.
"Look at her eyes," Adrian said softly, his hazel gaze flicking toward me. The mocking edge in his posture was completely gone, replaced by something dark and intensely focused. "She isn't playing hard to get. Touch her right now, and she'll tear your throat out with her bare hands."
Damian glared at Adrian's grip on his arm, a low, menacing rumble building in his broad chest. "She's our mate, Adrian."
"And she's bleeding inside from whatever happened out there," Adrian replied, never taking his eyes off me. "Back off. You're suffocating her."
Luca stepped forward, his eyes burning with an intense, possessive heat. "We're letting her walk away? Out into the hallway where Hale's press vultures are still swarming?"
"Try to stop me," I told Luca, my voice low and venomous. "See what makes the morning headlines."
Luca’s jaw set into a hard line, but he didn't raise a finger to block the threshold.
I didn't offer another word. I stepped out into the carpeted corridor, letting the mahogany door swing shut behind me with a solid, echoing thud.
The corridor was quiet now, the distant noise of the press conference fading toward the main lobby elevators. My legs carried me forward on pure spite, every muscle coiled tight, ignoring the persistent, aching throb at the base of my neck that begged me to turn around.
Behind the closed door of the private suite, silence hung for only three seconds before the storm broke.
"Are you out of your mind?" Damian’s voice carried through the wood, muffled but unmistakably lethal. "You let her leave."
"She needed air," Adrian fired back. "You act like an iron wall, and you expect an Omega who was just betrayed to fall into your lap?"
"She isn't just an Omega," Luca’s voice cut in, sharp and fiercely competitive. "She’s ours. And mark my words, brothers—she isn't leaving this city without me."
"Not without you?" Adrian scoffed. "You think you're the one she wants?"
"She drank from my glass," Damian said, his voice dropping into absolute, chilling authority that silenced them both. "She belongs to this family. Find out everything about her. Where she lives, where she sleeps, who hurt her. By nightfall, I want her file on my desk."
I kept walking, picking up my pace as I neared the bank of elevators.
The scent of cedar and sage still clung to the fabric of my coat, heavy, stubborn, and impossible to scrub away.
I hit the button for the ground floor, watching the digital numbers drop.
Evan Hale thought he could throw me away like trash.
The Cross brothers thought they could claim me like territory.
They were all about to find out how wrong they were.
