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“Technically, the beta's right,” he drawls, “she hasn’t signed any paperwork.”

Lexi bristles like someone just stepped on her heels.

“Uh,the betais right here, thanks,” she snaps, stepping forward. “And the name’s Lexi, not ‘token background extra.’”

Kai flashes her a quick, amused grin. “Apologies, Lexi the beta. Excellent right hook, by the way. Very clean form.”

“I was aiming for your throat.”

“Even better.”

Ash lets out a sigh that sounds like it’s being filtered through a thousand years of repressed trauma, but Lucian doesn’t budge. His full, glacier-carved fury stays locked on Kai.

“You think this is a game?” he murmurs, stalking closer. “You think you can interfere, sniff around,touch?”

Lexi leans in close to me, muttering under her breath.

“Jesus Christ - somebody get this man a sedative, a stress ball, and maybe a long walk into the ocean.”

I want to laugh, I really do, but Ican't.

Lucian doesn’t blink. “You’ve mistaken my tolerance for permission,” he says, smile razor-thin and full of violence dressed in couture.

Kai rolls his neck with a loud crack, bouncing on his heels like he might actually throw a punch just for the fun of it.

“And you’ve mistaken your tone for something that scares me. Spoiler alert:it doesn’t.”

And that’s when my heat slams into me again.Hard.

Like the universe heard “fight me” and decided “oh, you like that?”

It folds over me, all syrupy-sweet and absolutelynotconvenient, sweeping through my body in a rush that makes my knees wobble and my thighs clench like I’ve just been hit by a wave of hot alpha chest hair and bad decisions.

Because, apparently, two grown men squaring off in a hallway over my unregistered omega ass?

Yeah. That’s the thing that does it.

Not flowers. Not love notes.

No - threats of violence and disrespectful eye contact.

Fantastic.

I let out a sound that could generously be described as a strangled wheeze, and Lexi glances over at me once before doing a double-take.

“Oh my god. You’re into this?!” she mutters.

“I didn’t mean to be!” I hiss, gripping the wall like it might save me from spontaneous combustion.

“You need holy water and a therapist.”

“I need them to stop glaring at each other like foreplay!”

Luciangrowls,and my knees start to buckle. My vision blurs heavily, and I have never wanted to punch my biology in the face more than I do right now.

Lexi hisses as she pulls me upright.

“Okay, I love you, but if you collapse here, I am never forgiving you,” she says. “This hallway smells like gym socks and testosterone. Pull. Yourself. Together.”

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