Page 109 of Knotting the Cowboys

"I always go," Austin says carefully, adjusting Luna against his chest. "It's tradition. My family's been involved with the rodeo since this town was founded. But this year..."

"This year the town council passed new attendance rules," Mavi supplies when Austin trails off. His voice carries an edge sharp enough to cut. "Alphas attending social events must bring their bonded Omega partners. No exceptions."

"Partner?" The word sits strange on my tongue. "As in... their Omega?"

"As in their property," Cole's voice comes from behind me, and I spin to find him in the doorway, looking like thunderclouds decided to take human form. He must have come in through the back while I was focused on Austin. "Mayor's way of reminding unmated Alphas of their place in his vision of proper society."

The bitterness in his tone makes my chest tight. Cole moves into the kitchen with that controlled power he always carries, but there's tension in the set of his shoulders, the way his jaw works like he's chewing on words too harsh to voice.

"The Mayor's an old prick who needs to be dethroned," he continues, leaning against the counter with crossed arms. The position puts him directly in my line of sight, and I'm struck again by how much space he takes up—not just physically but energetically, like his mood can shift the entire atmosphere of a room. "But overthrowing established power requires more than just wanting it. Need the connections, the backing, the financial weight to make other packs listen."

River's laugh surprises me—low and genuinely amused. "Financial weight?" He points his knife at Cole before returning to his apple. "Between the ranch holdings, the side businesses, and the investments, we could buy half this town tomorrow. Hell, we have more liquid assets than the Mayor's entire extended family combined, and he knows it."

"Which is why he tries to make our lives hell through regulation," Mavi adds, finally looking up from his drone. "Can't attack us directly, so he chips away with bureaucracy."

I frown, remembering my unwelcome reception at the hotel, the way the desk clerk's expression had shifted from polite to cold the moment she'd scented me.

"What do you mean? What kind of regulations?"

"Building permits that take three times longer than anyone else's," Cole starts counting on his fingers. "Surprise inspections that always seem to find violations no one else gets cited for. Zoning challenges to any expansion we propose."

"Remember the water rights dispute?" Austin shifts Luna to his other arm, her small sounds of contentment filling the brief pause. "Tried to claim our irrigation system was impacting downstream flow, even though we've used the same setup for forty years."

My frown deepens.

"But that's... is that even legal? Targeting specific pack members?"

"Legal and right aren't the same thing, Dandelion," River says quietly, and the nickname makes warmth bloom in my chest despite the serious topic. "Small town politics run on different rules. The Mayor's been in power for twelve years. His family's been prominent here for generations. That builds a certain type of influence."

"The kind that makes people look the other way," I murmur, understanding dawning. It's not so different from the territorial politics I witnessed at Iron Ridge, just dressed up in small-town charm instead of corporate suits. The same power plays, the same way of keeping outsiders in line.

"What other things has he done?" I ask, needing to understand the full scope of what my men—and that possessive thought should probably concern me more than it does—face in this town. "Besides the permits and regulations?"

River and Mavi exchange a look that speaks volumes, years of shared frustration communicated in a glance. The kitchen suddenly feels smaller, like the walls are pressing in with the weight of unspoken grievances.

"He's creative," River finally says, voice carefully neutral. "I'll give him that."

The apple slices forgotten on the cutting board tell me this conversation has touched a nerve. I wait, watching the play of kitchen light across River's face, the way his hands have stilled completely.

Even Luna seems to sense the shift in mood, stirring slightly against Austin's chest before settling again.

River's fingers drum against the counter—once, twice—before he speaks, and I realize I've never seen him agitated quite like this. His usual calm has cracks in it, hairline fractures that show something rawer underneath.

"Last spring, I applied to expand my veterinary practice," he begins, voice measured despite the tension in his shoulders."Nothing fancy—just adding large animal emergency services so ranchers wouldn't have to wait for someone to drive from Billings when a cow's in distress. Standard application, all paperwork perfect. Should have been approved in two weeks."

"Let me guess," I say. "It wasn't."

"Three months." His laugh holds no humor. "Three months of 'lost' documents, sudden requirement changes, and mysterious delays. Every time I met one set of demands, new ones appeared. Additional insurance requirements that no other vet in the state needs. Zoning studies for a building that's been used for animal care since the fifties. Health department inspections for equipment that was already certified."

The injustice of it makes my hands curl into fists. "How is that not discrimination?"

"Because technically, everything was within regulatory bounds," Mavi interjects, his attention seemingly back on his drone but his voice carrying sharp awareness. "Each requirement, taken alone, is legally justifiable. It's the pattern that reveals the intent, and patterns are harder to prove in court than single instances."

He sets down his screwdriver with deliberate precision. "Which brings us to my situation. Eight months ago, I identified critical security vulnerabilities in our ranch systems. The kind of gaps that keep me up at night, knowing what's out there, who might take advantage."

"Dramatic much?" Austin murmurs, but there's affection in it.

"You weren't saying that when those cattle thieves hit the Morrison ranch," Mavi counters. "Anyway, I sourced the necessary equipment—high-end cameras with facial recognition, perimeter sensors that can distinguish between wildlife and human intrusion, a central monitoring systemthat integrates with my phone. Chinese manufacturers, because they're fifteen years ahead of American companies in this tech."

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