1

When the baby onesie hit the floor, I covered my belly first.

I stumbled back half a step, and my side hit the shelf. Calming stones spilled from a glass jar and scattered across the floor.

Clara held up the little pale blue outfit and flicked at the Blackpine crest on its collar.

"Who said you could put this on a baby?"

A number of shoppers stopped to watch.

The Blackpine pack ran this shopping district. Everyone knew the Ward family's only daughter. Everyone also knew she'd been at the Harbor Foundation gala on the Alpha's arm.

To them, I was just the former employee from the previous year's internal newsletter who wouldn't leave the Alpha alone.

"That's something I ordered." I steadied myself on the shelf. "Please give it back."

I didn't raise my voice.

My healer had warned me not to let my wolf get worked up this late in pregnancy, or both the pup and I would feel sick.

Liv, my wolf, whimpered inside me and curled around the unborn baby.

But then Clara grabbed my scarf.

The thin patch over my mark came off with it. Pain shot through my neck. I grabbed her wrist on instinct, then let go and caught myself against the shelf.

The pale silver bite mark was out in the open.

Whispers rippled through the crowd.

Clara stared at it, and the amusement drained out of her eyes.

"You even got yourself one of these. Who are you trying to trap, Erin?"

I pressed the help button at the counter.

"Please keep her away from me, and call mall security."

The broken glass had sliced my palm open, and blood dripped onto the tiles. Only then did Clara seem to realize what she'd done. She let go of me, pressed a hand to her chest, and started gasping for air.

Ten minutes later, we were sitting in separate rooms in the mall's security office.

The staff called a healer, who confirmed the pup was okay for now, and saved the footage. Since I'd been shoved and hurt, the local police were coming to take statements.

Through the wall, I could hear Clara on the phone with her father, Gordon Ward, telling him to get hold of Leon.

Through the glass, she held up her phone for me to see.

"He's on his way."

She straightened her collar like she was waiting for a date.

"You know he's never been able to stand seeing me embarrassed."

I pressed gauze to my hand and watched the door.

A few minutes earlier, I'd tried to reach him through our mind-link.

All I got back was one quick reply.

In a meeting. Wait for me.

In two years, I'd been told to wait more times than I could count.

Wait until the harbor attack case was closed. Wait until the Elders accepted a mate from an ordinary family. Wait for the right time to go public.

Leon and I had already filed a private mate registration, and we'd exchanged marks.

But on the Blackpine pack's public registry, the Luna's spot was still empty.

Finally, the door opened.

The scent of fir on Leon's coat reached me, and Liv immediately lifted her head.

He glanced at the gauze on my hand and asked the nurse whether the baby was okay.

But Clara got up first.

"Leon, I can't breathe."

He turned, steadied her by the shoulders, called the healer over, and draped his coat over her.

I looked at that coat.

Just that morning, before he left, I'd done up the button at its collar for him.

The duty supervisor came over with a form and asked quietly, "Mr. Blake, these two women gave us different answers about who your mate is. We need your permission to check the private registry."

Leon clenched his jaw.

At the end of the hall, a PR consultant Gordon had brought along was on the phone. A few reporters who'd caught wind of it were waiting outside the main doors.

"We're not discussing that today," Leon said. "Deal with the injuries first."

I looked up.

"All you have to do is authorize the registry to verify it, just once."

Leon glanced at me, then leaned in and spoke so only I could hear. "Clara's father is negotiating the port contract renewal, and there are people outside waiting to take pictures. Give me some time."

"How long?"

He didn't answer.

The supervisor tried again. "Then for the Luna status on the public form—"

"She hasn't been named Luna yet."

He didn't say it loudly, but everyone in the next room heard it.

Clara lowered her eyes, and a slow smile spread across her face.

All at once, I understood. Leon wasn't going to deny our private contract here.

He would just say one thing that let everyone draw the wrong conclusion, then leave me to deal with the humiliation.

"Then what about your mate?" I asked.

Leon's fingers twitched.

Clara grabbed his sleeve, and the healer said she needed somewhere quiet for monitoring. In the end, Leon told the supervisor that his private lawyer would handle the identity information later.

He left his assistant, Owen Hughes, to arrange my checkup and walked out with Clara.

I didn't go after him.

I asked the staff for a case number, checked my statement word for word, and signed it.

That night, I waited outside the healing center for 40 minutes.

Leon's car pulled up. He didn't get out. He was still on the phone, confirming Clara's follow-up appointment for the next day.

"She's feeling better now. You need to let the mall thing go."

I looked down at the blood-soaked gauze on my palm.

"So the one who got hurt is the one who won't let it go?"

He hung up and frowned.

"I had Owen cover all the bills. Her father protected me during an attack once. I can't let one shove wreck things between our two families."

"And me?"

"You're my mate. We'll talk about it at home."

He opened the car door like he'd already given me a good enough answer.

I didn't get in. I set an appointment slip on the seat.

"Nine tomorrow morning. I'm having our marks removed."