Thanks to Nate’s discretion, my arrival at the bar had drawn only fleeting glances—covert, curious, but dismissive once they found nothing remarkable. I’d faded into the background, a shadow among the pack’s glittering heirs.
But now, slipping through the back door to rejoin Willow unnoticed, my plan unraveled. The moment my foot crossed the bar’s first-floor threshold, a swarm enveloped me. Voices pressed in, their questions veiled but sharp, probing how I knew Jax, the depth of our connection.
I spun a flimsy excuse: Jax had asked me for directions when he first arrived in the Rose Pack, and upstairs, he’d merely thanked me in private. The lie was thin, but it held—just.
“Let her through! That’s my cousin Layla—move!” Addie’s voice cut through, sharp and commanding, as she shoved her
