Page 85 of Outnumbered

I laughed softly. “He built a house in the way I requested. I know he’ll do a lot for me.”

“You let us know, too, okay? Being with alphas is wrought with issues and especially when one or more are royals. We’re here for you whenever you need us.”

“Thanks,” I said and smiled at him. “I appreciate that.”

And I truly did. It was nice to know I had so many people to support me now.

For the first time, I felt like I truly could take on the world.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

“Why are we going to the City Hall again?” Ezio asked.

“I am changing my name and getting new ID cards,” I reminded him.

“You know you could just let one of the princes handle it, right?” he asked as we drove at a snail’s pace through downtown traffic.

“Why would I bother them with something so trivial when I am more than capable of doing it myself? I was doing things like this long before I met you all.”

“Just accept it, Ezio. We have,” Riddick said.

Branson huffed from the front seat. “We don’t like it, but we’ve accepted it.”

“You all didn’t have to come,” I reminded them. “You decided to join me all on your own. I was fine going with just Ezio.”

“With someone ordered to murder you, we aren’t going to let you go anywhere without proper protection,” Riddick said sternly.

“I’d likely draw less attention and be less recognized if I didn’t have all of you around me. At least with Caleb not here, we will draw less attention than normal.” Caleb had wanted to come, but was busy with an urgent matter with Nico that he couldn’t leave. He had tried to convince me to wait, but I had to get my new ID and driver’s license and go meet Fox to sign papers for selling my property. No one else knew I had sold my land yet, though. I was trying to keep it a secret.

“There are guards at City Hall all the time,” Ezio reminded them. “It’ll be safer there than the skating rink you went to last week.”

“Pretty sure having Jolie and her mates with us was the most protected we could have been,” I countered.

He sighed and shook his head, but didn’t argue.

After finally finding a parking spot, Ezio got out first, checked the area, then opened our doors.

Carrying my folder with my birth certificate, original name change documents, and the new name change documents, I headed into the large building before us. City Hall was one of the oldest buildings in Jinla, and while I understood them keeping it due to it being historic, the boring box-shaped building wasn’t exactly awe inspiring like some of the others. Like the library with castle tower corners.

Most of the people walking around wore suits, going about their political jobs, but there were a few dozen like me in regular clothes trying to get personal items accomplished.

I got into line and bounced on my toes as we waited.

Several people looked our way and I knew they weren’t looking at me, but the handsome men behind me.

That’s right, look all you want, but they’re mine. I smiled wide and rocked on my feet, a happy tune whose lyrics I couldn’t remember repeating in my head.

“Next!” an older man with glasses and a staff leaned against the counter beside him called.

Hurrying up to the counter, I pulled out my documents and turned them to face him. “Good morning, I’m here to change my name and get new IDs,” I informed him.

He silently inspected my documents, his eyes widened, and he glanced up at me. After a moment of staring, he asked, “Do you have your old IDs to turn in?”

I took them out of my pocket and set them on the counter next to the documents. Why was he looking at me so strangely? Was it because of the name change signed by Silverowl? I doubted they saw very many of those.

“Give me just a few minutes to enter this into the system,” he said and started typing on the computer.

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