Page 16 of Abandoned Oaths

“Thank you.” He shut the door and locked it before breezing past me to the living room. “We need to get that changed. I don’t want anyone but you four, Emilia, and me able to get up here.”

“We’ll let Marco know.” Derek turned and dropped back onto the couch, evidently done with us.

“Tell me what?” A deep male voice came from the far hall, and a shiftless man strode forward with his defined chest, abs, and arms on full display. His dark brown hair was mussed and slightly damp, likely from sweat if the sheen on his skin was what I thought it was. His dark eyes scanned over Rod before landing on me and taking me in.

“You’re over security?” Rod asked.

“Yeah.” Marco didn’t look away from me.

“Then why isn’t the building already secure?” Rod demanded.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Marco finally faced him, evidently not appreciating being questioned.

“The building security managers have full access. They can reach this level without being approved or escorted by one of us.”

Marco’s shoulders tensed, making the already large muscles bulge. “It’s on my to-do list.”

Rod cocked his head, looking more threatening than I’d seen him yet.“You think you have time to work out when you have completed your tasks? Building security is critical. Restricting access should have happened before you even moved in, let alone Emilia’s arrival.”

“There have been a few . . . bumps.” Marco didn’t seem concerned at all by Rod’s rising anger.

“Why haven’t I been notified about any of them?” he demanded.

“Because I have them handled.”

“Obviously not.” Rod maintained a calm exterior, but I’d been around enough male wolves to know he could shift in seconds and kill this guy if Marco didn’t start taking this seriously.

I put my hand on his shoulder. “Rod? Why are these men in my apartment?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “They live here too.”

“What?”

“She didn’t know?” Cruz chuckled.

“You’re sharing this place with them.”

The fuck I was!

“No.”

“Look, we’re not thrilled by the idea, either, but we’ve all got to make sacrifices, princess,” Marco sneered, and I marked him as my first death in Florida.

“I do not need my security team living with me.” I refused to back down. Rod needed to fix this.

“Security team?” Derek scoffed. “We’re a bit more than that.”

He thought so?

I relaxed my shoulders and slowly turned to him. He was the youngest looking of the three, an easy target. I licked my lips and smiled. “You’re right.”

Without taking my eyes off him, I moved down the hall and rounded the couch to stand in front of him.

“You have so much to do.” I used my soft voice, the one I reserved for when men needed to feel all tough and strong, and cocked my head as I trailed my eyes down his body.

He was thick, muscular, but so were all the shifters I’d met. His dark brown hair was scruffy, like he hadn’t even brushed it today, and his deep, dark eyes locked on me.

I bent down, resting my hands on my knees, so he had a perfect view of my cleavage. The sucker stared.

---