“Roland,” Lexie fumed from her place on Patrick’s lap. Her presence on top of him was probably the only thing that was helping him keep his anger coldly contained, he’d been close to throwing things when Lexie had finally pushed him onto the chair and sat on him, demanding he hold her. Patrick had responded immediately to his sub’s request, keeping a rein on his anger while going into comforting mode for his girlfriend. Luke wished he could do the same with Olivia, she hadn’t stopped pacing from the moment they’d gotten into the office. “It has to be Roland. After our run in with him at the club? He called you that.”

“Unfortunately that doesn’t count as actual proof,” Kincaid said, apology and frustration heavy in his voice. Standing by Patrick’s desk, he was keeping an eye on the whole room, watching Olivia rather warily. “I’ll try to find him on my personal time to have a word with him, just in case, but there’s no way to actually know it was him. We definitely don’t have enough to bring charges or even get him to pay for it.”

“Fuck!” Olivia yelled, smacking her hand against the file cabinet she’d just reached in her travels across Patrick’s office. Everyone flinched at the harsh sound as it echoed through the room. Shit, that had to hurt. Luke jumped up, hurrying over to take hold of her hand, which she was now shaking out. He cupped it from underneath, frowning at the redness of her palm. When he looked up, she was staring at him, almost bemused, her expression and voice both gentler than they had been a minute ago. “It’s fine, Luke. I’m fine. At least, I will be.”

She sighed, and the energy and anger seemed to drain out of her, leaving just upset and resignation in its wake. Turning hers and Luke’s hands around, she patted the back of his hand—actually looking a little calmer—before pulling away, going to lean on one of the padded armchairs in front of Patrick’s desk. Luke followed a little more slowly, trying not to appear like he was hovering while still doing his best to hover protectively over her.

He didn’t know what to do and he didn’t like it.

The same helpless feeling everyone seemed burdened with right now.

“There’s seriously nothing we can do at all?” Patrick asked with a growl.

“Not really,” Kincaid said, his own voice much more strained than usual. The big, usually quiet, authoritative man was furious.

“I just want to go home,” Olivia said, sounding tired.

“Not alone.”

“Not by yourself.”

“I’m going with you.”

Kincaid, Luke, and Patrick all spoke nearly on top of each other.