Page 11 of Dark Auctioned Mate

Beside him, Alanis finally spoke. "Where are you taking me?”

He gave her a quick glance. “Somewhere safe.”

"And then."

"And then we talk about what comes next."

“Which is you letting me go.”

He stayed quiet. Then Alanis shifted in the seat to face him more fully. "Rael. I have somewhere to be. People who are expecting to hear from me. A mission that I have not completed." She shook her head. "Look, I'm not asking you to apologize for tonight—I understand why you did what you did. But I need you to understand that pulling me out of one situation doesn't mean I need you to manage what comes after."

He kept his eyes on the road for a moment. Then: "You’re my mate, Alanis, and I’m not letting you go like I did the last time."

"What?”

Shit. He did not mean to say it like that—in a moving car, in the middle of a night that had gone in at least three different directions.

A shocked laugh filled the car. “Run that back.”

Inhaling deeply, Rael shoved one of his hands into his hair. It was now or never. "My wolf recognized you the first time we met. I am an Alpha, and yes, I know this sounds crazy. Me talking about wolves and mates, but I promise you I can explain. “

“You don’t have to,” Alanis whispered and sank into her seat.

Rael’s brows furrowed together to form a frown as he glanced at her. “You’re a shifter? But I—”

“I am shiftless. So, what you’re telling me is you knew I was your mate when we slept together?”

Noting the way she casually said she was shiftless, Rael nodded. "I had my suspicions, and I confirmed it tonight."

"At the auction."

"Yes."

Alanis sighed loudly, pushing her hair behind her ear. Rael desperately wanted her to say something, especially now that he knew she was a wolf like him, too, but he restrained himself. With the limited interactions he’s had with her, he knew that pushing her had never worked, and it was not going to start working now. He could feel the weight of what he'd just said settling into the space between them with the gravity of something that was going to take time to resolve.

He was not ready to say it. He was not sure the timing was right or that she was ready to hear it, wasn't sure he'd done enough to deserve the right to say it at all, given how he handled that night.

But he needed to tell her something to make her stay. To prevent her from walking into a city where the network was still operating, with no backup and a cover that had just been burned, and he had run out of reasons to wait for the right time that felt more solid than his wolf's flat, non-negotiable insistence.

He was an asshole in that hotel room. He'd told himself it was the mission, but on the way back to his apartment, he knew he fucked up, and he sure as hell wasn't making the same call twice.

"I'm not keeping you against your will," he said. "That's not—I'm not doing that." He sighed and glanced at her. "But I'm asking you to come with me. To give this time, which I know I have no right to ask for, and I know why." He looked back at the road. "I'm asking anyway."

"You have terrible timing."

"Yes."

"And your bedside manner is genuinely awful."

"I know."

"And you ruined my plan." She exhaled through her nose. "Just so we're clear about what we're working with here."

"Clear," he said.

It wasn’t a yes, but she also did not say no, and his wolf became relatively calm.

Chapter 6 - Alanis