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I opened the text.

Evren, this is your mother. No kidding. That’s how I had her in my contacts. The alpha just left. He thought you had come home to go to bed after the run last night. Call me!

I wasn’t sure why she hadn’t phoned me to start with, but maybe she had tried? No…no missed calls. Anyway, she had to be frantic, and it was my fault. Mom could be emotional at times, and having her daughter disappear was not going to help with that.

She answered on the first ring. “Evren, where are you?”

“I’m —” The low rumble of male voices in the background stopped me from continuing. Either the alpha hadn’t left or he’d come back. “Mom? I’m gone away, and I can’t tell you where right now.”

“Evren, I’m your mother. You can’t just take off with no warning on your mating day.”

“I know who you are. But I am surprised that you are fine with me mating the alpha. His mates don’t usually live long. Or happy.”

“That’s just gossip. They had accidents and they were oversensitive.” My mom did not have a pack. Female but not omega, she had one mate, my dad, and he was a good guy. But she’d lived in this pack her whole life and should know better.

“Right. Anyway, I left. I will not be mating the alpha and dying young or living in hell. If you think that was not the case, you are closing your eyes to reality. But I’m fine, so don’t worry. Except maybe about the wellbeing of whoever he finds to replace me.”

“That is disrespectful, Evren. I did not raise you to be like this. Tell me where you are right now, and we’ll come and get you.” A muffled conversation. “The alpha will come.

I disconnected and settled in to block any numbers from the pack. Starting with my own family. One I’d spent money on was a basic phone plan of my own, the cheapest I could find. The pack provided phones and a plan, but rumor had it that they could be tracked. I’d known from the time I was old enough to understand how things worked in the pack that I would need to leave one day and might need to hide.

Yay past me for a good decision.

But with each number I blocked, a part of me died a little. These were my family and friends, some of whom I trusted, but their phones were all part of the pack plan. And until I was safely mated and marked and settled in my new life, I was vulnerable to being kidnapped and returned to the life of hell the alpha had planned for me.

Swiping away tears, I leaned back in the seat and closed my eyes, trying to make up for some of the sleep I’d lost. I needed the rest to handle whatever came next. My pack might not have been perfect, but for those not mated to the alpha or others like him, it was a safe and secure life. Pretty good for males, and non-omega females. If the guys I was hurtling down the highway to meet did not work out, I was so screwed.

The next notification was a text from the guys. Why did that already feel more like a note from home?

Chapter Ten

Rain

I’d gotten caught up in the flurry of mate preparations right alongside Lark. Warren escaped to the firehouse as he did sometimes, needing time and space to work things out in his mind.

Our pack brother didn’t have the best opinion of mating and mates.

Once the rush and excitement of Evren coming here fizzled out a little bit, my brain kicked in.

And the onslaught of questions began.

Evren’s profile page was not a lot more useful than a blank piece of paper. She had some likes and dislikes, but they were all surface material. I needed more depth.

That was why she was coming but it felt rushed. Even my wolf was the tiniest bit weary like we might’ve been on the verge of being pranked.

What a feeling to have about your mate coming to see you.

We had arrived at the depot two hours before her bus was due to arrive. That gave us plenty of time to talk. Talk and worry. Worry and overthink until none of this felt real.

“We don’t even know where her ticket originated. She had several transfers. Could have been traveling from anywhere.” Warren hadn’t said a word, but his distress hummed through the bond, vibrating with his qualms.

I didn’t blame him one bit.

“What does it matter where she came from? If our mate showed up and knocked on the door, you wouldn’t let her in before she identified her origin story?” Lark looked up from his phone.

We’d been texting her since her departure, only hours after the moment she told us she was coming. Or we told her she could? It was all one blur of motion and words and decisions.

Hell, I’d been all in, but now I wondered if it was my desperation talking. We were all frantic for a mate. For someone to share our life with. We knew since we met that we would one day share a mate.