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Tasha tries to pull away from me as Zeke pulls the Jeep out of the cover of trees and onto the nearby road. “Stop before you hurt yourself.” She jerks her elbow into my side, but it barely fazes me. With a sigh, I try bargaining instead. “If you’ll chill the hell out for a minute, I can give you clothes to put on.”
Her jerking slows and then stops altogether. She shifts on the seat to eye me warily.
“You’re going to give me clothes?” She sounds skeptical.
Zeke snorts, his amusement punctuated by mechanical clicking noises. “I put the child locks on back there. You might as well take the clothes and get comfortable.” He winks at her through the rearview mirror, ripping a growl out of my throat. “Down, boy. We’re on the same side here, remember?”
This time when Tasha reaches out for the door handle, I let her. Her sharp tug doesn’t make the door budge. She releases a strangled groan and turns, resting her back against the door to keep as much distance as possible between us.
I let it go for the moment and lean over to reach into the bag I packed. I knew I would need to shift at some point to get onto Sovereign Pack land, but I didn’t actually prepare for Tasha to shift too. I only have my own clothes, but the idea of her wearing them sends an intense bolt of awareness through me.
I grab a plain black t-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants and hand them over to her. She takes them cautiously, eyeing what I’ve given her.
Either you didn’t plan on kidnapping me, or you didn’t plan on letting me live long enough to need clothes.The snarky words travel across mind link. I look up from pulling my own clothes out and offer her a lazy grin.Why can you hear me?
Why do you think?
I look away from her as I pull on sweatpants, carefully pulling the waistband over my cock that’s all too aware of her presence beside me. I’m lucky shifters have good nudity etiquette or she would risk getting an eyeful right now. I can already feel the nervous energy radiating off of her, and the longer it goes on, the more pissed off I get. No need to add a bad reaction to my dick to the mix.
If she would stop fighting me every step of the way, her wolf could tell her exactly what this is. A mate claiming his mate. The oldest tradition that shifters have.
“Paxton.” Tasha’s voice is so soft and smooth saying my name that I still with one arm in my t-shirt.
She’s already dressed in my clothes. The sight of her—her cheeks flushed, her curves hidden by my oversized shirt—makes something savage rise in me. I could mark her right here and now and put an end to her questions.
“You have to take me back.” She crosses her arms defensively over her chest. “Everyone will be looking for me the second word gets out that I’m missing. Not just the Sovereign Pack. Everyone.”
She’s fucking unbelievable. “I don’t care.”
“But—“
“No.” My tone is sharp enough that she presses her lips closed.
“Dude…” Zeke shakes his head in the front seat. “You know, I dated a human once, and we did this couple’s counseling thing. Maybe that would help.” He turns his head enough to see me glaring. “Or not.” He shrugs and turns the music up, drowning out the awkward silence that’s suddenly descended.
None of this is happening how it was supposed to.
Callie was so damn wrong. All trying to woo Tasha did was creep her out. And she’s clearly too caught up about the mate she lost for her wolf to feel the bond with me. This situation is completely fucked.
And now I’ve gone and stolen the replacement Luna Sovereign. Tasha is right, every wolf in existence will be looking for her by the end of the day.
I’ve taken too many chances these past few months. Someone is bound to mention my interest in Tasha and give away the fact that she’s with me. So we have to go somewhere where no one will see us or think to look for us.
I only have one idea, and it’s not a pleasant one.
But then I turn my gaze to Tasha again, and I know I don’t have any choice. Besides the risk of someone catching us, I also have to consider that she might take any opportunity she can find to run away from me again.
So I swallow my pride and lean forward. “Zeke? I need to borrow your phone.”
* * *
“Okay, I have to admit this was not what I was expecting when you said we had to go by coordinates instead of an address.” Zeke leans forward and gapes at the Roman-style fountain that sits ostentatiously in front of a sprawling white house.
Tasha stays silent, the same way she’s been the entire trip. Not that I helped much. I’ve been fucking brooding the whole damn time.
My plan went to shit, and now I’m stuck asking a favor from one of the last people I ever wanted to see again.
Speaking of which…
