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“Would anyone care for a drink?” Leah bats her eyelashes and reaches for Tasha, dragging her close enough to fling her arm around her shoulder. “And then you can explain to me how you were so unfortunate as to be mated to this prick.”
Oh, fuck.
7
Tasha
“What did you just say?” My voice sounds flat and for good reason. Leah’s words are the most outrageous thing I’ve ever heard. It feels too ridiculous for her to be making that kind of outlandish assertion with so much confidence.
Leah is forced to stop moving when I dig my heels in. She looks at me with a deep frown, clearly not understanding the problem. “What? Which part?”
“I’m not anyone’s mate.” I carefully move out of her grasp, putting distance between me and these three complete freaking strangers. How on Earth did I end up here? These people are clearly delusional.
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. Look at the way he’s looking at you.” She’s flippant as she nods behind me, and I turn to see Paxton staring at me with fire in his eyes. To me, it looks like he’s thinking about strangling me and not much else.
Or you could try actually looking, my wolf snarks.
And then I see it. Something I never expected to see again. Something that terrifies me and sends me reeling backward, farther away from this shifter who has stalked and kidnapped me.
Because he’s looking at me like…
Mate.I wince, shaking my head as if that will somehow erase that one word. My wolf doubles down.Mate. Our mate.
It’s not like I didn’t make the comparison earlier after mind linking, but I didn’t consider it a real possibility. I’ve already had my mate. This has to be some kind of trick or mistake. I’m sure my wolf is simply confused, though she internally snarls to let me know she resents that thought. But there has to be some kind of other explanation. Therehasto be.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I mumble. Thankfully, none of them follow me as I stagger around to the other side of the car for the only bit of privacy I can get out here in the middle of nowhere.
I paid attention while we drove. There’s nothing else around here for miles and miles. Even the road leading up to the house is nothing more than a long dirt driveway. No one else will be passing by.
I bend in half and wrap my arms around my waist as I dry heave. This can’t be happening. It’s simply a mistake. It has to be.
In the back of my consciousness, I can hear Leah trying to encourage Paxton to comfort me. I’m glad that he doesn’t. Nothing that guy could do right now would offer me any comfort. Except maybe letting me go. Returning me to the Sovereign Pack where I belong now.
We go where our mate goes. My wolf is apparently more than happy to go along with this charade. She’s reveling in this reveal while the rest of me struggles to breathe through the panic.
I’m hit by the worst sense of déjà vu.
Years ago, I tagged along with my brother while he checked out a motorcycle he was looking to buy from another shifter. And the moment I laid eyes on Jimmy Law, my wolf knew we never wanted to go anywhere without him ever again. It was instant.
I let him mark me the day we met. I had never been more sure of anything than I was of my mate. Even when it meant leaving my brother and sister behind for a new pack, I never second-guessed my bond.
But this? This I’m second-guessing.
Something is obviously wrong with my wolf.Excuse me?Because I’ve already loved and lost my mate. There are no second chances. No take backs. No do-overs. Maybe Paxton drugged me when I passed out, and I can chalk this all up to a bad trip.
Paxton’s footsteps finally stomp toward me, and he steps around the Jeep, crowding me. He doesn’t stop until he’s standing in front of me—forcing me to stand again too—so close his bare toes brush mine.
He leans into me, and I press my back against the car. I don’t want to be this close to him.
“You feel it, don’t you?” he demands.
“No,” I lie.
A low growl tears out of his throat. “I’ve tried taking advice and doing things the right way, but you’re so damn difficult.” He really has the nerve to make it sound like I’m the unreasonable one here. I gape at him. “This place is in the middle of nowhere, and it’s going to be home until you’re marked.”
“You’re not marking me.” I slap my hand over the spot at the base of my neck where my mark from Jimmy used to be. After losing a mate, the mark naturally fades away over time. Mine has faded away to almost nothing already.
“Then I hope you like Leah’s house because we’re going to be here a while.” He works his jaw back and forth like he’s barely holding back the rest of his anger.
