AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I huff at the low blow as he steps into the hall and closes the door softly behind him.
I can’t work out what he’s up to. Ethan went to Anderson’s pack to pursue a relationship with Lucia. After Toby, her mate, died, Ethan was disappointed. He thought they’d turn out to be second chance mates. I can understand not being able to turn off their feelings instantly. Ethan might have been willing to take a chosen mate, but surely if he has met his fated now, he will claim her instead and bring her back to Grey Ridge to meet us all. Even if they don’t ultimately settle down in our pack, he’s part of our family and she will be, too. We want to get to know her, whoever she is.
Maya’s soft whimpers from our room reach me, and I curse. I know if I set foot inside that room, I’ll never leave. Determined to get Kim out of here, I storm back into the bedroom where she’s trapped and frown when I see her curled up in a ball, facing the wall.
“Get up. Cooper and Rex can waste their time dragging information out of you. I’m not spending a second longer in your company than I absolutely have to.”
Silence. I walk around the bed and listen properly, but there’s nothing. She’s not breathing. No heartbeat thumps inside her chest anymore.
Fuck!
Nathan: Ethan, we have a problem. I think Kim’s dead.
Ethan: Is this your idea of a joke? Because it’s not funny.
Nathan: I wish.
Ethan: Please tell me you’re fucking joking. We never got to interrogate her properly. Rex will go crazy.
I roll her onto her back and examine her closely. Her lips are pale, and there are traces of drool and foam around her mouth. Patting her down, I quickly locate a slim black case with one more innocuous-looking pill rolling around in it.
Nathan: No joke. She has some pills with her. She must have popped one when we were distracted.
Our only witness, our only lead, who we needed to get information from to put an end to this madness, is gone.
Cooper will have my head for this.
CHAPTER 34
MAYA
“She’s not dead.” I lean against the doorframe, concentrating hard to hear the faint sound of Kim’s almost non-existent heartbeat and breaths. They’ve slowed down dramatically, but they’re there. I’m not surprised Nathan can’t hear them if I’m struggling.
Nathan is at my side immediately, lowering me into a chair carefully.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed, Maya.”
Putting his hand to my head, he frowns. I’m still burning up with no way of quenching the flames within me but I slap his hand away and straighten my spine.
“I’m horny, not sick. I just want everyone out of here.”
He smiles a lazy, sexy smile at my impatience. Even though his touch cools the fire, my body is still slick with sweat, and I feel like scratching my skin off. I need relief and there’s only one person I want to give it to me. My mate. My own fingers have been able to take the edge off, but my heat continues to rise.
“How is that even possible?” Nathan squats beside Kim and pushes her hair back to take her pulse. My claws dig into the wooden chair, leaving deep gouges. Snarling, I push to my feet and drag him away from her, not even pretending to be anything other than jealous. In this state, I can’t stand to see him touching another woman, especially one he has touched intimately before.
“Who can you think of that might have access to a way to force hibernation?”
“Fucking bears,” Nathan mutters, running his hands down my arms and pressing his nose into my neck to savour my scent. “So you think these are, like, bear sleeping pills?”
Shrugging, not even remotely interested in the how or why of any of this, I press my body to his and cling to him. Nathan groans, his hand sliding up under his t-shirt that I’m wearing to tease my nipples. When I writher under his touch and grind my pelvis against his thigh, he curses loudly, grinding his teeth.
“Please, Nathan. I can’t take it any longer.”
Tears prick my eyes as the closest thing to panic grips me. Ross. Where’s Ross? What kind of friend am I that I’m only thinking about him now? He could be hurt or dead while I’m here desperately trying to get off by rubbing myself like a cat against my mate’s leg.
“Where’s Ross? Is he okay?”
It’s Nathan’s turn to be filled with jealousy as he grips my ass and hauls my leg over his hip, pressing me against the wall and nipping the delicate skin on my shoulder as he leans down, surrounding me with his big body and commanding presence.
