Page 28 of His Runaway Mate

“Nicky!”

I turn around and the boys rush past me, picking me up between them like the female lead in a musical being swept up and out of the way. Cal and Simon hook their big arms underneath my armpits and hoist me up so my feet can no longer touch the ground.

“Put me down!” I kick and squirm as they clear the street with me. They do put me down, but two of them keep hands on me while the third inspects my already swollen hand.

“You broke your hand,” Cal says. “Like, you fucking broke it.”

“Doesn’t matter. I have two.”

It doesn’t really hurt. Not compared to the charging energies inside me. Not compared to what I want to do. I want to fuck someone. Not someone. Rex. I want to fuck him so hard I come apart entirely. But he’s not here, and I am being tussled with on the streets.

The creature I have been fighting is rising within me. My body wants to undergo transformation. Wants to become fully female, entirely wolf. But I can’t do that. If I do that, I’ll lose everything. I know it. I have to stay as I was. I can’t let having met my fated mate change me.

* * *

Rex

My phone rings. I ordinarily would not answer during a meeting, but since mating Nicky, I have taken it off do not disturb. Nobody will ever understand what a significant change that is for me, and I will never tell them.

I don’t recognize the number, but I answer because the call could be about Nicky, and nothing on this planet is more important than her.

“Hello?”

“Uh, yeah, hi. It’s Laura.” I hear her draw on her vape, and immediately have the visual image of the largely disinterested secretary posted outside Nicky’s office.

“To what do I owe the honor of this call?”

“You gotta come get your girl, big man. She’s fighting the shift. It’s not good for her. We’re worried she’s gonna go feral in the middle of the street.”

I hear a commotion in the background. I can hear my mate making very un-ladylike sounds and then male voices calling out excitedly.

“She punched a car!”

“She what? She went feral in the street?” I hear Laura say. She puts the phone back up to her face. “Sorry. I gotta go. Come to the warehouse if you want. Or don’t. Whatever. Bye.”

She hangs up on me.

I look at the phone for a brief moment, then make a decision.

“Gentlemen, I have to go. We can continue these negotiations later.”

The negotiator across the table from me blanches. There’s a notable shuffle of consternation from several parties. “We’re on the verge of deciding the fate of billions of dollars and thousands of workers, Mr. Regent.”

“Yes, we are. All the more reason not to rush anything,” I say, already walking. “Reschedule with Fescue, please.”

* * *

Nicky

My boys have me pinned down. Tom is sitting on me, blocking blows as I swing at him and tell him to get the hell off me.

“No, boss. I’m sorry,” he says. “If I let you go, you’re gonna go feral.”

“I’m not gonna go feral,” I say. “Let me up. I’ll be normal.”

“You punched a car. And now you’re punching me with a broken hand. You’re doing everything but foaming at the mouth, boss.”

He has a point. My hand does hurt, now that he mentions it. But there’s too much else going on in my body to notice. I do not feel like my usual self. I feel like a much more heightened, angry, horny version of myself.