Page 71 of His Runaway Mate

She keeps talking and I listen because it’s so good to hear someone talk about something that isn’t my dad eating people, or me running away, or even the alleged wedding, because even that has been lost in her enthusiasm in the concept of a sweet bar.

“Are you going to wear a veil?”

“What?”

“A veil. Are you going to wear one? Because there are some amazing ones, but if we need to find lace, then I think we should do that soon because we could get something custom made, but lace takes like a year to make, maybe three years…”

“I could have had like three kids by then. Maybe four.”

She frowns. “Okay, and what does that matter?”

“I don’t know.”

My life is shifting around me. I thought the most profound change that would happen to me would be turning into a wolf. I was terrified of that, and then it happened and I found power and freedom and horror in it.

Laura snaps her fingers in front of my face. “Where did you go?”

“Huh?”

“You get this faraway look when you’re not paying attention, and you have that look now.”

“I don’t know. I was thinking about what it was like to shift, I guess.”

“What was it like?” She is curious now. “Did you eat that guy?”

“No,” I sigh. “I didn’t eat the guy.”

“I wonder who ate the guy,” she says. “They really thought you ate the guy.”

“I don’t know. I didn’t sit around and wait to see what came out of the forest to eat him.”

“Are you sure you didn’t?”

I look at her. “What are you saying?”

“You might not remember,” she says. “You might have thought you didn’t, but…”

* * *

Rex

I have barely left the girls alone together when I hear a commotion. Fescue and I were going to attend to some pack matters while the guard kept watch, but the second I sense the energy shift, I spin on my heel and go back to the bedroom.

“Don’t say that!” I hear Nicky’s voice raised. She sounds furious, almost feral. Her voice has a shaking, growling note to it that can’t possibly fit the circumstances in which she finds herself.

When I enter the room, Laura is backed up against the wall, eyes wide, shaking her head.

“I didn’t mean to suggest, I just thought that…”

“Well, don’t think!”

I go forward, take my mate by her shoulders, and draw her back. I do not think she understands the force of the energy she is emanating at this point. Her fury has taken over, and a shift may not be far away if she does not calm down.

“What’s wrong?” I turn her to face me, and gesture behind her back for Laura to leave. The girl takes the direction without further prompting, scuttling out of the room as quick as she can.

“People think I ate that man!”

She sobs against my chest as I pull her close and wrap my arms around her. “It doesn’t matter what they think,” I tell her. “You are above speculation. You are my mate.”