Page 8 of Rival Love

Lunai had waved a hand as if to say she didn’t have any doubts I’d be up for the task of saving a new mate. “Vincent has made more than one mistake tonight. Not only has he betrayed you by sleeping with your twin, he’s also made arrangements to have Archer Sinclaire and his father abducted. He wants their pack’s territory and thinks torture is the way to get it.”

I’d gasped and put my hands to my mouth. Why hadn’t I ever seen that Vince was capable of this kind of behavior? He’d only been nice to me.

Until he wasn’t.

“One of your former mate’s best qualities is his drive,” Lunai had said. “It’s also his worst quality.” She’d floated closer to me and rested her hands on my shoulders. I’d tingled all over at her touch. “What I offer you tonight is simple, my little Omega. Save Archer Sinclaire and he is yours. A new mate, a new pack, a new life. All for you.”

“Seems as if I’m getting quite a lot for just saving a wolf’s life,” I’d said hesitantly. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch. The Sinclaires are an important pack. They need to survive, but they won’t without their Alpha.”

“Isn’t Archer’s father the Alpha?”

Lunai had nodded, her face full of sorrow. “Alas, he passed on from this life only moments ago. Archer is the Alpha now, but you must make haste in your decision, Omega, or he will also perish. He needs you.”

Well, when she’d put it that way, I’d had to accept. “Where can I find him?”

I’d raced to Vince’s garage and had found the situation exactly as Lunai had described to me. I’d also felt the mate bond stitch itself between Archer and me the moment I’d laid eyes on him.

The bulge at his groin right now told me he felt the bond too.

“We need a safe place to go first,” I said to Archer now.

He didn’t reply right away, his woodsy hazel gaze locked on my face. My core trembled at the heat in his stare. It was as if he was branding me as his before we did anything else.

I got caught up in tracing the lines of the tattoos on his toned forearms. What remained of his T-shirt played a peek-a-boo game with me, revealing glimpses of his pecs and abs through the rips.

When I finally realized I was blatantly ogling him, I gave myself a shake and focused back on his face. His strong jaw. The black stubble that shadowed that strong jaw and tempting mouth.

Damn. I didn’t remember the first time I felt the mate bond with Vince being this . . . this consuming.

“Archer? A safe place?” I had to concentrate on actually saving Archer or I’d be out of a second mate. I highly doubted Lunai would give me a third.

Archer blinked slowly then shook his head. “Sorry. I’m having trouble focusing. Must be all the blood I lost.” But his gaze raked up and down my body and that same hunger clawed at my insides too.

I touched his arm and sucked in a breath at the contact, immediately releasing him.

“We’ll have time to figure this out.” I gestured between the two of us, certain he knew we were a mated pair. “Right now we need to see to your wounds and figure out what to do next.”

Nodding, Archer rubbed his temples. “My cousin, Phil. He’ll come and get us.”

I let him back into Vince’s garage to use the phone in the office. When Archer reemerged, I released the breath I’d been holding since he’d left. Standing guard over a dead Alpha’s body in a darkened alley was not a job an Omega should be left to do. It had stressed me out the entire time Archer had been gone.

“Phil will be here in ten,” Archer said. “He’ll take us to our packhouse.”

“Okay.” I’d been to both the Romero and Morelli packhouses many times. It was like a motorcycle gang’s clubhouse where they hung out and conducted werewolf business. No humans were allowed inside and they were in secret locations. The fact that Archer was willingly going to let me inside the Sinclaire packhouse confirmed his knowledge of our mate bond.

Ten minutes later, an all-black SUV pulled up to the alley, and a guy only slightly smaller than Archer jumped out of the driver’s seat. He instantly fell to his knees at Pearce’s body still on the mechanic’s creeper.

“Oh, Goddess, no.” Phil put his hand to Pearce’s chest then rested his forehead there as well. When he lifted his head, he scanned Archer’s injuries, his jaw muscles twitching. “Who did this?” The words barely slid past his teeth as he stood.

“It was on Morelli’s order,” Archer said.

At the mention of Vince’s last name, Phil’s gaze flicked to me, but Archer put his hand on his cousin’s arm when a low growl rumbled out of Phil.

“She’s not with him anymore,” Archer said. “He fucked up. She saved me from ending up like my father.” He waited until his cousin looked at him. “Selena is mine now, and I am hers.”

“Mates?” Phil’s dark eyebrows crinkled. “But how?”