Page 36 of Starting a New Life

I couldn’t see much of him. He kept hiding most of his body behind his lower legs, but I did see his silvery-white hair and the way his clothes hung from his body, as if they were several sizes too big, his slender frame trembling and shivering constantly.

My stomach plummeted, my heart dropping.

He didn’t belong in a cell.

I needed to get him out of here. Up into one of the guest rooms. Tucked into bed so the thick blankets could warm him.

Yes, my wolf agreed, anger welling up in me that clearly belonged to him. Our mage.

I hadn’t listened to him, too consumed by the rage burning inside me upon finding another thing that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. And my rage had landed my mate in a cell when he’d been trying to help.

Jasper’s words came back to my mind. He’d really just been helping, hadn’t he?

Hell. Rhett had been the first to question me when he’d quietly told me that the mage didn’t feel like an intruder. I hadn’t listened then either.

My feet started walking all on their own, carrying me closer to my mate, but with every step I took, he flinched, and his fear kept spiking, stinking up the whole room.

“Stop,” Levi said, looking straight at me, not a shred of insecurity on his face.

He was a brave one, Rhett’s mate. Sensitive, yes, but also brave. He’d put himself in danger without a second thought back when his former manager had lost his fucking mind.

And now he was putting himself right between me and my mate, shielding him from me, holding out one hand and giving me a hard stare.

“Levi, I…”

Levi shook his head, casting a short glance over his shoulder to where my mate was hiding in the corner.

“Why is he in a cell?” he demanded. “It’s cold as fuck down here, and no one even gave him a blanket. Where’s his jacket?”

“He didn’t have one on him,” Rhett said. “Just a cloak, and we weren’t sure if that could be used as a weapon, so…”

“So you took it from him?” Levi finished, raising his brows.

Rhett sighed, frustration on his face. “Yes, we did. Look, sweetheart, we didn’t know if he was a danger to us.”

Levi snorted, one hand still raised while the other caressed my mate’s hand in a soothing motion. “Nix?”

That was my mate’s name?

Nix?

My wolf rumbled approvingly.

“You’re all seriously telling me you’re afraid of him? You think he’s a danger to you? We’ve been friends for months. He’s the one who’s terrified of you.”

My wolf howled, the hit landing as it probably was intended, while I tried filtering away the information he was revealing. So, my little mage had been hiding right under my nose for months? Had he known I was his mate? I’d certainly never scented him, which meant he hadn’t been close to me.

“Look,” I said, trying to glimpse my mate, but he was very good at making himself small. And fuck. Every time I said something or moved, he flinched again. “I made a mistake, okay? I shouldn’t have had him put down here. The situation was chaotic.” Otherwise I’d have realized he was my mate way earlier than I did.

I told you so, my wolf provided, when really, he hadn’t. He’d said Nix was our mage, not our mate.

Same thing.

Ugh.

“Let me make it right, okay?” I tried looking past Levi, tried addressing my mate directly. “Would you like to go upstairs?”

Nothing.