Page 42 of Starting a New Life

“I won’t,” I said firmly, ignoring the way Levi quietly seethed next to me.

Giving them my blood, my ass!

If they wanted it, they’d have to take it.

The doctor gave me one last, sad look, then headed out the door, leaving it open for the two wolves hovering outside to enter. The first one was a massive guy with sandy-blond hair and amber eyes, but it was the second one who held all my attention.

My heart rate spiked as I watched him duck his head to get through the door.

Holy shit.

He was huge, even by shifter standards. Powerful too, his wolf a bright force inside his chest. There was no escaping him. No way in hell could I manage to run away from him.

I’d only ever seen one other wolf that matched his power—the Alpha of a pack I’d worked for about three years ago. He’d been nasty to me. Fair to his pack, but resentful over me robbing them blind, as he’d called it.

I took multiple steps back until my back hit the wall, to create as much distance between us as I could, but the room was too small, his presence too big.

His aura tried soothing me, lulling me in, trying to give me a false sense of security, but I resisted. No matter what his aura might say, he wasn’t harmless. He was the most dangerous wolf I’d ever met. One bite and I was tied to him for the rest of my life.

And if he didn’t want to bite me, he could easily…

My heart lurched, and I frantically tried to get a glimpse of their hands. Did they have…

“Nix?” Levi stepped between me and the Alpha, drawing my eyes to him. “Everything okay?”

Nothing was okay.

Couldn’t he see how fucking huge the Alpha was? How his eyes were burning, the dark orbs boring into me, pinning me to the wooden wall?

I wanted to shrink back from under his scrutiny. Wanted to turn around and run. Chances were that they hadn’t found my hideout. I could go back into the woods and…

He’d find me.

I closed my eyes, the realization cold as ice.

He was my mate.

“Nix?”

My ears were ringing.

“Nix!”

Hands gripped my shoulders, and Levi’s fuzzy face appeared right in front of me as black dots further clouded my vision. My heart kept hammering against my ribcage, each rapid beat painful.

I was breathing, but there was no oxygen to fill my lungs.

I’d lost. Truly. For good.

There was no running from someone like him.

The hands on my shoulders started shaking me, and I startled, flinching away until I remembered who it was, realizing the touch was warm, careful. His magic brushed against my shield, trying to wrap itself around me in comfort.

The world tilted, and then I was sitting on something soft. The bed.

“Everything’s okay,” Levi whispered. “They just want to talk to you.”

Talk?