Page 61 of His Wild Mate

“She doesn't have anything.”

“What? She's been here a week already. Nothing?”

“She hasn't left the house. If the girls are over, she grabs some of my stuff. Otherwise, there hasn't been a need.”

Thomas looked concerned. “Even with my Alpha order in place?”

“We've found ways around it.”

I wasn't about to go into details about that. What Paige and I did alone was no one's business. He and the others may be fine with oversharing but not me.

Before they could interrogate me further, Ryder, one of the deputies, interrupted us. “Sheriff, there's an unidentified wolf coming in fast.”

My wolf tried to lunge for control.

Mate, he alerted me.

I took off running out the door, aggressively pushing people out of my way.

“That's my mate!” I yelled.

When I saw her jump over the back fence and run straight to me, a ripple of recognition and relief washed over me.

I dropped to my knees, and she came to me and rubbed against me.

A sound behind me had the fur of her hackles standing up and a low, fierce, guttural growl of warning came from her.

I whipped my head around, covering her with my body as I snarled at Ryder and his partner Deaton. Both stopped in their tracks.

Slowly I turned back to my mate. “It's okay. They're friendly. I need you to shift and talk to me, Paige. What the hell happened?”

She shook her head and looked warily back at them.

“Can we go inside and talk?”

She nodded her adorable wolf head.

How much peace and comfort she brought me just being here should have bothered me, but it didn't. I was just relieved to have her home. Never had I been so scared.

She stayed by my side and was a bit jumpy as we walked back into the house. There were quite a few people there, and they were all staring at her. When James saw her, he smiled.

“I'll give you a few minutes to calm each other down. Then, I'm going to have to ask her a few questions.”

Since she was still in her fur, he addressed me instead.

“We'll see,” I said.

If my mate didn't want to talk about what happened, then no one was going to make her. It was my duty to protect her no matter what.

No one was in our bedroom, so I closed the door behind us. She went to her spot in the closet and then whimpered before shifting.

“Where's my blanket?”

“I knew you didn't take it with you. I told them you didn't just leave me. Where have you been?”

“I didn't mean to worry you. I couldn't figure out how to use the stove and was hungry and desperate for a run, so I went foraging. I ended up running further than I thought and losttrack of time, so I had to bed down for the night. I ran straight home this morning, but in the last hour, I've had this eerie feeling I'm being watched. It was creeping me out, so I ran as fast as I could to get home.”

She said,home. My heart fluttered.

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