Page 23 of The Runaway Mate

“Me? Goddess, no! Men are way too much trouble. I’ll stick with my pink rabbit; it sorts me out better than a guy ever could.”

I raised my eyebrows and was just about to ask about Derek when the door swung open and a group of six office workers walked in, their chatter filling the whole room.

“Got to head back. I’ll come catch up when the lunch rush is over.”

I was sipping my coffee, still reeling from the revelations Sofia had shared with me, when my phone buzzed on the counter, an unknown number flashing on the screen.

“Hello?”

“Where the fuck are you?”

Fear gripped me, and I froze. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ryan sprinting toward me.

“Well? Answer me, Mai!”

I flashed back to the last time I’d seen Seth, me on the floor, bleeding and about to pass out. Seth standing over me, his face grim, saying, “You gotta learn, Mai. You gotta learn.”

I twisted to the side so that Sofia and Ryan couldn’t see my face. “I’m out of your reach, Seth,” I whispered. “Don’t look for me.”

“You can’t escape me, Mai. I will find you.”

My phone was snatched from my hand. I turned as Ryan held the phone up to his ear, rage boiling off of him, but I could hear the dial tone. Ryan’s fingers squeezed my phone.

“Please don’t break it, Ryan. It has all my clients' contacts on it.”

He looked at me, his jaw tight. I don’t think I’d ever seen him this angry. “Who was that?”

I shook my head, not ready to explain. I didn’t want Ryan to know what an idiot I’d been for staying with Seth, even after I saw the warning signs.

“I’m handling it, Ryan. This doesn’t involve you.”

“You’re my mate, Mai. Of course it involves me,” Ryan growled.

A jolt of electricity zipped through me at his words. I’d dreamed of him saying those words, that I was his mate. It was a shame that now he was admitting it, I just wanted to throw something at him.

“Back off, Ryan, I’ve got this.”

“Clearly, you don’t. You’re going to have to let me in, Mai.”

“Not a chance in hell, Ryan Shaw.”

We glared at each other, neither one of us backing down.

“You know,” Sofia moved in front of Ryan, breaking our eye contact, “as delightful as this stand-off is, there’s a new phone shop that opened last month on Boddington. Why don’t you get a new number, switch the contacts across, then ditch this one.”

I glanced at her. It wasn’t a bad idea. Maybe I should go all out and get a new phone. Seth knew people who could track phones. I needed to get rid of it.

“He isn’t going to touch you. I won’t let him hurt you, Mai,” Ryan said fiercely. “You’re safe here, I promise.”

I wished that were true. But Seth had shown me that I couldn’t trust anyone. “No one can make me safe, Ryan. I have to do this on my own,” I whispered back.

Chapter sixteen

Ryan

She’d looked so fragile, telling me she had to do this alone. Whoever this guy was, he’d done a number on her, making her think that. Werewolves were drawn to Packs for a reason. We were a team, one that looked after everyone in it. I should have been there to protect her. Hell, she never would have been there in the first place if I’d handled our whole mate thing properly four years ago. This was my fault, and I was going to do everything to protect her now.

“Come on,” I said. “I’ll drive you to the phone shop.”

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