Page 69 of The Runaway Mate

“Fuck!”

“I can tell you this, bro,” Mason cut in, “Seth was confident. He didn’t bother to cover his tracks.”

I was going to kill that motherfucker.

“What about Sofia, Jase, and Wally? They were supposed to be with Mai.”

“They’re all pretty banged up.”

A curse slipped past my lips.

“Where are they now?” I asked, a spike of fear for Mai’s friends slicing through the icy rage building within me.

“Thomas has them,” Mason reassured me. “They’re hurt, but they’ll live.”

Before I could respond, a beep indicated another incoming call. “Hold on,” I said as I switched the line.

“We’re five minutes behind you,” Jem announced, his voice laden with an urgency that matched my own. “We’ve got Shya.”

“I don’t need looking after!” a voice in the background shouted.

“News from the Pack isn’t good, Ryan,” Jem continued.

The knot in my stomach grew tighter.

“Brock has taken advantage of us being out of the territory. He and his supporters are moving against us. I’ve managed to get in touch with some of our enforcers. They’re under attack, and I can’t get hold of Hayley,” Jem said. I could hear the worry in his voice.

A growl ripped from my throat, the fury within me rising with each piece of bad news. Brock, Seth… they were all going to pay.

“Tell Mason and Sam to meet me at the northern gate,” Jem said suddenly, an unmistakable command in his voice. “I need them. Your only job right now is to find Mai and bring her back safely.”

“The trail ends at Reynold’s,” I told him. “Seth must’ve taken her in his own car. She could be anywhere by now.”

There was a beat of silence on the other end of the line. “Find her, Ryan,” Jem said, the line going dead immediately after.

I stared at the phone for a moment before tossing it onto the passenger seat. Swallowing hard, I tried to reach out through the bond I shared with Mai. A weak pulse told me that she was still alive, but nothing else. No tug of a direction, no access to her feelings.

Damn it. If only Mai had embraced our bond, I could have felt more.

I turned the car around and pointed it at Cocrane. It was the most likely place that Seth had taken her. I would tear apart every Pack, every town, every street if that’s what it took to find her. Mai was mine, and I was going to bring her back.

Chapter forty-four

Mai

Seth stood in the doorway, between me and freedom. His hand drifted to the stun gun at his side. I braced myself for him to lunge at me, but instead, he just smiled.

“I’m glad you’re awake. I was worried there for a while,” Seth said softly as he stepped into the room.

My breathing came in shallow pants as Seth’s footsteps came closer; my eyes darted around for a way out, even though I knew there wasn’t one. I hated being this scared.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to use this on you again. Not unless you make me,” Seth said, stepping closer. “I’m sorry for earlier, but you forced my hand. All I’ve ever wanted is for us to get along. You know that, right?”

This was how he’d behaved in the past. We’d argue, he’d go somewhere to cool off, then come back all gentle and apologetic while explaining how it was my fault and I needed to be more careful. But he’d broken my arm, then turned up at Three Rivers, stun-gunned me, and beat the shit out of Wally. This wasn’t something he could just turn on the charm with, and I’d take him back. He had to know that, right? He couldn’t be that stupid.

I kept my face emotionless and didn’t reply.

His eyes narrowed at my lack of response. “You pushed me, Mai. You ran away. You never gave me the chance to explain or to say sorry. I know things got out of hand, and I need to make that right. But you didn’t need to run. And to the fucking Three Rivers, of all places.”

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