Page 11 of Gabe's Lone Wolf

“Hell, no!” Simon said as his mate held out her hand to me.

“Seriously?” She shoved her hands against his chest, and when he didn’t move she pinched his side. “Don’t go all alpha on me. I’ll kick your ass.”

I had to bite back a laugh. Oh, I was really going to like her.

Rebbie, Taylor’s mate, did laugh.

“I’m not sure he has any other mode where you’re concerned, Cici. I should know. Taylor goes all caveman on me all the time.”

“Damn straight,” Taylor agreed and hauled his mate against his chest. “Don’t even think about volunteering to go with her. You didn’t see those assholes who are chasing Eliza. If one of them even tries to touch you, I’ll shred them with my bare hands.”

He looked more than capable of it, too.

“Not to mention, they fucking shot her,” Simon pointed out to his mate, meeting her glare for glare.

“My best friends,” Gabe whispered by my ear. “They’ve lost their minds since they mated with these two ballbusters.”

There was affection in his voice, so I knew he was teasing them. The guys grumbled, and Cici and Rebbie huffed at them, but the love within each couple was easy to see. Gabe was lucky to have such amazing friends.

“Perfect spot,” Raina said as she joined us. “Go ahead and put her down. I’ll have to cut away your jeans unless you want to slip them off.”

All five of the others chuckled, and my face heated.

“I’m good.”

And I was. For the first time in a long time, I felt as if I could breathe. I felt safe, as if I might be able to sleep for more than a few hours. My ass hit the wood, and Gabe gripped my hand tightly in his.

“I’ve got you.”

It was a vow, and I took it as such. He offered more than handholding in this moment. There’d been a connection between us from the start. In all my years of running, all the packs I’d passed through along the way, this was the first place I’d run into temptation. If I could trust my instincts, I knew why. I didn’t just want Gabe. It was more than that. So much more. Mates. Funny how that word from the wrong lips had sent me running for my life. But from Gabe’s lips? His gaze assured me he felt the same way and we’d have one hell of a conversation sometime in the near future.

I squeezed his hand back, closed my eyes, and yelped when I felt the sting of a needle in my arm. I bared my teeth and growled as I glared at Raina.

“What the hell was that?”

“A little muscle relaxer to help you unclench your muscles, so I don’t do more damage getting it out than might have been done going in. It might help you sleep, too. I don’t know how long it’s been since you really rested, but you need it. Desperately.”

The alpha’s wife showed no remorse for drugging me without my consent.

“Relax,” she urged, patting my leg. “You’re safe here. My mate might be an unbearable alphahole at times, but no one will hurt you while you’re under his protection. I promise you that. Now, let’s get this bullet out of you.”

My body grew heavy as if attempting to sink deep into the wood beneath me. The shot was working more quickly than I’d anticipated. Most likely due to lack of food, sleep, and fluids. It hit me hard. Obviously, it was something made with a wolf in mind. I turned my head toward Gabe, trying to squeeze his hand with mine and somehow, knowing I was failing miserably.

“Don’t let me go,” I begged, hating the neediness in my voice but helpless to hide it.

His smile was pure wolf. “I’ll hold you all through the night until you wake in the morning,” he vowed.

“Want you.”

Why the hell wouldn’t my mouth go as numb as the rest of my body? I really needed to shut the hell up. Maybe, the others would believe anything I said during the next few minutes was due to the drugs?

“You’re going to have me,” Gabe promised, his voice a liquid heat that seemed to pour inside me, filling up all the cold places that never seemed to warm up. “We’re going to have each other. Again and again and again.”

He was still murmuring as my eyelids became too heavy to lift and I drifted toward slumber. I swore I heard him murmur something that terrified me even as it thrilled me.

“You’re mine, Eliza, and I’m never letting you go.”

As I fell deeper under the drug, I had to remind myself it was Gabe’s voice staking the claim at my ear and not Cameron Lockhart’s.

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