Page 57 of Owning His Mate

Apryle braces herself as Savannah throws herself into her arms, wrapping her little body around her like a vine. I can sense the relief coming off the little girl, as if she thought we had left her.

Holding the back of her head, Apryle threads her fingers through the little girl’s hair. “Are you okay?” she asks, concern threading her voice.

Savannah nods against her, and the smile on my mate’s face softens the cage I’ve built around myself as protection.

“Have you eaten?” Apryle brushes her hair back from her face.

There’s no dirt on her skin, her hair is soft and shiny, and she’s wearing a shirt that reaches down to her knees, like a dress. I’m not sure which of the females it belongs to, but it has a logo on the front I don’t recognize.

“Uncle Sawyer made me grilled cheese.”

Uncle?I glare at him. That’snotbecoming a thing.

“I think you’ll find I made you thebest grilled cheesein existence,” Sawyer fires back. His easy demeanor always manages to annoy me, but when Savannah giggles and Apryle beams, some of my irritation toward him dissipates. I like seeing them happy.

“Thank you for taking care of her,” Apryle says.

The smile Roux gives is warm, but there’s concern beneath it. “Are you guys okay?” Roux asks.

Apryle glances down at Savannah before bringing her attention back to me. “We are now.”

“We didn’t find out you’d been taken until Callum and the others were on their way back with you,” Roux says. Her tone suggests she’s annoyed by this fact.

Apryle moves over to the sofa and sinks onto it, Savannah pressing against her side. I go with them, keeping close, even though I know they are safe here. It’ll be a long time before I let them out of my sight again.

Something definitely changed between me and Apryle when we were locked in that facility together. All hostility and dismissal seem to have dissipated, which I’m grateful for. I would have kept pushing, trying to help her see that we are meant to be together, until she saw it as clearly as I did. Our coming together felt amazing, and I am more connected to her than ever.

I enjoy the noises she makes when I fuck her hard, the way she appears dazed as I slide into her body. I must telegraph my feelings through our bond because she turns toward me, heat in her eyes.Oh yes, I like how much my little mate wants me.

Her cheeks stain pink, and I wonder if she is remembering what we did as she lowers her gaze to her lap, where she is holding Savannah’s hand in hers.

“Did they take you to the Order facility? Did you see other tau there?” Halle’s questions are rapid-fired at us, and the desperation tells me she’s lost someone to the Order.

“It wasn’t the Order that took us,” Apryle admits, glancing at me.

“Then who was it?” Cade asks, reaching for Halle and pulling her against his side.

The group is an odd mix, the males part of a pack under their alpha, Cade, and the females forming a coven. They’re all bonded in friendship, and my jealousy rears its ugly head at how close they all seem. I’ve never belonged anywhere, even when I was with my cousin. I have made something of a home here, but I never felt truly settled until the day I saw Apryle and recognized her as mine.

“Another crazy group,” she says. “They said they follow Revna.”

The girls exchange glances, and I wonder what they are thinking. It is bad enough to have the Order hunting us without adding new factions of homicidal maniacs to the list of things that want us dead.

“Why haven’t we heard about this before?” Roux glances between us. “The Order has been pretty open about its intentions to harm us, but now this new group emerges from nowhere? Why now?”

“And they seem to be just as well-funded as the Order,” I interject into the discussion. “The facility they took us to was large, and they had a small army they had at their disposal. This wasn’t some small unorganized group.”

“They’re looking for something,” Savannah adds in a quiet voice, and yet it reverberates around the room as if she yelled it.

“What were they looking for?” This question comes from Cade, but it’s not Savannah who responds.

It’s Apryle. “They wanted my blood. She was spouting a lot of stuff, but she said she’d been looking for someone like me for a long time.”

Sawyer leans back on the sofa, his demeanor easy, but his eyes are not relaxed “Tau?”

“I don’t think it’s just about that,” she says. “I got the feeling there’s something about my blood that’s different from other Tau.”

“That’s creepy,” Halle mutters.

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