Page 25 of Owning His Mate

His heavy brows draw together. “That’s not what I did, but I can’t help what you transmit through the bond.”

He can’t, and I’m not being fair right now, but I don’t care. I step around him and walk over to the others.

Archie and Beck both eye me as I slip in beside Ayden. I can’t meet any of their gazes, but I know I’m being gawked at.

I straighten my spine, focusing instead on our task ahead. Saving hybrids from the Order.

“Where do we think these hunters are?” I direct this question at Callum, ignoring the tension radiating from the rest of the group. Talia smirks at me while Devon bounces his gaze between me and the others.

I sense Kye behind me, but I don’t look at him, not even when Callum glances between us.

“I’m not sure. Let’s fan out in pairs and see if we can pick up any scents.”

“I’ll go with Beck,” I say immediately.

I don’t want to be alone with Kye. He’s just going to keep asking questions about my past and I don’t want to give him those answers. Plus every time he touches me, my walls break down a little more. I can’t let him in.

This suggestion is met with outright hostility from him. “Over my dead body.”

“That can be arranged,” I smile sweetly at him.

“I’ll go with Archie,” Beck says before we can argue further.

Traitor.

I glare at him, but he shifts his shoulders at me before he walks away with his brother. Callum stares between us.

“Is there going to be a problem here?”

“Nope,” I say. I don’t want to be left out. I have something to prove, and I’m going to do just that.

Callum glances at Kye, who huffs out a breath. “No.”

“Good, because this isn’t a game. It’s dangerous and I can’t have your… whatever the hell this is… distracting the others from our task.”

“Which is why I think I should be paired with someone else.”

“I told you that’s not happening,” Kye spits out before Callum can respond.

I feel a little sorry for him, but that sympathy fades as soon as he says, “He’s your mate, Apryle. You stick together.”

“What? No!”

“If you split up, you’ll be distracted, and you’ll get whoever you’re teamed up with killed.”

He walks away to join the others as my mouth flops open and closed like a land-tossed fish.

My hands fist at my sides.

“Can you look at me?” Kye demands.

“I don’t want to.”

“Apryle—”

“No! Let’s just do the job we came here to do.”

As I walk away, he grabs my bicep, stopping me in my tracks. My heart stutters, and my stomach fills with a hundred butterflies, all beating their wings.

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