Page 8 of Owning His Mate

I don’t look back or respond. We all know I’m an asshole, and if Callum had a lick of sense, he would have made me leave a long time ago.

As I hit the door and step outside into the cool air, my head snaps in the direction I know she’s gone in. There’s no sign of her, but I can taste her scent. It lingers in the air, enticing me.

Stop running,I demand through the bond.We need to talk.

I’m metwith silence once again, but I can sense her emotions as they thrum between us. My little mate may be afraid, but she’s also pissed. What the hell is she so angry about? Most wolves go their entire lives without running into their true mate. We’ve hit the lottery here, and yet she’s acting as if this is a curse.

I take off running in her direction, passing the multitude of buildings that make up the compound until I realize I’m getting close to the perimeter fence.

Did she leave?

That makes my heart stutter in my chest. We have enemies, dangerous ones. There are hunters waiting for the chance to grab tau because of what they can do. The thought of the Order capturing her sets off a chain reaction inside me.

My wolf is furious at me and her. I’m pissed enough for the both of us.

Apryle,stop running, I snap, and I know I should be softer with her, but I’m struggling to hold back my fear.

Stay out of my head,jerk.

Her barbed voicerings through my mind, and I almost stumble. The relief at hearing her, even if she’s cursing me out, is overwhelming.

She’s okay.

I’ve never given a shit about anyone but myself, and for good reason. Caring is a weakness that can be used against you, but this little wolf hybrid simply pushed through my self-inflicted isolation as if she has always been with me. In the few minutes I have known her, she has done what no one else has ever managed since I lost my cousin. She has made me give a shit.

I have a moment of sympathy for Apryle. When she imagined her mate, I have no doubt that someone like me was not what she had in mind.

Vargr are dangerous. Even among other shifters, we are the stuff of legend, used to scare younger pups into behaving.

But I am the worst of my kind.

I wear my darkness like armor, and I will taint her with it.

For that reason alone, I should let her walk away, but I can’t, and I won’t—and not just because denying each other would cause us both to waste away in agony.

As I round the last building, I see across the field to the fence. My mate is moving along the chain link perimeter, trying to find a weakness in the defense. I blow out a breath before re-inflating my lungs and wiping my clammy hands on my sweatpants. She didn’t escape.

With relief also comes irritation. She’s safe, but if she’d gone outside the perimeter…

I don’t even want to consider the outcome.

My nostrils flare as I stalk across the grass, my fingers curled into fists at my side as I struggle to keep my temper in check. Did she really think I would just let her go?

From the way her shoulders sag, I can see how disappointed she is that I caught up to her. I don’t have to feel it through our bond, though I can, and a sting of pain spreads through me.

“Where are you going, little mate?” I demand, my voice ragged with my anger.

Slowly, she turns her head to peer at me and pins me in place with her baby blue eyes.

I can’t stop myself from sucking in a breath. Apryle is intoxicating. Everything about her makes my body come alive. Her scent is in my nose, her feelings are in my head, and I want nothing more than to take her in the grass and make her mine completely.

As I step into her space, she must sense the turn my thoughts have taken. She spins around so that we are chest to chest, her breath quickening as she tips her head back to look at me. She’s so small I could break her with my strength, and that thought scares me. I didn’t expect my mate to be so fragile or someone that needed to be protected, kept safe from harm.

I force calm into my body even as I cage her between the fence and myself. She gasps as my fingers slip through the chain link behind her head to keep her in place. I won’t risk her taking off again.

Wild, wide eyes look up at me from under thick, dark lashes, and her chest heaves as she drags in tremulous breaths, unwavering even in the face of her apprehension.

“You shouldn’t have run,” I murmur.

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