Page 30 of Protector Dragon's Shattered Mate

She’d just lied to him again. It burned her right in her chest. Was that part of being a mate? Wanting to protect him, but also hating the way she had to do it? What was it that he felt? She’d never bothered to ask him. She did regret that.

He settled in with a smile on his face and she pulled away staring at him one last time now that she had to go, but circumstances were forcing her.

She didn’t want to leave him, didn’t want to claim a mate, not yet maybe not ever but it would’ve been nice to be able to explore a relationship with Levi. He was such a good male. It took every ounce of her willpower to walk out of the room. The house was eerily quiet; she didn’t even hear whispers. They were all exhausted.

She could feel the edges of fear creeping in the house. All of them were ready but they were worried too.

Wait. She wasn’t sure that it was the other shifters. It was her. She was reacting to something.

The wolves. They were close by. They’d found her, all the way out here in rural Texas.

Damn them all to hell. Why did she have to have a connection to those bastards?

She should be grateful. She knew they weren’t far away. She could get out. She could lead them away.

Now her leisurely goodbye was trashed by these assholes. She wanted to make them pay. But just getting them away from Levi, Nora, and the others would be enough.

Suddenly there was no time to spare. Every second counted.

She crept to the back door. There was an alarm, a complicated state-of-the-art system with technology that obviously cost thousands of dollars. There was no way that entering her code would not trip some kind of notification to Kellan or possibly everyone.

Had any of them anticipated that she might run? Levi had seemed to think it was a distinct possibility mainly because other shifters had done it before.

She stared at the alarm panel. She hadn’t paid much attention to it before because it had not been set while they were all in and out of the house strategizing training and exercising. The panel was complex, and she could not risk it. She would have to try her magic. She didn’t want to tear up his system or do anything to endanger everyone who was asleep in the house. It was just too risky.

What if it short-circuited the entire panel and they were left undefended and unprotected? She would just have to punch in her unique code, get out the door and let the system re-arm. If Kellan was notified, then so be it; she would already be on her way.

She took a deep breath and held her finger up over the buttons. Quickly she keyed in her ten key digit code and then waited until he gave a soft beep. The light turned green, and the display said that she had forty-five seconds to exit. She pushed the door open and closed it back firmly. She waited until she heard the bolt engage and then she took off. She did not bother to take off her clothes. She had a small bag with her, but it would blend into her fur.

She looped it over her neck and tightened it. It had her ID inside with a cotton dress; they could be used in an emergency with a little bit of cash as well. She contemplated leaving with no new clothes, no ID, no money, but she thought she mightbe better able to evade the wolves like this, if she had a few resources and a backup plan.

She bolted. She ran over Kellan’s manicured lawn, past his flowerbeds, and toward the road. They would probably be expecting her to ride toward the open fields, but she was going east.

Arkansas had thick woods and rocks and caves and rolling hills, and it would be much easier to hide herself there. Once she had evaded them, she might risk getting on a bus going north. As she ran, she could feel a sharp tug in her gut. Could that be the bond or was it her imagination?

That is how Nora described the bond connection. She ignored it. Now was not the time to become sentimental and nostalgic for what could never be. She had to focus.

She was alone and that was how it had always been. She would get used to it. She always had before.

18

Levi

Even before he heard Kellan shout his name, Levi knew that she was gone. She had lied to him. Even as she had said those words that he had so desperately wanted to hear, part of him knew she was not telling the truth.

Levi leapt out of bed; he was already halfway to the hallway when Kellan burst through the door.

“She’s gone,” Levi said. “Right?”

Kellan nodded. “Yes. She keyed in her own code. It sent me an alert an instant later. She could have busted the whole thing out with magic, and we’d be down one security system.”

“She would have avoided that at all costs,” Nora said, coming out of the next bedroom. Just like Levi she was fully dressed. All around them shifters were emerging from their rooms; they all were adjusting bags over their shoulders. Fallon was lacing up her boots.

“I wish she could have trusted us,” Levi said.

Nora’s thin arm slipped around his waist. “She trusts us plenty. She doesn’t trust herself. She doesn’t know how.” She looked down. “She was worried. This was her solution.”

“The rational side of me knows that.”

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