Page 50 of Run Free

She laughed. “Well, that makes one of us. Seriously. You are like the only true mates I know to have a successful, drama-free coupling.”

“Oh trust me, it was far from drama-free.”

“I hear a story in there. Do tell. How did you two meet? I want all the details!” I closed my eyes and a tear slid down my cheek as I remembered my first sight of Gage Matthews. Lily wiped the tear away. “Oh honey, it can’t be that bad.”

“I was on a mission,” I started, needing to tell someone. “We were at this zoo, or really a collector’s dumping ground. Lily, they had him caged and hidden at the back of the property. We overlooked him on three sweeps. Alfred finally told me he was there, not that he knew he was my true mate or anything.”

“Who’s Alfred?”

“Oh, he’s a duck shifter. He and his mate, Miriam, like to follow my team around on missions. So Alfred tells me there’s a shifter we missed and we rush to find him. He was so broken. I mean literally broken—ribs, legs, arm, and hip. It was terrifying. He was bleeding internally and minutes away from death and my wolf was going nuts. It was hardly a love at first sight sort of affair.”

“You saved his life?”

“I had to, Lily. Normally I wouldn’t operate on a family member or someone close, but no one knew who he was to me and I work mostly with humans, so they couldn’t possibly have understood anyway. The place was so bad off and there were so many animals to tend to that I had no choice if he were to live.”

“Oh, sweetie. I can’t even imagine how difficult that was for you.”

I sniffed. “It was all worth it. I mean, he’s here. He’s alive. Maybe a little rough around the edges, but he’s all mine. I wouldn’t have him any other way.”

“We need a girls’ night and soon,” Lily said, giving me a squeeze.

“Definitely!” I agreed.

Gage walked into the room, still looking stiff and awkward.

“Hello, Gage,” Lily said.

He nodded. “Hey, Lily. Clara, you ready to go?”

“Um, yeah, sure. I guess. Everything okay?”

“We’ll talk at home. Bye, Lily.”

Something in the way he said goodbye worried me. I didn’t argue, though, as I followed him out of the house.

“What is it?” I asked him once we were in the car.

“I need you to pack a small bag, nothing substantial in case we have to move in our fur, but at least a change of clothes and basic necessities. Think hobo bag. Whatever will fit in that size. We’re leaving.”

I froze and turned in my seat to stare at him. Was he being serious? “Thomas?” I spit out, growling. “We’re being evicted from Collier Pack?”

He shook his head quickly. “It’s nothing like that, Clara. I’ll explain when this place is in the rearview mirror, far behind us. Just trust me. We have to go. I can’t go through this all again.”

I knew something was seriously wrong. He genuinely looked like he was going to be sick. I couldn’t even imagine what had happened or what he and my brother had talked about to cause all of this, but I’d play along at least until I had the facts.

When we got back to the house, I went straight to my room and grabbed a pair of PJs, two changes of clothes, and the grab-and-go kit bag I always kept ready, since I never knew when a mission would come in.

“Ready,” I said less than five minutes after we walked in.

Gage still looked spooked and I didn’t know how to help him, since I didn’t know what was wrong.

“Okay, good. Let’s go,” he said.

“Wait. Can you at least tell me what or who we’re running from first?” I asked.

He was fidgety, like something bad was going to happen at any second.

“I know this is going to sound irrational. I get that, but sometimes that’s just the way I am. Right now, I’m having major déjà vu. I told you how I heard about the plot to kill my father, and in warning him I lost my brother, whom I loved. Well, it’s happening again. There’s a threat against Thomas’s life. I overheard it, and I warned him, now I can’t lose you, too.”

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