Page 19 of Run Free

Gage

Chapter 11

Progress was happening quickly with the tiger habitat now that Alfred and Byron were pitching in along with their mates. On the one hand, I wanted the help. It sped things up and I could get out of this hellhole sooner. On the other hand, though, if I were being honest with myself, it was something I wanted to do for Clara. One small thing, just for her, even if she’d never know it had been me.

Lately her scent had become stale around the zoo, possibly from the other scents that overpowered hers and because she wasn’t leaving the clinic. I wondered if one or more of the patients were still struggling to survive and that she was working hard to save them. In the meantime, the others had been happy to fill me in on everything she’d done for me in the days I was unconscious or sedated.

Clara had rescued me from the cage where I had suffered at the hands of the owners, before they’d disappeared. She had first asked Dave to take over my surgery, and at that time, no one knew why, but now they are well aware of whom she is to me, and it all makes sense. In the end everyone else had been too busy, so she had stepped up, despite the emotional rollercoaster she must have been on after discovering I was her mate.

They told me I had a lot of internal bleeding and broken bones. I knew about the bones. Dave told me I could have caused the bleeding myself from the constant breaks, but that it had been a smart move to keep them from growing back incorrectly.

After the surgery, she had left to shower, change and eat. When she returned she settled by my side and never left it again. Even bathroom breaks were in the room with the door open, so she could keep an eye on me. Byron explained that one, and how he’d apologized for walking in on her when he’d come to check on me. Meals were delivered to my bedside, because she simply refused to leave me.

Their stories made it even harder for what was coming, what I had to do. They thought they were helping to keep us together, but I had explained a million times, that simply wasn’t possible. I had my own life. It wasn’t great, but it was all mine. And it wasn’t like I had a pack to take her home to. I didn’t. I had cut ties with them half a lifetime ago. I would never go back there, not even for her.

I didn’t know what pack Clara came from, but no Alpha in his right mind would take in a drifter like me. I had nothing to offer a pack. I despised everything they stood for, or so I had told myself all these years.

* * * * *

It’s been two days since I even had a glimpse of my angel from afar. The pull to go to her was getting stronger each day, especially since the previous afternoon when her scent started to emerge again everywhere around the place. It was like I was struggling to hold on to it one minute, and overwhelmed by it the next. It brought me happiness, and that worried me a lot. I could feel myself getting attached to the idea of having a mate, and I had to find a way to stop it, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t walk away from her.

It was as if just thinking about her made her scent stronger all around me. I took a deep breath, torturing myself as it filled my lungs. She was driving me insane. And then suddenly, there she was, like a vision in a dream.

“Thanks for pitching in around here. I really appreciate it. If you can use an extra set of hands, my schedule is clear for the next three days, barring no emergencies, of course. I know how badly you want to put all this behind you, Gage,” Clara said with a hint of challenge in her voice.

“Yes!” Miriam and Tatum said in unison.

“We’ve got it under control, angel. Just go back and tend to the animals,” I said.

“They are already under control. In fact, Chelsea’s team from vector three was able to spare a few people, too.” She handed me a new clipboard. It was the team leader one, not just the assignment list. “They’re all yours.”

“What?” I asked. What was she thinking, putting me in charge of a bunch of humans?

“Come on in,” she yelled.

In a flash, with clothes shredding, Alfred and Miriam shifted back to their feathers. I rolled my eyes. They had this major hang-up about humans never seeing them in their skin. Absolutely no facial recognition.

Clara rolled her eyes too. “Really, guys?”

Alfred bit at Clara’s leg.

“Knock it off, unless you want to be dropkicked across this park, Alfred,” I warned before I could stop myself. I saw the sly smile cross Clara’s face. What was she up to?

Miriam made a strange and disturbing noise. I suspected she was laughing at my comment.

“So I’m down two hands now, thanks to you,” I grumbled.

“And up six,” she said with a smile.

She introduced me to each of the humans. I didn’t like the situation, but I had worked alongside others my entire life. It was only recently, seeing the true darkness of people, that I had developed a deep hatred for their kind. Truth be told, prior to my capture, I preferred them to shifters.

“That’s only five,” I told Clara. “Someone like you with all that smarts should be able to count better than this,” I teased, enjoying the color rising in her cheeks.

She pulled a baseball cap from her back pocket, wrapped her hair into a knot on the top of her head, and covered it with the hat. She held out her hand and waited for me to take it. I begrudgingly did, unprepared for the jolt of pure lust that shot through me at her touch.

“Clara Collier. At your service,” she said sweetly.

“Shit,” I groaned. Clara–1, Gage–0. How had she gotten the upper hand on this situation?

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