Page 36 of The Fated Mate Bandit

Silver has been very kind to me. He should have the right to know if an angry, violent alpha wolf shifter is about to come knocking on his door. At some point, Daryll will notice the Uber charge in our bank account. Will he be able to figure out what address I took the Uber to? How long will it take him to scope out the neighborhood and find Silver’s house? Will he even bother?

If I plugged in my phone I could get a feel for how angry he is.

I pull the plug out of the wall and slip the charger into my pocket. I don’t need to look at the messages now. All I need to do is hook up my phone to the charger. Then I can look at the messages when I’m feeling braver.

The charger rubs against the paper in my pocket with all the phone numbers. Once I look at Daryll’s messages, I’ll reward myself by texting Quin. I smile as I walk through Silver’s bedroom, imagining Quin’s bright, happy replies. The fear doesn’t hit me until I plug in the charger and reach for my phone.

I can do this. It’s important to be able to warn Silver if Daryll figures out where I am. I take a deep breath and grab my phone, connecting it to the charger.

Silver appears in the doorway. I try to hide my phone behind my back, but it’s too late. He’s seen it.

“So, you do have a phone,” he says. “That’s good.”

“It’s dead. I’m just going to charge it. I took the charger out of your bathroom. I’m sorry. I should have asked. I just figured you weren’t using it right now, and I was going to return it?—”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I don’t use that charger much anyway. How about you keep it?” he asks.

“Oh. Sure. Thank you.”

He steps back. “I should probably work. Feel free to join me, if you want.”

I rush after him, leaving my phone on the bed, now connected to the charger. A part of me wants to stay and wait for it to be charged enough to turn on. Now that I’ve faced my fear, it would be nice to get it over with. But another part of me doesn’t want to leave the dreamland of happiness I’ve found here with Silver. As long as I don’t look at Daryll’s messages, he feels a million miles away.

Even if he isn’t.

There’s a reason I knew Silver moved to San Antonio. The diner where I work is only a few blocks away from the Lackland Air Force Base. An omega on the dinner crew mentioned a handsome alpha named Silver with silver hair to match back in April. With a little sleuthing, I found out he joined the military and bought a house in San Antonio. I even looked up the house on Zillow and foolishly imagined living here with him. The address was still in my browser two nights ago.

Daryll frequently went through my phone. If he can’t get Silver’s address through Uber, maybe he’ll remember it from the tabs open on my internet browser. Or maybe he won’t. I don’t know.

There are lots of ways Daryll could find me and destroy my fragile happiness with Silver.

16

SILVER

Lucas stays curled up in my lap all day. After lunch, he takes my hand and places it on his belly where the pups are kicking. While they pitter patter against my hand, he tucks his head under my chin, and God. It’s just as good as lying at the bottom of the hammock when I was growing up, and letting my brothers pile on top of me in their fuzzy raccoon forms. Lucas and these pups are my family. I can feel it in my bones.

“What if Daryll figures out where I am?” he whispers.

“Do you think he will?”

Lucas nods against my chest.

I close my arms around him and hold him tight. “If he shows up here, I’ll tell him to get lost.”

“But he’ll be angry,” Lucas says, his voice still soft and scared.

“I can hold my own, baby. It will be okay.”

He tenses in my arms. “No. If he hurt you…”

“Better me than an omega who’s six months pregnant and a lot smaller than he is.”

“But you don’t deserve…” he trails off, and I hope it’s because he can see how illogical that sentence is.

“And you do deserve it?” I ask, trying to keep my voice calm and not completely succeeding.

“Daryll is the mate Fate chose for me.”

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