Page 68 of Rugged

I couldn’t have messed up more.

Lyssa thought I used her. That she was nothing to me. I could absolutely see how she would think that. Except…what she didn’t know–what I should have told her first, dammit–was that she was my mate.

Fate matched us. We could’ve met anywhere, under any circumstance, and nothing would’ve stopped me from seducing her. She was destined for me no matter what was happening around us.

If a different female had opened that door at theranch, I would not have seduced her and brought her home with me.

I needed to explain that to Lyssa. Or better yet–because words were cheap–to prove it somehow.

But how?

I ran until my paws were ragged and bloody, only returning to the ranch in hopes that Lyssa had come back.

She hadn’t.

Fuck! I shifted back to human form and paced around the bunkhouse, still naked.

I would call her, but I didn’t even have my own mate’s phone number. We’d hooked up immediately and had been with each other every second since, so there hadn’t been a need to collect her digits.

How fucking stupid was I?

Maybe that hacker in Arizona had her number. Yeah, that was a lead I could follow up on. I yanked on a pair of jeans and jogged up to the ranch house.

“Rob!” I banged on the side door and walked into the kitchen.

“He’s in the office,” Willow said from where she sat at the kitchen table. “How did things go with Lys–”

I cut her off with an angry shake of my head.

“Uh oh. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Rob!” I barged in my alpha’s office. I would normallyshow more respect, but I was out of my mind–way too agitated to remember my manners. “I need–”

Rob was on the phone. He held up a hand to shut me up. “Got it. Johnny will head to the ranch now. Yep.”

Head to the ranch now.

Fuck! That meant Chapman was back.

What if my mate was there?

Fear for my mate shot through me so fiercely that I almost shifted right there to defend her. The idea that she might be alone with that predator made me want to tear the room apart.

Rob hung up, and I stared at him, braced for the bad news. “We have word that Chapman is en route to his ranch. Enforcers from the Two Marks pack are driving over to meet you there, so you’re not on your own when you take him down. I want you to wait until they’re there with you before you do anything.”

“I need Lyssa’s number,” I blurted.

Rob frowned. “Did you not hear what I just said? It’s time to move on Chapman.”

“Yeah, and I think my mate might be headed there already. Maybe she’s even there. It’s been a few hours since she drove off, losing her shit because I told her I was an enforcer and trying to catch her boss.” I gave him a look that kinda sorta meant this was his fault for having to admit the truth. But it was all on my shoulders.I’d fucked it all up. Scared her. Made her think so little of herself and what we shared.

I had to fix it more than finding Chapman.

Rob huffed.

“Alpha, I need to warn her,” I growled, trying but not succeeding in keeping my tone respectful. “She’s so upset with me. She doesn’t have any other place to go in the state. Boyd thinks she’s just cooling off and coming back, but if it was your mate who might be heading toward danger, could you sit around and wait?”

“Hell, no.”

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