Page 6 of The Lab: Rigg

There was no denying he had a great time. He loved every second of what we did. Did he have a boyfriend? A husband? Was that the issue? I would be the first to admit that would suck on a number of levels that I wouldn’t even be able to count. But that didn’t feel right. He didn’t scent as mated, and he certainly didn’t try to stop me.

If his hesitation was about me being rogue, he’d have scented that as quickly as he scented the mate pull. Rogue markings were shitty like that.

It had to be something else.

I grabbed the bridge of my nose and squeezed tightly. Why did he leave? He was my mate, that was the only thing I knew for sure. I scented him and my wolf recognized him instantly. Given he was a shifter too, he should’ve been able to scent me back just as strongly.

But maybe he couldn’t smell anything. I hadn’t been able to figure out what kind of shifter he actually was, so if it was one that had a weak sense of smell, maybe he had no idea. Even if he hadn’t scented me, his body definitely felt it. There was no denying that.

He was into it. So into it.

And yet, as soon as he came, he zipped his pants and—boom—took off.

Humans often had hookups in sketchy places, and if any of them had left as quickly as he did, I’d have followed them to make sure they were okay and they hadn’t been taken advantage of. That wasn’t the case here.

My wolf pleaded for me to run after him, but something told me that would only make matters worse. I needed to regroup and figure out what came next. There were many times I’d wished I had a pack, and right now, I wished for one more than anything. I needed some shifterly advice and had no one to turn to.

Without much more to go on, I went back to work, hoping to get lost in the manual labor of washing dishes. But instead of it being a mindless task, I kept dropping glasses and poking myself on utensils because I was so in my thoughts. My mind was on the hottie—the one who called to my beast and me without even realizing it. I retraced every single step I took and tried to figure out what I did wrong. What did I do to scare him away?

Each scenario I ran through resulted with the same answer. Nothing. I came up with nothing.

After having to fix multiple jams in the dishwasher because I kept putting dishes on the rack incorrectly, I decided to head out back to get some air. A lot of people who worked here snuck out back when they needed time, and no one noticed when I slipped away.

I was grateful no one else was out there when I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. I wasn’t in the mood for chit-chatting and needed this time to get my wolf under control. The cold air felt good as I sucked in a deep breath. I thought it would clear my head, but my mate’s scent was still there, making a clear head impossible.

It wasn’t strong, but it was very, very present.

“This is bullshit.” I kicked the dumpster and went back inside to attempt dish duty once more.

After just two loads in the machine, one of the servers called into the kitchen because they needed glasses. I grabbed three racks and carried them out, glad for the distraction. Only it turned out not to be a distraction, after all.

The moment I pushed the door open, I scented him again. It wasn’t faint like when I was outside. It was strong. He was still here.

He hadn’t left. I mean—he left, but he came back. Maybe he was looking for me.Please, let him be looking for me.

I handed the bartender the racks and told him I’d come back to put them away, but I needed to go.

“Seriously?” He looked at me like he didn’t believe a word I said—and maybe that was true.

If I found my mate and he wanted me, I wouldn’t come back in time to get them dried and on the shelves. But whatever. I had more important things to worry about than this stupid job. I had a mate to find. “Sorry, man.”

The room was pretty crowded, so I followed the scent through the groups of people and looked around as I went, hoping for a glimpse of those eyes. I didn’t see him anywhere, but I followed my nose which led me straight to a booth.

He was there. My mate was there. He hadn’t taken off without me.

But when I looked up, it wasn’t my mate.

In fact, I didn’t recognize either of the two men sitting at the booth.

They both stopped talking the second I stepped up to the table. They probably thought I had something to ask considering I was still wearing a dishwashing apron. Or maybe they didn’t want me to hear what they were saying. But in either case, they were both silently watching me.

I looked back and forth between the two men, trying to understand what was happening.

My wolf pounded at me and pushed me forward, begging me to figure out which of them was ours. It took but a second before I saw the man I was looking for.

Only… it wasn’t him.

The man who definitely wasn’t my mate seemed to be getting impatient. “Can we help you?”

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