Page 2 of Mating Mia
I don’t bother with the handle. I kick it open with enough force to dent the metal, sending it crashing against the wall inside.
A narrow corridor stretches before us, dimly lit and smelling of cleaning supplies and old grease. The scent trail is stronger here, fresher. We’re close.
“They took her this way,” Finn says, moving ahead of us. “Out the back, most likely.”
We follow the trail to another door at the end of the hallway, this one leading outside. Jace pushes it open, and cool night air rushes in, carrying with it the unmistakable scent of my mate. The smell of Mia’s fear is stronger here.
The door opens onto a small service area behind the restaurant—dumpsters, a few employee cars, a narrow alley leading to the street. The scent trail leads straight through it, toward the main road.
“There was a struggle,” Finn says, crouching to examine scuff marks on the pavement, a smear of something dark that might be blood. “She fought back.”
Someone touched what’s mine. Someone took my mate, carrying my pup. Someone who is going to die slowly, painfully, begging for mercy that will never come.
“Kane,” says Jace, disrupting the red haze of my fury. “Focus. We need a plan.”
I take a deep, shuddering breath, fighting for control. The wolf inside me is howling for blood, for the hunt, for vengeance.
But Jace is right. I need to think clearly if I’m going to get her back.
“They have a vehicle,” Finn says, moving to the mouth of the alley. “The scent trail ends right here at the curb. They loaded her into a car.”
“Which way?” I demand, joining him on the street.
Finn shakes his head, frustration evident in the set of his shoulders. “Can’t tell. Too many other scents, too much exhaust in the air.”
A snarl tears from my throat, primal and dangerous. I want to shift, to let the wolf take over completely, to run through the streets howling for my mate. But that won’t find her any faster. Won’t bring her back to me.
“Finn,” I say, “you need to shift. Your nose is better in wolf form. You can track her scent where we can’t.”
Finn nods once, already stripping off his expensive jacket and shirt. “I’ll need something of hers. Something with a strong scent.”
“Here,” Jace says, pulling a small silk scarf Mia had been wearing earlier from his pocket. “She gave it to me to hold.”
Finn takes it, inhaling deeply to fix her scent in his mind. Moments later, a large black wolf stands in his place, green eyes glowing in the darkness, powerful muscles rippling beneath sleek fur.
“Find her,” I tell him, the alpha command clear in my voice. “Follow her scent as far as you can. Jace and I will get the car and follow.”
The wolf that is Finn dips his head once in acknowledgment, then turns and lopes down the street, nose to the ground, already on the hunt.
I turn to Jace, my face set in hard lines that might terrify a random human walking past. I don’t care. I don’t care about anything right now except finding my mate.
“I’ll get the van ready. Pay the bill,” I order as we stride back through the service entrance, cutting through the kitchen where startled staff jump out of our way.
“On it,” Jace says, already pulling out his wallet.
We push through the restaurant, ignoring the curious stares of other diners as I make my way to the exit without stopping at our table. Outside, I toss the valet my ticket with enough force that he fumbles it.
“Now,” I growl, and the young man scurries off to fetch my car without the usual questions about how our meal was.
While waiting, I pace the sidewalk, every muscle in my body tense with the need for action. The bond between Mia and me still pulses, faint but present. She’s alive. She’s conscious. But she’s afraid, and she’s getting further away with each passing second.
“Who would take her?” Jace asks, joining me after handling the bill. “Another pack?”
“Alphas have been hunting rare omegas for years. And now that she’s pregnant...”
I can’t finish the sentence. Can’t voice the horrifying possibilities swirling in my mind. An omega carrying an alpha’s pup is valuable beyond measure in our world. There are those who would kill for such a prize—or worse, keep her captive, force her to breed repeatedly, creating a line of powerful wolves.
Only an omega could carry an alpha’s pup.
