Page 35 of Their Mate
Jamie pushed roughly to his feet, eyes blazing. “Then what the bloody hell are we standing around here for? We’ve got to find Declan, and fast!”
I met Sera’s gaze squarely, my voice calm despite the panic coiling through me. “We’ll need everything you have on the Elder Lycan—strengths, weaknesses, patterns. Everything.”
She sighed, nodding reluctantly. “You’ll have it.”
My pulse surged, my soldier’s instincts taking over fully as adrenaline shot through my veins. This was my element, the clear, deadly urgency of combat. I would find Declan. We would hunt down this Elder Lycan. And when we found him, the bastard would regret ever crossing our pack.
CHAPTER 12
Aidan
I sat heavily against the damp brick wall on a wooden crate, the rough texture digging sharply into my back as I tried to slow the thunderous rhythm of my heartbeat. Pain radiated angrily through my injured leg, white-hot and persistent, but it would heal in a few days’ times. Wolves healed faster than humans did, but an injury like this would take some time.
But it wasn’t the physical agony tearing at me now.
No.
It was the crushing weight of helplessness and grief, magnified by Declan’s disappearance, by the uncertainty of his fate. I’d already lost Kait and Lila; I couldn’t lose him too.
If Declan had truly been bitten by that monster, we were running out of time. Yet even with that terrible truth weighing heavily on my shoulders, something, or better yet,someoneeven more unsettling clawed insistently at the edges of my awareness.
Her.
My gaze shifted slowly to where the girl stood near the others, chin raised with confidence, blue eyes blazing bright even in the night. I watched her, truly saw her for the first time: her dark, silken hair, tangled from the chase, catching the faint glow of the moonlight; her elegant neck, exposed beneath her tense posture; the proud tilt of her jaw, and those eyes… defiant, intelligent, and unyielding.
And she was entirely naked.
She was beautiful, achingly so, but it wasn’t her physical beauty alone that gripped me, that pulled insistently at something deep within my chest. No, it was the stubborn strength blazing in her gaze, the cunning intelligence behind every calculating glance, and beneath it all, a flicker of vulnerability that she tried desperately to hide.
My chest tightened painfully, realization hitting me like a blow.
Mate.
I felt it as clearly as my own heartbeat, a powerful, unmistakable connection surging through me, binding me to her against all logic or reason.
But how could this be? I’d already lost Kait, with her contagious laugh and sparkling eyes, her warmth and protectiveness. And Lila, gentle yet strong, whose soft smile had always been my anchor even in the harshest storms. The hollow ache their absence had left inside me felt impossibly deep and utterly unfillable. It seemed wrong, almost traitorous, to feel this much for someone else now, when their loss still cut me to the bone.
Guilt clawed at my heart, mingling with confusion and a desperate hope I couldn’t deny. My soul yearned for connection, for solace, and suddenly, impossibly, I felt it in this stubborn, fierce, deadly stranger standing across from me.
She shifted slightly, her blue gaze flicking toward me. For one breathless instant, our eyes locked. My heartbeat thundered painfully, the rest of the alley fading into insignificance around us. A startled flicker of recognition flashed in her expression, quickly masked again by defiance. But it had been there. I’d seen it. I knew she felt it too, however much she might try to deny it.
I dragged a shaky breath into my lungs, desperately trying to untangle the chaotic emotions swirling violently inside me. It was madness, complete madness, to feel like this. Yet somehow, I knew that denying it was pointless. The wolf inside me had already made its choice.
It had chosenher.
Even wounded and weary, I pushed myself up carefully, leaning heavily against the wall. I took a slow step toward her, pain flaring through my injured leg, but my focus locked unwaveringly onto her face. Logan, Edward, and Jamie glanced warily toward me, sensing the tension between me and her, but they remained silent, allowing me to approach.
She straightened slightly as I neared, eyes squinting with caution, defiance behind the suspicion in her gaze. I studied her closely, breathing shallow, pulse racing. Close up, she was even more stunning, more captivating, the scent of her skin mingling sharply with my heightened senses, clean and faintly sweet beneath the sweat and adrenaline from our earlier chase.
“You felt it too,” I murmured, voice hoarse with exhaustion and raw emotion. “Didn’t you?”
Her eyes widened fractionally, shock briefly flickering behind her careful mask, but she recovered quickly, her jaw tightening, stubborn determination blazing bright once again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I almost smiled at her stubborn refusal, recognizing that pride and strength I already knew I’d come to crave.
“You’re my mate,” I said softly, simply, the words spilling past my lips without hesitation or uncertainty.
She jerked slightly, clearly startled, but covered it quickly with anger. “I’m nobody’s mate,” she snapped. “Least of all yours.”
