Page 13 of Arrested By My Mate

“So, you two talked then?”

“He thinks that he’s an animal. A wolf,” I add, and he nods.

“He is.”

“Oh my god, you’re just as crazy.”

He laughs slightly and then nods.

“It is true though. You should ask him to show you.”

I stare at him in bewilderment, and he nods once before he starts to do some work at his desk. I can only watch him and wonder if maybe what Tucker said really is true, or if this whole town is batshit crazy.

SIX

Tucker

“I figuredthat I’d find you over here,” Crew says as he heads my way.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I knew that you wouldn’t be able to go far.”

He’s right. I can’t leave my mate. Not for more than a few minutes, anyway.

We’re both silent for a few minutes, and my mind drifts back to my mate. I wonder what she’s doing right now. She’s probably still pissed at me. Is she pacing the cell? Or maybe she’s already fallen asleep. It is starting to get kind of late.

“Dude,” Crew says as he drops down on the bench next to me, and I groan, tilting my head back and looking up at the darkening sky.

“I know,” I croak, and he sighs as he sits down next to me on the bench.

“You have to let her go. You can’t hold her indefinitely. You’re only going to push her away.”

“I know,” I say glumly. “I just can’t. Not yet.”

“It’s not going to get any easier,” he warns me, and I nod.

“I know.”

We’re silent for a few minutes. My wolf is pacing inside of me. He’s even more anxious and on edge after our mate tried to run from us. He keeps trying to talk me into just biting her, but I can’t do that. I want our mate to choose us too. Things would only be harder if I bit her and we were bonded, and she still chose to leave.

Would it?My wolf snarks, and I ignore him.

“What would you do?” I ask Crew. “If you were in my position. What would you do?”

“I don’t know. I’d like to say not lock my mate in a cell, but truthfully, I’m not so sure. I know how long we’ve both been looking for our mates. I wouldn’t want to just let her go without a fight either.”

I nod, and we stare off at the sinking sun.

“You have to go back and talk to her.”

“I tried,” I tell him, and he shakes his head.

“You need to shift. You need to make her see it. Right now, she just thinks that you’re crazy.”

“I was so excited when she said she had heard of shifters,” I admit. “I thought the whole conversation would go smoothly. And then she bolted.”

“Well, to humans, you sound insane. You need to prove it to her and then explain everything. She’ll believe you then.”

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