Page 8 of The Lab: Rigg

That alone was weird given that there was only one person I trusted, and he was back home with the kids.

Distrusting the world had been so ingrained in me that I never let anyone in. I embraced my solitude and tried not to give too much away as we talked. We were in a public space, so openly speaking about shifters would have been dangerous for anyone, even a normal shifter.

Not to mention the fact that I didn’t trust myself to make any rational decisions—not after being so careless only an hour earlier.

Dax took a sip and then leaned back in his seat. “You have that look of someone who scented their mate.”

Was that what was happening? He did smell delicious, and the reaction I had to him was nothing I’d ever experienced before. I’d never had that kind of reaction to anyone. Not even close.

Sometimes it sucked being a shifter with no animal. If I did have someone inside me, they’d have made it clear to me if the guy in the back room was my mate. But now that Dax had mentioned it, it made sense.

Also, that would be why he recognized me, right?

“Oh, nah. He’s just got a hot ass. A really hot ass. And everything else, for that matter.” I sounded like one of the drunken alphaholes who got drunk and talked shit about the servers.

“Whatever you say.” A clearly amused Dax reached for our tab. “But listen—” He opened his wallet and took out his card and a piece of paper. Before I could argue, he slid the paper in my direction. “This is the number for the Alpha of the River’s Edge pack. He’s been doing good work. Good work that I feel like you’re wanting to do too.”

This cryptic conversation was a pain in the ass—especially since I really had no ability to focus now that I suspected I’d met my mate and then ran off on him. “Okay…”

“They’re good people. Well…some are people.” He winked. “There are also many different beasts. It’s not a traditional pack, as it were.” He was speaking so low that only another shifter could’ve heard him.

“I see.” I did not see, but that was the closest thing to a coherent response I could come up with.

“I’m gonna pay this up at the bar. You know how to get a hold of me, but I feel like nothing else we talk about tonight is gonna matter because you, my friend, have someone to find.”

I nodded and felt happy to have permission to get up. “Yeah…okay.” There was no use in trying to deny it anymore. I didn’t want to. Wouldn’t do any good anyway. He knew. I knew. We both knew.

I might not have had the name for it before, but I always knew.

“Thanks for meeting up with me.” I stood up and started walking toward the front. “You have no idea how helpful you’ve been.”

He looked over his shoulder at me, surprised that I was following him out. “You leaving without…?”

I cleared my throat. “I need to go…um, change first.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” He smiled and continued on his way.

Somewhere along the line, I’d lost the piece of paper with the pack Alpha’s information on it so I retraced my steps and saw it was still on the table. What wasn’t on the table was the napkin I’d scribbled my number on.

“Trying to get away again?”

“I’ve got to get back to work.” The unmistakable sound of my mate’s voice made me twirl around, and I almost passed out when I saw him with another man, one who had him pushed against the wall and was attempting to kiss him.

I wouldn’t have minded so much if he looked like he was enjoying it or that he wanted this man’s kiss.

Okay, that was a fucking lie. I would not have been okay with it at all, but I would’ve forced myself to let it go. At least until I could change and come back. It wasn’t my place to control his actions.

But he didn’t want it. My mate was in distress.

And fuck that.

I walked over, tapped the guy on the shoulder, and then decked him the second he faced me.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

But in the midst of that, my mate also fell—hitting his head on the side of the bar.

My mate reached for me, and I grabbed him just as he was about to hit the floor. “It’s okay. I got you.”

---