Page 9 of The Lab: Rigg

He blinked up at me, his head swaying oddly. “I’m… I’m…” His blinking slowed.

Fuck, he hit it harder than I realized.

I scooped him up and carried him out through the kitchen.

“Hold up— Niles, you all right?” The man at the fry station set the basket down and turned to us.

I had a feeling he was readying himself to stop me if my mate wasn’t okay. Good. I liked that the people surrounding my mate were so attentive and protective of him.

“Yeah, I’m good.” He was definitely not all right, but I altered my voice and matched his the best I could. “I’ll be back. I’m taking my break and it might be a bit longer than normal, if you know what I mean.”

That must’ve worked because no one asked another question. As I walked out the back door, I heard him tell someone else that Niles was a lucky guy. The excuse worked.

The cool air helped wake him up… sort of. Niles reached up and patted my face. “You changed your face. How? How did you change your face?”

Before I could answer, he passed out again. He was breathing steady and his heartbeat was strong, but I still hated that he wasn’t conscious.

I don’t even know what to do about that, but sticking around here wasn’t it. If I went back inside, I would kill that asshole, and jail was the last place I needed to be, especially with two little ones at home counting on me.

6

NILES

It took a few seconds before I realized I was awake. My face hurt, but I managed to force my eyes open and look around. Everything was unfamiliar, including the bare walls in front of me. I wasn’t at the bar anymore.

Someone's hand was wrapped around my wrist, and I instinctively pulled away.

A foggy memory of some grabby guy at the bar came to me, and I was fairly sure I fell…but I couldn't remember anything else.

Where was I? I wasn't home, and I wasn’t alone. “You’re safe, Niles.”

My heart started racing, but then I picked up the scent. His scent. My mate. Like fire and smoke and wet earth all at once, the delicious aroma wrapped around me and made me feel safe.It’s him. He’s here. Our mate.

A guy stood there—an alpha—tall and lanky and watching me too closely. He looked like a stranger, but when I inhaled deeply, the unmistakable scent of my mate hit me again. My gut twisted with hope and fear and…need. If this guy wasn't one of my mates, how did he smell like them? And why did my heart catch like it recognized him?

"Am I going crazy?" My voice sounded weak and shaky, even to me. He wasn’t the man from the breakroom or the guy at the table… He was someone new. "Where are the other guys? Where are my mates?" The more I spoke, the more ridiculous I sounded. “Who are you?”

The guy looked almost guilty. Like a kid who’d stolen a cookie but wasn’t going to give it back. "You hit your head pretty hard."

"You’re telling me I imagined those other guys? You? Them? That we aren’t—" The words stuck in my throat.

He watched me as he spoke, weighing his words. "You've been out a while, Niles. I saw you at the bar and wanted to get you somewhere safe, but you're still confused."

"Confused?" The word broke into a laugh, more wild and ragged than I meant it to be. "You're just another one, aren't you? Another you."

Why did my wolf seem completely calm when I was losing my mind?

He winced. “Not exactly.”

I didn’t get it. I couldn’t let myself get it. He looked different, but I still sensed who he was. The man beside me was my mate. "It is you." My voice was pleading for something real and solid to hold on to. “Please tell me the truth.”

"Okay, fine. I'm Rigg." He sighed and came to sit beside me. “I’m the one you met in the breakroom…and at the table.”

I didn't know why that name made so much sense. "But you don’t look?—"

"I know." I almost didn’t hear his whispered confession, and even though I did hear it, I still didn’t understand. "I'm him. I’m your mate, omega."

Rigg kept his eyes on mine, searching like I was a code he had to crack. Then he stopped and took a deep breath. “Don’t be afraid.”

---