Page 72 of Forsaken

“Please,” I scoff, peering over at him through fanned lashes. “Would you have left me?”

He pulls my hand up, brushing a kiss across my knuckles. “Never.”

I give him a look that says the same should go for me, obviously.

He turns his attention back to the road. A few minutes go by, and in that time, he checks the rearview mirror about a hundred times. “Are we going to be okay?”

“I hope so.”

Hope is all we have now. I run my hands through my tangled mess of hair. “How did you get free, anyway?” I ask. Even Sean was taken aback when Nathan’s wolf showed up.

“Basically, I’m a fugitive now,” Nathan relays, a sly smile pulling his lips apart. “I overpowered Jonah. Then I took out the two security guys...and Gayle.”

The mention of his fated partner makes me a little uneasy. “She wanted to be with you,” I admit. “For real.”

“I know.” His soft tone betrays that there’s still some fondness there. “But it was too late,” he argues. “I’d already grown out of her. Like with you and Sean’s wolf, there could’ve been something had things been different, but they’re not. I’m with you,” he says forcefully before peeking over at me. “The longer time went on, there wasn’t a chance for Gayle and me. Not only did she snuff it out, but it was our connection, Mia. Our true mate bond. You’re my choice, and that means everything.”

“We can hear each other,” I remind him, tears glistening in my eyes. After choosing Nathan, I wasn’t sure that was a perk I was going to get.

“We chose for ourselves.”

And we’re blessed with the same abilities that true mates have. “It should be impossible.”

“I’m wondering how many things are possible that we were told aren’t.”

He’s beginning to sound like Kinsey, and honestly, I am too. It’s hard to go against everything you’ve been told. It’s walking on a shaky foundation that was always as strong as a hundred-year-old tree with roots so thick they practically penetrate the earth’s crust. The road we’re taking now is wobbly, unsure.

“It’s not right,” I say. “Maybe they don’t know.”

“They know, Mia. The alphas? Come on. They know they’re feeding us a bunch of lies, but they’re doing it to keep us in line. They give us systemic boundaries to follow so no one asks questions. You get a mate, you procreate, you produce more members of pack society that will fall in line.”

“Don’t you wonder what it is that they don’t want us to know?”

He squeezes my fingers. “I can only process one problem at a time, and right now, I’m only worried about getting out of Daybreak and the other pack territories alive...with my mate.”

“I like the ring of that,” I smile.

“You better. You’re stuck with me for the rest of your life.”

“I don’t know if I would call it being stuck with you exactly,” I tease, resting my head back on the seat, staring up at the twinkling stars. I check the side mirror. No one is following us. I’m sure our friends back at Daybreak are doing their best to help us get our freedom. I just hope they’re not implicating themselves in the process.

Jonah would never allow that to happen.

“So, Outlaw, what do you think the story is they’re telling back home?”

Nathan beams. “My guess is that they’re spinning it so that I went against my mate bond and totally corrupted everything. I injured a member of another pack, my own mate, and alpha security. When they realize you’re gone, they’ll probably say I kidnapped you, killed your mate, and took off.”

“Heathen,” I tease.

“If they think that’s bad, as soon as we’re far enough away, I plan on finding a remote place to fuck you until the sun comes up.”

“What if the sun’s already up?” I ask coyly.

He gives me a determined stare. “No, I mean until the sun comes up the next day, Mia.”

His answering words heat my core.

He checks the rearview mirror again, fiddling with it. “My wolf needs to know that you’re okay. He craves that primal connection. If Jonah hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve ripped Sean’s head off in front of all those guests at the Winter Solstice ball.”

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