Page 7 of The Brooding Alpha's Mate
“I’ve called you three times in the last the hour. I wanted to see if you could pick up the cake.”
“You called me?” I reached in my back pocket for my phone. “Crap. I must have left it in the truck.”
I learned very quickly that I not only did not leave it in the truck, but I hadn’t left it in the warehouse either. My best guess was that it was at the gas station, because I did text the guys from there.
Because of the kind of work I did, I tended not to use the “Find Phone” option, just to keep from getting tracked. There was more to it than that, but I wasn’t the tech guy. The team set up the security settings for me and I trusted whatever they did.
The cake was for the party and had to come first. And when I returned with it, all of the kids wanted me to stay. I didn’t love the idea of my phone being out in the wild, but there was not much I could do about it. Disappointing the children was not something I was willing to do all for the sake of convenience.
The barbecue was a success, but I started to get antsy and my cousin asked why I didn’t go out and get some air. He told me it was fine to leave and that everything was winding down. I promised everybody I’d be back soon to help clean up, and drove to the gas station.
I pulled in, parking in the same spot I had been in earlier. My plan was to retrace my steps and hope for the best.
The second I opened the door, I could scent them. My mate was here. My bear pushed so hard, it was shocking that I hadn’t shifted right then and there.
Calm down. We’ll see our mate in a minute.
I ran to the entrance, opened it up, and looked around, trying to see him. If I allowed my bear to track him by scent, he’d rip through his fur, and there was no way I was allowing that. The last thing this place needed was bear sightings.
The guy behind the counter kept looking between me, the beer case, and an aisle I couldn’t see down, and then back to me again.
“Just here to see if you had my phone.”
He gave a nod, and I started toward him, my eyes still focused on the rest of the building. It had to be the guy in the aisle, because beer guy? Just no. Fate wouldn’t do that to me.
“Hey,” barked the beer guy, “where are you?”
I spun around thinking he was talking to me. He wasn’t.
Before I could fully take in the scene before me, there was a huge crash. An entire section of shelving toppled to the ground. The scent of chemicals filled the air. Whatever had been on that shelf was either cleaning fluid or… No, that was the only thing it could be.
My head was already spinning. I remembered from chemistry class that certain chemicals couldn’t be combined without being dangerous. I had a feeling she was talking about these.
From there, everything happened all at once.
An alarm was ringing.
The sprinkler system was going off.
The attendant screamed, “Everybody out, everybody out!” Over and over again. I assumed he meant because of the chemicals. I was so wrong.
The next words from his lip were, “There’s a fucking lion in here!”
And there was, and that lion was going toward the person I hadn’t seen until that moment.
Mate or not, I couldn’t tell. The chemicals were too overwhelming. One thing was for sure; I wasn’t leaving without helping him. He looked so scared, cowering, his eyes going back-and-forth between the door and the lion, as if determining his best options.
This wasn’t a stranger to him, and this wasn’t new. The omega’s animal was showing in his eyes, and he didn’t show surprise over the beast, getting ready to pounce. If I were to guess, he created the distraction intentionally.
I crossed over to him without hesitation, and scooped up the omega, as I kicked the lion to the side. No one ever accused me of being weak, but this was the first time I fought back 100 percent. I kicked so powerfully, my knee was killing me. I didn’t care. I needed to get the omega out of there.
The lion shifted back as we were leaving, but I didn’t look to see where he was going.
As we walked through the front door, the lion’s words sent shivers down my spine. “No one steals what’s mine, give me back my property.”
My bear threatened to come loose and tear him to shreds. I couldn’t allow it with flashing lights and sirens filling the parking lot already. I needed to get him out of there and to them. I’d figure out how to keep him safe from there.
But one thing was sure…that lion was never laying a hand on this omega ever again.
