Page 18 of The Alpha's Runaway Mate
“Rest,” he murmurs. “You’re safe here.”
Safe. The word feels foreign and comforting all at once.
He doesn’t move away. Instead, he sits down beside me, one arm stretching along the back of the bed. I shift without thinking, leaning into him until my head finds his chest. His skin is warm and solid, his heartbeat steady under my cheek. I should move. I should say something. But the bond hums softly between us, wrapping me in that strange calm I can’t fight.
My eyes drift closed. His hand comes up, brushing over my hair once, slow and careful, before settling around me. The world fades. The last thing I feel before sleep takes me is the rise and fall of his chest and the soft, steady rhythm of his heart under my ear.
EIGHT
NOLAN
Jessica sleepslike she’s finally washed up on shore after months of treading water. One arm tucked under her cheek, my shirt loose on her, hair still damp from the shower fanned across my pillow. Her breathing is slow, even. Peaceful in a way I haven’t seen in her yet.
My bear stretches inside my ribs, quiet for the first time in forever. I lie there and memorize the weight of her against me, the soft sounds she makes in her sleep, the way her fingers twitch against my chest like her body’s making sure I’m still here.
My phone buzzes on the dresser breaking the spell. I’d like nothing more than to stay here and ignore it, but I can’t. Not when I’m the Alpha, the leader of this town.
I slide out from under her carefully, like I’m disarming a bomb. She stirs, exhales, then settles again, her lips parting slightly. I snag my phone and step into the hall, closing the door behind me.
Kolt.
I answer on the next ring. “Where the hell are you?”
He sounds winded. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” I growl.
He takes a second before answering. “We found Declan.”
Every muscle inside me locks. “Alive?”
“Yeah.” Kolt blows out a breath. “But he’s not right.”
My voice drops low. “Define not right.”
“Thin. Wired. Keeps blinking out mid-sentence, then acts like nothing happened. Eyes look… wrong. And he was deep, Nol. Past Blackrock Ridge.”
I grip the phone tighter. “Did he say who took him?”
“That’s the thing. He says no one. Says he walked there but can’t say why.”
“Any marks? Bites? Poison?”
“He’s clean. No visible injuries. Xander says he smells like the forest got inside him.” Kolt’s frustration grates the line. “And before you start, I know how that sounds.”
Goddammit. Declan isn’t just pack, he’s family. We were raised together after his parents died, spent half our lives watching each other’s backs. The thought of him out there twisted up with whatever’s in those woods hits like a blade under my ribs. “Where is he now?”
Silence stretches, long enough that I start to hear my own pulse.
“We tried to bring him straight to you,” Kolt says finally. “He tensed when we said your name. Said he needed time. Wedropped him at the old quarry road to breathe.” A low curse. “We looped back. He was gone.”
I stare at the wall until the grain blurs. “Jesus Christ, Kolt! You fucking lost him! You just found the bastard!”
“He ditched us,” Kolt snaps. “Stepped around our sweep like he knew exactly where we’d pass. No scent, no sound. Just… gone.”
“Where are you?” I say in a deadly calm voice.
“Xander and I will be at Snarl in fifteen. If something pulled him off the grid, it’s not working alone.”
