Page 23 of The Alpha's Runaway Mate
Kolt beams, smug. “Told you. Handsome one.”
“Reserve judgment until he starts alphabetizing your pantry,” Xander mutters.
“He wishes,” Kolt shoots back. “He labels his ammo cans.”
“Because the labels matter,” Xander says, scandalized.
I let them run interference, let the humor sand down the edges of the night. Jessica starts eating the fries without realizing it, like her body remembers what safety tastes like. Her shoulders ease, her heartbeat slows, and my bear finally goes quiet.
We end up ordering burgers for the table. Kolt talks too much and somehow convinces her to try the onion rings with his ridiculous sauce mix. She pretends to protest, then gives in, and the second she laughs at something he says, I know she’s got a soft spot for the idiot. My bear bristles at that, possessive, primitive, but it fades fast. I want her close with my family. I want her to have people.
I reach under the table, palm up. She sets her hand in mine without looking, like that’s always been the way we sit. Heat slides up my arm and spreads. For now, that’s enough. The bar holds. My brothers watch the doors.
Somewhere east, the ridge exhales, and then inhales again, slow and hungry, like a sleeping thing with teeth. Declan’s out there. And whatever walked him past the line isn’t finished.
But my mate is here, fingers warm in my hand, telling my brothers they’re comforting. I’ll take the win.
NINE
JESSICA
Kolt’sthe first to break the lull, leaning back in the booth with a grin that’s way too smug to be innocent. “Go on, man. You’ve got that look. We’ll hold down the fort.”
Across from him, Xander nabs a fry and points it at Nolan like a dagger. “Yeah, Alpha. Go play house or whatever it is you do when you’re not terrifying customers.”
Nolan glares at them, but it’s the kind of glare that saysI’ll kill you laterandthanks for covering for meall at once. “You sure?”
Kolt waves him off. “Positive. We’ll close up. Try not to growl at anyone on your way out, especially her.”
He jerks his chin toward me, and I can’t help the quiet laugh that slips out. Nolan shoots me a sideways look, half warning, half soft, and it’s ridiculous how much that one glance makes my pulse trip.
I slide out of the booth when he stands, his hand finding the small of my back like it’s supposed to be there. Kolt winks at me as we pass, and I swear the man lives to cause trouble.
Nolan’s jaw twitches, but his eyes flick to me, softening almost instantly. “Come on, Sweetheart,” he says.
It’s not a command. It’s quieter than that, an invitation that makes my pulse trip. I let him pull me closer, close enough that the heat of him settles along my side as we start toward the door.
Every head turns as we move through the bar, the noise dipping like the whole place took one collective breath. Whispers rise, soft and sharp, but Nolan doesn’t slow. He moves through them like he owns the air itself. And somehow, with him guiding me, I stop caring who’s watching.
The door’s just a few steps away when a woman steps right into our path, smooth as a cat that knows it’s beautiful. Dark hair perfect, lipstick darker than her smile. She looks me up and down once, slow, deliberate, and the temperature in the room seems to drop ten degrees.
I freeze, instincts prickling. I can feel the hostility coming off her like static. She doesn’t say anything at first, just lays a manicured hand on Nolan’s arm, her voice sugar and venom when she finally speaks. “Leaving already?”
The sound of her tone makes my stomach twist. It’s possessive. Familiar. I don’t need to know the history to understand exactly what she’s implying.
Nolan’s whole body goes still. Then his voice, low and lethal: “I’ve already warned you Rhea.”
Rhea blinks, startled, but the shock fades fast. Her painted mouth curves into something mean. “Really?” she purrs. “You’re claimingher? You must be desperate, Alpha. She looksbreakable. Soft. The kind of thing that cries when you raise your voice.”
The growl that rips out of him isn’t human. The entire bar goes silent. Every head turns toward us.
“Watch your fucking mouth,” Nolan snarls, every syllable vibrating through the air. “That’s my mate you’re insulting.”
Rhea’s laugh is brittle, the sound of someone trying to make herself big when she’s already lost. “Yourmate?” she spits, too loud, too sharp. “You’ve lost your mind. She doesn’t belong here. She’ll run the first time she sees what you really are.”
“I haven’t run yet,” I say, my spine straightening, voice steady. I meet her gaze head-on.
Rhea’s smile falters. For half a second, the color drains from her face before she pastes it back on, too bright, too fake. “You’re making a mistake,” she snaps, desperation leaking through the cracks. “You think she’s going to surviveyou? Or the pack? You think anyone’s going to respectthat?” She jerks her chin toward me like the word itself is dirty.
