Page 9 of The Alpha's Runaway Mate
I roll my eyes but don’t answer. He’s not wrong.
Outside, the early morning air hits my lungs like a cold wave. The sky’s turning gray-blue, and mist clings to the trees beyond the lot. The woods smell like rain and pine, and her. Always her. Somewhere out there, wolves are running the ridge like I told them to. Keeping the borders tight. Keeping her safe.
The bond hums again, low and steady. She’s dreaming. About me. The image hits like a punch. Her lips parted on my name, her body shifting restlessly, heat rolling through her blood. My claws dig into my palms before I can stop them.
I breathe through it, forcing the bear back down. The Hollow hums beneath my feet, alive and listening. This town is tied tome, the peace, the balance, the power. If I lose control, it all shakes with me.
So I walk. The road’s damp under my boots, the air sharp with morning chill. The world’s quiet except for the wind whispering through the pines. Every step pulls me closer to her scent, sweet and human with just enough wild to make my chest ache.
By the time I hit the tree line near her camp, the bond’s pulsing strong again. I stop, letting it wash through me. I canfeelher. Her heartbeat syncing to mine, her breath soft and even. She’s still dreaming of me. The bear rumbles low in approval, claws scraping against my ribs.
The sound that tears from my throat isn’t human. It’s low, rough, and dangerous enough to make the ridge echo back. Birds scatter from the trees. The Hollow listens. Enough. I strip off my shirt and boots, leaving them in the wet grass. Heat ripples through me as the shift takes over. My skin ignites, muscles tearing and reforming in a rush of fire and relief. Bones pop, stretch, reshape. Fur spills down my arms and across my back until the world tilts and the bear stands where the man was.
He doesn’t hesitate. We run. Through mist and shadow, claws tearing into the soft earth, breath clouding the air. The world sharpens, every scent, every sound, every heartbeat within a mile. Jessica’s trail winds through the trees, faint but perfect. I follow it, never crossing into her camp, but close enough that no one will mistake who she belongs to.
The wolves catch my scent and howl, their voices carrying through the ridge. I answer with a growl that shakes the ground, a warning and a promise.
The bond hums steady now, no longer wild or sharp, just a thread of heat connecting us. She’s safe. She’s mine.
This is what I am, the Alpha of Evermore Hollow. The balance. The bite. The one thing keeping this town from tearing itself apart.
And for the first time in too damn long, I’m not running the woods for duty. I’m running forher.
When the first light of dawn spills through the trees, I slow. The bear lifts his head, breathing her scent in deep, and everything in me finally settles. She’s there. Safe. Soon, she’ll know exactly what that means.
FIVE
JESSICA
I’m walkingwith Nolan under a sky that looks too close. Moonlight pours through the trees like silver water, and the forest breathes around us, big and quiet and watching. His hand’s in mine, warm and heavy, fingers laced like he has no intention of letting go. Every step hums through me like bass. I can feel him everywhere. On my skin. In my chest. Low in my belly.
He stops without warning and turns to face me. The air shifts. His eyes burn that impossible blue, and I swear I can taste smoke and rain. My pulse goes feral. He tips my chin up with two fingers, like I’m something precious and breakable, and then he kisses me.
It isn’t soft. It’s deep, claiming, like he’s been starving and I’m finally here. Heat slams through me, fast and brutal. I gasp, and he swallows the sound like he owns it. My hands fist in his shirt, dragging him closer, and he comes willingly, body pressed to mine, mouth coaxing me open. I moan into the kiss. The sound shocks me and thrills me at the same time.
Something snaps tight between us. Not just chemistry. Not just lust. A bond. I feel it like a cord of fire tugging from the center of my chest to his, pulling us together until there’s no space left to want. The pressure builds and keeps building, sweet and unbearable. He breaks the kiss only to breathe against my lips, voice a gravel-soft growl that detonates in my bones.
“Mine.”
The word thrums through me. I tilt my head, chasing his mouth again, greedy now. He gives, then takes, teeth scraping my lower lip just enough to make my knees go liquid. My whole body sparks like I’ve been wired straight to him. Every breath I pull tastes like him. Every beat of my heart tries to sync with his.
The forest leans closer. I hear the low rumble in his chest and don’t think, I just answer with a helpless sound that would embarrass me if I could remember how to be embarrassed. His palm curves over my hip, guiding, anchoring, and the bond yanks hard, a hot, invisible rope that drags me closer until I’m pressed to him everywhere. It’s too much. It’s perfect. I want more.
“Nolan,” I whisper against his mouth. It comes out like a plea.
He kisses me again, slower this time, deeper, like he’s memorizing the shape of me from the inside out. Sparks race up my spine. The earth tilts. I feel the ground under my boots and the sky stretching forever and still somehow the only real thing is his mouth on mine and the heat rolling off him, steady and devastating.
The bond tightens another notch. I’m burning. My thoughts go static. There’s no bar. No past. No tent. No ex. Just him and thepull and the way my body keeps reaching without permission. I don’t know if I’m dreaming or drowning. I don’t care.
He breaks the kiss to rest his forehead against mine. The tip of his nose skims mine. His breath is shallow, wrecked. “Feel it,” he murmurs. “Say you feel it.”
“I feel it,” I breathe, because I do, God, I do. It’s inside me, bright and relentless, making me ache in places I didn’t know could ache.
His thumb strokes my jaw, and that tiny touch lights me up all over again. I lean in, lips parting, chasing, and the world rips away.
I wake in the tent with my heart slamming and heat rolling through me like I ran a marathon in a fever. Dawn’s breaking over the horizon, pinks lighting up the sky. My sleeping bag’s pushed down, my skin slick, my shirt twisted. I’m breathing like I just sprinted uphill. My lips tingle. My legs do too.
Wind moves through the trees outside, and the canvas rustles softly. Then the smell hits, cedar, smoke, rain on dust, and my stomach flips. It’s him. I cansmellhim.
