Page 61 of The Alpha's Runaway Mate
By the third day, I’m double-checking locks before work. By the fifth, I’ve stopped sleeping through the night. Every sound winds me tight. Every unfamiliar truck passing the shop has me glancing up from the register, waiting for a face I know too well.
I tell myself I’m being paranoid. I’ve been living with fear long enough that now I see it everywhere. But deep down I know better. The last time I felt this way, Ethan was closer than I thought.
It’s been a week since the night Nolan found that muddy footprint by the door. He says we’re safe, but I can tell he doesn’t believe it either. His patrols near the ridge have doubled. His hand always finds the small of my back when we’re out.
I want to believe him. I’ve thought that before.
I’ve been running for seven months. New towns, fake names, fresh starts that never stick. Ethan has already found me twice.
The first time is three weeks after I leave him. I’m working nights at a diner outside Atlanta. He’s waiting in the parking lot after my shift, leaning against my car like nothing has changed. Says he just wants to talk. I don’t wait to find out what he really wants. I drive until sunrise.
The second time is in Tennessee. I’m trying to disappear again. He walks into the coffee shop where I work, orders a drink, and smiles like I’m something he forgot to pick up. You can’t hide forever, Jess. That was five months ago.
Here with Nolan, I finally start to believe I can stop running. Maybe the world has slowed enough for me to breathe.
Until this morning. When I walk into the bookstore, there’s a box on the counter. Small. Plain brown paper. My name scrawled across the top in thick black marker.
Jessica.
The handwriting is neat. Careful. So familiar my stomach drops.
For a long second I can’t move. The air thins. The floor tilts. My hands start to shake.
“Jess?” Paige says. I flinch. She steps from the back with a box of inventory. “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”
“You didn’t,” I say, but my eyes are locked on the package.
Her smile fades. “What’s wrong?”
“Someone left this for me.”
“Okay. And that’s bad because?”
“I know who it’s from.”
She goes still. “Who?”
“My ex,” I whisper. “Ethan.”
“The one you told me about?”
“Yeah. He’s found me before. Twice. I move and change and he still finds me.”
Paige strides to the door, flips the sign to CLOSED, locks it, and throws the deadbolt. No hesitation.
“Paige.”
“I’m not taking chances.” Her tone is steel. Then she softens. “Start at the beginning.”
The words pour out of me. Charming to controlling. Tracking my phone. Cutting me off from friends. The first hit with a promise. The second without. The night I left. Gas and courage running out at the same time. Months of trying to build a life from the pieces he couldn’t reach.
By the end, my voice is paper. “I’m sorry. You didn’t sign up for this.”
“Don’t apologize,” she says. “You survived him. That’s what matters.”
“I thought I was free.”
“You are. He doesn’t get to take that again.” She folds her arms. “You have me. You have Miller. And you have Nolan, who turns into a bear when he’s mad. I am not worried about this guy.”
