Page 11 of Targeted By Temptation
“Everyone shut up.” Boaz's Alpha voice cut through the noise. “Ezra. Explain.”
I told them everything. The waiting, the bar, the storeroom, finding Reign terrified and hiding. And then the worst part.
“He's human. Which is fine.” I gulped. “And he was arranged to mate with Hawthorn, the Stravon pack heir.”
None of my brothers said anything which was unusual. I’d stunned them into silence
“Damn.” Maynard offered to “off” the heir, as that was his other job when he wasn’t doing financial stuff. But Boaz growled and said we weren’t killing anyone.
“This could start a war.” Boaz furrowed his brow.
“You think?” Thiago yelled.
“If the Stravons think we took what belongs to them?—”
“He's not property.” I cut off my brother who was also my Alpha. “He's my mate.”
“I know that. But they won't see it that way,” Boaz snapped. “Where is he now?”
“In my car. We’re on the thruway.”
“Good. Take him to the cabin, the one we used to visit as kids.”
I turned up my nose. “That place must be decrepit. No one’s been there in years.”
Boaz rolled his eyes and said he and Keane had it done up and they often visited on long weekends. How did I not know that? But based on my other brothers’ reactions, they didn’t either.
“You’ll be safe there until we figure out what to do.” Boaz was tapping on his phone. “But it’s best if you have the shifter conversation sooner rather than later. Your mate is pack now. And then,” Boaz continued, “we're going to have to contact Viktor Stravon and explain the situation. If we're lucky, he'll respect the mate bond and back off.”
“And if he doesn't?” I already knew the answer.
“Then we’ll be at war.” Lake had summed up the situation in one sentence.
Boaz's voice was more confident than before when he said maybe Viktor would understand. “Fate isn't something to mess with. Even the Stravons know that.”
I ended the call to see Reign was coming back to the car. He hadn’t taken off or called someone to come get him. He didn’t understand he was my mate, but he’d apparently decided to trust me.
Maybe he has no one else, my beast added.
6
REIGN
I wasn’t really hungry, but when he shoved the wad of cash at me and told me to get something to eat, I pretended I was. I needed a little bit of space to figure out exactly what was happening, because not only had I left, but my father had no idea where I was. Nothing good could come of any of this.
If I’d been smart, I’d have asked him to drive me home. Pretended like nothing had ever happened tonight. But I hadn’t been smart, or more accurately, I hadn’t been able to say goodbye. In the back of my mind, I didn’t think he’d have let me even if I had. That should’ve concerned me, but for some reason, it didn’t.
Here I was, at some truck stop somewhere I didn’t even know where, with no way back home if I wanted one. How messed up was it that I’d been so focused on this stranger that I didn’t know what county we were in.
The truck stop itself had the normal fare, but nothing looked good. I wasn’t even looking for me. I was looking for Ezra. I wanted to give him something to eat, to take care of him. Maybe want was the wrong word—Ineededto. Like I had no choice.
I wandered the aisles. Most of the aisles were junk food after junk food, which I didn’t have a problem with, but would he? He definitely looked like he exercised and took care of himself. Even with his clothes on, I could see his defined muscles.
Would he look at a bag of chips with disgust? Maybe he was one of those protein bros, and I should find him a protein bar. Or maybe a package of turkey or a can of tuna. Wasn’t that what they ate?
The more I thought about it, the more I got myself worried about the very last thing that I should be. And goodness knew there was enough to worry about.
He hadn’t asked for food. For all I knew, he wasn’t hungry. We were in a situation that we needed to find our way out of, and I was thinking about his stomach.
