Page 1 of Quietly Hux's
Prologue
THE NIGHT BEFORE…
HUX
I’d never smelled anything like it. Likehim.And nothing on earth could have stopped me from going down those stairs to get to him.
I heard Rylan yell out my name, but I couldn’t stop, paws pounding on the stairs and sides brushing against the walls because the stairwell was so damn narrow. None of it mattered. Nothing mattered but getting to the base of those stairs and coming face to face with my mate.
As soon as he came into view, I slammed to a stop, my big body nearly tumbling forward from the momentum I’d built up. In front of me, my mate was kneeling on a mattress that had been pushed against the wall. A metal collar was fastened around his slender neck with a chain connecting it to a bolt mounted on the wall. His dark hair reached to his chin, with a thick fringe sweeping over half his forehead. Large amethyst eyes stared at me as the scent of fear spiked throughout the room.
Vaguely, I was aware of Rylan and Shep making it to the bottom of the stairs behind me and of the other Omegas staringat me, but I couldn’t pull my gaze from him. I didn’t want him to view me as a threat for another second, so I did the only thing I could think of. Dropping to my belly, I slid myself forward until my nose touched the far side of his mattress and let out a questioning rumble.
“It’s okay, Milo. All of you. We’re here to get you out,” Rylan said from somewhere behind me. My mate,Milo, glanced in his direction before bringing his gaze back to me. “Get dressed and put on your shoes. You don’t have to spend another minute here.”
Milo licked his lips and looked around the room. I didn’t have to look to know the others were questioning Rylan even as they pulled shoes onto their feet. Shep was already tearing chains away from their anchors. The collars would have to wait until we got back to the trucks and the bolt cutters Rylan had asked us to bring.
When Milo brought his gaze back to me, he moved a little closer and picked up his chain, offering it to me. Lifting my head, I nodded and got my paws underneath me. It only took a second for me to wrap the offending length of it around my paw and pull. The wall gave before the chain did, concrete cracking and splintering to dust as the screws holding the bolt secure broke away.
As I turned back to him, Milo was already gathering up the length of chain into one of his arms, leaving the chunk of wall attached to the bolt dangling over his elbow. Slowly, I moved my snout closer to him. It had to be intimidating, having a huge bear looming over him. And I didloomeven with all four paws on the ground. In my human form, I’d be surprised if the top of his head reached the middle of my chest.
He didn’t shrink back, though. Instead, he looked me in the eye. I moved a little closer. Biting his lip, he reached out a hand. I chuffed, nosing forward and giving his palm a tiny lick. Hejolted, gorgeous purple eyes going wide. I’m not sure that bears can truly smile, but if I’d been in my human form, my grin would have stretched from ear to ear.
We were mates, and from the flush on his cheeks, now Milo knew it too.
Chapter
One
PRESENT
MILO
It wasn’t that I wanted to leave.
Because I didn’t.
But…I had a mate. A mate I knew in my gut would do anything to protect me. To keep me. And I couldn’t let what was coming get Hux or the others. We’d only just gotten free.
A roar tore through the quiet morning air. I flinched, and more hot tears leaked from my eyes. Hux knew I was gone, and he’d be coming after me. Biting my lip hard enough to break skin, I sucked in air as fast as I could and pushed my legs to go even faster.
I’d hoped for more time before he realized I wasn’t in the bedroom he’d shown me to last night. He’d been so sweet and calm. I’d guessed from his bear form that he’d be a big man, but the reality of him was still more than I could have dreamed. He was beautiful—tall, muscular, with a headful of dark hair, a full beard, and the bluest eye I’d ever seen. He seemed shy about the one he was missing. About the scars. It hurt my heart to know he’d known pain like that, and even though I’d truly wanted totell him that, scars or no, he was lovely to me, my voice still refused to work.
Just as it had every day since I’d been taken.
“Milo!”
Crap!He was so much closer than I thought he should be. How the hell did he run that fast?
“Milo!”
Thinking quickly, I turned. If I doubled back, maybe I’d confuse him with bisecting scent trails, but as soon as I did, I saw him not twenty feet away and coming fast.
“Milo, wait!”
He looked so stricken; I didn’t have the heart to keep running. I stopped and leaned against the thick trunk of a nearby tree. Bending over, I braced my hands on my knees while I sucked in big lungfuls of air. My heart pounded, and a fresh wash of tears coated my already damp cheeks.
Hux landed on his knees beside me. Heaving in huge breaths, he reached a shaking hand toward me. “Milo?”
