Page 48 of Purrfectly Trapped

In plain English, Reg had fucked up. Badly. But maybe, with Hunter’s help, he could fix this. Reg jogged into the office to see Hunter, Brayden, and Mikey, their own Pride doc, sitting around his Neta’s desk. The man himself was just putting the phone down, and he looked mad as hell.

“What went down with Gretchen Kaepernick?”

“How do you mean?”

“You know what I mean,” Hunter growled the words.

Reg’s fists clenched at his sides. He didn’t like this. Not one bit. He didn’t want to talk about Gretchen in front of his other two Pride mates. His Tiger sure as fuck didn’t want to share one sweet morsel of information about her to anyone. She was his. His alone, but even his beast recognized that he had to answer his Neta.

“She is my mate.”

“I see. Did you tell her? Did you explain it to her? What it means to be mated to a Shifter and one of our Pride?”

“No, Neta. Things moved very quickly. I did explain afterwards, but she did not believe me about Shifters. I’ve been trying to get her to see me ever since.”

“You should have tried harder,” Hunter snapped.

Reg bowed his head low under the force of his Neta’s Alpha voice. He was so pissed at himself he didn’t even mind being forced to cower before his leader. He deserved it, and worse.

“Shit. I’m sorry Reg. My Nari is upset, and I get cranky when she is upset. Gretchen is her best friend.”

“I know that. I would never do anything to hurt her. She is my whole life, Neta.”

“I get it, Reg, I do.”

“My Tiger is pressing hard, Neta. He wants me to go to her. It’s all I can do to stop myself---”

“I understand,” Hunter said and stood up.

He walked around his desk, took Reg firmly, yet gently, by the back of his neck and pressed his forehead to the younger man’s. Reg submitted to his Neta’s touch willingly.

There was nothing sexual or weird about it. Shifters were physical beings. In doing this, his Neta was showing his Tiger compassion, while still showing the beast Hunter was in charge.

“Be still,” he growled to the Tiger, and pushed back to look at Reg with glowing teal eyes.

“I have just heard from Elissa. It looks like that love bite of yours worked a little too well. We need to go, right now. All of us.”

Hunter turned to head for the door and the men followed. His words rushed through Reg’s mind, but he did not understand. Something was happening. Something potentially bad.

“What is going on?”

Reg’s heart thundered inside of his chest. Something was wrong. Anxiety twisted his insides, and his Tiger chuffed and snapped his jaws.

“I will explain on the way. Mikey, bring your bag, and tell Lance to come in about an hour with some men to clean up the mess.”

Reg ignored Mikey who was at that moment following the Neta’s instructions. He turned to Brayden who’d offered to drive them in his enormous truck with Hunter riding shotgun.

“Neta, please tell me what is going on.”

Reg’s blood rushed through him, increasing his pulse, and intensifying his agitation.

“Your mate needs you, Reg,” Hunter said with concern lacing his voice. “It seems she is experiencing thePuspa. It is dangerous, as we all know. Not everyone survives, Reg. You need to be ready.”

A deafening silence filled the inside of the vehicle as Reg’s brain tried to wrap around the word. Hunter’s voice was laced with a combination of worry and pride. Reg couldn’t have heard correctly.

Puspa.

His beast chuffed aloud. The Tiger was not shy about letting his own pride show through. The animal was excited and anxious to see his mate’s change.

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