“And?”
“And she asked ‘your what?’ before I could explain properly. I needed to stop her from getting on that bus. Details could wait.”
Jonus snorts. “You’re going to have to tell her everything soon. She needs to understand what she’s agreeing to.”
“I know.” And I do. But the thought of explaining it all, of watching her face when she realizes what being my mate actually means, makes my stomach heavy. “One crisis at a time. She’ll have questions. Like why she has to live with me specifically, not just somewhere safe on the commune and I’ll tell her the answeris simple: unmated females don’t live alone. It’s our custom, our security protocol. She’ll be under my protection as my claimed mate whether she’s ready for that or not. But the rest? The fact that she’ll never have daughters and be bound to me forever or I will lose my mind? That path is hers to choose.”
“Fair enough.”
I take a turn, heading toward the next highway that will take us to the airport.
“Speaking of crisis. Those photos you found at her apartment,” Jonus questions, “did you find out any more information?” I’d texted him images while racing to the bus station. Needed him to see what we’re dealing with.
“Surveillance photos,” I respond. “Professional quality. Someone’s been watching her for weeks, maybe months. There were pictures of her at the school, with Ellie, at the wedding with me.” My hands clench into fists. “There was a note. ‘We’ve found you, Dr. Lee. You have twenty-four hours.’”
“Dr. Lee?” Jonus frowns. “I thought she was Anna Kim.”
“Anna Kim is one of her aliases. Dr. Anna Lee is who she really is.” I glance back again. She shifts slightly, murmurs something I can’t make out. “She’s been on the run for three years. Hiding on her own.”
Jonus whistles low. “Three years on her own? What the hell is she running from?”
“I don’t know yet, but it got someone killed and now whoever she’s running from found her again and they threatened to harm the people in those photos.” The rage simmers under my skin, controlled but present. “They know about Ellie. About the school. About me.”
“Which is why she ran,” Jonus says. “To protect everyone.”
“Yes. My female was trying to save everyone but herself. Typical.”
“I called Dane and Aldar while you were tracking her down in the bus station,” Jonus says. “They’re busy warning everyone who was there at the wedding and checking who had access to take that photo.”
“Good.”
“Kelt’s been alerted too at the commune. He’s coordinating with security, making sure everything’s locked down before you arrive.”
I nod. Kelt is the best. If anyone can keep Anna safe at the commune, it’s him.
“The plane is chartered and waiting,” Jonus continues. “I’ll stay here in California, coordinate with Garlen and Dane on this end, while you take her to Maine.”
I nod, churning in my mind the idea that this means I will have her with me, in my cabin.
His mouth quirks. “You sure you can handle so much time alone with your unclaimed mate?”
I bare a tusk. “I’ll have to. She’s mine to protect. Even if it means fighting my own instincts every damn day.”
We’re both quiet again. The rain picks up, drumming harder against the roof. We’re closer to the airport. I check the mirror again and notice that Anna hasn’t moved. Twelve hours ago, I was at my cousin’s wedding with her and she was looking at me like I mattered and maybe I wasn’t just the scary Irontree everyone avoided. Now I’m driving through the rain with my unclaimed mate unconscious in the back seat, running from people who want her dead.
I’d watched her leave the reception, wearing my jacket. Couldn’t stop thinking about the way she’d looked at me during dinner. The scent of her arousal for me was heavy in the air between us. I waited until she’d been home long enough to settle, then I texted. And the way she responded hit a chord of unease. Something was wrong. I couldn’t explain it, just...wrong. The instincts that kept me alive in combat, the same one that made me good at security. It was screaming. I called her. No answer. Texted again. Nothing.
So I called Jonus. “Something’s wrong with Anna,” I’d said. “She wouldn’t just ignore me.”
He’d been skeptical. “Maybe she’s just tired? It’s late.”
“No.” I was already grabbing my keys. “Something’s wrong. I can feel it.”
Jonus knew better than to argue. “Alright. I’ll track her phone. Meet you at your place.”
I drove too fast to her apartment complex in a nice, safe neighborhood. Her door was unlocked when I got there. The lights were left on inside, but there was no sign of Anna. Evidence everywhere of someone packing in a hurry. Closet doors open, dresser drawers pulled out.
And then I saw the photos scattered across her living room floor. Professional surveillance shots of Anna walking into Black Oak, laughing with Ellie, at the wedding, looking at me with that unguarded expression. I picked up that last one and stared at her face, at the way she’d looked at me. And then I saw the note those assholes left for her. The rage that hit me was volcanic. Someone threatened my mate, had been watching her, stalking her, photographing her. Photographing us.
