Gage pushed away from the wall and dropped his arms.He put his hands into his pockets as he rolled his shoulders back.Then he explained all that he’d been observing while he’d been “working” with Azure.Gage told them about his demand to know about the newanimifemales: where they were going and who they ended up mated to.Then he dropped the final bomb.“I was headed to New Orleans yesterday, after Nox told me about the new little wolf, when Azure called me, asking me about a new job.”He paused as he remembered walking into the KOV mansion and smelling her scent for the first time.It was his new drug, and he was desperate for it.Gage was like a starving man already, and all he’d done was talk to her and share some sparring texts.Yet he yearned for her.He was hungry for the sight of her.Gage wanted to hear her voice and know that she was within touching distance if his hands got the urge to hold her.Which he imagined they would, often.He let out the breath and continued.“I walked a scent that we didn’t recognize.”
“That doesn’t make sense.How do you recognize a scent you don’t recognize?”
“Because I am not human,” Gage told Lola.“I am a beastwalker, and my beast recognizes the scent of his mate, even though we’d never smelled her before.”
“Oh, snap.”Maddie’s hand came up to rub her forehead.
“Wait.What?”Lola’s eyes widened as she stared at Gage and blinked several times.“Are you saying thatyouare Katy’s mate?”
“She’s mine.”Every muscle in Gage’s body tensed, his beast ready for a fight.If Lola thought her friendship with Katy somehow would trump his claim on her, she was going to be sadly mistaken.He would fight anyone, even a lioness princess, for his mate.He saw Callon shift restlessly behind Lola, most likely not enjoying the challenge Gage was laying at Lola’s feet.
Lola’s lips suddenly tilted upward.“She’s yours.But are you hers?”
Gage frowned, his brow drawing low over his eyes.
She continued.“Does she know that she’s your mate?”
“I’ve spent all of about two minutes with her.And engaged her in a dozen texts.”
“That’s a no.”Maddie folded her arms across her chest.Although she was shorter than him, she managed to somehow appear as if she was looking down on Gage.How was that even possible?
Lola raised her eyebrows at the dire wolf.“Okay, when you left her with Azure, you knew she was your mate, correct?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t tell her and you left her there?—”
“It was the safest—” Gage started, but Lola held up her hand.
“You didn’t tell her, and you left her there.You left her in the dark about important information, and you left her behind.Two things a woman never wants to be.”
“In the dark”—Maddie held up a finger, then a second finger—“and left behind.”
Lola leaned her head to the side, resting it on Callon’s shoulder as she took Gage in.“If you plan to ask her to be your mate, I hope you’re prepared to fix the mess you’ve made.”
“I did what I had to do in order to keep her safe,” Gage argued.“You’ve been a part of our world all of three minutes, and you’re telling me how to handle my relationship with my mate?”
“Careful, Dire.”Callon’s deep voice vibrated with the anger that filled his golden eyes.“That’smymate you’re speaking to.”
“And she’s questioning my character.”Gage slammed a fist into his chest as his voice rumbled out.He took a step toward the screen, ignoring Nox’s raised hand.“And my faithfulness to my female.She doesn’t know me, or anything about me, and yet, she challenges my honor?What male would ever put their mate in danger?”His gaze bounced back and forth from Callon’s to Lola’s.“Do you thinkthisis where Iwantto be?Standing in an office,talkingabout a bunch of females I care nothing for when I know mine is in the clutches of that snake?Have you any idea how hard my beast is fighting me to get on a plane to New Orleans and get Katy out of there, screw the consequences to anyone else?Because truthfully, Lola, there is one person on this earth I care for, and I met her yesterday.She is the only person, with the exception of Visata, who has my complete loyalty.I will kill for her and die for her.And frankly, I’d just as soon burn New Orleans to the ground and all the vipers that live there with it.ButI don’t live for my own wants and desires.”
“I don’t get to have what I want, when I want it, even if it’s the most important thing in the world to me.Because there are other people’s lives at stake.So, no.I didn’t tell her.Because if she knows, then Azure might find out.And if Azure finds out, she’s as good as dead, because she will become a conduit for his voodoo witch to makeanimiusing human women.”
“Okay, why didn’t you lead withthat?”Maddie blurted out and pointed at him.“Instead, you started off by comparing her to a cow.The pissing match between you and Lo could have been avoided if you’d led with ‘If Azure knows we’re mates, he’ll make her his magic puppet to make otheranimipuppets.’”Maddie turned to Nox and started to speak, but the Alpha growled.She squeaked and snapped her mouth closed.Apparently, Nox was not in the mood to be chastised by a human.
“So, Gage, she’s totally in the dark?”Lola asked.
“It was better for her not to know.He can’t get information from a dry well.”
“That doesn’t mean a dry well can’t be tortured and hurt,” Lola snapped.“If Azure suspects for any reason that she might be your mate?—”
“He has no reason to suspect that.Because I didn’t give him a reason to suspect that.”
“And he will think that a Dire won’t have a mate.”Nox’s voice was as solemn as his eyes when they met Gage’s.
“What does that mean?Do dire wolves not mate?Of course you mate, or else there wouldn’t be any of you.Why would Azure think Katy couldn’t be your mate?”
Gage looked away from the Alpha and to Lola.“Because I am disgraced and undeserving of a mate.”
