We were on the way home, but there was no fucking way I’d rest tonight without a run. My wolf was determined to tear the compound to pieces, so I directed Marco, our driver, toward the forest. “I need to run,” I told him, my beast heavy in those words.
Emme’s head shot up from where she’d been resting against Kellan’s shoulder, almost asleep.
“On your own?” she asked, concern lacing her sweet tone.
I’d never had anyone other than my brothers give a shit about me before, but Emme had stormed into our lives, sassed the hell out of us, and then started caring.Seeing uswith her ethereal blue eyes. It messed with my control, and tonight I was too on edge to risk returning to the pack house.
“Yeah, my beast is restless. I need to free him before he makes a mess that I’m forced to clean up.”
As entitled alpha, I’d learned control and how to harness my power but this was an exceptional circumstance. An exceptionally adorable, freckled, frustratingly sexy circumstance.
“I’ll come with you,” she declared suddenly, any fatigue she’d shown vanishing as she sat straighter.
My beast howled, and it was all satisfaction unfurling through my chest. “You want to run with me?”
She nodded, a determined glint in her eyes. “Yes, I’ve always loved a night run, but it’s never been safe enough.”
At this stage, it was an early morning run, but we’d have darkness for a few more hours.
“I would love to—” Kellan piped up, but when my gaze slammed into him, hard and unyielding, he cleared his throat. “Never mind.”
The deep menacing sound that had filled the car faded as I calmed. Our annoying pup had figured out that this was my time with Emme. Running with our omega would be my only way to find peace.
“Okay, little omega,” I said, my chest heating as I drawled her nickname. Emme’s lips parted and her heartrate picked up, which was a usual occurrence when I called herlittle omega.“We will run together. You and me.”
Forever, baby girl.
“I’ll send the squads around the perimeter,” Slade said as he turned in the passenger seat. “No one will enter the forest while you let your beasts free.”
I’d tear anyone apart who even glanced in her direction, but I couldn’t be too confident after those fuckers stole her out from under Slade. They’d clearly studied our pack and knew who they were up against. For that sole reason alone, I’d allow the extra patrols and males in the vicinity of my mate.
When Emmeline Anders had first appeared in Golden Claw, my focus was on bringing her into the pack and securing our quintet. I wanted to control her, claim her, provide for her… because she was pack.
I was a fucking idiot.
Knowing her now, having her in our lives, I couldn’t remember how we’d existed without her for all these years. Emme brought warmth, light, and a sense of home to my world.
My parents were the worst of our kind, and living under their command was the darkest of my days. Slade kept me from spiraling at first. Then I found my pack and threw myself into that responsibility. Still, the darkness of my youth remained.
Until Emme. My perfect mate.
A mate as essential to my existence as food, water, air, and sunlight.
I would never let her go now.Never.
She’d have been more hesitant to run alone with me if she knew the lengths I’d go to keep her with me forever—the ferality of my thoughts when I considered a life without her.
The restless demons would only ever be sated by one shifter now. Poor Emme.
When we reached the forest, Kellan planted a long kiss on her lips, leaving her dazed as she stumbled from the car. “Have fun, kids,” he called after us with a smirk. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Emme turned her wide, gorgeous eyes on me as she stared like I was her fucking god. The satisfaction and awe I felt at being able to claim and be claimed by this stunning female was overwhelming.
“I can’t tell if you’re going to run or let me devour you,” I murmured, and when her lips parted, breaths harshly grating from her mouth, my cock jerked in my pants as the predator inside rose for the hunt.
Oh, little omega. You will beg me, and then I’m going to claim every inch of you.
My wolf howled, sending my chest rumbling, and when I held my hand out for her, she didn’t hesitate to take it. Her instinctive response to this pack had changed dramatically from the first time we met, when she’d been standoffish and skittish. Tonight, there was trust in her gaze as her wolf and emotions opened to our pack.
