“Do I have a sign on my forehead thatsays Matefinder?” I probed him.
Kai looked annoyed. “No.”
“Good, then it’s settled. No one willknow what I am.” I popped a sautéed mushroom in my mouth and kissed him quicklyon the cheek.
He groaned. “Fine. There’s one lastpiece of business you need to attend to before we leave. Finish your breakfastand meet me outside.” He handed me a plate and stalked off with Jake.
“She doesn’t exactly get the Alphaorders thing yet, huh?” Jake mumbled to Kai.
I rolled my eyes. He knew I could hear him.
I ate quickly and made my way outsideso I could see what this business involved. Max was standing against a treelooking down at his feet. Burn marks from the places I tied him up with silvermarked his skin. Oh, crap. I walked slower, treading carefully. Kai stood a fewfeet off, talking with Jake and Sadie, but motioned me towards Max.
“Max.” I nodded, not sure what tosay. In all of the recent drama, I had forgotten about him completely.
He sighed for a second and thenlooked up at me. “Kai’s my best friend. I never could have lived with myself ifI had challenged him. Brother wolf was too close and I couldn’t stop him. Thankyou for what you did. You may be inexperienced but you are a worthy second. Youacted on instinct and saved me from doing something horrible.” He extended hishand as I stood there in shock.
“Friends?” he asked.
A slow grin crept across my face. “So,I knock you out, tie you up with silver and cage you, and you’re thanking me?”I didn’t take his hand yet, pretending to look suspicious.
He laughed deeply. “I know, prettystupid, right?”
I smiled genuinely and extended myhand. “Friends.”
We shook. I felt more at home herethan I ever had before in my life. These were my wolves, as much mine as I wastheirs. I felt Kai’s approval at that thought.
Anna
On the flight to Arizona, Jake kepttapping his foot incessantly. He wiped his palms on his jeans for the fifthtime as our plane prepared to land.
“Jake, it’s going to be fine.” I squeezedhis hand.
He let out a deep breath. “My mate isdying of cancer. That’s not fine. She’s in pain. What if we don’t make it intime?”
“Look at me,” I commanded him.
His eyes locked on mine. “I have seenit. We get there in time. They give her two days left to live and we get therein time.”
He swallowed. “Okay.”
Room number 314. We all stand outsidethe door. The nurses were more than delighted to let us through after Iexplained that I was college roommates with the patient in room 314. Jakelooked at me expectantly. I shrugged. This is as far as my vision goes. Kaiseemed to pick up on my apprehension. He looked at Jake. “Go introduceyourself to your future mate while Aurora and I figure out a way to get her outof here without alerting the police or the Scottsdale pack.”
Jake swallowed hard and let himselfinto the room. After the door closed, Kai looked at me. “There are two ways Isee this going down. We take her out of here by force and anyone in our waygets wolfed, or we try to create a lie.”
I snorted. “Wolfed?”
He smiled. “Your laugh is cute.”
“Focus,” I reminded him playfully.
He stared at the nurses’ station.“You go tell the nurses you would like to take her home to pass on in peace. Icall the Scottsdale Alpha and tell him we will be leaving shortly with acollege friend of my new mate. What can go wrong?”
I took in a deep breath. “Let’s findout.”
After getting all of the necessarypaperwork in order, the hospital staff was pleased to release Anna into ourcare. Jake had found out her name was Anna after chatting with her andexplaining that he was here to help her with her treatment.
“You what?” I shouted, getting staresfrom the nurses in the hallway.
