Page 15 of His Runaway Mate

They don’t understand that yet. They think that the limited success they’ve had means they’ll be able to keep expanding. They won’t. Not without the discipline and structure of the pack to keep them in check. Relying on Nicky is their first mistake.

I find her asleep in a tangle of limbs with the secretary, Laura, and several male members of the pack. My jealousy might be triggered, but for the fact they are all wearing those silly pajamas and it is quite obvious nothing intimate has happened.

As I pick my way toward them, I pad through the rest of the lost souls, my large paws finding the places between their slumbering bodies. They sleep well, deeper in the presence of an alpha wolf. I am not here to harm them, and they instinctively know that they are more protected in my orbit. Several of them make mewling noises in their sleep, little pup sounds that only serve to reinforce my understanding that they are still lost and are yet to be found.

When I reach Nicky, I shift into my human form and pick her up in my arms. She stirs in her sleep, but she does not wake. The deep pack somnolence affects her as much as it affects any of the rest of them. Judging by the smell coming from her, she’s drunk as much as the rest of the pack combined. Silly move considering she knew I’d be looking for her.

I look down at her sleeping form. She shifts and whines, sensing me close. Her hips gyrate a fraction before settling into sleep again. She is truly beautiful and very responsive, and she is absolutely ripe for breeding.

I wish she was as in tune with her feelings when she’s awake as she is asleep. But her waking hours are filled with responsibilities she should not have. She is trying to be everything to everyone while almost nobody is anything to her.

She has been doing her best, poor thing. Trying to take care of all these souls who have, for one reason or another, found themselves with nowhere to be.

“You are many things, little wolf, but you are no alpha,” I murmur.

I carry her out of the room as calmly and easily as I entered. The pack remains sleeping as I step out onto the fire escape and carry her down to the car.

CHAPTER 5

Nicky

I wake up more comfortable than I expected to be. I thought I was going to be twisted up in a whole pile of limbs because no matter how tidily we try to go to sleep, everyone spreads out and stretches once they get really comfortable.

To my surprise, I don’t feel sticky polyester pajamas being all tacked to my skin, or my leg trapped under someone’s head. Instead, I feel cool and smooth sheets.

That’s weird. I’m sure I didn’t get the bed. I was going to take the couch, but then I decided to go with the cushions on the floor because they were actually more comfortable in the end.

The first moments of being awake are so odd, I muse. I take a deep breath, and feel a tremor of uncertainty run through me. This does not smell like my pack. This smells like…

“Morning, sweetheart.”

A deep voice rumbles as my eyes fly open.

“The fuck!” I shriek as I look across at the other inhabitant of the bed. It’s Rex. He’s naked. His chest is bare and bulging, his hair is falling in a silken curtain around his head, and his bright blue eyes are fixed on me while his strong features turn to a broad and triumphant smile.

“Easy,” he says, reaching out to put his big hand on my stomach. “I thought you’d be more comfortable sleeping in this bed rather than curled up on the floor like a pet dog.”

“How did you get me here?” My voice is high and pitchy as I screech the question.

“I came and I got you,” he says.

“How?”

“It was not that difficult. Your pack sleep deeply when they are in the presence of an alpha. My scent was effectively a sedative for them. They’re all very stressed. But nobody is as stressed as you.”

“I’m not stressed. I mean, I wasn’t. I am now. Because you’ve fucking kidnapped me, you psycho. You better not have touched me…”

“Relax,” he laughs, standing up from the bed. He is completely fucking naked, and I forget what the end of my sentence was going to be.

“I want you awake when I claim you,” he says, looking down at me from his impressive height with his incredible, uh, physique on full show. I stare at him. Every part is more impressive than the next, and the part of him that is unique to a man is particularly… wow.

He has thick thighs and a thicker…

“That…” I stop myself from talking because I am about to ask a question that will make me sound like a naive virgin. Which I am. What I want to ask is how does that go inside anyone? If I am not very much mistaken, it is getting bigger the longer I look at him and, well, it. I try not to stare, but as much as my eyes range and roam his body, it feels like they just get drawn back to the thick dark thatch at the apex of his thighs and the monster that resides there.

* * *

Rex