Page 46 of Chased

To distract herself and Vixen, Madison took her tablet out on the front porch and settled into one of her Adirondack chairs while she waited for Sanchez. Maybe the fresh air and the smell of grass would make Vixen feel better.

Anyway, she hadn’t checked her official Fontaine email since Saturday—she hadn’t wanted to see what her family would say about her failure to show up for the mating. But she probably should.

She booted up the tablet and checked her secret email first. Her lapin friends sent her news now and then, even though she’d told them before she left that she couldn’t write back.

There were a few older, newsy emails, and then one that stopped her cold.

It was from Jeremy, her friend who’d gotten the fake license plate for her car. It was dated yesterday.

I hope you’re far away and you didn’t leave a trail, he said. Because shit’s going down here in a big way, ever since you missed your mating. Better check your House email.

She hadn’t ‘missed’ her arranged mating. She’d had a kickass party to celebrate not being there. But she should have known there’d be fallout—and Jeremy was making it sound serious.

She went into her web browser and accessed her House Fontaine email. The bad news was right at the top, from Uncle François, with a simple subject line.

I said you’d be sorry

Vixen, already on edge, practically started vibrating. Madison stared at the words, feeling her heartrate ramping up. She had to tap the screen twice to get the email open.

There was no message—just a copy of an official legal notice from the Renard Council.

Madison Anabelle Fontaine, lapereau, having failed to appear for her legally arranged mating, is hereby declared in violation of Renard marital law. Her affianced mate, Henri León Levesque, has petitioned the Renard Council with the following requests:

1) That the mating contract between Miss Fontaine and Mr. Levesque shall be deemed provisionally binding

2) That the Council institute a Class 1 Hunt, so that Miss Fontaine may be legally and physically pursued wherever she may be, and that mating may be consummated immediately upon her being found and taken into custody, thus finalizing the aforementioned contract

3) That all costs for such Hunt shall be borne by House Fontaine

At the bottom it said: Petition status: Granted

The words seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, filling Madison’s whole world. Her tattoo and her defiance meant nothing. She and Henri were already mated in the eyes of the law, and once he captured her and forced her into sex, in human or animal form, she would be his forever. There would be nothing anyone could do, not even the Shifter Council.

And he was coming for her.

Her heartrate accelerated even more, as her lapin instincts took over. Run. Hide. Burrow. Madison heard a roaring in her ears, and the tablet slipped through her fingers. She barely even heard it clatter to the floor.

All she could feel was the beating of her own heart, before her lapin took over and she began to Change.

As Sanchez and his cousins drove the last half-mile towards the Ridge, with the prisoner chained in the truck bed under the bed cover, Sanchez checked the time on his phone. Again.

Matéo grumbled, “It’s two minutes later than the last time you looked. What is with you tonight? Got a hot date with the fox?”

“Shut up,” Sanchez said.

“He does,” Cisco said. “But she doesn’t put out. All he’s going to do is hang out with her and make out like they’re in high school.”

“I said, shut up.” He smacked Cisco in the head with the back of his hand, but not hard because he was driving. He couldn’t reach Matéo.

But they didn’t shut up. They were both in a mood, and they’d been scrapping with each other and needling him all fucking day.

Matéo said, “It’s like the 1950s all up in here. ‘Can I carry your books? Want to go to the drugstore and have a milkshake?’”

“Fuck off,” Sanchez said. “Drugstores don’t even have lunch counters anymore.”

“Sucks for you. You’ll have to make out on the couch and hope you get to second base.”

“Will you fucking shut up?”