Chapter 5
EZRA
“This way.”
My mate showed me the way out, and I put a finger to my lips as he went to yank open the door. I couldn’t risk the Stravon Beta picking up on the noise. He might also be suspicious because I’d been gone so long and could be poking around outside the bathroom.
I opened the door slowly and peered outside. It was early afternoon and there were people in the street, but none of them scented of shifter, so I tucked my arm in my mate’s and said in a low voice, “Pretend we know one another.”
“So I said to Charlie, are you really going to marry that guy? And do you know what he said?” I chortled which even to me sounded fake. My wolf was less than impressed.
My mate stared at me, open-mouthed, and eventually shook his head as I steered him toward my car.
“Well, he said he was just messing around with him until Mr. Right came along. And I gave him an earful and told him to break it off or tell the guy the truth.”
As I opened the passenger door for my mate, I glanced over my shoulder. But he froze, the fear in his eyes not mingling with relief.
“I—”
“Look, you need to get away from here. I can do that for you. If you want, I’ll let you out near a metro station and you’ll never hear from me again.”
Please don’t take that option, my wolf and I thought in unison.
He sort of fell into the seat, and I raced around to the other side and drove off. There was no sign of the Beta when I looked in the rearview mirror, thank goodness.
“You know who I am, so can you tell me your name?” I was having a hard time concentrating because his scent was doing a number on my head, both the one on my shoulders and the other one.
“Reign.”
That was suitably regal, and I wondered if the guy came from an aristocratic family. If so, why was he hiding in a storeroom? Maybe a knight in shining armor was looking for him.
Reign pressed himself against the door with one hand gripping the handle.
“I won’t hurt you. I could never.” That last sentence got a raised brow from Reign.
“You keep saying that.” His voice was quivering. “But I don't know you. I don't know why you're helping me.”
Him feeling nervous and cautious about me was understandable. I’d yanked him out of hiding into my car and we were headed into the wild blue yonder.
“I was at the Stravon compound on business and needed a beer after… after waiting for a meeting that never happened.”
“Lucky you. I wish my meeting would never happen.” He clasped his hands in his lap. He was disillusioned with the Stravons, so much so that he was running away from them. Debt. It had to be because he owed them money. “So you do business with them, the Stravons?”
“No, it’s not like that. I was delivering a package.”
He harrumphed. “You don’t look like a delivery boy.”
“It was for my brother’s… organization. Nothing to do with me, really.” I sounded like a drug mule.
We were close to the freeway out of the city and there was a metro station nearby. “Your choice. The metro or we head out of town and get you away from whoever is making your life a misery.”
I slowed the car, and my wolf beseeched me not to let Reign go.
One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three.
I was almost out of road and had to make a choice.
A car behind me beeped because I was almost at a standstill, and my wolf was battering my insides, demanding I lock the doors and mate Reign.
“Highway.”
I cut in front of that asshat who had beeped and was trying to overtake me and zoomed onto the freeway, as I was anxious to put as many miles as possible between us and the Stravon pack.
The silence inside the car allowed me to consider the possible repercussions of not meeting the Stravon Alpha in person. Boaz would be apoplectic but when he heard I was helping my fated mate escape from I didn’t know what, he’d understand. Or I hoped he would.
“You’re not related to the Stravons and you don’t work for them? Is that right?” I needed details.
“No and no. I’m not their greatest fan.”
I wanted to know why he had to get away. I’d fight for him or pay the money he owed, but until I understood his predicament, I could do little except take him somewhere safe.
“I was supposed to be one of them.”
That got my attention.
Is he a latent wolf? My beast wanted to know.
He didn’t scent of shifter, but that was no guarantee.
“Can you give me more details?”
“An arranged marriage,” he scoffed. “To the family’s heir. My father arranged it.” He almost spat out the words. “I’m being forced into it and tried to let off steam tonight, but… he was coming and I… you found me.”
I couldn’t look at him because he’d see the fear in my eyes. What the F? Forget the damned treaty. I’d taken the Alpha’s son’s intended. Hawthorn, I think his name was. But why didn’t he wait for his fated mate?
Because not everyone has one. My wolf understood shifter law and fate.
But he’s young. He might not have met the one yet.
I needed advice on what to do and where in the heck I was going. Speeding along a highway with no destination in mind wasn’t a plan, and I needed one.
Okay, I marshaled my thoughts. Step one. Talk to my brothers. That wouldn’t be an easy conversation, but they’d have my back.
There was a sign for a truck stop, and I eased off the speed and took the off ramp.
“Where are we going?” Reign sat up straight and grabbed the door handle.
“I need fuel and to make a phone call.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have a phone on you?” He peered through the screen. “Maybe I should get out here and hitch a ride somewhere.”
“I need to call my family, and I’ll be honest, they might have choice words for me when I tell him I kinda kidnapped you.”
“Oh. You didn’t. Not really.”
“But some might see it that way.” People like the Stravons.
I pulled off the road and handed Reign a wad of cash. “Why don’t you buy us some food while I make the call?”
He studied the rumpled money as if he didn’t know what it was for.
“Or not.” I may have come across too strong and he wasn’t one for taking orders, especially from a stranger.”
“I could eat,” he said eventually. He got out without looking back and entered the truck stop store.
My palms were sweaty as I pulled out my phone and opened the group chat with my brothers.
We have a problem, I typed. Major problem. Need to talk. Now.
The responses came almost immediately.
From Boaz. Call.
I hit the voice call button, and within seconds, all five of my brothers were on the line.
“What happened?” Boaz demanded. “Did the Stravons refuse the treaty?”
“Worse.” I rubbed my hand over my face. “I found my mate.”
Silence.
“What?” Lake’s voice was just above a whisper.
“Holy shit,” Thiago yelled.
“Where? How?” Riggs asked.
“Congratulations?” Maynard offered.
“Everyone shut up.” Boaz's Alpha voice cut through the noise. “Ezra. Explain.”
I told them everything. The waiting, the bar, the storeroom, finding Reign terrified and hiding. And then the worst part.
“He's human. Which is fine.” I gulped. “And he was arranged to mate with Hawthorn, the Stravon pack heir.”
None of my brothers said anything which was unusual. I’d stunned them into silence
“Damn.” Maynard offered to “off” the heir, as that was his other job when he wasn’t doing financial stuff. But Boaz growled and said we weren’t killing anyone.
“This could start a war.” Boaz furrowed his brow.
“You think?” Thiago yelled.
“If the Stravons think we took what belongs to them—”
“He's not property.” I cut off my brother who was also my Alpha. “He's my mate.”
“I know that. But they won't see it that way,” Boaz snapped. “Where is he now?”
“In my car. We’re on the thruway.”
“Good. Take him to the cabin, the one we used to visit as kids.”
I turned up my nose. “That place must be decrepit. No one’s been there in years.”
Boaz rolled his eyes and said he and Keane had it done up and they often visited on long weekends. How did I not know that? But based on my other brothers’ reactions, they didn’t either.
“You’ll be safe there until we figure out what to do.
” Boaz was tapping on his phone. “But it’s best if you have the shifter conversation sooner rather than later.
Your mate is pack now. And then,” Boaz continued, “we're going to have to contact Viktor Stravon and explain the situation.
If we're lucky, he'll respect the mate bond and back off.”
“And if he doesn't?” I already knew the answer.
“Then we’ll be at war.” Lake had summed up the situation in one sentence.
Boaz's voice was more confident than before when he said maybe Viktor would understand. “Fate isn't something to mess with. Even the Stravons know that.”
I ended the call to see Reign was coming back to the car. He hadn’t taken off or called someone to come get him. He didn’t understand he was my mate, but he’d apparently decided to trust me.
Maybe he has no one else, my beast added.