KASMINE
My legs propelled me before my brain had the time to think I ran as fast as I could into the crowd.
All I could feel was him. That magnetic, horrifying pull closing in like a vice around my ribs.
I reached for Jake and pulled him by his arm. He was the closest person I could find. Claire was nowhere to be found.
“Jake. Jake. Come.” I couldn’t even form the words I wanted to say.
“What–babe, what’s going on?” he stammered, confused, half–turning toward me.
1 didn’t answer. I just yanked him with everything I had, dragging him out of the crowd and into the parking lot like the devil himself was behind us.
Because he was
I felt Kester’s presence closing in on us like smoke. It was so fast that my heart almost jumped out of my mouth. His scent grew stronger, too. And it was mixed with fury and danger.
Panic clawed up my throat.
“Jake!” I practically threw myself into the passenger seat of his car–the old, beat–up piece of junk his uncle barely lets him drive. I didn’t care. I slammed the door shut like it might keep a monster out.
“Drive! Just drive!” I screamed.
Jake’s hands were shaking as he fumbled the keys, his heart pounding so loudly that I could hear it. “Okay okay, okay, okay,” he muttered, more to himself than to me.
The engine coughed, then roared to life. Tires screeched as he yanked the car out of the lot and out of the compound and sped off. “What the hell, Kasmine? You scared the shit out of me.”
I twisted in my seat, staring out the rear windshield, expecting to see a blur of black fur and death crashing toward
- US.
I knew him
He wouldn’t just let me leave.
If he shifted–if that hulking black wolf of his came for us he’d catch up in seconds. And then what? Rip Jake apart? Dragine back by my hair?
“Where are we going? What’s wrong? Are you fine?” Jake asked, panic threading through his nervous words. Poor Jake. Always caught in the wreckage of my life.
“I don’t know,” 1 whispered, then louder in a broken voice, Just drive, Jake. Please. Anywhere. Just take me far away from here.
I didn’t realize I was crying until the tears blurred the streetlights outside.
I was trembling so hard I couldn’t stop.
My hands clenched my thighs. My belly.
Chapter
+25 BONUS
The mate bond was more bitchy than I had ever heard it to be. Despite myself, I still felt a strong, impossible pull toward the same direction 1 had just come from.
The mate bond? The Blood Claim? The pregnancy?
It was all too much for a girl like me to deal with. And for the first time in my life, I didn’t know how far I could nun before it all caught up and consumed me.
Because the truth was-
I wasn’t sure I had ever really escaped him at all. And I might never be able to.
We drove for about an hour as Jake sped down roads neither of us knew.
Eventually, we found a rundown little place tucked into the woods off a deserted stretch of road. The Oval Motel. Nothing but gravel under the tires and moths fluttering against the dim neon sign. It was quiet and hidden.
I asked Jake to stop there. It gave me a sense of security, knowing that it was very far from home. It was secluded, and Kester wasn’t even trailing behind us.
We got a room under Jake’s name. Just in case, somehow, Kester finds the motel. He wouldn’t know I was there. 1 Inside, I collapsed onto the worn–out bed. My limbs felt like stone, too heavy to carry the weight of my panic anymore.
“Can you please tell me what’s going on? Babe, you scared me to death,” Jake said, arms set at akimbo. “You need to get me something to wear. I saw a store just about a mile away, and they run a 24–hour service.”
“You haven’t answered my question. You’ve been crying, shaking, and terrified. I could smell it all on you,” Jake sat at the edge of the bed, coaxing me to talk to him, “You found your mate when you turned, didn’t you?” He asked, and my heart slammed harshly against my ribcage.
1 shot up from the bed, instincts lashing out. “Can you just let me be for now? Is it too much to ask?” The words escaped before I could catch them.
Jake flinched. His face fell the moment they landed. I saw the pain in his eyes and the way he swallowed it. “I’m sorry,” I said in a softer tone. “I just… I need some time. Please. Just get me something to change into.” He stared at me for a heartbeat longer, then stood without a word and walked out.
I lay down there, battling the sleep that was pressing heavily against my eyelids. I couldn’t help but feel like I’d be caught by a monster the moment I let my eyes close.
Still, sleep won. Because nature doesn’t care if you’re broker. When your body’s done, it’s done. So, I drifted off. Very briefly,
And as brief as it was, it gave me that temporal relief before the buzzing of my phone shattered it all.
1 jerked up immediately and picked up the phone to see if itwas Claire, Mum, or…
My blood dried up instantly with the text that lit up my phone.
“The Oval Motel, huh? In all you do, Mine, If that bastard so much as breathes on you, he’s dead meat. You know you can’t run from me, baby. I’m always watching.”
It was Kester.
Chapter 142
He found me.
How the hell did he find me?
