Page 62 of His Runaway Mate

I slide into my human form. I need information, and interrogations in wolf form are impractical for a whole host of reasons.

This is a battle for my mate’s soul. Her father has her, and he wants to turn her into the same thing he is. A monster. He wants to make her into the version of herself she has feared for a long time. She tried so hard to avoid becoming her wolf self because she thought she wouldn’t be able to control her nature.

And now there is a trail of blood and… I have to get her back. Now.

“Where’s the den?”

“It’s up in the old mines. He has secret paths in there, and some of the trusses are rigged up to blow. I wouldn’t go in there. He will know you’ve come. He’s counting on it.”

“Do you know why? He couldn’t possibly have known that Nicky was going to shift and run into the woods. Nobody knew that.”

The boy coughs. His throat feels raw from my jaws, I am sure. “He knew,” he says. “He started taking us months ago, and then he knew you and she mated, and then he knew that she’d turn and he knew that when she did, she’d run. He’s crazy, but he’s not stupid. He knows a lot of things before they happen.”

“Then we have to draw him out. Take these strays and put them with the others,” I say. “I want all the Runaways taken to the reserve and put under guard.”

* * *

Nicky

My father keeps trying to feed me. I keep rejecting the food.

“It’s tasty,” he says, holding out a strip of dried, salted meat. I remember him preparing his rations back in the day. He’d slice the flesh from the bone, then set it out on a mesh rack in the desert sun with a good helping of salt to preserve it. He used to make a lot of it. I guess that’s one habit that has not changed.

“I’m not hungry,” I tell him.

“You’re going to starve,” he laughs, tossing the dried meat down his gullet.

I watch him and I wonder why I ever thought I would turn out like him. How did I not notice how fundamentally different we are? How little we have in common past the obvious and superficial?

He really had the whole of my mind at one time. I thought he was the world, and I thought he was my destiny. I thought he was everything. Now, in filthy darkness just barely broken by a head lamp swinging slowly from an old rusty nail, I see him for what he is. A freak. A pervert. A weak man who made the worst choices every time he was given the opportunity to choose.

I haven’t really had that much time with Rex. Not really. But the limited time I’ve had has let me see what a real man is like, a true alpha. Not a twisted fuck who lures the weak and vulnerable with promises he cannot fulfill.

“You’re looking at me in that way you used to when you stopped loving me,” he says.

“I didn’t stop loving you. I just wanted to have a life that didn’t involve mass amounts of murder,” I say. “Pretty reasonable really.”

He laughs. A little at first, and then far too much and I realize I have got to stop pretending I am talking to a normal man. This may be my father in shape, but whatever is inside him has been hollowed out and occupied for some time.

“You can’t murder what doesn’t matter,” he says. “We are wolves. We are creatures beyond any human cattle. The same way people run slaughterhouses, we should run farms for them.”

“I don’t think the idea is going to catch on, Dad,” I say.

“Probably not. Too many wolves belly crawling in fear of their human tormentors,” he says. “Your little pack of strays could hold the seeds of greatness if you would allow their rebellion to shine.”

I keep my mouth shut on that topic. There’s nothing I can say that will change his mind. He is a murderous zealot. The kind of person who can kill in cold blood, then consume the aftermath as if it is no different than a Happy Meal cannot be engaged in meaningful debate.

“Ow!”

There’s a sound outside. Sounds like someone just stumbled. I hear a little feminine gasping ouch, as if someone hurt themselves. A skinned knee, maybe.

What follows is a whine, a sound of pain and self-pity. A moment later, a female voice is raised in distress.

“Hello? Is anyone there? I’m lost.”

I recognize Laura’s voice instantly, of course. I stiffen in response. What is she doing here? She’s in danger. My father will take her. He will do unspeakable things to her.

My father picks up her scent immediately. Young, female, unmated.