Page 29 of Fractured Mates
Maciah sighs. “After that brief conversation, I expected that. Tell her that our guy on the inside—Cane—is searching for her family, and as soon as we know there aren’t innocents in the way, we will be attacking.”
“Cane Bridges?” I ask. “He’s who’s been there, feeding you information?”
“He is. I didn’t know you knew him.”
I don’t personally, but I’ve heard stories. He doesn’t always play by the rules, so I’m surprised Maciah trusted him to infiltrate the pack, but I don’t say that. Not when I don’t have any proof of the things I’ve heard and he’s already there. It’s not as if anything can be done.
“Just heard of him,” I say. “I’ll look him up on the directory, so we have a fresh image of what he looks like and don’t accidentally kill him.”
Maciah laughs. “That would be preferred. I’ll be in touch. Keep Sophie in check as best you can, stay under the radar, and Kyler?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t let her get away.”
He ends the call as I mutter, “Easier said than done.”
As I make my way back to the room, Sophie’s shadow moves past the curtains. At least she didn’t sneak out the bathroom window while I was busy.
Walking into the room, I find her sitting on the bed near two empty pizza boxes. She grins at me and rubs her belly. “That was so much better than the chips and candy I had in the car.”
“Your relationship with food isn’t normal,” I say, walking past her to use the bathroom.
She gets up and heads toward the door. “I’m going to go get another change of clothes.”
“No, you’re not,” I say, a little taken aback, considering she didn’t immediately want to know what Maciah wanted to talk privately about.
Add that to the fact that she’s trying to leave the room, and something isn’t right. Again.
By the time her hand touches the handle on the door, I’m right behind her and spinning her back around. It wasn’t my intention to pin her against the wall, but that’s where she ends up as I look down at her and say, “We only leave this room together.”
She stares back up at me with defiance. “Are you going to try to force me to stay by your side, Kyler?”
The challenge in her tone isn’t missed. Not by a long shot. “Are you going to continue to be a child about this entire situation instead of accepting that I’m here to help?”
The dig has the desired effect. Her jaw tightens, and there’s a slight rumble in her chest. “I’m not a child.”
She’s right about that. In fact, she’s more woman than I should probably attempt to handle, but I’m not going anywhere, and neither is she. At least, not without me.
“Then show me that by waiting for me,” I say, purposefully challenging her wolf by staring into her eyes, unblinking. Though I do make sure not to touch her. At least not now. This moment isn’t about our shared attraction. It’s about reminding Sophie that she isn’t the only powerful wolf in the room.
There’s a flicker of something with her light-green gaze that I can’t quite translate, but whatever was there disappears quickly. “Fine. I’ll wait.”
This she-wolf… I don’t know what I’m going to do with her.
Protect her, my wolf mutters unpleasantly.
I rein in my shock at his acceptance to our situation and tread carefully as I give Sophie one last hard look before leaving her against the door as I head toward the bathroom again.
We’ll do our job, I reply to my wolf, voice filled with confidence. Sophie won’t be hurt. Not again.
Thinking about her fated mate and what she went through makes my blood boil all over again. Thankfully, my wolf’s emotions seem to match mine for the first time in much too long.
At least he understands that she deserves our help, even if he’s not willing to admit that she’s a good match for us.
Selfishly, I also can’t ignore the fact that both of us no longer have our fated mates. Not in this lifetime. I know Cara wouldn’t want me to live out my life alone. She’d said as much in the end and I’d already decided that earlier, but to have found someone so soon that I feel a connection to and who I don’t have to fear being ripped away from me… That gives me even more reason to believe none of this is coincidental. At least, not my being here.
I finish in the bathroom and when I step back into the room, I’m shocked to see Sophie standing there. I half-expected her to have walked out the door as soon as I no longer had eyes on her.