the receptionist offered.
I thanked her and agreed to Patrick’s plan praying the entire drive to the Crate that she was safe inside Westin territory and not who knows where down in the city.
Enough time had passed that I couldn’t catch her scent if she was there, but when Ben opened the door and I stepped in a sense of awareness washed over me.
“Ben?” Shelby asked.
“Hey babe,” he said, walking towards the bar to greet his mate.
Shelby wasn’t the only one there. She was also with her sister Lizzy, Kelsey, Kyle’s sisters Elise, and Lily, and my girl. What was T doing here with them?
“Patrick, what’s going on?” Elise asked her mate.
“Wait, Pat’s your mate?” T asked, though her eyes never left mine. That was the only thing keeping me together.
Kyle and the Collier Pack Alpha, Thomas, walked in behind us. They were laughing at something until they saw us.
“Shit!” Kyle swore when he saw the girls drinking at the bar. “T, is that you?”
She grimaced but still didn’t drop my stare. The others had all clued in and were watching us with open curiosity.
“I don’t want any trouble in here you guys. Grant, keep it together. T, get the hell over here and calm him down before he forces me to do something we’ll all regret,” Kyle ordered.
She sighed but launched off her chair and walked towards me. I could tell she wasn’t happy about being found, and that knowledge caused a physical ache in my chest.
Shelby’s jaw dropped. “That’s the dude from the picture?” she asked Ben in a louder than she probably meant to voice.
“No way,” Lily said. “This is awesome.” She smacked Thomas. “Why don’t we ever get this kind of drama back home?”
He just rolled his eyes. “Kyle can have it. I hate dealing with mating wolves, slugger.”
Lily snorted. “Cause you handled things so eloquently.”
“Don’t worry Grant. Thomas nearly ripped my throat out for trying to give Lily a tattoo while they were mating,” Cole Anderson said. He was behind the bar serving drinks to the girls.
“And he’ll never let me live it down,” Thomas muttered.
“Where’s Jesse?” Kyle asked. I knew they were trying to make light of the situation, but it didn’t feel light to me.
“Took the night off. I offered to cover for a few hours. Would have been a much easier shift if these crazy she-wolves hadn’t come in,” he teased.
“You love these crazy she-wolves,” Lizzy pointed out.
“I love you, Elizabeth,” he said, and leaned over the bar to kiss his mate who blushed and giggled.
When T got close enough, I pulled her into my arms more aggressively than I meant to.
“Were you running?” I asked her.
“Yup,” she said and the pain that shot through me nearly brought me to my knees.
I took a deep, calming breath. My wolf had been guiding my actions up until now and I needed to regain a little control, or I was going to lose it again.
Before I could even react, Lily ripped her from my arms. I growled in warning, but she didn’t budge.
“Simmer down,” she said. “Boys, take him to a table and get this man a drink. Grant you’ll be able to see her and I promise not to hurt her. We’ll just be right here at the bar having a little girl talk.”
“Slugger, how many of those drinks have you had?” Thomas asked.
Lizzy and Lily looked at each other and burst into giggles before she answered. “Enough to deal with this situation. I got this,” she assured him, and then she kissed him. I think it got a little deeper than she probably meant for it to be in public, and when she pulled back with a smile on her lips, Thomas looked a little dazed.
I looked back to my mate longing to do the same. She was so beautiful tonight that she took my breath away, not that I cared what she looked like. I wanted her just as much when she looked like a man. All my heart knew was that she was mine.
I listened in as the girls spoke to her.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Shelby asked before Lily could start.
T rolled her eyes. “Maybe because I didn’t want you all to know.”
That hurt.
“No, I get it. You guys literally just found each other, right?” Lily asked.
T nodded. “Yesterday,” she confirmed.
“See that happened to me, too. Only I stopped by the bar the first night, got drunk, and crawled into bed with him, then freaked out and left the next