veering further and further off course with every passing second. “I might have grabbed him, but I didn’t hurt––”
“You signed my contract?” he shouted at me, unable, it seemed, to come to terms with that part. I couldn’t decide whether he was horrified or indignant or gobsmacked. He wasn’t making himself clear, and the yell was open to interpretation. “How could you do that without discussing it with me first?”
“You left me!” I roared back. “How dare you leave me!”
“And that gives you the right to take my choices away and question my freedom and––”
“I didn’t take any of your precious freedoms away,” I retorted vehemently, the anger searing through my voice. “I signed that contract as-is, without a single modification.”
He jerked back in surprise, staring at me with wide eyes, utterly stunned.
“Didn’t expect that, did you?” I reproached him, nearly snarling.
The smile I got almost put me on my knees. I thought the argument, the back-and-forth, would escalate, grow until we were at each other’s throats, putting a chasm between us that, at least for the moment, would place him beyond my reach, but he surprised the hell out of me. Instead of reacting to me like everyone else in my life, he listened. He stopped, weighed everything, put himself—I could only imagine—in my shoes, and then…smiled. And what a smile it was. I could see the gratitude in his hooded quicksilver gaze.
“No, my alpha,” he replied hoarsely, “I didn’t expect you not to try and change me. But I should have known better. You’re my mate after all, so of course you knew, didn’t you?”
I had needed to leave with the document. I didn’t want to take the contract to study, to prepare arguments, and to come to terms. I couldn’t have left his parents’ home without having that signed agreement in my possession. It was frankly impossible.
“Thank you,” he husked, his gaze brimming with gratitude.
I was going to command him to come to me, but he rushed across the room and wrapped his arms around me, his sigh of contentment so sweet that my mind went blank. I might have recovered enough to speak to him, to say something, anything, but Detective Massey opened the door, and Avery stepped back as his partner led the EMTs into the room. There was no time to say anything more, as I was left answering questions while my mate cast me a longing look before he was gone. I didn’t see him again before I climbed into the back of the ambulance.
It was strange, leaving him, as I’d been frantic to find him, terrified over the heat that I was certain he was dealing with. Now, after spending even a short time with him, I realized my fears had been alleviated, having seen his innate strength for myself. I wanted him home with me, yes, but I wasn’t afraid of him losing control or having another incident like the one he told me about. He knew he belonged to me and, more importantly, knew now that he was my true mate, and I was his. I was shored up mentally, emotionally, and him physically, with a single quick meeting. I could only imagine how much good we could do one another when we lived together.
7
Avery
With all the squad cars and the lights and the ambulance, everyone was awake and out on the street even though it was late. Wade and I took the opportunity to question Remy’s neighbors on both sides, as well as the Gregsons, who lived across the street from him.
Jodi Gregson and her wife were worried about Remy and were going to call the police earlier in the night, because they’d seen a man who was so much bigger than him at the house.
“Hold on, go back,” I instructed, because they’d lost me. From Wade’s expression, he was just as confused, and it didn’t help that they were talking over one another.
“There was a man, and he was really scary,” Jodi explained.
“Like, really, really scary,” Tiffany backed up her wife. “That guy had muscles on top of muscles, and he picked Remy right up off the ground. And Remy’s an alpha, so I got super freaked out; we both did.”
“But the guy left,” Jodi chimed in, “and Remy waved at us and yelled over that it was just a misunderstanding before he went back inside.”
Wade nodded. “So you got the feeling that Remy knew him?”