Page 8 of The Brooding Alpha’s Mate (Omegas of the Shifter Mafia #9)

Alex

Every second we were at the healer’s felt like a second too long for keeping Dean away.

I trusted the healer to make the right decision for my mate, but that didn’t make following his suggestions easy.

I felt like we were sitting ducks. But also, taking him to the middle of nowhere only to have him be without the healthcare if he needed it, wasn’t any good either.

A few days later, we got the all clear. The chemicals had worked their way out of his body at last. If he’d been human, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal.

But it had settled into his wolf, and that was dangerous for both of them.

It didn’t help that he was so malnourished, something I planned to rectify.

I was nervous, unsure whether I could get him out of here without Dean following us. I’d circled the perimeter multiple times and there was no scent of him, but he wouldn’t be stupid enough for that. He’d be close…but not too close.

The guys tracked him down, and when they were sure they had their eyes on him, they called, letting me know it was time to leave. I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done without them. They had resources that no loan shifter had access to. I owed them…a lot.

I was grateful my mate hadn’t tried to leave again. I understood his reasons, but my heart nearly stopped when he told me what he was doing. And now…he was trusting me. I wouldn’t say the trust was 100 or even 90 percent, but it was a start.

When we got in the car, the back seat was full of supplies. My cousin had told me he left a surprise there. I thought he meant there was something in the trunk that I could use. Him sneaking back here to fill it up with food we might need and, from the looks of it, clothing too, was a surprise.

I didn’t take the time to dig through it. We didn’t know how long Dean was going to stay where he was. Instead, I got us out of there, following Hammer’s directions to the safe house.

The ride was uneventful, thank goddess.

I was happy we got there before dark. We went inside to get settled in. The cabin was nice enough. If we’d been there for any other reason, it might’ve felt like a cozy little vacation spot.

But we weren’t there for that.

We were there to keep my mate safe.

“Why don’t you put the sheets on the bed, and I’ll do a perimeter run?” I suggested.

He shook his head.

I crossed over to him, cupping his cheeks and pressing my forehead against his. “I will keep you safe. But my bear is not going to allow me to stay in here without at least checking to make sure everything is good.”

As it was, I was barely containing him.

“Yeah, okay,” he whispered after what felt like hours. It was important to me that he had the time to make decisions after having lived under someone’s complete control for so long.

I went outside and took my fur. The first perimeter run I made was barely circling the house. Then I went a few feet farther out. And a few feet farther after that. But my bear wasn’t having it…demanding we go back inside and check on our mate.

I was a strong alpha, and I could control my bear in nearly all circumstances, but with our mate having been abused, then injured, and now not wearing our mark…I wasn’t so sure that was still the case.

Colson already made the bed and had fallen asleep on it. Based on his position, sleep hadn’t been intentional. The poor guy was exhausted, and with all that had happened to him, it was no surprise.

I covered him up and whispered a promise in his ear that I’d be back soon. After convincing my bear that he was fine and that we needed to do this, I managed another run, this time at least through the tree line.

It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but it was the best I was going to get tonight. Having Colson unmarked wasn’t acceptable to my beast. He wanted his mark to ward off all other alphas. I want to go too, but I refused to rush him, not after the trauma he had been through.

We were about halfway through my third run around the house when I heard a scream, one that had my blood curdling and filled with terror.

My bear bolted toward the door, and he tried to get inside, allowing the shift only when he realized his paws weren’t doing the job.

Rushing to his side, I quickly discovered that while my mate was screaming, he wasn’t awake. He was in bed, still dreaming, his body thrashing, his screams turning to pleading, begging.

“No, stop. Please don’t. No…this is not what family does. Stop! How can you do this to me?”

With each word, my heart broke a little more.

I didn’t know what to do. Waking him up would assure that he remembered everything. But could I let him continue to suffer like this, with the hopes that he wouldn’t? There was no right answer, and he had a decision that had to be made.

“Please!”

That one word was all I could take. He needed my touch. I pulled him into my arms and hugged him close.

“I’m here, mate. I’m here. No one’s gonna harm you. No one’s gonna hurt you. I’ve got you.”

He woke sobbing, holding me tightly, begging me not to let go.

“I’ve got you. I promise we’ll keep you safe, and they will never find you again. No one will harm you ever again. I’ll make sure of it. It’s my number one priority.”

He mumbled words to the point I couldn’t make sense of them, his tears too thick, his crying too raw. The entire time, I squeezed him tightly, promising him it wasn’t real, that it was only a dream, assuring him I was there, that I was real, that he was safe in my arms.

He cried and cried until his tears finally ran dry, eventually falling asleep in my embrace. I held him close, not wanting to let go until I was sure he was sound asleep. When he was, I laid him down gently and climbed into bed beside him, wrapping my arm around him.

I hoped he could scent me…know that he was protected. That he was loved. That he was safe.

And most importantly, that he was not anyone’s property.