Page 7

Heath

Rob seemed like a good guy. The price on the repairs for the bus had been at the bottom of my scope of guesses, but I had an inkling about why.

Mr. Small Town Mechanic had only put a bandage on the problem and not really fixed my minibus at all.

The bus was sputtering in a way I’d never heard before, and to make matters worse, a scent of burnt oil came from the engine. I was surprised not to see smoke pouring out.

This was not the time for my bus to act up more than it already had. Granted, I was pushing it harder than ever to get to the train station on time.

My mates were waiting.

Even saying it out loud didn’t help my mind wrap around the idea. At any moment, I expected to get a text or a phone call telling me how the joke was carried out and how stupid I was for falling for it.

The only thing that stopped my mind from pursuing that train wreck of thoughts was the way Archer and Oren spoke to me over text. I’d looked at their photos from the app over and over and read their likes and dislikes.

My fox was the one who had made the decision for me. He didn’t have the fear and hesitation my human mind did. He trusted his instincts. His instincts spoke to the fact that Oren and Archer were his mates. His fated mates. The alphas we’d been searching for.

I downshifted the bus, hoping a slower pace might help things, and took my foot off the gas on the descending hills, trying to put less of a strain on the engine.

That strategy quickly backfired.

Once I tried to get back up the next hill, the bus I’d spent so long in tapped out for good. Smoke billowed from the hood. Something in the engine made a gnarly sound that even I couldn’t pinpoint, and everything simply died as I managed to let it roll back to a flat part of the road and back it off the side of the highway.

Great.

Checking my phone, I now realized I was not going to make it on time to meet my mates at the train station, even if someone with a Lamborghini showed up and sped me on my way.

Get to mates. Now.

The Canidae inside me pulsed messages of urgency. He wanted to take over and run the rest of the way. His way would have me without clothes or any belongings. I supposed we could put my phone and my wallet in a small bag and carry it in our mouth, but my jaw always hurt after that. My fox was no retriever, but his need for his mates made him more eager than ever to do my bidding.

Things like wallets and phones were silly to him.

But if not for my phone, we wouldn’t have met our mates at all.

Before I could weigh the options and make a decision, my fox poured all of his power into me, overpowering my human will and forcing a shift right there on the side of the road.

He had the decency to let me shift back to put my things into a small bag before pushing the shift again, this time, at least, with my necessities in tow.

Now to get to my mates.

I didn’t question the hows or whys of my animal’s knowledge of how to get to the train station but as we darted in between patches of forest, I caught sight of a few signs. The damned thing knew where he was going. Perhaps because we’d traveled this section of the country before.

My fox had always been a fast runner but, as he sped along, he continued to send me images of our alphas while I sat in the back seat of our consciousness. He would get to them on time even if he collapsed on the platform once he arrived.

We passed miles and miles of trees before I heard the train whistle and the hisses of the brakes along with the clattering of the train itself against the tracks. We were close.

So damned close.

After a few more minutes, I gasped inside my fox as he leapt over tracks until we arrived on the platform.

He used his nose to scent out our mates even though we’d never met them. I heard a low, velvety chuckle. The hair on my nape rose in response and my fox sprinted toward the sound.

Once I saw the two most handsome males I’d ever laid eyes on, I did what every right-minded omega in his animal form would do.

I rushed them. Nudged their calves until they noticed me.

“What’s this?” Oren asked, crouching down to my level. He ran his hands through my fur and took a long drag of air through his nose. “Ah, Archer. I think this is the nimble fox we’ve been waiting for.”

Archer kneeled down next, abandoning his large bag in favor of petting my fur. “There you are. I knew you had to be close. My wolf could sense you but silly me, I was looking for an omega in human form. Look how beautiful you are.”

“We’re getting some stares, little fox. How about we take this somewhere else and find out why you chose to run in like this.”

Archer chuckled. “I have so many questions, omega. Come on. Or would you prefer I carry you?”

My fox immediately jumped into his arms and barked one high-pitched happy sound. “I’ll get the bags, you get the mate,” Oren joked. “Let’s get out of here.”