Page 99 of Their Mate

Eamon muttered, “You’re lucky it wasn’t double the dose.”

I spun, face hot, wolf snarling inside me, but already feeling sluggish, heavy. “Youshot me? In thearse?”

The woman lowered the pistol, expression calm as ice. “You were a liability. Now you’re not.”

I yanked the dart free, scowling. “I’ll not sit down for a week, you know that?”

“Good,” she said without blinking. “Maybe it will remind you to keep your focus next time.”

Griff was still chuckling, slapping his thigh. “Never thought I’d see it—a ranger like you dropped by a dart in the arse.”

I glared at him, then at her, then at the others. My ass throbbed like hell, my pride even more so, but for some reason, I felt more like myself again.

I muttered, “You’ll pay for that, lass.”

She was already moving, though, slipping into the shadows of the corridor ahead, leaving me to limp after them with a sore arse and the echo of Griff’s laughter in my ears.

“Right then, mystery lass,” I growled under my breath, keeping my voice quiet. “What exactly did you just shoot me with?”

She didn’t even glance back as she continued walking on the grated walkway. “A leveler.”

“A what?”

“A pheromone blocker,” she said simply, as if we were discussing tea. “Designed to dull the pull when wolves get a whiff of their mate in heat. It scrambles the receptor response in your brain, keeps you from tearing your own pack apart for the sake of one woman.”

I blinked, caught between outrage and reluctant admiration. “You had that ready? Just lying in your pocket?”

She gave the faintest shrug. “I don’t walk into nests without contingency plans. Especially when wolves are involved.”

Griff barked another laugh behind me. “That’s what you get for losing your head, Jamie-boy. She’s carryingdartsfor horny mutts like you.”

“Shut it,” I mumbled, though my ears burned.

Nox’s grin was all teeth. “Smart. Very smart. A single wolf in heat-frenzy can ruin a mission for everyone. Better sore-arsed and calm than foaming at the mouth.”

I glared at him. “I was just momentarily distracted.”

Bishop gave me a look colder than the metal under our feet. “Distracted gets us killed.”

“Aye, thanks for the lecture,” I snapped, though feeling humbled now. Truth was I felt the difference already. The haze was lifting, the desperate itch in my chest settling. The scent was still there, still pulling, but muted, dulled, like it was behind glass. My wolf growled low at being leashed, but my head cleared enough to breathe normally.

Eamon’s voice came from the back, calm and matter of fact. “The blocker will keep you level for a few hours, maybe less depending on your metabolism. When it wears off, if we haven’t found her yet…”

I grunted. “Let me guess: another dart to the arse.”

The woman finally looked back at me then, pale eyes unblinking. “If I have to.”

For a heartbeat, I wanted to snarl at her, tell her she had no right, but then I caught Sera’s scent again and realized she was right. She’d saved me from myself and probably saved the mission.

I huffed a laugh, low and grudging. “Fine. But next time, warn a man before you stick him.”

Her mouth twitched. Not quite a smile. “You’d have argued.”

“Damn right I would’ve,” I said, rubbing the ache in my backside. “But at least I’d have braced for it.”

Griff nearly doubled over, laughing so hard under his breath he had to press his hand against the wall for balance. “The great Jamie Buchanan, terror of the highlands, felled by a dart in the arse!”

Nox smirked. “Not exactly the ballad they’ll be singing around the fire, is it?”