“I’m okay, baby,” he assured her on answering.
“No, you’re not,” she gritted out. “I can feel that you’re in pain. What happened? Where are you?”
His heart jumped at the thought of her leaving the Alpha pair’s house. Which was exactly what she would do once she knew where to find him. He didn’t want her out in public right now, fearing that whoever pulled the hit and run would return.
“I’m going to be fine,” Luke told her. “The healer is on her way. I’ll be at your side in a matter of minutes. I’ll tell you everything then.”
“What happened, and where the hell are you?”
Odd as it might sound, hearing her voice soothed him and his cat even though it rang with fury. “I know I’m not being fair right now, but I’m asking you to stay where you are. I’m not lying when I tell you I’ll be fine, I promise.”
At that moment, Helena appeared and crouched before him.
“I swear,” began Blair, “if you don’t tell me what happened I am gonna fuck your shit up, Skywhisker.”
He winced. “My leg got clipped by a speeding car. Helena is healing the break right now.” The healing energy crackled through his limb.
A long pause. “A speeding car?” asked Blair, a shake to her voice.
“Yes. I would imagine you’re thinking exactly what I’m thinking; that our boy is done sticking to the shadows. He could have done this to not only draw you out but to weaken me enough that I can’t do shit when he nabs you. So please, stay where you are.”
He never begged anyone for anything. Ever. Didn’t need to anyway. He dished out an order, and people obeyed. But he could never do that to his mate—they were equals. And if he had to beg to be sure she was safe, he’d do it.
“Okay.” The word was a whisper.
Luke closed his eyes, relief blowing through him. “Thank you.” He knew it was killing her to give him this; that it went against her every instinct to not come to him. “I’ll be with you soon, baby, I swear.” He rang off.
“You’re healed,” said Helena, standing.
Luke thanked her as he rose to his feet. “Did anyone get the license plate of the car that hit me?”
“I did,” said Tate, his thumbs tapping his cell phone. “I’m currently texting it to River.”
“It had to have been whoever’s locked on Blair,” said Damian. “They hit you on purpose, Luke. They sped up as they neared you.”
“I know.” If he’d been a second or two slower, the vehicle wouldn’t only have clipped his leg. “The son of a bitch will pay for that.”
“Yeah,” said Damian. “But you’ll be lucky if you get the chance to make him pay. In my opinion, Blair will beat you to it.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Finished recounting the hit and run to the people sprawled around the Alpha pair’s living room, Luke looked at his mate. She stood near the fireplace, her arms folded, her face blank, her eyes hard.
Blair had come rushing out of the cul-de-sac just as he’d returned. She’d faffed and fussed and hugged him tight, snarling “I’ll kill him.” Then they’d all come inside, and she hadn’t spoken a single word since.
She was also keeping a physical distance from everyone. Even him. Her body language screamed “stay back.” Her inner female was just as edgy—he could sense it.
There was no tumultuous knot of emotions at the other end of their mating bond. Not since a cold anger had washed over Blair, drowning out everything else. Now she was gloriously pissed, and she showed no signs of calming.
Like everyone else, he was giving Blair and her animal the space they needed. But he didn’t like it. He wanted to close the gap between them. Wanted to hold Blair, touch her, thank her again for remaining here. His cat hated that they couldn’t. But she was too worked up to accept comfort right then.
It gave Luke a small taste of how hard it must have been for her not to go to his side while he was hurting. He didn’t believe that was Blair’s reason for silently demanding space—she wasn’t passive-aggressive, and she wouldn’t purposely hurt him. But it gave him a taste of how she’d felt all the same.
“Well I think it’s safe to say that Blair’s stalker is escalating,” said Tate. “That hit and run was no accident, and I can think of no other person who’d specifically target you that way.”
“It had to have been him.” Luke cut his gaze back to his mate. “He wanted you to ‘come home.’ You didn’t. He likely blames me for that, not you. In his mind, that was bad enough. But then I claimed you—something he would have heard about from your other old pack mates, since they noticed the brand when we went to Sylvan territory. He probably won’t believe that the claiming mark is real, but I suspect he wanted to punish me all the same for branding you.”