8. Ranger

EIGHT

RANGER

"I have to mark you. It's the only way to protect you and my pack."

Matt was awake but dazed, a bruise forming on his brow and dried blood stuck to his cheek. He insisted I put him down.

I was wearing a dark hoodie, pulled down low, and I was dressed in nondescript jeans and sneakers. No security cameras would recognize my face, especially not in the downpour.

"Mark me? Your pack?" Even through the teeming rain, I wanted to kiss away my mate's bewildered expression. He struggled, trying to release himself from my grasp, but I wasn't letting go because he might topple over. "I was about to be done away with, and thanks, I guess for rescuing me. But I need to run."

"Yeah, that's what I just said. I'm here to protect you."

"Not with you. Away from you and the Obsidian mob because he'll be baying for my blood."

Baying was right. Wolves would be howling once they discovered the accident. It was fortunate that the guy behind the wheel couldn't drive for shit and had run into another vehicle—not mine and nothing to do with me. Just pure luck.

Dane and the other two bozos were alive, I'd picked up their heartbeats. But because they were unconscious, their beasts couldn't take their fur. If they had, any injuries would have been healed immediately and my mate wouldn't have made it out of the car.

I thanked the goddess for looking out for my mate.

"Come."

"No. I'm going in a different direction from you and Dane." He jerked his hand, and grunted in frustration when I wouldn't let go.

"Listen, you frail human you, once Dane regains consciousness, he'll be searching for you." He'd scent my mate and try to follow him, so I had to disguise his scent as I'd do with my own. But first, I had to get us out of this rain.

"Matt, you have two choices; stay here and let Dane's men find you." My mate shivered as water trickled over his cheeks. "Or you can come with me and be safe."

"But you're the same as them. You're mafia." His voice was barely audible above the rain and the bellowing thunder.

"Not like Dane, I swear." I wouldn't lie, but I could promise that The Obsidian Circle Alpha and I were nothing alike.

He hesitated, his face streaked with rain water and tears. "Okay."

While the rain would have diluted and dulled my scent, I was thankful for my dad's hobbies and that I'd left the bag containing the eucalyptus oil in the back seat.

We reached the car and I got the oil out, spraying it liberally in the air, on the ground, and around Matt. I doused myself in it, as my scent was more potent. The rain might wash the eucalyptus fragrance away, but if so, it would probably do the same to our natural scents.

Matt's violent shudders concerned me, thinking he was going into shock, which he probably was. With both of us in the car, I got a blanket from the back seat and a towel from my full moon run bag, wrapping him in one and leaving the towel awkwardly on his lap.

"I'm going to do something kinda strange."

"Kinda? Compared to what? You think the last ten minutes have been everyday occurrences?" He picked up the towel and stuttered, "I… I s-s-suspect your idea of strange and mine are very different."

That I could guarantee.

"It'll hurt a little, but it will keep you safe from Dane."

"Like a forcefield?"

I grinned. It was the shifter version of a forcefield. "Yeah." I'd apologize for the half-truth later. But I had to get Matt to close his eyes. Neither his mind nor his body could cope with witnessing my wolf's teeth.

"Okay," he hiccuped. His eyelashes, sprinkled with tears, closed, and I allowed my wolf to extend his teeth. If we'd been in bed, I'd have marked Matt's chest or shoulder, but his palm would have to do.

He gasped as his skin tore, and I mopped up the blood with the towel before tossing it in the back and grabbing a clean one. Mating should be a joyous occasion where we kissed, cuddled, and discussed the future. But ours was done from fear. Instead of celebrating, I was mourning that lost shared experience.

And I'd settled my fate. Matt was my mate, but if he chose not to be with me, I'd be alone. An uncle to Lottie and Kendric, a brother, brother-in-law, son, and a great-nephew. But never a mate in anything but name. And I'd never be a dad.

"All done."

He peered at the red swollen bite mark on his hand. "I can't wait to hear the explanation for this."

I checked his pupils for concussion and wiped blood off his face. The eucalyptus oil was an antiseptic, but it couldn't be used directly on the skin, so I couldn't do much for his injuries.

But we had to get moving. First, though, he needed a sugar rush.

"If you're hungry." I handed him some squashed candy and cereal bars from the glove compartment. While fear had probably nudged out any hunger, the sugar might help with his shock.

Without saying a word, Matt tore off the wrapper from a chocolate bar with his good hand and shoved half of it in his mouth.

Putting the heat on high, I drove off, thankful for my excellent shifter eyesight. Avoiding the main thoroughfares, I got us out of town and sped toward our family's cabin.

Matt's chewing was the only sound in the car, except for the occasional crinkle of a wrapper. His shivering decreased, and he dried his face with the towel.

I had to call Flint and couldn't leave it until we arrived at the cabin. He picked up on the first ring.

"What did you do?"

"I'm in the car with Matt, the man I met last night."

"Spill in twenty-five words or less."

I should have pulled over and texted, but Matt was leaning on the door, his eyes closed. What the hell? He was going to find out soon enough.

I summarized, telling Flint about the accident. "Not my fault." And I detailed springing Matt from Dane's clutches.

Flint's brain worked quickly. "Did you mate?"

"Yes."

"There's no going back now. I'll send out an alert, but the city is awash and the flooding is going to get worse. Not much will happen until the rain stops."

I told him where Dane's car was, and he said he'd get someone to walk down there, if possible. Or swim.

"Be safe, little brother."

I ended the call. It would have been smarter to have my bodyguards with me, but I'd dismissed them because finding and rescuing my mate was something only I could do.

"You called me Matt."

I kept my eyes straight ahead. Even though I'd been coming to our cabin since I was a kid, the road was treacherous with all the water, and I could only just see the way ahead even with the headlights on. And I was going faster than I should because Dane wouldn't let a little flooding get in his way.

"Isn't that your name?"

"Maybe."

I snorted. My mate thinking he could keep his identity a secret was adorable.

"Would you prefer I call you, ummm, something else?"

"Shit." He unwrapped another candy bar. "So, did I go from being Dane's prisoner to yours?"

"No."

"Then what am I and why this cut on my hand?"

"I'll explain everything, but for now, I need to take you far from Dane."

"Okay," he said in a small voice. "Who was that on the phone?"

"My brother, Flint."

"And you are?"

We'd mated and he didn't know who I was. How sad, though if two shifters scented each other as their fated, they would mark one another first and ask questions later, so not so unusual.

But my mate was innocent of the shifter ways.

"How about we introduce one another?"

He nodded.

"I'm Ranger Durand, Flint's brother and his ummm… deputy." I didn't take my hand off the wheel to shake his, not that he'd offered it.

"I guess there's no need for pretense. I'm Matt, and I have a problem." He sniffed. "Stinky socks."

A giggle snuck out, and he slapped a hand over his mouth. But he couldn't stifle it and the giggle became a cackle and then a full-blown laugh tinged with hysteria. His shoulders shuddered, and he swayed while flapping both hands in front of his face.

What's wrong with our mate? To my wolf, laughter was happy and crying was sad.

It's hard to explain . This wasn't the time for an in-depth lesson on human emotion.

He needed an outlet for what he was experiencing. Laughter was better than punching me, though I would have accepted any number of blows if it made him feel better.

As his chortles subsided, he mopped his face with the towel and covered his face. The laughter transformed into sobs, and each one chipped off a tiny piece of my heart.

"Matt," I choked out.

"Don't."

I swallowed my grief, wishing I could hold him, but I was the enemy and he'd exchanged one bad guy for another.

We reached our cabin, and while the main building, guest house, and shed were perched on high ground, a slow-moving creek wound around the edge of the property. With the rain, it had become a torrent.

As we didn't use the cabin every week, there were no live-in staff, domestic or the security kind. But there were cameras and alarms. Enough to stop humans, but shifters intent on revenge, not so much.

"What is this place?" Matt peered through the sleeting rain.