He wasn’t pushing her away. For once. He wanted to help her. But she couldn’t tell him about Christian. Not everything. She needed him to choose her because he wanted her, not because he was saving her from an asshole. The last thing she wanted was to be saddled with a man—even a Fated mate—who might regret their connection.

Gods, he felt so good though. She wasn’t sure how she’d ever be able to let go of him. His scent filled her. Her skin tingled at every point of contact. He was hers. Her wolf had been able to track him without even thinking.

Then she’d walked into the house behind him naked and...he’d looked at her. All of her. And he wanted her. His erection was prominent against her ass even now. Didn’t matter that he’d dressed her.

She nuzzled her face into his neck again and breathed deeply, calming her racing heart. It’d been so close. She’d almost lost everything. Her damn grandmother had even shown up to help. And they must have known she’d try to escape; they’d brought Christian along to the summit. The damn man just went along with whatever they told him to do.

Tears burned trails down her cheeks, wetting Ryan’s warm skin.

“Kate, tell me what’s going on. Please,” he said, his hand rubbing gently up and down her back. He was still sitting, cradling her on the side of his mattress.

Her top half was flush to his body, but it didn’t feel close enough. She wriggled a bit more, shifting her leg across his lap so that she completely straddled him. The heat of her core pressed against the base of his stomach through the cotton of the shorts. His erection still nudged beneath her ass, reminding her that he really did want her. He couldn’t ignore the mate bond.

She nipped at the side of his neck, reveling in the taste of his skin beneath her lips. “My grandfather was going to take everything away from me. My freedom. My heart,” she said slowly. “I need you, Ryan. I don’t want anyone but you.”

He cupped her face and pulled her mouth away from his neck. Their gazes met and his bored straight into her. “Tell me what he did.”

“I would’ve lost you. Forever.” It would’ve killed her. She would have been empty on the inside. Broken. She’d rather live alone than be bonded to the wrong man, especially if it was someone she couldn’t respect.

She leaned forward and kissed his mouth, biting the edge of his bottom lip. Then, angling her mouth across his, she thrust her tongue in deep. He groaned into her and his hands tightened on her waist, then slid beneath the T-shirt he’d used to cover her nakedness. Up her back. Down her back. Up her stomach until the tips of his fingers reached her breasts. Gods, they ached for him. Her nipples tightened the closer he got. Her core clenched and throbbed. She was so damp from need it was rapidly going to become obvious.

Then his hand moved just a little further, cradling a breast. Kneading it gently before rubbing the pad of his thumb over the rock-hard peak. She gasped into his mouth as fire shot straight from her breast to her center. More. She wanted so much more.

His left hand joined in and cupped her other breast. He lifted his forearms, snapping the shirt front up high enough that she was exposed to the cool air of the room, and leaned down to suckle one of her breasts.

She nearly came apart right then and there. His mouth on her tightened every nerve and muscle and instinct inside her. She arched her back, attempting to give him better access. He growled around her nipple, biting down just slightly on her now-aching flesh. She wasn’t sure there was a single part of her that wasn’t throbbing in time with her pulse.

Suddenly, pain sliced through her like someone had struck her in the temple with a hammer. She crumpled forward with a muffled scream, pulling her breasts from his grasp. The pain wrenched through her, overwhelming all her other senses. “Ryan,” she croaked, curling into a ball on his lap, clutching her head. “Help me.”

He tensed beneath her. “What’s going on?”

“It hurts. He’s hurting me.”

“Who?”

“My al-alpha,” she bit out, curling into an even tighter ball. Then the pain intensified again. She leapt from Ryan’s lap and sank to the floor in the middle of his room. Maybe her grandfather could tell she was touching Ryan. Or that they were together. She had no clue what he could or couldn’t sense or feel or know. All she knew was that she was trapped. The only way to break an alpha bond was to pledge to another alpha. She couldn’t pledge to Ryan. A group would need to make him their alpha before a single wolf could pledge to him. The rules helped ensure one person couldn’t easily overthrow a pack. It was why no one had ever successfully taken power from her grandfather. And no one ever would.

The alpha bond was a gift in some men’s hands, but others wielded it like a weapon. Phillip used his power often and harshly to keep the pack in line—the women anyway.

The pain sliced through her again and she pressed her lips together to keep from screaming. Ryan was next to her on the floor. Then his arms were around her, and she was being lifted. All she could feel was the pain in her head, like someone was pulling it apart nerve by nerve. Phillip Quade hated to be defied. He would come for her. He would make sure she mated Christian. She’d never be free. Not unless Ryan chose her first.

“Make it stop, please,” she begged.

“I need to get you further away from him. It should lessen with distance. They must have followed you.” He slipped into a pair of running shorts, a T-shirt, and tennis shoes, and carried her through the house. Kate vaguely registered the change when they went outside. The breeze blew across her throbbing head. The sun beat down on her skin. But there was only one thing she could really feel through the pain of her grandfather’s psychic anger: Ryan’s touch.

“Fuck,” he growled. He turned one direction and then another. “Dee will have to do without for now.” Kate tightened her grip on his shirt as another wave of pain lanced through her mind and body. Grandfather was getting closer.

“He’s coming,” she gritted out between clenched teeth. She squeezed her eyes shut.

“We’re getting out of here. I’m taking you away,” he said, his voice near a breaking point. He lifted her, lowering her into a seat, and then closed a door behind her. “It’s the only thing that will help.”

She managed to open one eyelid and peek around. She was in Dee’s truck again. Ryan? Where was Ryan? She missed his touch already. Tears poured down her cheeks. Sobs shook her body. Her head felt like it had been cleaved open with an ax blade. She slumped down, splayed across the seat.

“Hang in there, Kate. It’ll be better. I promise. We just have to get some distance between you and him.” The truck roared to life beneath her cheek. Gravel pinged the wheel wells as he gunned the gas and tore down the drive. Kate kept her face glued to the coolness of the leather seat. The power her grandfather had over her was nauseating, literally and metaphorically. It wasn’t fair that he was trying to force her into a marriage she didn’t want. It wasn’t fair that he treated his pack mates as property and assets and used them to collect his precious cowboy team. She’d always known he considered the women in the pack as brood mares—no more, no less—but she hadn’t thought he would hurt her this badly. She shouldn’t be surprised. Nothing Phillip Quade did surprised anyone anymore.

Ryan’s hand stroked Kate’s head, caressing her hair. He was saying something about putting some space between them and the ranch. She couldn’t hear anything anymore, not through the roar of the pain between her temples. Not over the excruciating searing fire in her body. It was taking everything she had not to scream like a damned banshee from hell.

“We’re almost to town,” he said, his voice soft and hopeful. “Is the pain any better?”

It wasn’t. She shook her head. “Not far enough,” she whispered.

A few minutes later, he pulled to a stop in town. “I’ll be right back. Need gas and some cash.” He slipped out of the truck before Kate could even think about forming words. A minute or two passed. She could hear him outside the vehicle. Feel his comforting proximity even through the subsiding pain. It had finally lessened. The spike in her brain had dulled to a throb. She sat up in the truck and peered around outside. They were at a gas station in the middle of town.

The driver’s side door opened and Ryan met her gaze. “Better?”

She nodded. “A little. He’s probably deciding who he’s going to send to hunt me down.”

“I’m not going to let them take you, Kate. I won’t let him hurt you. Whatever’s going on.”

“Julian fought them so I could get away,” she said, sniffling just a little. “He was bloody, and he yelled at me to run from the barn. To find you. What if…”

“Wait,” Ryan said, climbing into the cab. He closed the door behind him and started the truck again. It roared to life and he pulled out onto the road and merged with traffic. “You were hugging Julian. You had a ring on…have a ring on.” His gaze drifted to the diamond solitaire still on her finger.

She frowned. It was rare for anything that wasn’t physically a part of her to make it through a shift. But she’d heard stories that sometime jewelry did. Pure jewelry, without synthetic materials. She pulled the ring off and dropped it into the empty cup holder on the dash. “He had it already. Old rejection and broken heart. It was just his idea to get you to notice me. To prove to you that you don’t want to lose me. He thought if it looked like your plan was working—me falling for him—you’d change your mind about pushing me away.” Kate sobbed a little. “It was wrong. I’m sorry. I was so desperate to have you choose me that I played a dirty trick. It wasn’t right. It was almost as bad as what my grandfather is trying to do to me. Ryan, I’m so sorry.”

“You still haven’t told me what’s going on with you and your family. Why are you so afraid of your pack? What is your alpha trying to do?”

Kate shook her head. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m going to run. As far and as long as I have to. I won’t let him ever get close enough to—” She bit her lip and stopped, reminding herself of her decision not to put Ryan in any more corners. It wasn’t how she wanted anything to be between them.

“To what, Kate? What the fuck is going on?”

“Do you have a phone? I left mine in the barn.”

He pulled a black cell phone from his shorts pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to her. Kate punched in Gretchen’s number. It’s Kate. I’m with Ryan. Running from grandfather.

“Where should we go?” he asked, his voice edgy.

“I don’t care.”

The phone buzzed with Gretchen’s answer: What the hell is going on, Kate?

She took a deep breath. Finally, with shame filling her insides, she typed in, Grandfather’s trying to mate me against my will. He’s at the ranch and I’m running. I can’t come back. Ever.

Kate clenched her fists as the pain returned, sliding up her spine like sharp claws digging into her flesh. She dropped his phone and winced as it clattered to the floor of the truck. The pain was back. They must be coming.

“Sorry,” she whined, pressing her head to the back of the seat. The claws kept moving up, digging into her psyche until her head felt as if it would explode from the pressure.

“Don’t worry about the phone,” he growled. “Why is he doing this to you?”

“He’s a fucking asshole who controls every aspect of my life. Every single female in the pack lives under his thumb. We’re nothing but property to him,” she spat out angrily and buried her face against the leather of the seat, trying desperately not to scream. The pain burned through her body like wildfire. She couldn’t give in. She wouldn’t go back.