Micah was being watched, but he didn’t care. He studied the setup they had out here.

It was wild, computers, electronics, solar panels, all the things you’d expect from a modern group of people but not from shifters.

“What are you looking at?” Geoff, a shifter that had held him down earlier growled at him.

“Your setup.” He wasn’t hiding. “This is what you have against that whole pack?” Micah knew there was more to it than this, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Of course not. We have no intention of fighting that pack on our own. When we go in, they won’t see it coming.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Micah pressed.

“We have more witches than just that one.” He pointed at Elizabeth, his mate.

Micah clenched his fists and fought the growl his wolf was driving forward. He needed to appear calm and they couldn’t know she was his mate. That wouldn’t end well for them and he knew it.

“There’s a whole coven waiting to help us.” Geoff’s smug grin made Micah want to roll his eyes.

“Then why are you out here in the middle of nowhere?” That was one thing he hadn’t understood.

“Planning. Things have to happen a certain way or they won’t work.”

“Witches tell you that?” Micah snorted.

“Yep, and they know what they’re talking about. That one tells us when people are coming to try to stop us.”

“How do you know she’s telling the truth?”

“Hasn’t been wrong once. Now you’re here and she didn’t sense the threat to the pack so I think you’ll be fine, but better stay out of the way. You don’t get to come in here and be top dog.”

Great, this guy was cocky, probably wanted to be the Beta to that Trey guy. “Heard.” He looked around some more. “Do you hunt here like everyone for themselves or a pack thing?”

“Everyone for themselves. If you stay in human form, there’ll be a fire tonight since the witch is out here, and you can roast something on it.”

He wanted a minute to talk to Elizabeth. If they lit that fire and didn’t notice Heather and Oliver were gone right away, he might be able to get a moment.

“We are leaving tomorrow,” Trey shouted. “First light. I suggest you eat well and get some rest.”

Shifters began discarding clothes, and Micah used that time to look at his mate. She stared at her lap, her hands twisting in her shirt. She looked scared and he wanted to go to her.

“Take a seat with the witch,” Trey told him. “Geoff, you watch them.”

“Shit,” Geoff muttered. “I was hungry.”

“Have someone else get you something or go later. I don’t need insubordination out here.” Trey commanded him with just a hint of Alpha influence coming off of him.

It was strange. For Micah he didn’t need to think about using his Alpha influence, it just came naturally. That guy was forcing it.

He approached Elizabeth and took a seat next to her, careful to keep a little distance between them. Startling her wouldn’t be wise and would draw attention to the bond. He needed to keep the peace for now.

Geoff walked away far enough that Micah braved a greeting to his mate. “You doing okay?” he whispered.

Her head whipped up to face him. “Who are you?”

“Shh,” he told her. “We don’t want them to know we are talking to each other.”

Elizabeth continued to look at him, waiting for an answer.

“Do what you were doing before,” he told her, waiting until she looked away before he spoke again. “I’m your mate. I met your brother and sent you food and my phone.”

A soft gasp escaped her lips.

“I’m going to help you, I just have to figure out how. Your brother is safe with Lucas and Heather.” At least he hoped so. He needed that part to be true.

“Oliver?” she asked, but he knew she was just processing what he said. Her shoulders relaxed after a few seconds and he knew she understood.

“Lucas will keep him safe.”

“I didn’t sense you coming,” she whispered. “Why?”

“Because I’m no threat to you? I don’t know how magic works.”

“How can I be your mate? I’m no one, nothing.”

He wanted nothing more than to pull her into him and convince her that wasn’t true. She was his mate and that made her his everything. “You’re not nothing.”

“I shouldn’t have a mate. I’m not a shifter.”

“Hey.” He covered his sharp words with a cough to distract anyone who might try to focus on their conversation after his outburst. “Don’t sell yourself short.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “My powers didn’t work.”

“You kept your mate safe,” he countered.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. How do I have a mate?” Her voice trailed off and he assumed that wasn’t a question that needed to be answered. 

He sat by her for an hour as the majority of the shifters were off hunting. Being near her soothed his wolf and kept his growing anger in check. She was unkempt to say the least.

“Why are you here?” she barely whispered.

“Huh?” It took him a minute to process what she was asking. “You mean not with them?”

She nodded, keeping her eyes in her lap.

“To be with you. When they took you, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get you out right now, so I came.” It was that simple.

She was quiet for a long time. “Why?”

“Because you’re my mate. I wasn’t going to leave you here alone.”He longed to make her face him, to see in his eyes that he was telling the truth.

“What are you two talking about?” Geoff walked over, stopping all hope of any more conversation.

“Food.” Micah shrugged. “I’m hungry and she looks hungry. She’s not talking though.”

“She doesn’t talk to anyone, knows better.”

“Well, does she eat?” Micah was pushing his luck by showing his concern. If they knew she was his mate, they’d use that against the both of them.

“Sometimes, when Trey needs her to do something. She might get to eat tonight since we are leaving, but that’s not your concern. You’ll get something to eat.”

He clenched and unclenched his fists to keep his anger at bay. He knew they were hungry; he had seen Oliver, and the kid was clearly starved, but he wasn’t prepared to see his mate so clearly uncared for.

“I don’t take well to treating women like shit.” Micah pushed back on Geoff.

“She’s not a woman, she’s a witch.” He laughed at his own joke.

He heard Trey approaching. Unlike most of this pack, Micah didn’t let his guard down ever. “This might not have been the right idea.”

“What’s that?” Trey stood next to him, still unclothed from shifting.

“I may not want the curse broken, but I don’t take well to treating women poorly, witch or not.” Micah stood so he was eye to eye with Trey.

“Take a walk, Geoff,” Trey commanded, never taking his eyes off Micah. “I can tell there’s Alpha blood in you.”

Micah shrugged, he wasn’t hiding it.

“You aren’t going to come in here and tell me how to run my pack.”

“I’m not going to stay here and watch you mistreat women.” He snarled to get his point across. “I know things you don’t, like the inside of the pack grounds and who a lot of the people are.”

“All information I can get,” Trey countered.

“You can, but it’s a lot easier when you have someone that knows it for a fact. That’s my sister in there and I’ve been there.”

Trey squinted at him, trying to decide if he was telling the truth.

“I’ll be on my way if this is the type of pack you are. I’ll figure out how to get my sister out myself. Funny, I thought this pack would have stood for something, guess I was wrong.” Micah turned, giving Trey his back, knowing it would piss him off.

“All this over her?” Trey laughed. “She’s nothing except a tool to be used.”

“How do you think the coven you have helping you will like finding out you are keeping a witch captive and barely alive?”

“Captive? Ha! Do you see chains, ropes? No.”

Micah turned on him.

“I know a captive when I see one. I don’t know how you’re keeping her here, but that’s not the point.”

“What did she tell you?” Trey questioned, suddenly calm.

“Not shit. She won’t speak.” He just had to hope that no one heard her talking at all.

“Fine. You had better be worth the trouble. Take care of her if you want to, but that’s it. She’s not to be used in other ways.” Trey spun on him and walked away.

Micah had wondered if they had hurt her in other ways. It was shocking they hadn’t since she was the only female around. Odd that none of these shifters had a mate or a woman.

“Get up,” Micah snapped at her, staying in character.

She scrambled to her feet and followed him into the woods.

He led her half a mile from the pack before pointing to a log. “Sit there. I’ll be right back.”

Micah watched to make sure she did what he told her before slipping behind some trees and shifting. His wolf would make this hunt faster and get his frustration out.

He let his wolf take over and enjoy the hunt. There were several animals they passed before it sat back and watched a rabbit. It didn’t take long until he had it in his teeth and was heading back to Elizabeth.

Not listening to him, the wolf dropped the rabbit at her feet and then nuzzled the top of his head into her arm. She stayed frozen until he pulled away.

When she reached her shaky hand out and stroked his fur, his wolf did the damndest thing and let out a sound that was almost a purr. He turned into a damn puppy.

Enough Micah commanded of his wolf.

He got a groan but they left her and went back to his clothes. Micah quickly shifted and got dressed before returning to her.

“Sorry,” he said as he approached.

“That was you, right?” she asked.

He nodded. “My wolf.” Micah bent over and picked up the rabbit with one hand, extending his other to help her up.

Her touch sent electricity through him. It was genuinely shocking he didn’t fry the rabbit in his hand.

“What…” Elizabeth pulled her hand back.

“The mate bond,” he answered.

As much as he wanted to stay here in the privacy they’d found and hold her, talk to her, keep her close, he led her back to the pack. Soon, he told himself, she’d be his.

“Are you not lighting a fire?” Micah asked Geoff when he saw it was still a pile of cold ash.

“No. We are leaving too early and Trey doesn’t want to give away our location.”

It would be a miracle if he managed not to lose his shit while he was here. Elizabeth’s touch pulled him out of his anger.

“I’m fine,” she mouthed.

She wasn’t. Nothing about her was fine right now.

“Everything okay?” Trey approached with a smug grin.

“How am I supposed to feed her if you don’t light a fire?” Micah demanded. 

Trey shrugged. “Not my problem.” That was all he said before walking away.

Elizabeth took a seat on the ground where she was standing. Micah took the hint and sat next to her.

“I’ll find something else,” he told her.

She shook her head. “Eat,” she whispered.

He was too pissed to eat and wasn’t hungry. Instead, he tossed the rabbit into the ashes and walked a few feet to a tree to lean against it, under a makeshift tent roof.

“Come here,” he demanded, his tone too gruff.

She came, and he settled her between his legs, her back leaning against him. If she wasn’t going to eat, she’d at least be warm. The sound of a steady rain and storm rolling in, soothed her to sleep.