“Grady is so upset, Minnie. What am I going to do?”

“You’re his mate now, baby. You call your work, quit your job, and hire movers to bring your shit here. Like it or not, he has to stay in town. Your life is here now with him.” Minnie’s face relaxed and she suddenly smiled. “You’re going to live here and I’ll get to see you all the time. Your uncle can’t kill Grady for real because Elroy won’t let him. He’ll be pissed but he’ll have to accept that you’re mated to one of the pack.”

“How the hell can I expect Uncle Omar to accept it when Grady won’t? He’s going to hate me and resent me, Minnie. God, this sucks.”

“I know, baby. Why don’t you come home with me until…well, until your mate cools off and comes looking for you. He will soon. He’s still in mating heat and needs you now more than ever. He’ll have to accept what’s done and it is done. It’s just how it has to be.”

Mika shook her head. “I’ll wait here. I guess I should start cleaning up that mess in there. It will give me something to do until he returns.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. What if he comes back and wants to screw up the rest of your house?”

She frowned. “Thank you for coming because I was freaking out. I still am but now I have a clearer picture of everything. I just needed someone to be here for me.” Anger tightened Minnie’s face again. “Your mate should have been here to support you. You’re human. This all has to be really confusing and frightening to you. Someone should kick Grady’s ass.”

“Trust me. He’s kicking his own ass right now more than anyone else ever could over what happened here. Go home. Please don’t mention anything to Uncle Omar yet.

Who knows? Maybe we got lucky and it didn’t take.”

“I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one, baby.” Minnie hugged her and walked out the door.

Sighing, Mika put on shoes and grabbed trash bags from her kitchen, taking the entire box of them. She stepped into her bedroom and stared with sadness at the disaster that used to be the room she loved. She cringed. She didn’t need trash bags. She needed a bulldozer and a few large dumpsters. A few muscular men to lift broken furniture would be helpful too.

A few hours later she showered. She’d made a dent in the mess but still needed days of cleaning and help just to get the broken debris out of her bedroom. She didn’t even want to think about the damaged walls and the electrical mess. Grady hadn’t returned. She put on jeans and a tank top. She forced herself to eat as she watched the clock. He’d been gone six hours in total by the time she started to really worry.

Grady was in mating heat, angry, and probably confused. She put on her shoes, grabbed her purse, and walked to the front door. She hesitated and then grabbed his Jeep keys. If he wouldn’t come to her then she’d try to find him. Her heart was pounding, she was nervous as hell, but she loved the guy. He was out there suffering from going without sex for too long and they needed to talk. She straightened her shoulders, opened the front door and walked out into the cool night air.

He’d go home, she hoped, as she backed the Jeep out of the driveway and headed for the bar. She parked in the back and hoped they didn’t lock the back door as she approached it. The idea of walking through a packed bar wasn’t something she wanted to contend with. She hesitated and then tried the handle, relief sweeping through her as it turned easily in her hand.

She didn’t run into anyone as she headed for the stairs she’d glimpsed the time Grady had brought her through the back. She knew he lived above the bar so she’d check his place first. No one stopped her or stepped out from any of the back rooms as she climbed the wide staircase. At the top was only one door. She hesitated and then tried the handle, only to find it locked.

She had Grady’s keys so she tested each one until she found the right key, inserted it, and turned the handle. Light greeted her as she opened the door and she swallowed, afraid of the confrontation that was about to take place but it needed to be done.

The apartment was an open space with a living room immediately inside the door and to the left was a bar that separated the living space from a modern kitchen. She stepped farther inside, hopeful that since the lights were on he’d be there. She closed the door firmly and listened, hearing the sound of running water. Her gaze locked on a partially open door across the room and she moved toward it.

She hesitated at the bathroom door, hearing the shower running and through the crack she could see a toilet. She took another deep breath and then pushed the door open. “Grady?”

The shower door was clear and it only took an instant for Mika to register that the person who turned at the sound of her voice was not Grady since it was a tall, slim woman with red hair who spun in the clear glass shower stall to stare back in shock at Mika.

The woman moved, shoving at the glass door, grabbed a towel from the rack, and frowned at Mika as she wrapped it around her body, turning off the water with her free hand. Anger was instant on the woman’s face. “Who the hell are you?” Mika was too shocked to speak. There was a woman, a na**d one, in Grady’s shower. She stumbled back a step and pain sliced through her. The woman growled, shoving the shower door all the way open and stepped out onto the bath mat, securing the towel tighter around her body.

“I asked who the hell you are and why you’re in my boyfriend’s apartment. He’s going to be here any damn minute and I want an explanation right now.” Mika backed up.

“How do you know Grady?” The woman advanced, looking enraged. “I’m Megan, his girlfriend. I asked you who the hell you are and I want an answer right now.”

“I’m Mika,” she finally got out. “I’m Omar Deken’s niece.” That stopped the tall redhead from advancing on her further. The woman frowned.

“Oh. Does he need Grady for something? He should be here any minute. He called me an hour ago and told me to get my ass here so I just arrived. I think he had to take care of something downstairs.” The woman turned, walking over to the bathroom counter, and stared at herself in the mirror. “Sorry you caught me in the shower but I wanted to be nice and clean for my Grady when he gets here. I was on duty and had to break up some fights. I didn’t think he’d like to smell a bunch of males on me.” She glanced at Mika over her shoulder as she opened the drawer under the counter, grabbed out a brush to run through her wet hair. “You know how males hate that damn scent when they are f**king us.”

Mika spun and moved toward the door. She had to get the hell out of there before Grady returned. He’d called a werewolf female to be with him. That’s why he hadn’t returned to her. He was going to try to be with that redhead instead of coming home to Mika. Pain burned through her hard at his betrayal.

“Where are you going?” Megan called out.

Mika rushed out of the apartment and down the stairs, leaving the apartment door open behind her. She walked quickly toward the back door and had almost reached it when another door opened across the way. The loud sounds of the bar were instant when it happened, making her turn her head just in time to see Grady step into the back area with his back turned her way.

“I don’t know how she’s going to take it and I really don’t give a damn either. It wasn’t anything serious between us.” Grady said the words loudly, obviously talking to someone in the bar, as he took another step back. “If she makes any problems over it and won’t leave me alone then she’ll have to realize that I’m willing to kill her if she tries to lay claim to me.” He spun around at that moment and his gaze locked on Mika.

Shock made his eyes widen.

“Mika?”

She fought tears. “I came looking for you, thinking you might need me.” He just stared at her, twenty feet away, and didn’t say a word.

“I see you don’t. Your girlfriend is na**d and waiting for you upstairs. You’re going to have a great life because you’ll never see me again so you don’t have to kill me.” She spun then, shoving open the back door, and ran.

“Mika!” Grady roared.

She was shaking when she reached the Jeep. A loud boom sounded and she turned her head, staring in shock as Grady barged out the back door. He’d hit the door so hard that it literally came off the hinges. Pure rage was on his features and her terror was instant. She shoved the key in the ignition.

“Mika!” He roared out her name again, threw the door he still gripped, and stormed toward her, looking like a big, mean, enraged male.

She turned the key in the ignition, the engine roared to life, and she threw it in drive as she slammed her foot down on the gas. Tires squealed as the Jeep jumped forward and threw her back against her seat. She had to swerve the wheel hard to avoid plowing into the wall, barely missed it, and she heard a snarl. She glanced at the rearview mirror as she straightened the wheel and pressed down harder on the gas. To her shock she saw a large form running after her. Grady.

She was shocked as her gaze fixed on him in the tiny mirror. He was gaining on her, running down the street, and he looked scary as hell since she could see that he’d partially changed with his extended nose and sharp teeth. The Jeep gained speed though and she jerked her attention from the mirror to the road ahead of her so she didn’t crash. In seconds she glanced back but Grady was gone. She twisted her head, looking over her shoulder, and saw a shape running onto a side street, moving fast.

Her mind worked frantically, realizing he was going to try to cut her off from going to her house. She knew even on two legs, he could run fast and for miles. She didn’t slow, taking a turn in the opposite direction of her house and where he was heading.

She had her purse with her. Hot tears nearly blinded her so she had to quickly wipe them away before she wrecked. Grady had said he’d kill her.

She parked Grady’s Jeep at the airport and sat there shaking and wiping away tears. He’d called his girlfriend, the one she’d overheard him with on the phone, to try to get him through his mating heat and she’d heard him say he’d kill her if she tried to lay claim to him. She nearly screamed with fright when her cell phone rang, startling her, and she twisted in the driver’s seat, staring at her purse on the passenger side.

It rang five times before it stopped, going to voicemail. She had to get out of town, had to make sure he couldn’t find her. She was in grave danger if he was willing to kill her if the mating had taken. She removed his keys from the ignition, shoved them under the driver’s seat, and grabbed her purse. One look in the rearview mirror showed that her eyes were red and puffy, obviously from crying, but she couldn’t do anything about that as she climbed out of his Jeep and carefully locked it.

Some people stared at her as she entered the small airport but she ignored them, going to the ticket line. Her phone made her jump as it started to ring again. She reached down, removed it from the side pocket, and glanced at the number. She hesitated and then flipped it open.

“Hello?”

“I’m too worried to sleep,” Minnie said softly. “What happened when he came home?”

Mika moved in line when the person in front of her did. “He didn’t come home,” she admitted.

“Damn it, he’s stubborn, but I’m sure he’ll be home soon. Why didn’t you answer your house phone? I tried calling it first.”

“I’m not home. I’m at the airport.”

“What?” Minnie nearly yelled. “Why?”

“I’m leaving.”

“We went over this, damn it. You can’t do that, Mika. I told you what would happen. He’ll come home and he’ll accept you.”

She glanced around her, seeing just two people in front of her. Her voice lowered.