Chapter 2 - Laurence

Laurence bolted after her, his wolf howling at the distance she had placed between them.

She was fast, but so was Laurence. He let his wolf take over and push him quicker. His desperation to reach her overcame him and he followed her out of the alley.

He cursed when he broke out onto the sidewalk again and couldn’t see her. He carefully scanned the empty street, searching for the slightest flash of movement.

The streetlights illuminated the sidewalks, but there was no movement.

Laurence instead honed in on her scent. It was faint as if she was able to suppress it somehow. He quickly followed her scent, only for it to fade quicker than normal.

He tugged at his hair, trying to figure out how to find her again. He felt panic come over him at the thought of losing her.

He just found her.

Was he reading her incorrectly? He was so overcome with lust that he could have pushed her too quickly and he scared her off.

But she was a wolf, he was sure of it. Her earthy mix of flowers and the forest was mind-numbing to him, but also distinguishable enough for him to determine she was a wolf.

Not to mention her incredible speed.

Laurence spun around again, peeling his eyes for the gorgeous woman he was lucky enough to call his mate.

But she was gone. It’s like she disappeared.

Laurence let out a loud string of curse words and turned around, heading back to the parking garage to find his car.

He had been trying to follow a lead to find Mateo again. He knew Peter was meeting with someone tonight, but when he arrived to spy on them, they had already picked up on his presence.

The last thing he was expecting was a stunning woman literally running into him and knocking the breath out of him.

Laurence had been with his fair share of women, but none of them compared to the beauty of his mate. The way her curled brown hair circled her face, her deep brown eyes, and the starking contrast of her smooth skin and the long eyelashes against her cheeks.

He shook his head. There was no way he imagined her reaction to his touch. He wanted her so badly in that moment; he wanted to mark and take her right then and there but held back until he could get her out to safety.

It took the most incredible amount of self-control he’d ever had to use in his life.

He finally made it to his car and started it up, feeling frustrated with himself for losing her. She was his mate and he just let her disappear.

Why did she even run from him in the first place? He could tell that she felt their bond.

Laurence ripped his car from his parking spot and headed for his brother, Levi’s territory.

It was not only closer to the city, but he knew he needed to talk to his brother first anyway.

Levi and Landon, his brothers, had been a huge help to him ever since Mateo disappeared. There was something about Mateo that made Laurence want to help and protect him.

Mateo had spent a lot of time helping him in finding out all the information he could about the Arroyo’s and his father. But when he disappeared one day, he couldn’t help but feel it was his fault.

He knew he either found something he shouldn’t have or he was going to find something soon. And because he was working for Laurence at the time, he knew it had something to do with his case.

Laurence pulled out his phone and dialed his brother before adding Landon to the call. It took almost no time for him to catch them up on his most recent failure.

“You had one job, Laurence!” Levi fumed over the phone.

Laurence ran his hand through his hair and continued to drive with his other hand draped over the steering wheel.

“It’s not like I did it on purpose, Levi!”

Levi blew air through his nose. “What, did you get distracted? You’re lucky you got out of there alive, Peter and his stupid crew are not safe. Now all—”

“I ran into my mate, Levi.”

The line went dead silent.

“Who?” Landon asked as if he heard him incorrectly.

Laurence let out a frustrated sigh and landed a hard palm to his steering wheel, making his car vibrate dangerously on the highway.

He hated himself for losing her.

“My mate. She was also spying on them. We got caught, waiting for them to disappear, and she and left.”

More silence followed his statement. He knew he surprised his brothers—the revelation even surprised him.

He would have never thought he would meet his mate while on the longest man-hunt on his life.

Just his freaking luck.

“Look, I don’t know what’s happening or even what her freaking name is, but I intend to know. All I can do is hope this wasn’t random and that she has a connection to Mateo or Peter somehow.”

“You mean you lost her?”

“Of course I lost her, Landon! I would have told you guys if she was with me. She was a shifter and before I could stop her, she was gone..”

Laurence wasn’t surprised by the lack of response at both ends of the conversation.

That was almost more of a surprise than the fact that he lost the information he went for.

“Look, I’m almost at Levi’s. I gotta go on a run really quick, then I’ll be back to talk to you soon.”

Laurence knew he needed to go on a run to get some of this tension off of him; he couldn’t think straight.

As soon as he pulled up to Landon’s house, he was out his door and running into the woods. It was about nine-thirty at night and he didn’t want to keep his brothers up for too long, but he also knew he needed to get his head sorted out before he could talk to them.

As soon as he broke through the treeline, Laurence stripped from his clothes. He threw them carelessly on the forest ground before his wolf took over and he transformed into his glorious beast.

Laurence sighed in his wolf form, enjoying the instant freedom he felt from his furry side. He took a deep breath of the night forest air and took off into the woods, kicking up clouds of dirt and pine needles as he thundered into the woods.