More Than One Exit

Was it sad that the highlight of my day came before I was even awake enough to enjoy it?

All four of my mates ordered their breakfast and then appeared to have a meeting in the booth. They looked so out of place with their expensive suits and neatly styled hair. But it was eye candy that both my mouse and I agreed was pretty perfect.

They left around noon, and I lifted up my hand and waved at them… like an idiot.

Yup, that was me—a smooth criminal. My mouth was open because I was trying to think of something cool to say, but instead, I just gave them an awkward wave.

This was why I shouldn't be allowed out of my lab. I wasn't cut out for social settings. They would think that I was this unsocial thing and stop coming around.

After all, I knew that they were my mates, but they weren't able to scent me, thanks to the de-scenter I had bathed in this morning.

They had no attachment to me and no reason to come back.

Fuck was I ever stupid.

Plus, I was starting to feel a bit bad about cutting them off from the heat suppressants. No one ever said that mice don't have tempers, but even I knew that just maybe I had taken things just a smidge too far.

Flicking the lights off for the front of the house, I walked over to the door to lock it. Suddenly, it slammed open, and I was hit with the scent of wolves.

"Hello," smiled the leader as he pushed his way forward. He was bigger and stronger than me, even as a human… and I was alone.

Fuck, I needed to get my head in the game and stop thinking about those wolves. Mates or not, it was going to get me killed.

"We're closed," I said, a blank expression on my face.

"So I gathered. Turning the lights off was a good indication. Congrats on that," smirked the male as more and more wolves entered into the diner.

"Thank you," I shrugged as if I wasn't becoming increasingly terrified. It would be interesting to see if my product could hide the smell of my fear as well as my natural scent.

My mouse pictured slapping me upside the head to get my thoughts back in the game. I was alone and there were now ten males in the restaurant.

Paul had the entire day off because it was the anniversary of his wife's funeral, and I had sent Caleb out to gather some information on the missing shifters. Which meant that I had to come up with a way out… and fast.

"But it seems like it is just us here right now," continued the man, pressing forward until I was forced to take a few steps back in order to maintain the distance between us. In a fight or flight situation, distance was vital.

The faint click of the door locking behind the last male inside sent me running.

Usually, running away from a predator was the worst thing that you could ever do. It set off their natural instincts like nothing else could, but I had no choice in the matter.

I bolted to the swinging doors separating the front of the restaurant from the back and managed to make it into the employee's lounge before the wolves could get their hands on me.

Locking the door quickly, I stepped back as the door vibrated under the main wolf's weight. "That's not going to keep you safe forever," called out the male, and I could hear the smugness in his voice. "Just let us in, and we can discuss all the ways you've fuck up. Then we will let you go. Probably."

Rolling my eyes, I bolted toward the fridge. There was the smallest of windows up at the very top of the room, and the only way you could get to it was by getting on top of the refrigerator and opening it from the top.

A smart prey species always has more than one exit route.

I ripped my clothes off and stuffed them on top of the cupboards, closing the door behind it.

Shifting, I made it to the open window just as the door shattered into pieces. Paul was not going to be happy about that.

My mouse took over from here, and I could feel her joy at outsmarting the wolves. Clinging to the wall, she made her way down, nose first, into the alleyway behind the restaurant.

Fun fact: This was also the same alleyway that I had to shift to avoid the annoying mutts the first time around.

My mouse wasn't too interested in going all the way down to the ground, however. She stopped maybe about seven feet in the air and started running to the end of the alley, still clinging to the brick of the restaurant.

She wanted to maintain the height difference. This way, even if the wolves were able to see us in the darkness, they wouldn't be able to reach up. 

The wolves could run fast, but climbing up a wall was above and beyond their capabilities.

She had made it to the corner of the building before the most delicious scent hit us. There were four of them, each one as distinct as the men they represented. Dark chocolate, a bonfire, a forest, and… was that a vanilla cupcake?

My mouse's eyes practically rolled back in her head as she sprinted toward the four men. If this was how they smelled to her, it was no wonder she wanted to be around them all the time. As a human, my sense of smell, while good, wasn't able to pick up the subtle nuances that made each person unique.

Wolves tended to smell more like wet dogs to me, but right now, I wasn't smelling that at all. Nope, these four were good enough to eat.

'Mates!' exclaimed my mouse with joy as she continued to make her way to where they were standing in front of the door. If they had been here even a few minutes sooner, I might not have had to shift.

But it was what it was, and my mouse wasn't complaining at all.

Dropping silently to the ground, she ran up to the closest male, the one smelling like a vanilla cupcake, and climbed his pant leg until she managed to fall into his coat pocket.

'So good,' she murmured dreamily. 'Should have brought a blanket.'

I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything as my mouse closed her eyes and fell asleep. She wasn't worried about anything, especially with her mates nearby.