His Unidentified & Untouchable Mate

Finding Her

Zahraa POV

Not too much longer. There was a round of speeches, which felt strangely formal in a crowd thrumming with drunken wolves that had been grinding on each other just moments before. First to speak was the High Alpha.

“It is tradition,” he announced, shushing the crowd with a wave of his hand, “for a High Alpha to have four sons, to lead the four territories until one rises to take my place. The goddess blessed my family with five. While Jared, Samuel, Rowan, and Archer left to the other pack houses to shadow and learn from their uncles, Jacob stayed in the central pack house with me and his mother.”

A shadow passed over Jacob’s face, visible even from my standpoint in the middle of the crowd. Rowan had pulled us closer to the stage, but off to the side – we had a good view, but we wouldn’t be in the way of Jacob and his mate when he found her.

An anxious knot formed in my stomach, sinking like a stone until it settled somewhere deep. An ache that felt like it’d ached for eternity. A growing need.

“And we’re so glad he did,” Derick continued. “Jacob is a bright young man. He’d do anything for the pack – he’s worked in the background supporting you all, and all four alphas. If there’s anyone here who deserves to find happiness with his fated mate, it’s Jacob.”

“I always hated this level of pomp,” Rowan whispered to me. “You have no idea how awkward it is to stand on stage while your dad drivels on about you.”

He was right – I didn’t. And I would never understand the pride of a father, or the love of a mother.

Rowan must’ve seen that on my face because he looped his arm around my waist and tugged me closer for an awkward side hug. “Sorry,” he muttered.

I nodded, keeping my attention on the speech.

Rowan didn’t move his arm. His touch made me feel anxious and trapped.

“Every father wishes his children happiness,” Alpha Derick said, unaware how his words hit my heart like so many poisoned arrows. “I am no different. I wish my son happiness and success in his future.” He clapped Jacob’s shoulder, and the two offered smiles that looked awkward and forced, even from my vantage point. “And to all the unmated females lingering in this pack – I wish you luck in handling him!” The crowd roared with laughter.

Rowan huffed and muttered, “They’ll need it.”

I side-eyed him, wondering where that level of animosity had come from.

Jacob’s father handed the microphone off to a man I’d never met before. He looked like a gamma, from the neatly shaved head, from the muscles straining to escape from his button-up shirt. “Uh, hey,” he said, awkwardly. “So, I guess it’s tradition for the best friend to say some words for this momentous occasion. Jacob and I have known each other since we could crawl – and hey, he must be pretty damn decent if I was willing to let my little sister date him,” he cast a glance at the High Alpha. “I’m sure his mate will have no trouble handling him – so ladies, don’t worry.”

“Alex is a very talented gamma wolf,” Rowan whispered. “But I don’t think speeches are his strong suit.”

I chuckled, looking up at him. His eyes had been distant since the feedback incident, and I wondered what he was thinking. “I’d have to agree with you,” I admitted.

Alex stumbled through the rest of his speech, telling stories of Jacob back from when they were in diapers, up to the present. The High Alpha caught his eye just as he was telling us how Jacob had fallen out of a tree trying to rescue a kitten. Derick tapped his watch, and indicated the number ten.

“Oh! It’s time for the countdown,” Alex grinned back at the crowd. “Shall we?”

Jacob POV

I hated every minute of standing there while Alex and my father tried to say only the nicest things about me. It sounded fake – and I hated fake. My eyes scanned the crowd, looking for her. She wasn’t where she’d been before, and there were too many people with too many lights for me to find her.

“Five!” Alex yelled, starting the countdown.

She’d been wearing red. Beautiful, scarlet red. But so many other wolves were in red, it’d be impossible to pick her out by that.

“Four!”

Her hair had been stacked high on her head, the curls captured and tied in a big curly mass above her head. But the Wild Fangs were diverse – her curly hair, nor her ochre skin made her stand out any more.

“Three!”

There! I squinted through the lights to see the crowd, only to find the curly haired, red dress clad woman I’d spotted had a bit too much mass to her to be Zahraa, who was notably slimmer.

“Two!”

Alex nudged me, a questioning look in his eyes. I shook my head and forced a smile, offering two thumbs up to him, then the front row of drunk wolves, looking at me in anticipation. It turned my stomach thinking how the she wolves were all thinking how they’d use me once they got their talons dug in.

“One!”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I hadn’t found Zahraa, but that was fine. It probably wasn’t her anyway. It would probably be a perfectly normal wolf. One I hadn’t met before. One whose eyes would never match her sparkling amber…

“Midnight!”

There.

I could feel her – feel her. My chest and throat felt suddenly constricted. Her smell – spice and sandalwood – was everywhere, wafting in the wind, yet distinguishing itself among all the wolves. My eyes snapped to her immediately.

How hadn’t I found her before?

There she was – Zahraa Snow, my mate.

And by her side, my brother, Rowan, with his arm looped around her waist.