His Unidentified & Untouchable Mate

A Party I Shouldn't Have Attended

Jacob POV

The speakers in the club were far too loud. Werewolves, like so many other supernatural races, have superior hearing abilities – I was no different. The music didn’t seem to bother the guys that had dragged me out, however. Kaelin, a senior at the college I’d be attending next year, had asked me out as a favor.

Apparently, he’d hooked a couple of impressionable incoming freshmen for him and his predatory crew to grind against all night. One of his buddies bailed last minute, and since there were four girls, he thought they’d be more comfortable if there were four guys.

It’s a mixer, Jacob, come on! It’s your last night of freedom anyway.

Last night of freedom, my ass.

I would turn eighteen tomorrow night. I was confident that I wouldn’t find my mate, though. Too many others had told me that, if their mate was in their packs, they’d known something was different about them from the start. That they were special.

Our pack was the largest in the country, and I hadn’t met a single person within it that I regarded as special or different. In fact, they were all pretty much the same.

Needy users looking for another victim to exploit.

I sipped on my cocktail with far too much vodka mixed in it and surveyed the crowd – his impressionable freshmen were late, so he’d found another victim alone at the bar that he was talking up. His posse had also spread around – like wolves on a hunt, selecting their prey, stalking them, and pouncing when the time was right.

I was just taking a sip of my horrible drink and wondering if the girls had stood Kaelin up when they walked in.

I knew it was them by the way Kaelin’s head perked and jerked in their direction. He excused himself from the once lonely, now lonely again woman and stalked towards them.

And I could see why he’d invited them.

There was a dark-skinned alternative soul dressed in black with fishnets and spiky red hair. I didn’t want to stare at her long enough to count all the piercings in her face. There was a long-haired beauty with more curves than a country back road and legs that were just as long. She sauntered over to Kaelin and threw her arms around his neck, offering him a peck on the cheek. Voluptuous and flirty – just his type. Behind her was a girl I recognized. Our eyes met, and I hope she didn’t see my flinch.

Ingrid Kemp professed her undying love for me in middle school. While it had been at a very populated party, it was thankfully a very private confession – though it did make for a very spicy seven minutes in heaven.

I never spoke to her again.

She never forgave me.

I was going to kill Kaelin for not telling me she’d be here.

I was preparing to sink into our little table and pretend to disappear when I noticed the fourth girl.

Her hair was curled, piled atop her head. Her skin was an enchanting shade of ocher, and her amber eyes shined so brightly I could see them from my seat, several feet away. While she wasn’t as curvaceous as her friend, she knew how to dress to catch eyes. She wore a white dress with an off the shoulder neckline and sleeves that ended in a bell shape around her wrists. The dress wasn’t long, but she wore black lace stockings that covered her beautifully long legs, and some kind of lace garment that covered her shoulders and neck. I noticed she had matching lace gloves as well – a little peculiar, but certainly eye-catching.

I took another swig of my drink and stood when the wolves herded their lambs to the table.

“Ladies,” Kaelin spoke with a little extra schmooze in his voice, one arm draped over the beauty he’d claimed for himself, “Allow me to introduce my friends. This is Tatum, Alex and Jacob,” he indicated to us in a lazy, sweeping motion. With a wink to me, he added, “And gentlemen, this is the lovely Miss Alanis Young, her girlfriend Tanis – don’t worry boys, open relationship. You should all know Miss Ingrid Kemp of the North Pack, and her friend Zahraa Snow, a ward of the North Pack.”

I didn’t like the look on the guys’ faces when he introduced my stunning new fixation. Their noses wrinkled – Tatum even leaned in to get a sniff of her. I could see why.

“What exactly are you?” Tatum asked, bluntly.

Kaelin shot him blazing glare that could have melted a glacier, and I checked to make sure no drunk humans were roaming close enough to us to hear. Luckily, there was enough space in our little private booth and the music was so loud, I doubted we were in trouble.

Zahraa shifted her weight, hand coming up to hold her other arm - a guarded stance. Her brows drew together and her lips worked to find an answer to a question she clearly hadn’t wanted asked.

“You don’t have to answer him,” I blurted out thoughtlessly. I was already getting glares from Tatum and Alex, but honestly, who cared about their opinions anyway? I met Tatum’s eye and added, “He shouldn’t have asked.”

He held my stare for a minute, maybe longer, before he caved to my authority.

As the fifth born son of our High Alpha, I would never reign over one of our four territories; those had all gone to my older brothers, each controlling a territory with their own specialties and purposes. My father watched over all of them, until one would be chosen to replace him as High Alpha. It was a complicated dynamic, sure, but I'd been relegated as a simple aide. Regardless, I still outranked Tatum, and I still had alpha blood in me.

My attention returned to the girl when she shifted uncomfortably again. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to, um…”

“No need,” her friend Alanis said, before I could. She pulled free of Kaelin’s grip and threw her arms around Zahraa’s shoulders, her eyes connecting with mine. I saw the glint there, and the faintest whiff of something antique – vintage. A vampire. “Jacob’s right – it was a rude question. But you should be made aware that Zahraa is off limits – no touching, boys.”

If ever there was a way to get a group of men’s attention, it was by telling them not to touch. Zahraa went from an unknown danger to a mystery they wanted nothing more to solve.

They wouldn’t though – that mystery was mine.

“Zahraa,” I spoke up before the others could even think to, “Have a seat. I’ll order you a drink.”

Zahraa had that deer in the headlights look that made my heart pound. The hunt was on. She glanced at her friends – they’d already started coupling up. Alanis with Kaelin, Tanis with Alex, Ingrid with Tatum – Ingrid seemed thankfully too distracted catching up like they were old friends to point her vicious glare at me.

With no one left to retreat to, she came to me.

“I’m not really much of a drinker,” she confessed shyly.

Eyeing my half a drink, I chuckled lowly. “Don’t worry – neither am I.” I swirled my glass, “This is mostly for show to keep the guys off my back. If you want, I can order you a mocktail?”

“A mocktail?” she repeated inquisitively. “What is…?”

“Something non-alcoholic that looks like it is.” I smiled, “It’ll keep you out of trouble tonight.”

I could see her shoulders relax a little, as if weight had been lifted from them. Her expression brightened, and when she smiled her first genuine smile of the night, I knew I was lost to her charm. Zahraa Snow was more than just a beautiful girl.

She was different.

Special.