The Mate He Never Wanted

ChapterFour

I don't remember walking to the car. One moment I was standing in that courtyard with his eyes pinning me in place and the next I was in the back seat of a blacked out SUV, door shut, the world outside moving past the window like it had nothing to do with me anymore. I sat stiffly in the back seat.

Alpha Andranus sat at the far end, practically distancing himself from me, staring at the documents in his hand. He hadn't once looked at me since we got into the SUV. The two pack warriors in the front sat stoic, looking straight ahead. I looked out of the window, watching the trees sway as the SUV sped through the night.

This was the first time I was leaving my pack. My home.

Was that place really my home?

No one had ever defended me. Not once. Not through all the years of watching Aunt Mary and Derek treat me the way they did. My aunt let me go so easily. Tears blurred my eyes. No. That was never my home.

The car hit a bump and my shoulder grazed his arm for just a second. He pulled away immediately. Something shifted in his jaw. Then after a long pause he spoke.

"Handing the decision back to me told me everything I needed to know about you."

"You had power tonight and you gave it away," he continued.

I turned to look at him. He still wasn't looking at me.

"That was the most dangerous thing you could have done in a room full of wolves." He looked at me then, one eyebrow raised. I was right. It had been a test. And I had failed it.

"Wolves like you rarely survive long in my territory." And with that he went back to the documents in his hand, not even waiting for a reply. Like what I had to say didn't matter. Like I didn't matter.

He had mentioned me belonging to him back in the pack. What could that possibly mean? I had heard of weak wolves being used as omegas in the Obsidian Pack. It was an old and abolished practice but it still went on in some packs. I had been treated like one for years without ever being called one. That had to be the only reason he saved me. The only plausible explanation.

I sat in total silence for the entire journey, dreading what was to come. I don't know how long I stared blankly through the window before we reached the pack border. The SUV drove through, passing different buildings and structures until it stopped in front of a huge building. That was the only way I could describe it — huge.The moment the car stopped moving Alpha Andranus rushed out of the vehicle like he had been trapped with a dead raccoon.

I sniffed my outfit. I didn't smell bad. But maybe I couldn't tell because of my lack of wolf instincts. Maybe I did smell bad to wolves with stronger senses. Maybe it was just him. I stepped out of the SUV. Words couldn't begin to explain how tall the building was. I had never seen anything like it.

Even at this hour wolves were lurking around the building. They all looked in my direction the moment I stepped out. Alpha Andranus and the other warriors walked straight inside, leaving me completely alone.He brought me here and now he had abandoned me.

A girl appeared out of nowhere.

She looked about my age — short brown hair, bright green eyes and a smile that had absolutely no business being that warm in a place like this. She stopped in front of me and tilted her head slightly, like she was trying to figure out the best way to approach a wounded animal.

"I'm Lori," she said simply. "I'll be looking after you and showing you around." I stared at her.

After everything that had happened tonight — Derek, Thomas, Alpha Reid handing me over like luggage, my aunt's relieved eyes watching me go — the last thing I expected was someone smiling at me.

It made me more suspicious, not less.

"Don't look at me like that," Lori said, her smile not budging even slightly. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking nobody is this nice without wanting something." I said nothing. Mostly because she was right.

"Come on," she said, already turning to walk inside. "I'll show you your room first. You look like you need to sit down before you fall down."She said it lightly, like a joke. But she wasn't wrong.

"My room?" My voice came out as a croak, the words slipping out before I could stop them.

"Yes, silly. Your room," she said, giggling slightly. "Everyone has their own room in the pack house."

"This is the pack house," I said warily, pointing at the huge building.

"And I get to have my own room," I finished, pointing at myself in complete disbelief.

Lori nodded and turned and walked away, leaving me completely dumbfounded. I followed her. My initial fear had momentarily disappeared. At least I wouldn't be staying in a brick cellar like the rumors I had heard. The other wolves in the foyer were still looking at me like I was something that didn't belong here.

Lori felt like a breath of fresh air in this place. If she wasn't a trap or a test. Nothing Alpha Andranus did seemed to be without reason. There had to be something behind Lori being this bubbly, I thought, my brows furrowing. She led me through the foyer and into an elevator. We were going to the upper floors.

"You're going to love it here," she said.

I looked at her warily. This was a trap. It had to be.

The elevator stopped and we stepped out onto the floor. As she led me down the corridor a bulky man was walking toward us from the other end. A warrior — that was the only explanation for his size. As we got close he stopped suddenly. His crooked nose twitched.

"What is it doing here?" His voice was hoarse and deep. The question was directed at Lori but his dark eyes were fixed straight on me.

"Alpha's orders," Lori said, her whole body tense. She stepped slightly in front of me, holding my hand and pushing me behind her like this man might bash my skull in at any moment.

"It doesn't have a scent. There's nothing wolf about it. It has no place in this pack house or this pack," he spat out.

"Like I said, Victor — Alpha's orders. If you have an issue you can take it up with him directly," Lori replied firmly, her soft bubbly voice completely gone, replaced by something steadier and sharper. Victor looked at me one last time, huffed and walked away.

Lori took my hand and led me to the room at the end of the corridor. She pushed the door open and guided me inside.

"Don't worry," she said softly. "You're safe here."

She said it like she was trying to convince herself more than me. We both knew it wasn't true.

And with that she left, pulling the door shut behind her.

I stared at the door blankly, bile rising in my throat, my stomach twisting uneasily. Because I knew that wasn't true. Not in the Obsidian Pack. If anything it felt like the beginning of something worse. Weakness doesn't survive here.

And I had never been anything else.