The Unwanted Mate Rewrite Sneak peek

She´s a Flight Risk

Eric

I was going through the woods trying to pick up her scent anywhere as I checked in on every house. It was already dark when my ears picked up on a wolf fight and faint crying. I ran forward as an intoxicating scent filled my nostrils. I saw her first then the three wolves ready to attack her. Immediately, I jumped in front of her and let a growl rip from my throat. The three froze in their spots as they looked at me.

'Eric, what the hell?!' Myra growled establishing a link.

'That's what I should be saying!' I growled back. 'What do you guys think you're doing?!'

'Is this really how you're going to welcome us back?' Lyla replied sounding hurt.

Lyla, Myra, and Nyssa were my cousins, daughters of my late Aunt Anna. They grew up with me like siblings as she passed during childbirth, but they've been out for the last two years staying with Noche Negra pack as Myra had to build herself back up from something that had happened back then.

'Welcome back,' I growled, 'now, let's go home.' I could tell by the way that Myra tried to look passed me that she wasn't ready to call it quits yet. 'Myra!'

'Don't yell at me!' Myra snapped at me as we both locked eyes with each other in challenge.

'Let's go,' I growled in warning. She gave a low growl in complaint but turned with her sisters. I told the three which way to go.

'Aw, what the hell are we doing here?' Nyssa complained as we arrived at Cassie's house. Despite that Cassie and I were childhood friends because of her being the Gamma's daughter, Nyssa and her never got along. Cassie was always competing for Derek's attention long before they even knew they were mates. Because Derek was always hanging with Nys, it caused a lot of jealousy in Cass.

'Everyone is waiting for you at the packhouse,' I frowned, 'you come home like this, it'll cause a lot of problems. Just go and clean up and heal here before heading to your welcome party.'

I sent a quick link to Cassie and it wasn't long before she came out opening her door. Myra narrowed her eyes at me letting out a low growl still angry about the interruption in the fight than anything as she walked toward Cassie's. Nyssa had her head ducked as she reluctantly crossed the lawn. Lyla stepped up toward me rubbing her muzzle and head against my neck.

'Well, I'm still happy to see you,' she linked before she ran to catch up to her sisters.

'I'm happy you're home too, Ly,' I linked her back. I watched as the three entered the house as Cass waved bye before closing the door behind her. I stood there for a few moments listening for any talk that I should worry about, specifically Myra.

After feeling secure, I made my way back to the scene of the fight, so I could follow my mate's scent back to her house. I stopped shifting into my human form right before reaching her territory to grab some hidden basketball shorts and slipped them on as I doubt, I'd find any on her territory. I ran in human form the rest of the way. I stopped at the scene as I picked up a strong scent of my mate. I walked over to the backpack laying on the floor. I kneeled to pick it up.

Why does she have two?

I have the one with her schoolwork in my car...so, what does this one have? I unzipped the backpack finding cash, a few changes of clothing, toiletries, and some snacks...

My hands clenched around the bag as I realized what it was. A getaway bag. I zipped it back up as I swung the bag over my shoulder and began running after her scent.

At the end of it, there was a house in a field surrounded by woods. Anger and confusion were tearing at me as my grip tightened on the strap. I went up the porch steps and to the door but stopped my hand from knocking unsure if I should. I paced back and forth as I tried to calm my anger down. Maybe, it's not what I think. I mean, she had to know we were mates, why would she run? Would she leave me so easily?

The idea of her leaving only fueled my anger more and more. I could hear the three hearts inside of the house and I stopped at the front of the door when I didn't hear footsteps, but I heard one heart getting closer downstairs.

As the door swung open, I saw a fist coming right for my chest. I grabbed it by her wrist before pulling her forward and making her crash into me. She looked up at me with big grey eyes opened wide in surprise.

"What the hell is this?" I growled through gritted teeth trying to contain my anger as I held up the bag to her face. Her beautiful piercing grey eyes blinked in shock. My anger slowly faded as I analyzed her. The way her long chocolate brown hair framed her beautiful heart shaped face as she bit at the right corner of her lip. The sparks were shooting up and down my arm as I held her wrist gently, but firmly as her body was just a miserable inch away from mine.

"What are you doing here?" She frowned, shaking her head as she pulled her arm from my grasp and stepped back. "The Alpha has strict orders. You need to leave."

"Not until-" I started as I took a step toward her, but I paused when she stepped back. "What are you doing?" I moved toward her and she moved back. I didn't understand why she was trying to create distance between us when all I wanted was to have her in my arms. She seemed to misstep on the entrance of the house and she went tripping back. I reacted quickly rushing up to her and grabbing her waist trying to catch her as she tried to catch herself with the door. The door swung back into the wall helping her balance as I now held her close to me as I had her pinned against the door with my arm leaning against it as the other had her waist. Our faces were inches from each other and feeling her body pressed against mine only brought mine to life. I could hear her heart racing as fast as mine and it felt good to know I wasn't the only one affected by the other's presence. Too bad I couldn't fully enjoy the moment.

Her eyes seemed slightly glazed as if she were lost in her thoughts.

"I'd like an answer to my question," I said, causing her attention to return to me as I thought of the bag. She was going to run. She was going to leave me. I felt my anger beginning to rise with my pain at the thought as my body began to develop a tremble. I want answers. I want to know why. How could she...

Sparks ignited like fireworks on my skin as she put her hand on my shoulder. I looked at her and I felt the sparks follow as her hand slowly made its way down my chest. Her eyes widened slightly as her cheeks heated up as she quickly removed her hand. She sheepishly turned away from me and looked to the ground.

"You need to calm down or go outside," She said, not looking up as she crossed her arms over her chest, adding more space between our bodies. She turned to look at me with a piercing look in her eyes as a frown set on her lips. "If you transform right here, you're going to damage the walk-in entrance."

"The walk-in?" I said with disbelief, "that's your worry?"

"Yeah...?" She said confused as she raised an eyebrow, "Do you know how expensive it'd be to fix that? Do I look like I'm made of money?" I couldn't help but scoff. I can't believe this. How is she prioritizing the house right now?

"You're unbelievable," I replied turning away from her and moving away to bend down and pick up the bag I hadn't realized I dropped.

"I am?" She scoffed back, "you're not the one who'd be stuck with all the repairs!"

"That's not..." I frowned looking at her...is she serious? "If I transformed right here, I could hurt you." Her beautiful grey eyes widened in realization for a moment before she shifted her head and made her face indifferent.

"I think I can take you," she shrugged. I looked at her with disbelief but couldn't help the smile that formed on my lips. Her strong stance, her beautiful piercing grey eyes, the certainty in her voice...

"That's cute," I smiled.

"Cute, huh..." She said, narrowing her eyes as the right side of her lip twitched as she pushed my arm away from her waist. "Okay, what do you want?"

"Well, I was coming to check on you when I found this," I said holding up the backpack for her to see this, "care to explain?" She looked at the bag indifferently before looking at me.

"You never seen a bag before?" She said looking at me with an eyebrow raised. I scoffed.

"This is a getaway bag," I corrected annoyed that she was trying to fool me with a clueless act. "Exactly where did you think-"

"You looked through my bag?!" She growled interrupting me as she ripped the bag out of my hand before pushing me away from her. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"What? I-No, I-" I began to stutter as my anger turned to confusion and guilt washing over me. "Okay! Wait, that's not the point!"

"Not the point?! Not the point?!" She yelled at me, "you looked through my things! You violated my privacy!" Wait, how did the tables even turn on me?!

"Okay! Yes, I did that!" I said putting my hands up in surrender trying to calm the anger of my mate. "But-"

"What is your problem?!" she argued at me, "how could you go looking through people's things?! Who do you think you are?!"

"Your mate!" I growled instinctively stepping up to her, pinning her to the wall. She stumbled back in surprise and I didn't miss the second she winced as her back made impact with the wall. My eyes widened in realization as the iron smell in the house suddenly became blatantly clear. I frowned as worry overtook my anger. "You're hurt..."

"I'm fine," She grumbled.

"Let me see," I replied stepping closer. Her eyes narrowed as her eyebrow slightly raised as she gave me a look like I was a p*****t.

"No way!" She refused instantly.

"Stop being stubborn," I frowned, "and let me see!" Her face seemed to grow a deep red color as her fist curled around the end of her shirt and stretched it to go further down over her shorts.

"I said no," she argued, turning away from me and looking to the ground. "It's nothing my wolf healing can't handle anyway..."

I took her chin in between my fingers and raised her gaze to look at me. Guilt filled me as I looked at her and she analyzed my face.

"I'm sorry," I frowned.

"For what?" She said confused.

"For not getting there fast enough," I replied. She frowned at me before pulling her face out of my gentle hold as she hit my hand away displeased.

"I handled it just fine," she argued, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she looked down.

"You never would have had to handle anything if I was there," I frowned. She looked at me with scrutinizing eyes.

"I don't need you to handle anything for me," she growled glaring at me, "I can handle myself perfectly fine."

"Then explain to me why you're leaving," I frowned, not hiding the hurt in my voice as I analyzed her face. "I don't understand."

"Because of you," she said as she dipped her head to the ground as her words shot an icicle into my heart. The burning in my chest felt restricting making it hard to breathe slightly.

"Is it because of earlier?" I asked, "I didn't mean to scare you. I wasn't angry at you. I was-"

"Earlier has nothing to do with it," she frowned.

"Then I really don't understand," I frowned, "why would you run from me?" She let out a sigh as she looked at me frowning.

"I have my vision of my future set," she frowned as she explained, "and you're simply not in it."

"But I'm your mate," I argued.

"Yeah, I know that," she replied shrugging before looking away, "and I was running because I never wanted a mate... I never wanted you."

I wanted to say something, but I was at a complete loss as my ears burned and her words processed in my head like acid. My heart racing painfully in my chest like it wanted to escape from this situation. What was I supposed to do? All the times I imagined finding my mate, none of them went in this direction. Who in their right mind would reject me? I'm the Alpha's son. I'll be future Alpha. None of this was making sense. Was she really rejecting me? But if she was... wouldn't she have done the rejection instantly? Wouldn't she have finalized it with her words? She didn't mean it.

"If you really didn't want me, then why did you run away instead of reject me?" I asked stepping up closer to her. She looked up at me with narrowed eyes as she seemed to tilt her head in confusion.

"I just did," she said confused and I shook my head.

"With the official words," I added. The answer was obvious. Maybe a side of her didn't want me, but her hesitation in the rejection made it clear that there was another part of her that disagreed and that was the side I was going to use to get her to accept me.

"Official words-" I cut her off as I cupped her face in my hands and bent down to kiss her. She seemed to go stiff for a moment in shock before her hands went to my chest and she tried to push me away right before she seemed to lose herself to the feeling. My whole body ignited with the feel of her body as she stepped closer and kissed me back as her hands sent trails of sparks as she felt up my chest. One of my hands left her face as I took a hold of her waist hugging her even closer. Her lips were soft as they followed mine. Her natural scent, now overpowering the scented crap she used to have on, filling the air around us enticing me to mark my claim on her, make her mine, and because of that, I had to break the kiss.

She clearly had some feelings she needed to sort out first and I wasn't going to tie her to me by force. I wanted her as my partner, not my possession.

We were both breathing heavily by the end of the kiss as I continued to hold her against me as I rested my forehead against hers. I looked into her grey eyes enjoying the feeling of having her in my arms when she snapped out of the moment and realized with a flash of anger what happened. She pulled away from me and immediately put distance between us.

"What'd you kiss me for, you i***t?!" She growled annoyed as she wiped her arm against her lips. I couldn't help but laugh watching her. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Oh, come on, I don't have cooties," I teased.

"Yeah, you don't seem to have an understanding of boundaries either," she growled back.

"Hey, you kissed back, didn't you?" I said raising an eyebrow and earning a cold hard glare from her.

"You caught me by surprise," She grumbled.

"Surprise or not, you would have stopped me if it felt wrong," I smiled stepping closer to her. "But it doesn't, because of our connection."

"I didn't feel anything," She denied crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at me.

"Really?" I smirked as I leaned toward her, "should we test it again?" She immediately put her finger over my lips.

"Don't you dare!" She growled, narrowing her eyes at me. I smiled as I kissed her finger and she quickly retracted it like I burned her.

"What's the matter?" I smiled, "scared of what you feel, Katie?"

"Please, how are you so sure any of that was because of our connection?" She questioned raising an eyebrow, "Maybe, I just like kissing."

The smile faltered from my face as the idea of her kissing someone else formed into my mind and my hands clenched into fists and a growl vibrated through my chest.

"Whoa, hey, I was kidding, don't forget what I said about the damage," She said holding up her hands in surrender, "I just mean we don't even know each other. How can you like someone without even knowing a single thing about them? This...what you're feeling is just some stupid feeling meant to brainwash us, that's it. Without it, you probably wouldn't even be giving me the time of day."

"No, no! It's just that I never seen you before," I replied, "you're always wearing that hood, but if I-you're beautiful, I just-"

"And how far can a relationship go based on looks?" She interrupted and argued. "Not very far. Look whatever this thing is that we have is obviously a mistake. How long have we lived in the same town and we don't know a single thing about each other? How-" I took a hold of her arm as I pulled her toward me. I wrapped my arms around her and I could feel her heart pick up speed with mine. I rested my face in the space between her neck and shoulder as I sighed.

"You're wrong, I do know one thing," I mumbled. "We're meant to be. You can question, you can fight, but you can't deny it because I'm not giving us up." She might not see it the way I did, but I refused to lose who was born for me...especially when she's this interesting. I might not know why the Moon Goddess linked us together, but I haven't found anything I didn't like about her choice. On the contrary, her fiery strong personality only drew me in more.

I felt a poking sensation in the back of my mind as someone began to establish a link.

'Eric, your cousins are here, where are you?' I heard my mother's voice through the link. 'You promised you'd be here to welcome them.' I inwardly groaned being careful not to let that cross through the link.

'On my way,' I linked back before closing it and pulling away from my beautifully headstrong mate.

"I have to go, get some rest," I smiled at her, "you don't have to worry about any wolves showing up."

"No, wait, we need to talk about-" she started as I began to walk away. I heard her following after me. "What do you mean you're not giving up? That's-" I stopped and turned at the open doorway, but her reflexes were fast and she stopped herself before she crashed into me.

"It means exactly how it sounds," I smiled as I leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips. I smirked, "good night, Katie."

With that, I grabbed the doorknob and closed the door behind me.

"Don't call me that!" I heard her growl from behind the door and I couldn't help but laugh as I ran off her porch steps and began making my way back home.

I tried not to dwell on my mate being a flight risk because I knew for now, she wouldn't be leaving. If she were committed to leaving, she would have left while I was distracted with my cousins, not head back home. Something had to change her mind and I didn't think that would change overnight. I took comfort in that.