The Unwanted Mate

Chapter 1

Cole was sitting at his desk looking over a few files of paperwork that needed to be finished up to finally seal the deal on a recent peace treaty with a neighboring back and the land given to him as part of the deal. The alpha from the neighboring pack had already started clearing the land to be used for farming. So half of the work had already been done for Cole who wanted to continue the project so his own pack could be more self sufficient. All that was left for him was figuring out which pack members would be assigned to the new area to finish up what work needed to be done for clearing the land and start on the planting for the season to make the land fruitful. His concentration moved to the heavy door of his office when three, tiny knocks filled the otherwise quiet room.

“You can come in,” He ordered absently and went back to looking over the work on his desk when he saw that it was nothing more than one of the maids.

“Alpha Cole, I was told to let you know that the car is pulling into the driveway with Tanner and the other men.” Any other time Cole would have become irritated with how quite she spoke. Even with his more sensitive hearing it was difficult to understand the girl sometimes. That was not the case today. The information had just left her lips when a squeak of fear followed after. Just to avoid getting run over she had to jump back and hid behind the door when Cole knocked over his chair and bumped his desk hard enough to shift it from getting up so quickly to power walk out of the office.

The massive male wanted to run out that door at full speed. Hell, he wanted to run out the house and jump into the car the moment it pulled into the driveway. With each step his smile grew wider along his heavy, squared jaw. Even his inner wolf, who was more quiet and reserved, became excited at the idea of finally seeing his mate howled out in Cole’s mind once he made it outside and onto the porch just in time to see the SUV pull in through the gate of the property and start toward the circular driveway.

While heading down the steps of the porch Cole stopped mid stride when the car came to a hard, screeching stop and began to shake violently back and forth. By now the creaking metal got the attention of several pack members who mad made their way up to the front of the main house so they could see what was going on. The growing crowd witnessed the back, passenger door swing open with enough force to threaten the door breaking from the hinges. Shortly after the door opened Tanner shot out of the car through the air head first like a ball from a slingshot.

With a groan Tanner rolled over to lay on his back to catch his breath while holding his stomach where he had just been kicked. Being so massive had made it difficult to move around quickly in the car. It didn’t help that the moment Zoey woke up from the tranquilizers wearing off he had to try and fight off the smaller framed woman in the back of the car. She hadn’t even been a little drowsy from waking up. It was like the buzz from the drugs changed to burning anger in an instant.

“Get back here you ass hole!” It was the soft, sweet voice Cole had been waiting to hear for the last few years. The sweet, delicate girl from before wasn’t what leaped from the car like a wild beast and onto his second in command.

Zoey landed on Tanner’s chest in a way that allowed her knees to dig into the nerves of his arms before her boney fist shot into the side of his temple, making Tanner pass out from the sudden force to his head.

“Lets see how much you like waking up with that headache,” A growl rolled around in her throat as she as she leaned so her knees dug more into the nerves of his arms for enficise on how angry she was for being drugged and crammed in the car before she stood up. Zoey stepped over Tanner before she dusted herself off. After taking a deep breath she turned toward the house she had done everything in her power to stay away from. Her green eyes cascaded down the along the front of the massive house like rain water on leafs, only to stop once they found the last man on earth she ever wanted to see.

Zoey looked back a the car debating on if enough of it would be left for her to drive out of there after taking on the other two muscle heads still sitting in the front seats watching her like two shocked owls since she single handedly took on one of the stronger males in the pack. Since that option would take more work than it was worth she looked toward the woods that were just outside the border of the massive, metal fence surrounding the first few acres around the house. It didn’t take much for her to decided against that option as well. It had been too long since she had lived in the woods or had the chance to go out and run in them, even before she had left the pack. Her connection was weak yet Zoey had still been able to feel that things had grown once they had made it into the territory during the drive. Plus, even though her inner wolf was trying to hide it Zoey could tell that she was happy to finally be back. Those factors on top of knowing the pack would easily give chase the moment she started running meant she would just be making herself weak from a fight lost from the get go. As much as she didn’t want to make the choice Zoey went with the one and only option she felt like she had. The one option she had sworn would never come into existence for her when she had made the choice to leave.

Shoulders rolled back to straighten her back and her chin tilted up so her head was high for the walk of shame from the rest of the driveway and up the stairs. Zoey tried to focus on her breathing to keep in steady instead of letting all the eyes watching get to her. Being older and living in so many cities now meant she had the experience and backbone she didn’t have when she was younger. There had to be some kind of advantage to that, she thought. If anything, they couldn’t actually force her to stay there, could they? Pack rules or not Zoey was a grown woman and figured she had made it clear that she had wanted to go rogue and be on her own even though she had never actually made it official with the proper separation ritual most packs required. She had the right to make her own choice on the matter, even if it meant those choices pissed off those people she had once called family. It didn’t matter to her that one of those members just happened to be the pack alpha and her husband.

It was as if her eyes had been pinned into her skull as she walked past Cole. Refusing to look or even speak a word to acknowledge his existence while making her way through the door that had been left open with the kind of confidence that would make one think she owned the place. In a way she did. As much as Zoey hated admitting it and wanted to forget it she was his wife according to the human laws the pack followed. So everything she touched, everything she looked at was in some way her property if she wanted to stake a claim on it.

Spinning quickly Cole was on her heels like a lost puppy who just found his owner after a while. The heart in his chest thumped hard and heavy as his mind wrapped around the idea that she was actually back. His wife, his mate was finally back home where she needed to be. Yet the woman he followed after looked nothing like the girl he had fallen for so many years ago. The long, white-blond hair he used to love running his fingers through was now a short, pixie cut colored the deep purple of a plumb. It swished with a kind of sass with each step she took, demanding his attention. The once delicate form of a girl was now more defined and toned from growing into a strong, young woman.

Even her once sweet, green eyes had a new edge to them he had never expected to see. The only part of Zoey that appeared to have not changed was the creamy tan of her skin. The skin that tempted Cole and his inner wolf with a primal need to reach out and touch if he dared after being away from her for those five, long years. Zoey was no longer the quiet innocent girl he had fallen in love with when they were both so young. The moment he turned eighteen she became his one and only mate, so to Cole the changed just meant a chance to get closer and learn everything about her while they caught up on the life they had missed out on the moment it froze from her absence.

“Aren’t you going to say something? Anything?” He finally asked since the hurt from her ignoring him, even for just the short moment, hurt his feelings.

Stopping halfway up the twisting staircase she let out an irritated breath through her nose and gave into the annoying urge to turn around and look down at her mate who stood a few steps behind her. The anger burning in her stomach allowed Zoey a sad, lonely numbness to act as a shield toward the pouty look on his face A pouty look on those soft lips and that strong chiseled jaw peppered with a dark stubble from being to busy to bother with shaving that morning. As the natural and unwanted bond between them tried to rekindle something in Zoey she bit down hard on her tongue to make sure it buried itself back down.

She wasn’t going to let herself give in easily to wolfish nature of her body so easily. Not when she had something as important as her freedom away from the territory and him on the line.

“What do you want me to say, Cole?” His name dripped like venom from her soft lips.

“That I’m so freaking happy to see you? That I’m so grateful you took the time to plan and order a group of men to KIDNAP me while I was in the middle of working. Doing a job someone trusted and paid me to do. Just so I could get drugged with s**t strong enough to knock out freaking horses so it would be easy to shove me into a car with that same group of big, smell guys.”

He had expected her to be mad about the team he had set up to hunt her down, and getting her childhood best friend to drug her. Deep down a part of him had hoped she would forget about it all once they met and just jump into his arms like any other mate eager to see their other half. Yet she stood there with daggers in her eyes and an attitude as deadly as a snake coiled, ready to strike the moment he was stupid enough to dare an attempt at getting to close.

“Take me to your office, now. I am not going to have our business aired out for the rest of the pack to gossip about.” The power coming from the way she ordered she ordered him around made him shiver in a way no other female had ever been able to do. Being an alpha to such a large and powerful pack meant anyone else would have been tossed off the stairs for even thinking they had the right to speak down to him. The fact that Zoey had no problem at all when it came to bucking up against Cole was unexpected and sexy to the big male. He was sure once she got settled in and things could back back up from their stopping point she would make an strong and amazing lady alpha.

“Hello? Earth to lunk head? Your? Office?” Irritated she waved a hand in front of his face when he didn’t react to her order quick enough for her liking and just stood there staring at her.

After she snapped her fingers he blinked as if coming out of a trance and nodded. Cole stepped to the side so he could start trotting up the stairs to get past her and lead the way.

“It’s down this way.”