Claiming Their Mate

Prologue. GRAYSON. I could smell the fear rising from the woman in front of me. The sensation made me want to back away, to save her from the discomfort. But this wasn’t about me, this was about my pack. My family. I needed to speak to this human mate that Dexter’s pack had found. Claire. Dex had said I could ask some questions if I kept my distance, which was odd of him to ask of me. What was he worried about? I wasn’t going to hurt her. He knew me better than that. Or I thought he did. Because if he was worried about me trying to steal Claire away from him, that was laughable. The last thing I’d do was try to take something that didn’t belong to me. That wasn’t my style at all. Not that Claire the doctor wasn’t pretty, she was. But she didn’t have the animal magnetism that Dex boasted about. Not to me. She smelled like... theirs. And my Alpha wolf didn’t stir for any taken woman. Especially not one already mated to another. Claire stepped closer to Dex’s Beta, Jay, who grabbed Claire and hauled her against his body. I turned my face away, so I didn’t give myself away and laugh openly. What did Jay think I was going to do? Grab her, strip her down and take her in front of everyone? “What are you doing, Dex?” Jay demanded, and Dexter stepped away from our group to stand by his mate once again. Dexter shook his head. “Don’t worry, I don’t like it any more than you do.” Seriously? What was wrong with these guys? Their human mate could not possibly be that precious. Taylor and Dexter flagged Claire and she relaxed into them, a soft smile lighting up her face. It was the first sign I’d seen of a true connection between her and her mates, and it was comforting to see. That was what I wanted... what I craved. A mate. A true love. Someone I would die for. Mary, Dexter’s mom, stepped up to speak to Claire for us. She’d brokered the issue with Dexter. “Claire, some of the neighbouring packs wanted to meet you. I hope you don’t mind.” Claire looked us up and down from the safety of her mens’ arms and said, “Considering the lack of women in this town, I can understand the interest.” She looked straight at me this time. “Hi, I’m Claire.” I was the one who needed to step up and talk, obviously. “I’m Grayson.” Claire extended her hand. “An Alpha, I presume?” she asked with a raise of one dainty eyebrow. I grinned and heard Dex inhale sharply. What were they worried about? “How’d you know?” I reached out and shook her hand. There was a collective sigh of relief from Dex and Jay. Claire shrugged and withdrew her hand, “You’re big.” I fought the heat that flashed up my face and glanced down at the huge body my Alpha genes guaranteed. “Ah... you’re learning our ways, I see. It’s nice to meet you. May I ask you a question?” “Of course.” I opened my mouth, then shut it again, hesitating instead of plunging forward. How did I ask Claire what we needed to know? She represented a new solution to our problem. For fifty years, not a single female had been born to our pack. The elders had believed that it meant our fated mates were non-existent for our generation. A romantic myth that had ended with our parents’ matings. But Dexter had found his mate in the human population. And even more unusually, he’d found one female for his whole pack of three wolves. Was that really the future for all of us? To share a woman in such a way? “Go on, ask me whatever you want,” Claire repeated. I sighed and just went with what was in my head. “Can you give us a hint on what to look for with our mate? Since it appears we all need to be on the hunt for a human now.” Claire smiled, then tilted her head. “Well, for one thing, I wouldn’t use the word hunt when you’re talking to her.” She grinned at me and I smiled back. This one had a cheeky streak. Dex and his pack needed to stay on their toes. Claire continued. “To be honest, though, I’m not sure what to say. Did Dexter tell you about the fainting thing?” He had... and that explained why they were so hesitant to have me touch her. “Yes. But I was wondering if you had an idea before that? When you first saw them, maybe? I need something that I can look for in my mate, because I’ve met human women before and no one has ever fainted at my touch...” Claire looked me up and down like I was a piece of meat in a butcher’s case, assessing me in two seconds. “Maybe that’s because your mate has a brain, like me, and you’ve been picking up tiny blondes with more boobs than anything else?” A grin stretched across my face. I couldn’t help it. So, what if I liked them easy? We only had one night each visit in town to get them into bed, and then we had to kick them straight back out again. There was no point trying to pick up any of the decent chicks. We literally didn’t have the time, nor the desire before now, to connect with humans in a long-term manner. I grinned at her, unable to resist rising to the bait. “They weren’t all blonde.” Aaron laughed beside me and the tension in the whole group began to relax. Claire shrugged. “Look, I honestly don’t know what to tell you. I’m a doctor who’s barely dated in a decade. Maybe your mates are the same? Women who work too much and never get out—not to the places you’d go, anyway.” Why didn’t she just ask me to find a needle in a haystack? “Then how am I meant to find her?” Claire bit her lip and glanced away. Then she looked back at me with a reluctant smile. “Fate. You have to trust that you’ll stumble across her when the time is right. But I wouldn’t be avoiding trips to town during the day. If you guys can start going in more often, you’d have a much better chance of meeting the right one.” I looked over at my Beta and he nodded. “Any other tips?” Brad, my Omega asked. Claire looked to Brad. “Well, I will tell you that I knew there was something special about Dexter the moment I saw him. My heart was pounding and I could barely breathe. I’ve never had a response like that to any man before and I’m sure your mates will feel the same way.” A sense of relief filled me at her words. There was hope. I had to focus on that element. Hope that there was a mate for me, for us. I just had to ignore the surprisingly massive mountain of doubt and worry. I leaned forward and got her attention, my mind spinning with the implications of what she was saying. I needed to get a job in town. At the very least, it would bring in more money for my pack, and at the most... I’d find our mate. “Thank you, Claire.” Dex pulled her into his arms and I took that as the signal to move off. “Thanks Mary.” I nodded at Dexter’s mom and grabbed my pack, my Omega and Beta. “Let’s go.” Fifteen years ago, the elders of our pack passed a new law. Due to the lack of females and over-abundance of male shifters in our pack, we were told to arrange ourselves in triads. Into our own packs. An Alpha, a Beta and an Omega to each family. I hadn’t known Aaron or Brad very well when they’d approached me to become a pack, but it had worked out better than we’d expected. I’d die to save them, every day of the week. They were my family. But I also wanted my mate, and if that meant sharing her with Brad and Aaron, as Dexter had done with his pack, then I would. Anything to have a true family, children. To fulfil the ache and need inside my chest that I’d had for more than a decade. I loved the larger pack, the elders and my blood-related family. But there was a place inside my heart that was gaping wide open. Empty. Ready and waiting for a woman to love. “So, what do you want to do?” Aaron asked me, sidling up as we walked to our front door and inside our too large home. “We need to go into town and cover as much ground as possible. I’ll apply for a job and see what happens. Our mate has to be out there.” “A job? Where? On a building site full of men?” Aaron rolled his eyes. He was right. We were tradies. How were we going to meet women that way? “There’s women at employment agencies. You could apply for jobs everywhere and not necessarily take any.” Brad piped up, and I turned to smile at him. He was quiet, but smart as a whip. “It’s a start.” I glanced at my watch. It was only 1pm. It was still early in the day. “I’ll go and ask some of the elders if they need anything from town. Might hunt around a little now.” “I’ll go with you,” Aaron said, his mouth setting with determination. Brad shrugged. “I’ve got work to do. Let me know how you go.” Aaron and I headed to the elders, but it seemed they needed nothing today. Then we jumped in the car and drove to town, a strange vibration of excitement rattling through both of us. When we arrived in Little River, I looked around with fresh eyes. The air was cleaner, crisper and better than it had been the last time I’d been there. The colours were brighter, the sounds around me happier. I knew it was all in my imagination, but how could I not be feeling more positive? There was a chance that we could meet our mate, and soon. “Should we split up and try different places?” Aaron asked, as he too struggled to hide his smile. Women walked by us, their gazes skimming along our bodies. I knew that humans were attracted to us. They liked muscles, of which we had an abundance. It didn’t mean much in the pack. Everyone was strong, hard-working and super fit. But in this world where people worked while sitting in a chair all day, the men were not as strong, nor healthy, nor trim. “Yeah, why not. We could walk around, see if anyone faints at our feet?” I grinned at Aaron and he laughed. The hunt was on. I went to turn away, but Aaron grabbed my arm. “Do you think we’ll have a different mate? Or one to share like Dex’s pack?” I shrugged, “No idea. Doesn’t really matter, does it?” I glanced around at a pair of women walking up the street, their long, straight hair billowing around their faces, their too skinny legs wrapped in thin skirts. I inhaled deeply, hoping to smell something new, sweet, distinct. But there was nothing but the normal scents of the city. The people around us. “You don’t care?” I stared at Aaron, surprised by his question. “Of course, not. After spending a decade coming to terms with our shitty, one-night-stand existence. I’ll do anything to find my true mate. To have a woman to come home to, children. If she’s meant for you and Brad too, then so be it.” I didn’t have jealousy issues like a lot of the other Alphas. I lived for my pack. And if Fate had decided one human was enough for us, then I would ride that wave and be grateful for it. “Oh, good.” Aaron seemed happier now, more relaxed. “Let’s go. See you back here in two hours.” Aaron grunted and we turned in opposite directions. I walked along the streets and ducked into a pharmacy, a green grocer and a liquor store, making small talk with the locals, telling them I was looking for some work in housing construction. None of the women smelled any different to me, and I shook so many hands. Everyone’s hands. They must have thought I was the politest person around. And yet, no one fainted at my touch. Not even an offer to go out for dinner. Not that I should have expected to find my mate on the first day. That would have been ridiculous. But as the hours dragged on, my heart grew heavy. And when the designated time came and went, I forced myself back to the car, and Aaron’s sad face. “No luck?” I asked him, though the question was barely necessary. His slumped shoulders and the angry set to his jaw made the answer too apparent. “No. Although I enquired at a job recruitment agency and they said they’d call in regards to an interview... or something like that. I wasn’t really listening, to be honest.” We got in the car and I turned the key. I was surprised by the amount of disappointment running through my blood. Like a cancer, insidious and potent I forced out a laugh, trying to lighten the mood. “After a decade of thinking we had no fated mate, we shouldn’t expect her to just turn up on our doorstep, right?” Aaron nodded, then looked out the window and didn’t say anything else. Mopey bastard. I sighed and turned the car back towards the pack. Despite my conscious efforts to stay positive and grateful, Aaron’s shitty attitude pretty much summed up how I felt too. We’d waited long enough. I didn’t want to wait any more. It was our time to find our mate. To begin our life. To finally be a true family. Because without a woman, without children, we were nothing.