The Alpha's Runt Mate (complete)

Chapter 2: Nathan POV

Chapter 2: Nathan POV

I was approaching the door of an enemy pack house when the smell of vanilla and berries caught my senses. My beta and gamma were in tow to support me as I made a truce with a pack willing to join together to deal with a rogue problem that affected us and two other local packs. We had agreed to meet individually and then as a group. My beta Thomas mentioned he smelled blueberries so I assumed at first I was smelling dessert. We were running late, close to midnight.

Thomas rang the doorbell and waited patiently. After the second time the door finally opened. We were greeted by a tiny girl with beautiful red hair. She didn't look us in the eye but within seconds I knew I wasn't smelling dinner or dessert. I was smelling her. My heart raced and I felt my wolf clawing to come to the surface. "Mate!" He screamed.

Even with my heart pounding out of my chest and the desire radiating off of me she didn't respond. I realized she must not be 18 yet. She had her wolf but she was not aware of the mate bond I was experiencing as a 21-year-old Alpha.

I approached timidly trying not to scare her but my wolf slipped out and I felt a low growl vibrate through my whole body. I sensed a male on her. She wasn't mated but the smell was definitely there.

She finally looked up, timidly. She looked surprised by my growl. Her green eyes had a pleading look as if she would start crying any moment. That was the last thing I wanted. She looked so fragile. I held my wolf back and grabbed her up in my arms. I whispered "Mate" to her, hoping she would understand, but she screamed out of surprise instead of hugging me back.

"Please, I'm sorry, please forgive whatever I did wrong!" She started sobbing, hyperventilating. I wanted to comfort her but was not given the chance. Suddenly she was ripped from my hands by a strong Alpha with faded red hair. "What do you think you're doing?!" He yelled, his face crimson. He threw her to the floor by her arm and she yelped. She looked up at him with a look of shock and betrayal in her eyes. I growled at the way he stole my mate from me and manhandled her.

"Give her back," I demanded. The other alpha growled at me, still gripping her wrist while she lay frozen on the floor. "Who do you think you are to put your hands on my daughter?!" I growled again, even angrier that this was how my mate was treated by her own father. "I am Alpha Nathan. Either give me my mate or the deal is off and you'll have bigger problems than just rogues." He stared, surprised, as if just now processing the fact that his daughter was my mate and that I was the Alpha he needed to impress. He needed me more than I needed him. I had the stronger pack with more members.

"Over my dead body," said another voice. Suddenly a boy with a beta aura appeared before me. My beta stepped around me and stared him down. "You will not speak to my alpha that way," he said. The brown-haired boy tried to act brave but he wasn't nearly big enough to beat me or Thomas. Heck I'm pretty sure my fifteen-year-old brother Matthew could handle this guy.

He finally backed off when the red-haired alpha told him to stand down and dropped my mate's wrist so he was no longer gripping it. "Lucas, you will not disrespect my daughter's mate. Alpha Nathan, I apologise about earlier. I was not expecting this development as you can see. I am Alpha Leonidas by the way." I stared, angry. He was pretending to be civilized and cool but I could tell he was boiling with anger on the inside.

I walked past the alpha whose name I had already forgotten and picked up my mate. This time she did not struggle, she just cried. I tried to soothe her but she was still not feeling the mate bond. She wouldn't speak when I asked her for her name and age.

"When is her 18th birthday?" I asked the group of men, annoyed that there was any amount of waiting involved. The red-haired alpha said, "Tomorrow. One hour from now technically." I nodded, "Good. For the next hour we will discuss the treaty and then I'm taking my mate home with me." I saw the way his lips twitched as he forced a smile. "Of course," he said, his voice bitter.

I sat my mate down at the dinner table and ordered everyone out except the alpha and his officers. She stared at the wooden table, not speaking. The way she shivered in fear saddened me. At first I thought she was scared of me but the way she tensed when the men in her pack spoke compared to when I spoke during the meeting told me my initial assumptions were incorrect. She was afraid of everyone but me. This made me both happy and sad. Was it the mate bond? Or was it something more than what I could see on the surface?