The Unlikely Mate

Chapter 18

Jennifer sat up and looked around, quickly spotting a large and shadowy figure standing at the foot of her bed. The room was dark, but with her strong werewolf vision, she was able to see that it was a man. She could smell that it was a werewolf, and she strained to identify his physical features. She was able to faintly recognize the scent, and what had been startled concern a moment ago, was now quickly turning to fear. It was the Alpha she had seen in the woods the day before.

"I'm impressed" he said to her, his gruff voice cutting through her terror like a sharp knife, her anxiety quickly rising. She was strong, and knew she could handle herself against men and most wolves, but an Alpha was different. They were naturally strongest, they trained the hardest and were powerful. She knew that she wouldn't be a match if he decided to attack her.

"I've only been here a few seconds, and you woke up immediately. Usually it takes several minutes for other wolves to realize I'm here" he continued in a superior tone.

"So you make it a habit of sneaking into people's homes while they are sleeping?" Jennifer responded, trying to keep her voice steady.

"When a wolf enters my territory uninvited, I make it my business to find out about them" he said to her. "So, who are you and what are you doing here?"

As he spoke he sat down casually at the foot of Jennifer's bed, which cause her to flinch a little in response. She pulled her legs up to her chest, and pressed herself up against the headboard, trying to maintain distance. The Alpha smirked at her, knowing that she was afraid of him.

"I'm..." Jennifer began, trying to decide what to tell the Alpha, and how much information she wanted to give. She instinctively didn't trust him, and based on what she had overheard in the woods, she felt he was likely strong and dangerous, to both people and wolves. She was also very nervous that maybe he had been aware of her presence in the woods. At the time, she didn't think they had known she was there, but now she was fearful that she had been as stealthy as she had believed. "I'm just here for a while. Dealing with some personal issues and trying to get a fresh start" was what she finally said.

"What pack are you from?" he asked, cutting to the point, obviously uninterested in her personal issues.

"I'm from the Black Shadow Pack" she replied succinctly.

"Black Shadow? Really? Under Alpha Dante?" he asked her.

"Yes" she replied warily, unsure what to think.

"So why are you here? That pack is hours away, and from what I know of Dante, he runs a tight ship. Are you a runaway?"

"Of course not!" Jennifer snapped. "I have the Alpha's permission to be here. As I already told you, I'm working on some personal issues. Needed some space from the pack, and my Alpha agreed to let me leave for a while."

The Alpha stared at her a few moments, trying to decide if she was being honest.

"You should have notified me when you arrived" he finally said to her.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't realized this was your territory" Jennifer responded curtly.

"This isn't" he said, "but the woods where I've smelled you and part of the city are mine. The Butcher's Den is on my Pack territory. I was fine with you running in the woods, it's natural for a wolf to need to shift out of sight, but I have to say my curiosity was piqued when you showed up there."

"I apologize, I didn't know. Had I known, I would have introduced myself" Jennifer said, a slightly softer tone taking over her stiff demeanor.

The Alpha stood up abruptly, and stared directly into her eyes.

"Stay out of trouble" he said, the gruffness returning to his. "I've worked hard to maintain peace here, between my pack and the humans. Mind your own business, keep to yourself and don't give me any reason to kick you."

With that, the Alpha turned and quickly disappeared. Jennifer watched him disappear, but he was so quiet with his movements, she never heard a sound. Everything had happened so quickly, and his disappearance was so sudden, Jennifer sat there for a few minutes thinking through the entire event, and actually questioned if it had even happened or if she had dreamed the entire thing.

Jennifer's mind was racing as she tried to go back to sleep. How had things gotten so complicated so quickly? One day, she's just working as a waitress, minding her own business, and the next day she's found her mate, who is human. She can't even introduce herself to him because she has to straighten out her relationship with a very powerful Council Member wolf, who she slept with before meeting her mate, and now she'd inadvertently trespassed onto another pack's lands, and been confronted by their Alpha, who also happens to have been overhead discussing a plot to kill some humans or something, and the person she thinks she needs to report it to, is part of her bizarre love triangle she's trying to disassemble. Her mind was swimming through these thoughts as she drifted into a restless sleep.

Jennifer was woken up to the buzzing of her phone ringing. It was on silent, but set to vibrate, which it was doing mercilessly.

"Hello?" she answered groggily, without even looking to see who it was.

"Jennifer, is that you? Everything ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ok" she said adrenaline quickly snapping her alert, as she recognized the voice on the other side being that of William. "I was just asleep. Late night, weird dreams" she followed up, while also adding 'uninvited Alpha visitors in my bedroom' to her mental list of reasons she had been asleep.

"We need to talk" William said bluntly.

"Yeah, ok" Jennifer responded, her heartbeat quickening at the thought of the various conversations she needed to have with William.

"I'm not too far away, I'll be there soon. I'm bringing breakfast" William said hurriedly, and promptly hung up.

"Oh crap" Jennifer said out loud to nobody but herself. She took a deep breath, and then jumped out of bed to get dressed, and tried to mentally prepare herself for William's visit.