The Unlikely Mate

Chapter 20

Jennifer stood motionless, trying to collect her thoughts and decide what to do. Her mate was there, on the other side of the door, and she wanted nothing more than to let him in. But everything felt so complicated and dangerous. For her and for him. She wondered if William were still nearby, and the thought of William seeing a man at her door made her fearful for her mate's safety, and then without even considering her actions, she flung open the door and pulled her mate inside quickly, slamming the door shut behind him, and then peering out the peep hole to make sure William wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Lennox was startled by Jennifer's quick action, but quickly gained his composure once he was inside of her apartment.

"Who are you?" he finally demanded of her.

"Who do you think I am?" Jennifer asked, having no idea how to approach the subject of being his werewolf mate. She didn't even know if he knew about her kind, let alone about mates and how any of that worked.

"My first thought would be some sort of witch or mesmerizer or something" Lennox said, looking at her with suspicion. "I feel like I've been under some sort of spell since the first time I saw you at that restaurant. So, who are you and what have you done to me. And why?" As he spoke, his tone became somewhat more threatening and hostile.

Jennifer sighed, and moved toward her couching, slumping down wearily, and she dropped her head into her hands.

"I'm not a witch, or a mesmerizer or anything like that, and I haven't done anything to you" she began, but then paused, not really sure how to continue. "But we do have a connection. I've felt it too."

"So, who are you then?" Lennox asked, still not relaxing and maintaining a defensive stance.

"My name is Jennifer. I moved to town a couple of months ago. I've just been going through some personal stuff and needed to get out on my own for a while" she said, avoiding to answer what she knew he was really wanting to find out. "What's your name and who are you?" she asked, trying to shift the direction of the conversation while she tried to figure out what else to say.

"My name is Lennox. I've lived here most of my life" as he spoke, Lennox began to relax a little, and moved a few steps closer to Jennifer. He didn't understand it, but he felt safe with her, and he felt like his heart ached to be with her, and he just wanted to make the sad and weary tone of her voice go away. He felt compelled to comfort her, but his mind was fighting the urge.

"And you're a private investigator?" she asked, looking at him and feeling the mate bond well up inside her. She wanted to know more about him and found it difficult to fight the desire to move closer to him.

"Yes, but I guess you knew that when you were snooping around my office" he said, the suspicion in his voice returning, and he took a step back.

"After we met at the restaurant" Jennifer began, "I couldn't help myself. I felt like I needed to find out more about you."

"So you followed me to my place of business, snuck around outside and then almost kissed me before running away?" He said, an air of accusation directing his comments.

"Well, not to point fingers, but you followed me around too. I knew you were outside of my work and followed me to the bar with my friend" she said casually, not willing to be called out on sneaky behavior, when she knew she wasn't alone in acting suspiciously.

"Fair point," he said, relaxing a bit again, and moving toward the couch. "What the hell is going on?" He finally asked, as he dropped onto the couch wearily, and laid is head back.

"I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you" Jennifer responded, leaning back as well, resting her head on the back of the couch.

The two sat there in silence a few minutes, just resting and feeling safe in the proximity of the other, but both also aware that there was a looming black cloud over them that was ready to burst at any moment. So they sat in silence, encouraged and comforted by the mate bond that was strengthening just by being close to each other, but also feeling that a tensions was rising, and that something was about to happen.

Jennifer, you need to move. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you need to get somewhere safe.

Jennifer had just received a mind-link from Evelyn, Jackson's mate from her pack. Jennifer sat up quickly, suddenly very alert.

What is it? She responded back to Evelyn through their mind-link.

Jackson just got a call from that Council Member, William. He was saying something about how you're causing trouble and that he thinks he should be allowed to take you somewhere with him. Jackson obviously didn't give him permission, and said that he would check in on you, but I don't trust that guy. I think he's coming after you and you need to get somewhere safe, quickly. Came Evelyn's reply.

Thank you, Evelyn. Please tell Jackson that I'm ok, and I'll try to distance myself from William. Jennifer responded. She was grateful for Evelyn's warning, and part of her wanted to confide everything to Evelyn, but she was also very afraid. She had found a human mate, and she honestly didn't know what her pack would think about that. She had never even heard of that sort of thing happening, and she wanted to figure things out for herself before anyone from her pack found out.

"We have to go, now!" Jennifer said to Lennox after her communication with Evelyn.

"Where are we going?" Lennox asked, sitting up quickly, the suspicion once again prevalent in his demeanor.

"It's a long story, but someone may be sort of after me" Jennifer began.

"What do you mean sort of after you?" Lennox asked, a mix of protectiveness and annoyance in his tone. He instinctively wanted to protect her from any harm, but at the same time he felt irritated at the evasiveness she had maintained since pulling him inside of her apartment. He had so many questions, and she wasn't answering any of them, and things just kept getting stranger.

"Listen, I can answer your questions later, but right now we need to move. It might not be safe for either of us. Do you have anywhere we can go?" She asked him.

He looked at her for a moment, and then decided he would trust her. Not completely, of course, but he wanted answers and if getting to a 'safe' place was what it would take, he was going to take the risk.

"Ok, I've got a cabin outside of town. I'll take you there, but then you need to start talking"

"Fair enough" Jennifer said, and they walked out of the apartment quickly. She followed him to his truck, and they got in without saying a word. They sat in silence as Lennox began to drive, and about half an hour later they pulled up to a small cabin at the end of twisted dirt road, deep in the woods outside of town.