False Mate, True Mate

Chapter 10

Once she was asleep again, Xander leaned forward and pinched the bridge of his nose. What on earth possessed her to seek to fellate me while filled with such anxiety? Whatever that rogue did to her, she's been badly hurt in her mind.

George stuck his head in, briefly taking in the scene. Xander waved him in, and his Beta sat on the now-abandoned couch. "How are the other two doing?"

"Not as bad as her. One is from Alpha Winthrop's pack. The other appears to be the only survivor of the attack on Alpha Simon's pack. What of her?"

"She's my mate. She'll stay here. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much of her mind is left." His gaze settled on her as he continued. "We've been through several cycles of war and rogues together. It's how we knew the attack would come. Still, they're usually not in this bad of shape."

"They were better organized than most rogues, Xan. They don't normally get larger than eight, too."

"They had a former beta leading them." George's eyes widened. "Yeah, Alpha Lewis' old beta. He disappeared from the battlefield during one of the last battles of the last war."

George glanced at the female at Xander's feet, and Xander felt a soft, involuntary growl rising, which stopped when George's eyes snapped back up. "Sorry, Alpha. Any idea how long she's been there?"

"Most captives manage to suicide within six months. Less if they were already mated." He glanced down at the figure at his feet. "I have a feeling she's been kept longer than that."

"I'll talk with the others and see if they heard anything."

"Thanks, George. I'm going to take her to my office. I need to let the local authorities know there's some abandoned buildings nearby."

"And get your work done. We can't be running out of money, now can we, Xan?"

"I've kept us housed the last hundred and twenty years, George. That's not changing any time soon."

George nodded. "Don't forget to take care of her, man."

"Never."

With that, Xander carefully picked up his slumbering mate and carried her to his office. He settled her under his desk, where she could continue to grasp his foot while he fired up his computer and started going over the day's stock reports.