My Mate

Chapter One

Hot pasta sat steaming on my plate, but I couldn't move myself to touch it. Jackson sat next to me, sneaking little looks at me here and there. He could tell I was upset and was obviously worried.

The presence of Alpha Lucas at our small, round dinner table was driving me up the wall. His body was so abnormally big that he almost wasn't able to tuck his knees under the table. Alpha blood ran purely through his veins and he showed it in his words and definitely physical appearance.

He was sitting across from me and in between my brother and father. Lucas shoveled pasta into his mouth as if he had never seen food before. If I hadn't lost my appetite at the news from earlier, I lost it when he started eating.

Lucas had explained that we would eat supper and then go over what was going to happen.

After we ate, mom took our plates and set them in the sink, returning to her seat next to me. She grabbed my hand under the table, reassuring me with the soft skin of her fingertips.

"As you know, Alpha bloodlines are extremely important to my family," Alpha Lucas began.

We nodded.

"And for my mate to be some lowly pack member would be extremely embarrassing to my family," Lucas finished. I could see my dad seething in anger. He hated when someone insulted his family.

"So when Adria comes home with me this evening, I'm going to claim to everyone that she is a different Alpha's daughter from a different pack. Him and his family have agreed to go along with it. She won't ever correspond with her actual family again."

My jaw dropped, "You can't do that!"

His gaze shifted from floating between my family members to directly on my eyes, "Oh, yes I can. I'm the Alpha of the largest pack in the world. I can do whatever I want."

I raised my eyebrows, but couldn't find anything more to say to that. He was right, but a name and a title didn't give him anything more than outward authority. He couldn't make me love him or want to be with him. He couldn't make me quit fighting against him.

"Anyway, we will be leaving tonight after this discussion is over and Adria has her bags packed. She can say good-bye and then we're leaving."

My father got up and so did my brother. They headed up the stairs and I knew that I had to follow them so that I could pack.

I made it to my room before tears started streaming down my face. My brother, always protective and calming, wrapped his arms around me and cradled me to his chest. I wept harder and hardest into his clean shirt.

I was going to miss the smell of him. I was going to miss the smell of mom and dad. I was going to miss the way dad would tease mom and Jackson would poke me in the ribs. Every little thing I had ever taken for granted was now being taken away from me.

Dad rubbed my lower back in circles while I wept. Mom was shortly joining us in my room. She was crying already too, and was embraced by dad.

I felt the presence of Lucas standing in the door and looked up. Jackson was looking sternly into the Alpha's eyes, warning him not to take another step.

Alpha Lucas returned the glare. The threat seeping from his expression the whole room went silent. "Step away from her. She's mine."

Jackson squeezed me tighter. I looked up at him, meeting his eyes, "Listen to your Alpha." The words were soft and I only said them to protect my only sibling.

He nodded, knowing that arguing with Lucas would only land him beat up or dead.

After he let go of me, we started packing my things up. Jackson mainly just sat there, watching with mom. Dad and Lucas carried my things out to Lucas's truck.

Finally, the time came for me to leave. My breaths came long and heavy, on the verge of tears. But I promised myself I wouldn't cry in front of Alpha Lucas ever again.

I hugged my dad, whom I was never tremendously close to. I kissed him on the cheek and smelled his woodsy smell for the last time before pulling away from him.

Next was mom. She was already a mess of tears and running makeup. I wrapped my arms around her petite torso. She ran a hand over my hair in an affectionate way. I told her I loved her and she nodded, saying it back and then crying even harder. I had to force myself to pull away, knowing that Alpha Lucas wouldn't be patient for long.

I moved on to my brother. He was crying again too. If was weird because that afternoon was the first time I had seen him cry since we were kids.

I hugged him, squeezing the life out of him. I couldn't imagine a life without him, but now I was being forced to. I hated force.

I kissed him on the cheek and looked longingly into his eyes, "Dong forget about me, Jack-Jack. I'm still your sister no matter what."

He half smiled and nodded, "Same goes for you, Adria. I love you."

"I love you too."

With that, Alpha Lucas was pulling me away from my family as I looked back at them for the last time. They were smiling to make me feel better, but tears were running down their faces.

I swallowed and said I loved them, taking in their appearances for the last time. It was like they were all dying at the same time, but what killed me the most was that they were gong to be an arm's length away and I wouldn't get to reach them.

I finally tinted to Lucas and he lead me to his truck. I saw my boxes of items in the bed of his blue Chevy, and swallowed again. It all seemed to be fake.

I sling my duffle across my shoulder and inhaled deeply for the one hundredth time.

Lucas opened the passenger door, an action of kindness that, by the look on his face, I would not become accustomed to.

I simply frowned at him and opened the back door, hopping in while making eye contact with his furious eyes.

Defiance number one.

He snarled and slammed the door shut, storming to the other side of the truck and ripping open the driver's side door. He climbed into the seat and started the vehicle.