Fate Mate

Chapter 8

"We are stopping here," Nolan told me as he pulled in to a parking lot for a large bar in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.

I was still exhausted from the night before, so I had been trying to sleep on the way back to the pack house. Nolan and I had hardly spoken all morning, so it was not hard to drift away. I was actually becoming quite comfortable in the silence.

"Why?" I groaned slightly as I looked out of the window at the bustling saloon. It was only six o'clock yet people were spilling out of its doors.

"I need to do something. It will only take an hour," he assured me as he slid out of the car with ease and began to walk to the door.

I stepped out of the car, happy to finally stretch my legs once more, and speed-walked over to Nolan so that I could walk in with him.

To my surprise, when we reached the entrance, Nolan held open the door for me. I almost smiled at him- almost.

The musty smell of the bar filled my nose and I tried not to cringe. There were people dancing incongruously on a dance floor while others watched from their bar stools. So this is what a bar looked like. No wonder my dad never let me go to one.

While I had been looking around, Nolan managed to escape me and leave me alone among the sweating, foul people. Of course he would disappear the second we got into the crowded room.

I managed to push my way through the crowd to a bar stool that overlooked the dance floor so that I could look for Nolan's whereabouts without getting trampled by the drunk dancers.

"Can I get you a drink?" a man with shaggy blonde hair asked with a kind smile.

"I can't," I replied a little too quickly, "I'm underage."

He chuckled slightly, "You're a werewolf. Age doesn't matter." He teased me but did not push any further.

He knew I was a werewolf, which meant that he was one too. Then it dawned on me, Nolan took me to a werewolf bar. Everyone in here must have been a werewolf, or at least supernatural.

I kept my eyes peeled for Nolan, and finally I saw his broad frame across the bar. He was sitting at a booth with a girl hanging on his arm while two men sat opposite him.

The sight annoyed me more than it should and I found myself looking away in embarrassment. Of course he took me, his mate, to a bar and then left me for a blonde bimbo who was scarcely wearing any clothes.

I turned back to the blonde guy and put on my best smile, "You're right. Age doesn't matter." Although he looked a decade older than me.

He looked me up and down, making me wish that I had done something to myself to look descent, before sliding a beer over to me.

I gulped, almost nervously before bringing the bottle to my lips. The taste made me want to gag, but I managed to keep it down and give him an appreciative smile.

Shaggy laughed at me, "What's your name?"

"Charlie," I smiled, still trying to get the taste out of my mouth, "You?"

"James," he took a gulp of his beer before standing up, "You want to dance? You're here alone aren't you?" I could not help from notice how he scanned my neck, as if checking to see if I was marked.

I glanced over at Nolan, who was still in deep conversation with his dinner party, so I nodded, "Yeah, sure..."

I knew it was wrong, but my anger toward Nolan drove me to accept the older man's offer. If Nolan was not interested in me enough to be seen with me at a bar, then he should not care if I dance with someone who is.

After taking one last gulp of the beer that James so graciously bought me, I slipped off my stool and joined him on the dance floor.

James immediately wrapped his arms around my waist, something I was not expecting him to do, but I did not protest.

Dancing was one of the few things I was actually good at, so I started to sway with him to the music. As the song went on, more people began to crowd the dance floor, and I soon found myself sandwiched between James and a sweaty girl with dyed red hair.

When the song changed, James spun me around quickly, so that my back was facing him, before placing his hands on my hips and pulling me against him. I stopped dancing at first, unsure of if I should continue to dance with him, but after looking at the surrounding couples also dancing this way, I started again.

James surprisingly buried his face into the crook of my neck, an action that felt completely wrong to my body, "Your scent is so... addictive."

My scent? I knew the hotel shampoo and conditioner did not smell that good, so the thought that he could smell me made me uneasy. Before I could protest, I saw his mouth descend upon my neck.

"Get away from me!" I pulled myself away from his grasp before his lips could meet my skin and gasped when I saw his eyes. They had changed to a pitch black color that shined with... thirst?

Suddenly, a huge figure stepped in front of me and growled, blocking me from James. The familiar pull I felt deep inside of me let me know it was Nolan. He blocked me from James like a shield and I could not help from let out a ragged breath as I took in his large, shaking body.

James cursed under his breath as Nolan loomed over him while a few people nearby stopped to spectate. Others glanced at James in shock, clearly as surprised as I was with his dark eyes.

The spectators began to mumble things about Nolan, clearly recognizing him as the Black Lupis Pack alpha. I should have known he would be famous throughout the regions.

Nolan immediately turned to me, "We are leaving." His voice was low and full of warning as he tightly gripped my arm in his steel hands and began to drag me out of the bar.

As we left the bar, I could hear someone shout, "Hybrid! He's a hybrid!"

Before I knew it, Nolan had me inside of his car and he was in the driver's seat.

"What just happened?" My voice quivered slightly, giving away my shock.

"Your friend," he spat out the word with annoyance, "Just happens to be the exact creature we are fighting against. He's a hybrid. A werewolf turned in to a vampire. The two combined create a superior race," the venom in his voice made me flinch, "Lucky for you, he was new and inexperienced. You probably would have been his first kill."

"What?" He had thrown too much information at me to comprehend.

"Werewolves are at war with vampires," he explained irritably, as if I should already know that, "But now the vampires are changing werewolves too. They are completely taking over some packs. That is why we went to the bar. I had to talk to an alpha from this region, and the vampires recently took over his pack. Only he and a few others escaped."

I remained silent, still trying to take in all of this information, but after a few moments I spoke up, "What about the Golden Walkers Pack? Have they been taken over yet?" I was immediately scared of his answer. What if my family had all been transformed into those monsters?

"No, they have not reached our region yet. None of our region's four packs have been affected. The Black Lupis Pack is probably the only one that knows about this anyways..." he muttered and relief flooded me.

"Dammit Charli," he growled furiously, "Now that man knows you are my mate." That was the first time he had actually claimed me as his mate.

I was going to ask him why that mattered, but figured that that would just make him more furious with me. He already seemed to think that I was to blame for all of this.

"And why were you dancing with him anyways?" He finally glanced at me with his piercing blue eyes.

"I could ask you the same question about that blonde that was clinging to you!" I shouted, finally having had enough of his accusations.

To my surprise, Nolan smirked slightly as he sped down the winding road that led to the pack house. I did not notice how close we were to home.

His cocky smirk made me even more mad, "What?" How could he go from yelling at me one minute to laughing at me the next?

"Were you jealous?" he mocked.

"No," I spat out, trying to muster up enough venom in my voice, "But you are bipolar."

He laughed slightly but did not reply until I could see the pack house come in to view.

"I want you to stay inside the house until I get back from the Broken Valley Pack," he pulled up to the front of the pack house but did not get out of the car.

"You're leaving?" I could not explain why I felt a pang of disappointment at the fact that he was leaving immediately. Perhaps I would miss our constant bickering.

"I need to inform their alpha about everything that is happening... Do not leave the house. Do you understand, Charlotte?"

The way he spoke my name made me shiver slightly, but I managed to nod and step out of the car.

To my surprise, Raegan, the Beta, and a girl, who appeared to be very pregnant, were waiting for me outside.

Nolan rolled down his window, "Make sure she does not leave the house," he instructed his Beta and who I assumed was his mate.

I rolled my eyes; obviously Nolan did not trust me enough to obey his order on my own.

Before I could so much as walk over to Raegan and his mate, the engine revved loudly and Nolan pulled- more like raced – out of the driveway, leaving me with an almost empty feeling inside of my stomach.