Unplanned Mate

Layla

“No way. I refuse to mate with a cheater, especially one who’s been fooling around with my own sister,” I declared into the phone, as Nate tried to convince me to stop being stubborn and return home. Was he out of his mind? The more I resisted, the more he seemed to chase after me. He was seriously messed up.

“If you’re not back by tonight, Layla, I’ll come and fetch you myself. You’re really starting to get on my nerves. Your sister may be stronger, but you have the superior genes. You’re the one I want to mate with. I want strong offspring. Be grateful. You’ll have the freedom to do as you please without the responsibilities of a luna.”

Be grateful? He was basically saying he wanted to use me for breeding. That was absolutely not okay. I wouldn’t tolerate this. We weren’t living in the dark ages.

“I’m not a breeding machine! That’s illegal, and you can’t do that, even if you are the alpha,” I retorted, my voice seething with anger.

“I’m the alpha. I can do whatever I please. I can have whatever I desire. Be home by seven, or you’ll regret it.” With that, he hung up, leaving me staring at my phone. I clutched my phone, deep in thought. My car was already packed. I was beginning to see Nate’s true colors. I needed to escape. I had to leave this place behind and get as far away as possible, as fast as I could.

“This is unbelievable,” I muttered to myself, heading back inside. I could feel my anger rising. The air around me seemed to heat up as my energy became chaotic. But I managed to rein it in and get back to work, even though it was difficult to concentrate. Nate’s words had infuriated me. What kind of alpha was he? A terrible one. He thought he could have whatever he wanted? That was outrageous. It did scare me a bit, though. I wondered what lines he wouldn’t cross. Would he resort to violence?

I took a break from work after checking on a patient who was doing well. I hoped she could go home with her family soon. She had a rare blood disorder because she was a half-breed werewolf vampire. Until she reached maturity and her hormones balanced out, her body would attack itself. It was like a form of self-cannibalism. To a human, it might look like leukemia. Once she reached maturity, the disorder would stop and settle. That’s when they would know if she needed to be on a blood diet for the rest of her life.

For now, it was a delicate balance of real food and certain types of blood. We had it under control, and I was happy for her. She was a wonderful kid, so intelligent, and her parents adored her. They were a true pair, but unfortunately for vampires and werewolves, having children together could be very risky. Not all children developed this disorder, but if they did, and without treatment or a couple of special drugs, the mortality rate was high.

I walked down the hallway and pushed through a set of doors. Suddenly, an alarm went off. I heard the doors behind me lock down the hospital, but I was already moving forward. The code that came over the PA system indicated that we were under attack. An attack? This hadn’t happened since I started working here. Who was attacking the hospital? And why? This was supposed to be a neutral zone.

I quickly locked down a few other doors that required a code. I rushed to ensure that the patients and their sections were secured, so that if someone was attacking, they would have a barrier. I rounded a corner and stopped when I saw the lab area. This was also where we kept many of our drugs in a secured room.

At the desk, I saw a large man holding down the attendant. He was telling her to stay down and not move. I backed up and took a deep breath. I couldn’t smell much from here. I could see others being dragged out of the lab by a second man. They were tying them up and making them lie face down.

“Clear out everything. We’re taking their entire inventory,” the more dominant intruder ordered. I quietly grabbed a thick wooden pole from the utility closet and then came back around the corner. One of the men had his back to me, keeping an eye on the group of four on the floor.

I knew what I was about to do was reckless. But I could hear them breaking into the secure cabinets and room. Some of the drugs and substances we had were very hard to get. They were specifically for supernaturals. If they took everything we had, it could mean life or death for some of the patients here.

I was fed up with bullies. With people who thought they could push others around. My recent encounters with my sister and Nate had only fueled my internal anger. But I wasn’t weak. Just because I was an omega didn’t mean I wouldn’t do what was right.

Using my mild telekinetic abilities, I put the force of my mind behind my swing. The crack was loud, and he went flying sideways, hitting the door frame. The man was out cold on the floor. My wooden pole broke. I quickly grabbed a chair, hoping that I was about to hit an enemy, not a friend, around the corner.

I was lucky. The second man was right there, coming to see what the noise was. I hit him square in the face. Blood spurted from his nose, and he staggered back from the force of the blow. I didn’t make a sound as I attacked. I was determined, and I swung at the third man, who had been quickly storing vials and other items in secure cases.

“Shit,” the last guy muttered as he ducked, narrowly avoiding a face full of chair like his bleeding friend. He staggered back, and I hit the bleeding guy again, trying to knock him out. It looked like I succeeded. The other man charged at me, but I swung with a war cry this time. He had to back up again as I hit him in the arm. I was outside the secure door, but he was inside the secure room. I slammed it shut and jammed the chair into the handle to keep it from moving. That would lock him in there.

I turned around and froze. Two other men were standing there, looking at me. I quickly grabbed a stool from next to the counter and stared at them, my heart pounding. I could smell them now. I also noticed that their eyes had turned black. Damn, I had just attacked a group of lycans trying to rob the place. As an omega, I was considered the weakest of my kind. Lycans were considered the most physically powerful. They also had gifts, just like omegas.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” I challenged them, baring my slightly sharper teeth. One of them raised an eyebrow but started to move forward.

“Hold on,” a voice commanded from behind them. It was authoritative and intense. The two men immediately stopped at the command. I didn’t relax my stance. That voice was clearly an alpha’s. The command in it made the others stop instantly. Luckily, I didn’t recognize him as my alpha. Plus, I was an omega. We were usually able to resist the voice of the alpha command.

The moment this man came into view, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My nearly silver-gray eyes met a pair of coal-black ones. He was the tallest of them, muscular, and every inch the lycan he was. It was evident in his aura. But what really struck me was the recognition. A rush of sensation and a pull toward him. Standing before me was my true mate.

They were right. The moment your eyes met, your animal saw, and your soul knew. It hit me like a ton of bricks. This was my other half. The one meant to complete me. And I felt a surge of anger. He was trying to rob my damn hospital! I gripped the stool tighter and didn’t break eye contact with those commanding black eyes. I knew he felt it too. I could see it in his eyes.

“I won’t back down. The patients here need these medications. I don’t care who you are,” I declared, defying his imposing presence. Slowly, a wicked smile spread across his handsome face as he stared at me. That only made me angrier. I contemplated lunging forward and hitting him with the stool, just to wipe that smile off his face.