Lost Lycan's Mate Book 5

I’d forgotten how much I hated traveling. I couldn’t decide if being alone was better or worse.

On the plus side, I didn’t have someone annoying me, but on the downside, I didn’t have anyone to annoy.

It was so boring, which is why I didn’t go straight to the Forest King once I reached the Forest Kingdom.

Instead, I stayed in the first pack closest to the border. There were two reasons I did this.

The first because I needed something to entertain me before dealing with the werewolf bastard that was trying to pull the wool over my eyes and plot my adopted daughter’s demise along with the rest of her family.

The second reason I stayed in the borderline pack was because I wanted to give the Forest King a little heads-up that I was hanging around his Kingdom.

I wanted to see what convincing show he would put on to try and pull me to his side.

I was alpha of the Hunters, so I wasn’t really concerned about not being allowed to stay for some time in the pack.

Although I wasn’t known by face to back up my claim of being Coda alpha of the Hunters, I had enough of an overpowering alpha presence to easily convince anyone of that fact.

So I strolled right into the heart of the pack without invitation. I made no effort to suppress my overwhelming pheromones that caused some of the werewolves to freeze and others to visibly tremble.

I made it to the city square without much trouble. My goal was to find the alpha and interrupt his no doubt busy schedule. Being the borderline pack brought an extra load down on the alpha’s shoulders, I was sure.

Not only did he have to monitor everything and everyone coming in and out of the Forest Kingdom, but he also had to carry the first line of defense for the Forest Kingdom.

I personally didn’t know the alpha, but I figured he was either a doormat that the other alphas had forced to the edges to reside over during the reformation of the Forest Kingdom after the war fifteen years ago.

Or he was an arrogant bastard who thought he was strong enough to hold the defenses. Either way, it would be fun for me to mess around with him.

However, I didn’t make it to the alpha, stopped by a feeling I had only felt a few times in my life.

I sensed a potential mate and she was close.

I’d never taken a mate, even after claiming the alpha title, losing Cleo to Hakota and his lycan pack, and finally settling down in a lull of peace.

It seemed like the most reasonable thing to do, now that I had the time to actually foster a mating, and yet it was something I’d never even thought of doing.

I had taken partners when in the mood for a sexual connection, but I never did so with a potential mate. For me, it was too risky; I didn’t need someone catching feelings.

Not that I would care if I hurt their feelings after casting them aside, nor would I have a problem bluntly and most likely cruelly informing them that they were meaningless and had no place beside me in any way.

I had no doubt I could get rid of them quickly, but still there were some that would latch on, have some sort of entitlement, and become a pain in the ass.

Even some of my sex partners suddenly caught courage and began taking a step out of line. I always dealt with them quickly and efficiently.

So having a mate still wasn’t on the table, and I didn’t foresee myself changing my mind anytime soon.

My potential mate in question didn’t look like she would be much of a problem.

She was lounging on the side of the huge fountain, one hand swirling around in the water while her other splayed suggestively across the male’s lower stomach.

She was giggling flirtatiously with a man who looked nearly a decade younger than her.

For her girlish behavior, her middle-aged face didn’t seem to fit.

She wasn’t unattractive with dark golden-brown ringlets, and still bright green eyes. There were wrinkles on her face, but I still wouldn’t put her past forty years of age.

Still, it was an odd sight to see her so openly coquettish, like she was trying to seduce the younger male who I at first assumed to be her mate.

She was mated if the mating scars on her neck were accurate, but she looked like she was trying to bag the male as her partner.

I dismissed it, thinking that was yet another burden to add onto the list of why a mate was a bad idea.

They needed constant attention in order to stay interested, and the female seemed to be doing just that. She was fawning, or seducing, the male unabashedly.

Perhaps exhibition was their thing.

After all, you had to have a sexually gratifying relationship if you wanted to keep your actual mating a successful and bearable experience.

No one around seemed surprised by their display on the fountain either.

They got the disapproving glance from a few people passing by, but no one stopped to condemn them.

I moved on, one last glance giving me better insight into the situation and advising my own careful actions.

The male was unmated.

Which meant the female had a mate and was still openly flirting with another male. Since she was doing it right in public, I figured either her mate was dead or he was a cuckold.

Either way, I didn’t want her to notice me. I didn’t need her trying to sink her claws into me, and she seemed annoying.

I wasn’t even in the mood to play around with her because I didn’t find her attractive, and there were too many negative outcomes stacking up where she was involved.

I left quickly, not wanting her to catch sight of me and change her target.

The alpha was easy to find.

He was working in the office complex, situated in the middle of the town where all personnel with a leadership position could be found during the day.

Of course, usually an appointment was required, but none of the secretaries seemed to mind that I didn’t have one when I demanded to see the alpha immediately.

I gave them my best threatening smile, and they simply waved me by, bidding me a good day.

The alpha’s door was open, and I caught sight of him scrawling away, focused on whatever was on his desk.

He truly didn’t seem to sense my approach, his brow furrowing further as his pen stopped working.

I lingered in the doorway, crossing my arms casually as I leaned against the frame, watching the alpha scribble circles across a sticky note in an attempt to get the pen working.

It suddenly made a cracking sound, and the front tip of the pen snapped, blue ink bleeding all over the paper.

The alpha didn’t get angry like I expected; instead, he merely gave up, pushing the paper aside, his head thunking down on the table, a long groan of despair, muffled by his arms, drawing from his lips.

The werewolf was not what I had expected.

He was neither arrogant nor pathetic from what I could tell. He seemed exhausted more than anything, which I could only imagine was the result of running the border pack.

He had to have been drowning in paperwork, keeping track of trade, reviewing requests to leave the Forest Kingdom, making sure the lycans weren’t behaving suspiciously…

keeping things running and in order regarding the werewolf soldiers, all things that I myself did.

I just didn’t also have a King breathing down my neck and most of the boring paperwork I had other people handle.

I just reviewed them monthly to make sure everything was correct and in order.

I imagined this alpha also had subordinates that took care of the different responsibilities.

There were many other offices in this building that pointed to that being the case, but still, the poor guy looked like the life had been sucked out of him. I might have felt pity for him if he weren’t a Forester.

He lifted his head, pinning me with chartreuse eyes. The olive green color, bleeding a bit with brown fitted the mulatto man who looked just a few years younger than I.

The expression in his eyes intrigued me.

He didn’t seem surprised that I was standing there, nor did he seem angry. Just bored, yet another problem he had to take care of.

“Did we have a meeting?” he asked tiredly when I said nothing.

I cocked my head, “no.”

His uninterested eyes gave me a quick once over. It wasn’t challenging or disrespectful, just him trying to recall some clue about me. “Should I know who you are?”

“I’ll be staying here for a few days,” I told him, pushing off the doorframe. “I also advise you to dismiss any matter that may surface pertaining to me.”

I wasn’t going to go out of my way to cause trouble, but sometimes people had a way of pissing me off. It would be better for this overworked alpha to just overlook any incident involving me.

“Shit,” the mulatto man scrubbed a hand down his face. He gave me a long look before relinquishing an equally disheartened sigh. “You’re Coda, aren’t you?”

I spread out my hands in reply, “the one and only.”

The alpha exhaled a dreary breath before pulling open one of his desk drawers, pulling out a brand new pen, and clicking it open. “Okay,” he said offhandedly, not seeming to really care that I was in his pack, or curious as to why.

He turned his attention back to his work and dismissively murmured, “enjoy your stay, Hunter.”

And that was it.

No threats, no requests, no questions. Just dull acceptance.

Such a strange attitude for an alpha, let alone a Forester. It was intriguing; he piqued my interest, and I had a few days to dig around and fish for some idea of what had happened to diminish his spirit in such a way.