The Lone Wolf's Reluctant Mate

Linton starts to feel like home over the next few weeks. It’s as if I’ve been here my whole life.

Adam and Toby quickly become my closest friends. We spend our evenings together, cooking and sharing stories about our day.

Jason introduces us to the Red Moon Pack alpha at the end of our first week. It’s not as scary as I thought it would be. The alpha welcomes us to Linton and gives us his blessing to stay.

We all find jobs, which is a huge relief. I land a gig at a small coffee shop in the heart of Linton, while the guys work at a nearby garage.

The extra income allows us to spruce up the house. We paint all the rooms and clean up the garden.

On our days off, I drag the guys to thrift stores to hunt for furniture.

They grumble about being dragged around to shop, especially when they have to lug my finds back home.

I found a heavy metal candelabra at a house clearance sale. It might have been a pain to carry, but it looks stunning on a table in our hallway.

If the guys had their way, we would’ve settled for the first dining table we saw. I had to put my foot down, and we eventually found the perfect table. Even they admit it looks great in our dining room.

We still have a lot to do, though. We might be poor lone wolves, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make our home cozy.

The Saturday night before classes start, Jason takes us to a small bar in the center of Linton to meet his friends. They’re also loners studying at the university.

The bar is hidden down a side street. It’s small and not as flashy as the bars on the main street, but it’s perfect for us.

I love the laid-back vibe, the dim lighting, and the assortment of mismatched tables and chairs scattered around the room.

“Hey, Jason. Good to see you again, and with friends I haven’t met before,” a human male greets us with a warm smile.

“Hi, Archie. These are Danielle, Toby, and Adam. They’re new students starting college.”

“Welcome to Linton. Any friends of Jason’s are welcome here at Raffles. He’s one of my best customers and always happy to help with any, er, unruly customers,” Archie says, winking at us.

Does he know about werewolves? I wonder. Jason blushes a deep red.

“Yes, well, Archie is a good friend to us. He can be trusted,” Jason assures us.

“I sure can, and to show you what a good friend I am, your first drink is on me. What would you like?”

“A beer, please,” Toby says eagerly.

“Same for me,” Adam adds.

“Coming up. And what would you like, Danielle?”

“A glass of white wine, please.”

“Take a seat and I’ll bring them over.”

We settle at a large table in the corner, sipping our drinks.

“Does Archie know about us, about what we are?” I ask Jason.

“Yes, and he keeps our secrets. He’s a good friend, and we don’t have many in this city.”

I nod. Humans usually don’t know about werewolves, but Archie seems like a good guy. If Jason trusts him, then I guess I can too.

“Look, the others are here,” Jason says, standing up to greet a group of wolves who just walked in.

“Alina, Harry, Ben, and Simon,” he introduces, pointing to each wolf in turn, “meet Danielle, Toby, and Adam.”

“Hi.” I wave at them.

Alina takes a seat next to me. “It’s great to meet you. There aren’t many lone female wolves in Linton. I’m totally outnumbered.”

“We need to stick together,” I agree. “Is this your first year here too?”

“No, it’s my final year. I can show you around, if you want. Introduce you to the best coffee shops and places to hang out.”

“That sounds fantastic.”

“Right, girls, drink up. You are doing far too much talking and not enough drinking. We are here to have some fun!” Adam announces, placing another glass of wine in front of me.

“To new friends, and many more nights out,” I say, taking a big sip of my wine.

“To new friends,” everyone echoes.

“Right, how about some music, and after a few more drinks maybe some dancing.” Everyone cheers.

***

Saturday night at Raffles was a blast. We all got along really well and agreed to meet up again next weekend.

But before that, I have my first week of classes to get through.

I’m excited to start my course and become a student, but Jason’s warnings about pack wolves has me on edge.

Still, I’m not going to let some prejudiced pack wolves ruin my time in Linton. I’m ready to stand my ground.

Hopefully, there won’t be many of them in my classes. It’s ironic that until four years ago, I would have been one of them, coming here with my own pack, living in one of the nicer houses closer to the university.

But I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I escaped from Ryan. I was luckier than the rest of my pack.

“Are you ready to go?” Adam asks. “I don’t want to be late. We need to register and get our timetable. There will be a queue, so I’d like to get there early.”

“Sounds good.”

It takes us twenty minutes to walk to the campus.

The college feels different today. Before the rest of the students arrived, it was serene and peaceful. The historic buildings and green open spaces felt like a natural oasis in the middle of the city.

Today, those green spaces are filled with students rushing to classes or standing in groups, laughing and chatting.

As much as I loved the peacefulness, this feels better, more alive.

Adam turns to me. “Shall we go and get registered?”

“I think it’s over there,” I say, pointing to a large building where a huge crowd of people are queuing out the door.

“Damn, I thought we’d got here early.”

“Unfortunately, so did everyone else. Never mind, at least we get to meet some of the other students. It’s never too soon to start making friends.”

We join the queue. Everyone around us is human, so I smile brightly and say hi. We can’t get too close to humans—it’s too dangerous—but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to get along with our new classmates.

I’m starting to relax when I sense wolves. I turn around to see a group of she-wolves pushing into the queue. Their expensive clothes and well-groomed appearance mark them as pack wolves.

“Do we need to stand in this queue and wait with all these people?” a wolf with long blond hair and pale-blue eyes complains. Her face is twisted in disgust.

She sneers as she looks around. “Surely there’s another way to register.”

“I don’t think so,” a smaller brown-haired girl replies.

“Well, that’s just wrong,” she huffs. “I’ll speak to David. They can’t expect him to queue like this.”

“You think he’ll be able to do something about it, Karen?”

“Of course.”

“He’s never seemed the type of person to expect special treatment because he’s the brother of the al—”

The blond girl hisses at her.

“Of someone important,” her friend corrects herself.

“Yes, but if I speak to him, he will listen to me. David and I are very close.”

“Really.”

“Yes, and after we spend more time together here in Linton, I know it won’t be long before he realizes that we’re meant to be together.”

I snort. I don’t know her or this wolf David she’s talking about, but it’s clear she’s desperate to get her claws into him. I pity him.

Hopefully, he’s as shallow and self-centered as she appears to be. Otherwise, he’s likely to be in for a world of pain with her as his mate.

I obviously haven’t hidden my derision very well, because Karen turns to me. She looks me up and down, a look of disgust on her face.

“Rogue,” she spits out. “Please don’t tell me I’m going to be surrounded by rogues, the lowest scum our kind knows.”

I bristle with anger. “No, you really won’t, because I won’t be spending any time with you. I suggest that you back off and stick to your friends and then we won’t have a problem.”

“That almost sounds like a threat, rogue. Are you trying to challenge me?”

“No,” I say, looking her squarely in the eye. She isn’t going to intimidate me. “I’m just giving you some friendly advice. If you stay away from me, then neither of us will have a problem.”

“Let’s get out of here,” her friend suggests, tugging her away. “Karen, we’re becoming a spectacle.”

I glance around, realizing the humans in line are keenly observing our interaction.

Karen’s noticed it too. “Fine, we’re leaving for now. But don’t mistake this for a victory.

Anita, let’s go grab some coffee.”

Adam exhales a sigh of relief. “I can’t believe you picked a fight with a pack wolf before we’ve even signed in.”

I give a nonchalant shrug. “What was I supposed to do? Let her walk all over me?”

“Actually, yes. Aren’t we supposed to be keeping a low profile, avoiding confrontations with pack wolves? We’re trying not to ruffle any feathers. That’s what Jason told us to do.”

“Maybe that’s Jason’s way of surviving here, but it’s not mine. I may not be a pack wolf anymore, but my parents were betas. We don’t bow down to lowly bullies like her.”

“Just be careful. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

His concern warms my heart, and I pull him into a hug. “I won’t.” I can only hope I can keep that promise.