Hated by My Mate: The Unwanted Luna

Mating…

Imprint…

Significant other…

True love…

Growing up in wolf society as a member of the Blood Moon Pack, I heard those words a lot in our village. It was all anyone talked about.

People dreamed of the moment when the Moon Goddess would lead them to the one she had destined them to be with, their love.

When they would look into the eyes of their mate and feel a connection that was deeper than any ocean, stronger than any storm, and as enduring as the mountains.

I daydreamed about it myself. How could I not? Who wouldn’t want a love so pure, blessed by the silvery light of the moon?

But just like the moon, there’s a dark side to the mating bond.

The lust.

The uncontrollable desire that gnaws at your soul like a starved beast. It’s not just about the physical connection. It’s a mental tether that pulls at your very essence, consuming your every thought.

It’s beautiful and terrible.

Divine and monstrous.

The bond will bring you the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It’ll make you and break you at the same time. Equal parts blessing and curse.

Don’t believe me? Don’t think that something as wonderful as the mating bond could be so twisted?

I speak from personal experience. I know firsthand how anger and love and lust and pain can twist together in a dizzying storm that’ll leave you helpless.

Because I found my mate.

And he absolutely hated me.

I was standing in the long shadow of the looming mansion, straightening and re-straightening the long sleeves of my white button-up shirt.

I closed my eyes and inhaled a long, deep, shaky breath through my nose. I held the scent of the forest, the fallen leaves, and the rain for a moment, then released the air slowly past my lips.

When I opened my eyes again, the Blood Moon pack house looked no less grand or imposing, but perhaps it seemed slightly more familiar.

It should have. I’d grown up as part of the pack, and it was hardly the first time I’d ever seen it.

As I clicked the wet leaves off my black heels and readjusted my red bow tie, the front door in the oak frame opened, and a middle-aged woman stepped into the early morning sunbeams.

She peered around from the patio as if searching for one person amid a crowd of a thousand. It made me do a double-take, and I checked left and right to make sure I was the only person there.

When her eyes finally settled on me, her false scowl and confusion turned into a beaming smile. “Good morning, Rory. It’s so wonderful to see you. I’m so pleased you took the job.”

She beckoned for me to come closer, and I made my way up the small staircase and onto the wooden veranda. Once I was close enough, she pulled me into a tight hug.

“Happy birthday, love,” she said, pushing me away to look at me but keeping her hands on my shoulders. “Eighteen, huh? Where does the time go?”

She leaned in closer and waggled her eyebrows at me. “Have you found a mate yet?”

I laughed and shook my head. “Thanks, Mrs. Kala. Mom asked the same question at breakfast. The day has only just started. And if he’s not a member of the pack, who knows how long it will take to find him?”

“You’ll find him soon. I have a nose for this sort of thing.” She tapped her right nostril and winked. “And how is Montana? My duties here keep me so busy, I rarely get away to see anyone else.”

I nodded. “She sends her love.”

Mrs. Kala held her hand out at the front door. “Let me show you around and get you acquainted with what you’ll be doing.”

I led the way to the door, opened it for her, then followed her inside.

The mansion looked far more inviting on the inside than it did on the outside.

The floorboards were smooth and varnished and covered with thick, well-worn rugs to keep out the chill.

The reception area was smaller than I’d imagined, but it faced a wide staircase and opened on either side to two large spaces, each leading off into separate hallways that disappeared into the building.

On the right was a large open lounge with a stone fireplace surrounded by three long sofas, a piano in one corner, and a small library of books built into the wall.

On the left, there was a large dining table with a small chandelier hanging over it.

Mrs. Kala took me around to the left and down the corridor.

“I must confess, dear, I was surprised you applied for the job. You’ve never shown much interest in the running of the pack before. Didn’t think you’d want anything to do with the pack house.”

“Oh, well, you know, I just need money right now.”

“Oh?” She peered back at me. “Is your stepmom struggling? You know, she needn’t. We’re all part of the same pack. We look out for each other.”

“No, it’s…” I swallowed the ball of emotion in my throat. “I love Montana. She has done everything for me. But today’s my eighteenth birthday, and—”

“And you wish you could spend it with your parents.” Mrs. Kala smiled at me, but her eyes were full of sympathy.

Her gaze drifted over my shoulder and into the middle distance. “I knew your father, back when he was the pack’s gamma. I knew your mother as well.”

Her face turned mournful. “I was there the day she…” She focused on my face again. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save her, dear.”

It was my turn to put my hands on Mrs. Kala’s shoulders. “Don’t be. I know you did your best to help her after I was born. And if it weren’t for you, we both would have died.”

Mrs. Kala put her cold hand over one of mine, and for a moment, we stood in silence.

“So why do you need to save money if your stepmom is doing fine?” she said at last. “You’re not moving out, are you?”

I shrugged. “I never got to know Mom—my birth mom that is—while she was alive. I figured, now that I’m an adult, I want to know everything about her.”

Mrs. Kala waved her hand at me dismissively as we carried on down the hall. “Oh, dear, there’s plenty of people here who can tell you stories.”

“I know. And I already know most of them. But I still have questions.

“She came here from out east, right? I figured I’d take a year, do some traveling, and find out where Mom came from. Who she was before she met her mate.”

Mrs. Kala reached out and took my hand in hers. “That sounds wonderful, dear. Truly. Will you be traveling with anyone? I know you’re a proud she-wolf now, but it’s a dangerous world out there.”

I shook my head. “I think it might do me some good to get away from the pack for a while. I want to know what it must have felt like for Mom when she left her own pack all those years ago.”

Mrs. Kala frowned. “Well, I can’t say I like that idea very much. But we have time yet. I’ll see if I can convince you otherwise while you’re working here.”

I giggled, and Mrs. Kala led me into one of the side rooms. It was a large utility area, neatly organized and with shelves on three of the four walls.

On each of the shelves were plastic boxes with labels to denote what was inside each one, while tucked into the corner were the larger cleaning items, including a vacuum and a carpet cleaner.

Mrs. Kala made a funny show of taking off one invisible hat and putting on another.

“Right, love. You’re already dressed, so let’s get you straight to work. I’ll give you the full tour later. Grab that sponge and a bucket, will you?”

I did as she asked. “Is there a rush?”

“You see, Rory. This is why I was surprised you applied for the job. You know nothing about how this pack is run. You’re not the only one celebrating a birthday. Can you think who that might be?”

I shrugged. I wasn’t really interested.

Mrs. Kala looked at me like I had just said two plus two equals elephant. “The alpha, dear. He turned twenty-six a few months ago. Tonight is the gala. We’re behind, so we’d best get a move on.”

I was about to follow her back into the hallway when she turned to face me again. “I’m glad you’re here, Rory. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

It was strange, working in the pack house I knew had been such an important part of Dad’s life. Every chair I moved, I imagined him sitting in it. Every book I dusted, I pictured him reading.

As far as I knew, he never played piano, but I couldn’t help but fantasize about him tinkering at the keys.

After helping me to roll up the carpets in the living room, Mrs. Kala left me to clean the floors.

Once I was done and waiting for them to dry, I started dusting the mantel over the fireplace and polishing the silver photo frames.

I picked up one, and my heart made a kind of painful stutter in my chest.

The photo had been taken out front of the house, where I had been standing such a short time earlier.

The giant of the man in the middle was Alpha Gudolf. He had his enormous arms around two others. My father was on his right, and the two shared the same all-teeth grin.

Gudolf’s other arm was draped over the shoulders of his son, Wolfgang, still so young in the photo. His smile was less confident—even shy.

I ran my finger over my dad’s bright and happy face. “I miss you, Dad,” I whispered. “I wish you and Mom were here, today of all days.”

Studying the faces of my father and the former alpha, I realized the picture couldn’t have been taken long before their battle with the rogues.

The battle in which they both died…

Before I pulled my hand away, my gaze landed on the image of the young Wolfgang.

He’d inherited almost everything from his father. His deep voice, his height, his dominance, his incredible looks…

And the moment his father died in that fight, he inherited his powers as the new alpha of our pack and all the responsibilities that came with it.

Just then, there was a loud crash, and the sound of men screaming reached my ears.

“The rogue’s escaped!” someone yelled. “Don’t let him escape!”

Someone came spinning around the corner from the other side of the staircase.

He looked horrible, dressed in tattered clothes. His hair was long and matted with grease. There were large gashes across his chest, and his wrists had iron manacles around them.

Whatever chain was supposed to connect them had obviously been broken, and just a few links dangled and clanked as he moved and slid and jumped.

The rogue saw me and snarled, and instead of running out the front door, he sprinted straight for me, claws and fangs flashing as he started to shift.

I froze. All the lessons my dad and Montana taught me, all their training, flew out the window as I just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights.

At the final second, I ducked just as the rogue’s claws swiped at where my throat was. I heard breaking glass as black nails scraped past and through the pictures I’d just polished.

I scrambled away from him as fast as I could, cursing myself for cleaning the floors as thoroughly as I had done. Every time I tried to take a step, my foot slipped out from under me.

Part of me wanted to turn and fight. I was an adult she-wolf now after all.

Except I wasn’t. Not really. While I was eighteen according to my birth certificate, I wouldn’t be a real adult until I met my wolf for the first time.

Until then, there was no way I could fight a rogue and live.

I was as frail as a human, and with the way I was struggling to run toward the shouting voices I’d heard earlier, I was about to meet the same end as my father.

Finding my feet at last, I sprinted to the door leading back down the hallway. As I reached the edge of the living room, I couldn’t stop myself from sliding, and my shoulder crashed into the frame.

I looked back just in time to see the rogue launch himself through the air, his sharp claws out and pointed in my direction, bearing down on my soft flesh.