Unplanned Mate Book 2
Автор
Lee C Conrad
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Layla, a healer at a hospital for nonhuman species, finds herself entangled in a web of betrayal and danger when she discovers her mate, Nate, has been unfaithful with her sister. Determined to leave her pack and start anew, Layla's life takes a dramatic turn when the hospital is attacked, and she encounters Alpha Axel, her true mate. As Layla navigates her new reality, she must confront her past, defend her new home, and embrace a bond that could change everything.
1: Man With an Obsession
Book 2: Unplanned Bond
HARPER
I found myself leaning against the frame of my bedroom’s sliding glass door. Outside, the night was dark and rain was drumming against the windows. I usually found the rhythmic sound of rain soothing, a lullaby that would lull me to sleep.
But tonight, sleep was elusive. Despite the darkness, my vision was clear. I wasn’t human, after all.
I was a lycan, and my eyes had the ability to adjust to low light. The soft glow from my phone illuminated my hand. I was staring at a picture, a picture I had been obsessing over for more nights than I cared to admit.
Her face, her scent, her voice—they were all etched into my mind. I had never even touched her. I had only seen her a few times when I accompanied Axel to meet with the Red Coven.
And that was the crux of the problem. You see, I was a lycan, which most people would understand as a werewolf on steroids. The description would have been funny if I wasn’t so consumed by my thoughts.
My wolf form was the kind that humans once labeled as monsters. Back when humans ruled the world, that’s how they saw me. But now, the world was divided into territories, each ruled and inhabited by different species.
But that bit of history wasn’t what was occupying my mind. It was the woman with the hauntingly beautiful frost-green eyes. My thumb moved over the screen, as if I could touch her through it.
The woman in the picture was a vampire. She was completely out of my reach, a part of their royal bloodline. Royal vampires were known for their powerful and dangerous abilities.
I knew this because I had encountered some. She wasn’t just any vampire. She was my true mate. I could feel my inner beast urging me to find her.
The moment I saw her, I knew. It’s a thing with werewolves and lycans. When you lock eyes with your true mate, you just know. The realization was both exhilarating and disheartening.
I remember standing there with Axel, my alpha, as we spoke to her coven leader for the first time. She was there, serving the men as was customary in most vampire societies. She only spoke when her father, the coven leader, demanded something of her.
It was incredibly hard to focus on that meeting. I felt like I was staring at the desk, but my peripheral vision was glued to her. I didn’t want anyone to know I was looking at her.
Vampires didn’t have the concept of true mates, as far as I knew. They believed in soulmates, but it wasn’t a priority for them to find their other half. They knew other species, like werewolves, had the ability to recognize their true mates.
But vampires were a narcissistic and cruel race, in my opinion. I had suffered at their hands. My parents were killed by vampires.
During the war for territories, when species fought for dominance, my original pack was decimated. My sister, Grace, and I were the only ones who escaped. I had pulled her from our house at my father’s command and we ran.
After that, we lived in the wild, dodging not only the war-torn landscape but also other species. For vampires, lycan blood was a potent elixir. So, there was that too.
As for my past, let’s just say I didn’t hold vampires in high regard. How I ended up as the second-in-command and beta of the largest werewolf and lycan territory in the world was a story of survival and a series of random events.
Grace and I were lucky to come across Axel when he was just starting to form his territory and pack. Running that night with Grace had led us to him. I sighed, lowering my hand and letting the phone screen go dark.
My thoughts drifted back to the past. I remembered how other wolves had tried to take Grace to breed with her. I fought them with everything I had.
Outnumbered, I nearly died, but I managed to kill most of them. I let my inner beast free, and it was a force to be reckoned with. That’s why lycans were feared.
Axel had heard the fighting as he was passing through and came to our aid. He didn’t hesitate. He swooped in like the demon others called him and killed the rest.
I helped, and Grace, despite being injured, did her best too. We won, and I didn’t think twice about accepting Axel’s offer to join his growing pack. We were young, and Grace, being an omega even in her lycan form, needed protection.
It was the best option for us. It didn’t take long for my skills to shine with the right training. Grace’s too. And nothing breeds loyalty like saving someone’s life.
Earning Axel’s trust was no easy feat, but I had it, and he had mine. We were brothers in arms now. But that was another reason why I felt such conflict when I realized who my mate was.
We were trying to renegotiate the treaty with the vampires. The Red Coven was stuck in their old ways and views, like most vampires. I knew without a doubt that if I showed interest in Sierra, the vampires wouldn’t take it well.
They might be civil to our faces, especially now that Axel’s territory was growing and thriving. But mating would be crossing a line the Red Coven wouldn’t tolerate. Could werewolves—or lycans, in my case—and vampires fool around? Yes, they didn’t seem to mind that.
But mating or bonding? No, that was considered appalling. To them, we were animals. Well, fuck them. We were all animals pretending to be cultured and civilized.
My thoughts were racing as I stood there, looking out into the darkness and listening to the rain. My thumb was still rubbing the now-dark screen. I didn’t see a good way to handle this, and I knew that as time passed, my inner beast would grow restless.
It would want the mate it recognized. If I couldn’t figure something out or control my desire, I was going to do something stupid. I just knew it.
Normally, I was level-headed, which was why I balanced Axel so well. But now, I might not be, and it could cost us if I couldn’t keep my realization to myself. Tomorrow was the day we were scheduled to meet with Red Coven.
The tension between territories was escalating, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Some leaders were failing to maintain control, and the frequency of murders and kidnappings was on the rise.
It felt like we were on the brink of another outbreak of violence. Red Coven was a significant territory, and since River Coven had a bone to pick with Axel, we decided to try our luck negotiating with the vampires of Red Coven.
River Coven had been in cahoots with Nate, Layla’s former suitor. But that’s a story for another time, and besides, the jerk was dead now, so it didn’t really matter.
Despite the looming threat of war, my mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Sierra. Would she be there? Would I get another chance to see her? Would she be serving and listening, as the daughter of their lord?
I gritted my teeth and mentally scolded myself. Get a grip, I thought. Even if she was there, there was nothing I could do about it at the moment.
These negotiations, which had been ongoing for months, were the priority. It was crucial to know who our allies were, and my personal desires and libido had to take a backseat.
Suddenly, I spun around and plopped down rather forcefully, my gaze fixed on my dark phone. I let out a growl of frustration and nearly slammed the damn thing onto my nightstand. I needed to sleep, not act like a lovesick teenager.
I reclined and placed one arm above my head while the other rested on my bare stomach just above the waistband of my pants. I stared blankly at the ceiling, not really seeing it.
After a few minutes, it became clear that sleep was not going to come easily. Annoyed, I reached over and grabbed the phone I couldn’t seem to put down. A couple of swipes later, her picture was on the screen again.
Maybe if I just stared at her a little longer, I could calm my restless mind and finally get some sleep. But deep down, I knew that was a lie.
The reality was, I’d probably spend the entire night gazing at her picture like a fool, only to rise with the sun and start my day, pretending I wasn’t completely infatuated with a woman I’d barely met.
