Two - Mate

Chapter 2: Xavier

The moment I heard the car engine, I knew it was too close.

I had been patrolling the eastern border in wolf form for hours because my human side couldn't sleep and my wolf needed to run. I needed to do something other than pace around the empty house remembering Emerald in every corner.

One year since her funeral and I still couldn't stand being inside for more than a few hours at a time.

So I ran every night. Pushing my wolf harder and harder until exhaustion was the only thing that could quiet the grief.

Tonight I had been running the border when I heard it. The distinctive sound of a car engine where no car should be. This deep in the forest, this close to pack land. Humans didn't come here unless they were lost.

Or looking for something.

My wolf's ears pricked forward. It became alert and suspicious.

I moved toward the sound without thinking, emerging from the trees onto the road just as headlights cut through the rain.

Too fast. The car was going too fast for these conditions.

I froze in the middle of the road in front of the car. A massive black wolf with silver eyes reflecting the headlights.

For one second, I saw her clearly through the windshield.

A woman with dark brown hair and wide eyes full of shock.

And then I felt it.

The mate bond slammed into me like a physical blow. Even in wolf form, even without being close enough to scent her properly, I felt the recognition. The pull.

The undeniable truth.

Mate.

My wolf had gone completely still.

The woman had jerked the steering wheel.

I watched in horror as the car spun out on the wet pavement. I watched it slide off the road and slam into a tree with a sickening crunch of metal and shattering glass.

My fault.

She crashed because of me.

Because I was standing in the road like an idiot, too shocked by the mate bond to move.

She was looking at me through the side mirror and when she finally closed her eyes, I shifted immediately that I hadn't thought about clothes. Just thrown on the emergency pair I kept stashed near the border. Jeans and nothing else.

My bones broke and reformed in seconds and I ran toward the wreck as a human.

Now I stood in the rain, staring at the destroyed car, and all I could smell was blood and fear and mate.

The scent hit me fully this time.

Underneath it all, that undeniable pull that made my wolf surge forward with desperate possessiveness.

Mine. Ours. We hurt her. Fix it. Protect.

Rage and guilt twisted together in my chest.

This couldn't be happening.

Not after Emerald. Not after I buried my mate one year ago. Not after the witch had warned me something was missing.

And definitely not a human I had nearly killed by standing in the road.

The Moon Goddess had to be mocking me.

All my focus was on the woman.

She was so still.

Terror I hadn't felt in weeks cut through the anger.

What if she was…

No. I could hear her heartbeat. It was faint and irregular, but there.

I reached the car and wrenched the door open.

Her scent rushed over me even stronger now, and with it came something wrong beneath the blood and rain.

Disgust rose in my throat.

It had been one year since I had stood over Emerald's grave, and fate was already trying to give me a replacement? Like Emerald could just be swapped out for the first woman who wandered into my territory?

The thought made me want to destroy something.

My eyes dropped to where her hand pressed weakly against her chest.

She stirred at the sound of the door opening. Her lashes fluttered.

Then her eyes opened.

It was wide and unfocused with pain and confusion.

They met mine and something in my chest cracked wide open.

The mate bond flared so bright I actually felt my breath catch.

For one horrible second, a memory hit me without warning.

Emerald laughed in our kitchen, flour on her cheek because she insisted on baking something herself despite having no idea what she was doing.

"You could help instead of just standing there." She said, trying to sound annoyed but smiling anyway.

I brushed the flour off her skin with my thumb. She looked up at me with that expression that said she knew exactly what I was thinking.

The memory felt like a knife between my ribs.

"You're awake." I said.

The words came out rougher than I intended, harsh with the growl I was fighting down.

Her lips parted. The words that came out were weak and breathless.

"The wolf..."

My entire body went rigid.

Of course that's what she remembered.

"There's no wolf." I said flatly.

Her brow furrowed. Even half-conscious she looked stubborn.

"Yes, there was."

My wolf liked that. Liked her spirit even when she was hurt and confused and barely hanging on.

But I hated that my wolf liked anything about her.

I leaned closer without thinking, trying to assess her injuries, and caught a scent beneath the blood and rain that made my instincts sharpen dangerously.

There was a sharp metallic edge under her human scent that didn't belong.

My eyes dropped to where her hand pressed weakly against her chest.

Her heart.

Another memory surfaced before I could stop it. Emerald standing on our balcony at night, staring into the forest. I had wrapped my arms around her waist from behind.

"You should be asleep." I murmured against her hair.

"So should you."

She had leaned her back against me.

The memory curdled into something bitter and wrong.

I stepped back from the car like she had burned me.

The woman tried to move and gasped sharply. Her face tightened with pain she was clearly trying to hide.

My wolf pushed forward again. Take her home. Protect her.

Home. The word echoed in my head like a curse.

No.

I looked at her and saw exactly what she was. A human woman who had wandered too close to my territory on the worst possible night.

And yet every instinct I had refused to leave her there. I cursed under my breath and reached into the car.

The moment my hand touched her arm, a jolt went through me.

Something violent and ancient that cracked through my chest like lightning through stone.

The mate bond.

Her breath caught. Her eyes widened and fixed on my face, and I knew she felt it too even if she had no idea what it meant.

I snatched my hand back like I had touched fire.

This couldn't be happening. This wasn't happening.

But my wolf was already singing inside me, thrilled and possessive and absolutely certain.

Mate. Ours. Finally.

I wanted to scream.

Instead, I forced myself to move and unfastened her seatbelt. I pulled her carefully from the wreckage even though every second of contact made the bond flare brighter.

She was lighter than I expected. Too light, like she had been sick for a long time.

Her body sagged against me immediately and I felt the shape of her through wet clothes. She was small and trembling and completely dependent on me for survival.

My wolf went silent. Not calm but focused.

The possessiveness that rose was so strong I almost bared my teeth at the empty forest around us.

I tightened my grip on her before I could stop myself.

Then I hated myself for it.

This was exactly why second chance mates were a curse. They came when you were broken. When you didn't want them. When your life had already been destroyed and stitched back together badly and another bond felt less like hope and more like punishment.

I looked down at the woman in my arms.

Rain plastered her hair to her face. Her lips had lost color. Her breathing was too shallow, too fast.

A normal wolf would've thanked the Moon Goddess for a second chance.

I felt nothing but rage.

Rage at the bond. At her. At myself for not dropping her back in the wreck and walking away like I should have.

But my body had already made the choice my mind refused to accept.

She shifted weakly against me and her eyes opened again.

This time she looked right up at me. Rain slid down her cheek. Her lashes were wet and clumped together.

She looked lost and confused and in pain. That made something in my chest soften before I crushed it immediately.

"You're trespassing." I said coldly.

Her brow creased. "My car..."

"Shouldn't have been here."

Even to my own ears I sounded harsh. Cruel.

Good. She needed to understand that whatever this was, I wanted no part of it.

Her mouth trembled. "I didn't know..."

The bond pulsed again and my jaw locked.

Of course she didn't know. She had no idea who I was or what she had stumbled into or that her scent alone was tearing through every defense I had left.

I started walking toward the compound.

Fifteen minutes through the trees if I moved fast.

She stirred against me. "No... where are you taking me?"

Home. My wolf answered immediately.

"Somewhere you can be checked." I said instead.

She tried to focus on my face again. Her hand pressed shakily against her chest.

"My heart..."

My eyes dropped to the movement. That wrong scent was stronger now.

"What's wrong with it?"

She swallowed hard. "Transplant..."

The word hung in the air.

I looked at her face. She had already slipped halfway back into unconsciousness.

"Stay awake." I ordered.

Her eyes fluttered open with visible effort.

"Bossy." She murmured.

Despite everything. Despite the fury burning through me, despite wanting nothing to do with this bond, the response came out before I could stop it.

"And you talk too much."

She almost smiled.

Then her eyes closed again.

Something in my chest tightened painfully.

I hated it. Hated that she could pull any reaction from me at all.

By the time I reached the compound, my shirt was soaked through. The guards at the back entrance straightened when they saw me. Then their eyes dropped to the woman in my arms and shock crossed both their faces.

"Alpha." One said quickly. "What happened?

"

"Car accident near the border." My voice came out flat. "Get Marla and tell Leo I want the wreck cleared before sunrise."

They hesitated and stared at her instead, at me, clearly full of questions they didn't dare ask.

I let Alpha command drop into my voice. "Now."

And they scattered while I kept walking.

Marla met me in the hallway, took one look at the woman, and frowned.

"Who is she?"

"No one important."

The lie tasted like ash. My wolf snarled so loud inside my head I had to clench my jaw to keep from reacting.

Marla's eyes narrowed. She had known me long enough to read the tension in my shoulders but she said nothing.

"She needs checking. Head injury. Possible chest issue. She mentioned a transplant."

Marla's eyebrows rose but she just nodded. "Upstairs."

I followed her to a guest room at the far end of the house where it was quiet and safe.

I lowered the woman carefully onto the bed.

The moment my hands left her, I felt the loss of her warmth with shocking clarity.

I stepped back immediately and put a distance between us. It was not enough to stop smelling her, but enough that I wasn't touching her anymore.

Marla moved to the bed, checking her pulse, breathing and the injury on her temple and I stayed where I was. Far enough not to touch but close enough that my wolf wouldn't completely lose its mind.

After a moment, Marla looked up. "She'll be fine. Bruised and shaken, but nothing serious. I'll clean her up and monitor her. We can have doctor Chen check on her also."

I nodded once. Then turned toward the door.

"Alpha."

I stopped but didn't look back.

I could feel Marla's eyes on me. I could feel her gaze flicking from me to the woman on the bed and back again.

"No." I said before she could speak.

Silence.

She didn't need to say it. The truth sat between us like something physical.

I forced myself to look at the stranger one more time.

At my mate.

The words felt like poison in my mind.

No. I refused this. I had already loved once. And that love had ended because of the human world. They were merciless to let Emerald die on the street.

I wouldn't let a human woman step into my life and destroy what little I had left.

My expression hardened.

"When she wakes up." I said coldly, "I want her gone. As soon as possible. But make sure she’s recovered well."

Marla studied me for a long moment then looked at the woman again.

"That may not be as simple as you think, Alpha."

I didn't ask what she meant. I didn't want to hear anything that would make this more real.

I walked out and shut the door behind me.

The hallway felt too narrow and too still.

I stood there with rainwater dripping from my clothes onto the floor

.

Inside me, my wolf wouldn't stop pacing.

Mine.

I closed my eyes and saw Emerald. Her smile. Her voice. The quiet way she used to stand beside me.

Grief rose so fast it almost dropped me.

Then rage swallowed it whole.

The Moon Goddess had taken Emerald from me.

And now she had sent me a human replacement.

The cruelty of it was almost beautiful.

I opened my eyes and looked at the closed door one last time.

Then I walked away.

Because I had already buried one mate.

I wasn't about to let fate give me another.