3. My Mate

Torin’s pov

“That’s her…” I said, staring at the woman across the room.

“That’s our Luna? You’re sure?” My beta, Colton asked.

I growled at him, “yes, I’m sure.”

I was sure since the moment I smelled her scent in the office building. I rarely visit the offices, leaving that to my beta to handle.

Being at my pack amongst my people, working as their alpha, feels more natural to me than wearing a suit and pretending I’m a businessman.

Honestly, being a businessman is part of what I am, though. It’s what I have to do to provide for our pack.

We run one of the most successful businesses, although Colton does most of the day-to-day work.

But last week he asked me to visit the offices one night to go through some contracts, and that is when I smelled her.

My mate.

Her scent was vague, but my wolf has been searching for the scent of our mate for years, and once he got a whiff, he was sure it was hers.

My nose led me to one of the smaller offices, where her scent lingered on a lunchbox, still filled with food.

When I had asked Colton who the office belonged to, he said it belonged to one Dylan Barnes.

His scent lingered in his office as well, a generic odor mixed with Axe body spray. It disgusted me.

“Maybe it’s his girlfriend?” Colton had suggested it, which almost made me punch my beta.

The thought of my mate with another enraged me.

“Or his sister, since she made him lunch?” Colton quickly added, seeing the look of death in my eyes.

Thankfully I didn’t kill Colton, because it was he who came up with the idea to tell everyone I would be attending the next office party in a few days. Colton usually takes his mate to those events and lets me stay home.

But if I were to attend, everyone would try to make a good impression, and they knew our business has always placed an importance on family values. We offer several weeks of paid maternal leave, parents are allowed to work from home when their kids are sick or on a break from school, and we offer good healthcare benefits with every contract.

So it would make sense for Dylan to bring his wife.

He couldn’t really tell me much about Dylan, seeing as he was one of the lower-level employees, but he would ask around.

When I did learn more about Dylan, I grew to hate him. Not only was he married, but he was also known for bringing different women to social events. If he did bring his wife this time, it would be the first time most of his coworkers would meet her.

But it was definitely his wife that made the lunches, Colton had confirmed with one of Dylan's coworkers. She made him lunch every day, but he rarely ate her homemade lunches.

On paper, he didn't appear particularly intriguing. No major debts, no criminal record. Just an average Joe… who happened to be married to my mate.

But I knew that if I dug deeper, I would find some skeletons; I just didn’t have the time yet.

My pack was being attacked frequently by rogues, the council was hounding me to take a chosen mate, and my sister was planning her eighteenth birthday at the packhouse, which for some reason needs to be done weeks in advance.

But I knew that I’d see my mate at the party. I felt it in my gut.

I made my way through the crowd, letting some of my aura slip out so people would move out of my damn way.

When I finally reached her, she had her arm linked with the human, Dylan.

Now, I don’t hate humans like some of my kind, but I do find them exhausting at times. And I make sure not to underestimate them either, like some do. Humans are not aware of the supernatural world for a reason. If they were to find out they were werewolves and witches living amongst them, there’s no telling what they’d do.

We have the strength, but they have the numbers. And the guns.

We locked eyes. My mate. My wolf howled inside my head. We had found her finally.

My mate extended her hand, revealing her name to me. Raelyn…

But when we touched, she didn’t seem to feel the sparks, and the more I smelled her scent, the more I realized I didn’t smell a wolf.

My mate is human.

She might feel some connection to me, but not the way I feel. She won't feel the bond to me.

When she spoke my name, my cock throbbed. My heart raced as she gazed at me, and her smile made me want to toss her over my shoulder and take her home to mark and mate her.

But she’s married.

“I understand why you’ve been keeping her away from our office parties,” I told Dylan when he sent my mate away to get us drinks like she was some server and not his wife.

“She’s trying her best,” Dylan replied, “but she’s not used to being around classy people, you know…”

He was insulting my mate! It took everything out of me not to break this man’s next.

I sneered at him, “I meant, because her beauty makes all the other women here feel inferior.”

He seemed surprised at my words and tried to backtrack, “Yeah, she cleans up pretty well. So, um, Torin,—“

“Mr. Vilkas.” He was not allowed to use my name.

“Um, Mr. Vilkas, I was hoping to speak to you about some ideas I have for the business.”

I sighed and handed him a business card, “call my assistant and schedule a meeting. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a drink.”

I left the idiot behind and walked to the bar, seeing my nervous mate. She didn’t seem to notice how close I was to her, and when she turned around, she was close enough to kiss.

And Goddess did I want to kiss her.

When she smiled at me, I could see dimples forming in her cheeks. It was adorable.

I shielded her body with mine as we spoke, not wanting Dylan to see. When I offered to kill Dylan, I wasn’t joking; I would gladly kill the weasel if it meant having my mate to myself.

What I didn’t expect was to smell my mate’s arousal when I offered to get rid of her husband. Did murder excite her? Or the idea of a man fighting for her? Or was it just my closeness and the mate bond affecting her?

‘Alpha…’ I was mindlinked by my gamma.

‘Yes?’ I replied impatiently. I wanted to talk more with my mate and get to know her better.

‘There are rogues attacking the border; Susan and Mike are injured.’

‘Damn it,’ I growled through the mind link. '‘I’ll be right there.’

I had to leave; my responsibilities as an alpha didn’t just stop because I met my mate.

But I’d see Raelyn again; I’d make sure of it. She’d be mine. Her being human just meant I had to work harder, but I didn’t mind fighting for my mate.

I will get her to fall for me, and once she does, I’ll explain everything. She will become my Luna, as fate intended.

Luna Raelyn and Alpha Torin— it sounds pretty fucking good to me.

My wolf howled in agreement, even though he won’t have the same bond with her as other alphas have with their Luna. Usually werewolves only mate with werewolves, but it does happen that we are mated to a human. It does mean my wolf will never get the chance to run with her through the woods as a wolf. To play with her, to mate.

But it doesn’t seem to sadden him.

My wolf is part of me, and although we don’t communicate in words, I can feel his emotions, and he lets me know when he disagrees with my choices in his own way.

But he seems just as smitten by Raelyn as I am.

She's ours; she just doesn't know it yet.