The Alpha's Mate

Part 1

For the record, I never went home with anyone.

Mostly because no one wanted me.

"What are you doing here?" My eyes narrowed and I shifted my weight back, ready to step into the house and slam the door for a second time that night. Yet despite my wariness I couldn't help but drink in the sight of him; handsome as rock star and built like a fireman. He should be on a stud-of-the-month calendar, not my front porch watching me with eyes the color of chocolate streaked with caramel.

"I heard you're leaving." His gaze tracked my every movement, no matter how small. It was unnerving.

I shrugged. "I'm twenty-five. Cal said it was time." The pack alpha had been kind to me. Given me extra time, but I was a null, a dud, a nothing. The little town of Huntsville tucked in the rural hills of Appalachia had rules about people like me. You had to fit in or leave. I didn't belong and I never would. I wasn't a wolf.

"Where you going?" He sounded like my answer mattered and the sincerity caught me by surprise.

"I don't know. What do you care?" I watched him as carefully as he watched me. The hair on the back of my neck rose. He was trouble. I could smell it even with my stunted senses.

He lifted his head and sniffed. "You got pizza in there?"

I nodded, my expression guarded. He wanted something from me and I didn't want to get played for a sucker. I was no flower in a wind storm.

"I'm starving."

I stared at him, refusing to give in. The last thing I needed was to tangle with a wolf like Jackson. He'd chew me up, spit me out and think nothing of it. After Allison, there'd been Susan, Polly, Jenny and who knows how many other girls made their way in and out of his pants. The circus clown car had nothing Jackson's love life.

"You're not going to invite me in?" Shock registered on his face. It was possible I was the first woman in history to tell the man no.

"I'm not looking for anything you got." I crossed my arms, leaning against the door jamb.

"Fair enough." He stepped closer, crowding me, our bodies almost close enough to touch. His voice dipped down into a husky whisper that seemed to reach out and stroke my skin. "What if I could help you?"

I snorted. "Where were you two weeks ago? I've already quit my job, packed my stuff and sold the house." Cal had bought it from me so I would have some money to start over with. I tried not to think about how the house had belonged to my parents. That just brought back the memory of their deaths. A car accident had left me alone at a young age and spared them the pain of their only child being a waste.

He stepped back and cool air from the early autumn night rushed in to fill the void. "I've been away, visiting my mom down in Louisiana. She knows something that might fix you."

I gritted my teeth, nostrils flaring. "Fix me? What am I? Getting spayed?"

"She's my pack's shaman, Chloe. I think you should listen to what I have to say." He managed to look serious enough that I gave a curt nod and backed away, allowing him into the house.

Chapter Two

Jackson settled on the brown leather couch my mom had bought when I was still a kid and helped himself to a slice of pizza. He lifted the wine bottle off the coffee table and gave me questioning look.

I flopped into the recliner across from him. It had been my Dad's seat and it still smelled like his pipe. "Go ahead. Help yourself."

"Thanks," he mumbled through a mouth full of food.