Page 1 of You're Not My Mate

Chapter One

“Holy fucking shit,” Rocco said, unable to keep the yell out of his voice as the last spurt of blood spilled out of the latest human-wolf mutation.

Alpha was the closest and got the main spray.

Rocco had lost count now of how many humans were killed in the last few weeks. He was getting tired of cleaning up dead bodies.

“So that didn’t fucking work,” Rocco said.

They had tried everything, from breaking the bones of the humans, to attempting to put them to sleep, to Alpha trying to force the change. There had even been one where they attempted to gather round like a pack to demonstrate what they were changing for. None of it worked. Not a single thing seemed to work, and it was driving him crazy.

He knew the guys didn’t like what was happening. Some of the humans were not even waiting for the full moon to change. They were changing midway through the moon cycle, and it was all totally fucked up. There was no balance.

“Well, was that the last idea you guys had?”

Rocco tensed up as he turned toward the only person who was clean within their vicinity—Rose Swift.

She stood, arms folded, looking around at the debris. Even though she tried not to show that the sight of the blood and a few body parts didn’t bother her, he knew it did. He also knew this woman hated his guts more than anything. Everyone knew she did, but the only two people who knew why were him and Rose.

“It’s not the last idea,” Alpha said, looking mightily pissed off.

Even though every one of the guys within the Poison Wolves MC were in their own right alphas, they all agreed forAlpha to be leader of their club as well as the pack. There were times it was a little tough, like right now, but most of the time, Rocco was more than happy to pass that baton of responsibility.

He glanced over at Rose, and he hated that her long blonde hair was pinned back against her head. She wore a pair of black dungarees, as well as a blue shirt underneath, along with a pair of boots.

Rocco didn’t want to go to her, but she was the only person in the pack who knew how to clean this up. Also, they were still trying to keep the pack calm, but Rocco knew it was only a matter of time before it all fucked up.

He ran a hand down his face and looked around at the mess. He truly thought Alpha was going to be able to call on the man’s wolf, to either keep it at bay, or pull it out carefully.

The transition was killing them all.

It wasn’t always around a full moon either. A short time ago, they had discovered a mad doctor disguised as a vet, or whatever the fuck Doctor Milton had been, used people as experiments. He somehow learned of the existence of wolves, men turning into beasts during the full moon, and it had awakened the doctor in him. He’d tried to create himself an army, or a super being, or something.

None of them knew or understood what the fuck was going on. They had discovered some records of a few experiments on people like Boyan’s mate, Agatha, who had been part wolf to begin with. Only, they had killed her real parents, placed her into foster care, and then there had been some kind of experiment. Either way, she had been able to survive, and they believed that was due to the fact she carried the gene.

“I’ll go and grab my supplies. I suggest you don’t move, Alpha. I’ll clean you all up in a moment.” Rose turned away.

“This is bullshit,” Enzo said. “I could have been knitting. I think we need to teach the next fucker that arrives the art ofknitting, because it’s therapeutic and it stops all manner of shit from kicking off.” He blew out a breath.

Rocco didn’t have a lot of blood on him, and the wolf deep inside his core was screaming at him to follow Rose. It was easier to leave her alone, when he didn’t have to see her so regularly. In the past few weeks, that hadn’t been the case. It was like Milton’s minions had been hot-wired to come to the Poison Wolves MC. He didn’t get it or understand it, but it seemed to be happening all the time.

He took off after her, but Rose was already at her car.

“Do you need any help?” he asked.

“No.”

He clenched his hands into fists.

“What you could do is stay with the others and I’ll get to clean you, and we can keep the whole area contained. What did I tell you all about trying to keep it at the caves or the basement, or somewhere that is a lot easier to clean?” She turned those gorgeous blue eyes onto him, and for a second Rocco couldn’t move.

“Look, I get that you’re pissed, and I am sorry.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t have time for sorry.”

He knew she didn’t do a whole lot in her cabin in the woods. Out of the whole pack, Rose was the biggest recluse he had ever known. When he first told the guys about her, most of them didn’t even know who he was talking about.

Rocco knew her. Boy, did he know her.