Page 23 of Mated in Darkness

I didn’t know them. They didn’t know me.

I didn’t have a family anymore. I had lost them right when I turned eighteen. It was just me, my colleagues, and whatever I could come up with to try to help the people around me.

The Pack was all I had, and I didn’t really have them.

And yet, something pushed me towards Kaylee. And I wanted to find out what it was.

Even if I knew that taking that step, listening to the voice inside my head say it was okay to take a chance, would be a mistake.

After all, she didn’t live here. And I wasn’t a man for just one night.

And Kaylee wasn’t a woman that I was ever going to be able to forget.

Even if perhaps I should.

Chapter 10

Kaylee

I didn’t havetime for this. Nobody did. I needed to find out who killed Spencer. Who had lured him down here and taken his life.

I rubbed my chest before I began to pace my small hotel room.

I had been so close to finding Spencer. Just a few moments earlier and perhaps I would have been able to save him. My wolf tugged at me, pain radiating through her. The same pain that arched through me. I was a Tracker. It was my job to find those who were lost, taken, or who threatened our Pack. The fact that I hadn’t been able to find him until it was too late would forever haunt me. How was I supposed to face my Alpha, my family, while knowing I hadn’t been enough to protect him? I had lost him.

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do now.

And I surely should not be thinking about Jason every time I took a breath. I knew who he could be. What he was to me.

My mate. The one person for me, the one person I could be with until the end of my days.

And yet, I couldn’t let this happen. I didn’t even know him, yet my wolf kept prowling at me. In fact, she paced within me, crawling, wanting to know more about this human who seemed to be a friend of the Pack, who seemed to know so much about our people. The Starlight Pack trusted him; I could tell that much. They trusted him with their secrets, even more than they trusted me, being an outsider wolf who was there to find a dead former Packmate of theirs.

Who was this Jason? Was mating supposed to be like this? I didn’t like the fact that I seemed to be so out of control with my own feelings and wants. I should be able to think logically through any feelings I had for this stranger, and yet I couldn’t.

He stood up for me against Tristan, against anyone who thought that they could have me because I was a lone female among them. It didn’t matter that I could handle myself and I didn’t need Jason to protect me. My wolf had liked it, and I didn’t even understand that. My wolf hated when men thought that they needed to take care of the little woman and stepped up for me to the point that I didn’t have a choice. My wolf was not that kind to men who thought they knew better than me. And yet, it wasn’t like that with Jason. My wolf had chosen, had decided that, yes, that was the man for me, and yet when did I get the choice? When did I get the ability to make my own decisions? It didn’t make any sense.

My family had always discussed mating and what it could mean for people in our family. No one in my immediate family had found their mates, though many of my cousins had. However, we all knew the story of the triad and how they had come to be.

They had nearly died protecting each other, and had saved the Pack along the way.

I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to live up to that, or even if I wanted to.

I wasn’t sure how I found my own place within that. I wanted to have my own strength, my own choice, and yet my wolf wanted him—that man.

There was a knock at the door that shook me out of my thoughts and I froze, scenting the wolf on the other side.

Riaz. The Alpha.

I let out a growl and stalked to the door, opening it, wondering why he was in my space. Yes, I was on his territory, but this was my space. I didn’t like dominant Alphas in my way.

And yet, why did I like Jason? He wasn’t submissive, and he was human, and yet my body apparently wanted more.

What was wrong with me?

“I wanted to see if you had everything you need,” Riaz said, in lieu of greeting.

I raised my chin, though I didn’t meet his gaze. I wasn’t in the mood for a dominance battle, and obviously I knew I wouldn’t win. I was strong, but not Alpha strong.

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