Page 1 of Wrong Mate

Prologue

“You cannot be seriousabout me helping that … that thing!” Leah looked at her parents and knew before they even spoke a word that there was no chance of arguing her way out of this.

“Don’t call him that, sweetheart. It’s not nice,” her mother said, always trying to be the reasonable one.

“Why do I have to be nice to him when he’s been a total dick to me?”

“Language, Leah.” This was her dad, attempting to keep the peace.

Even though she was twenty-five years old, she couldn’t help herself and stomped her foot in annoyance. She had stopped being a child a long time ago. Inheriting her magical ability at a young age had kept her from enjoying any kind of childhood. Her magic was powerful and dangerous, which put her at risk. She couldn’t enjoy the normal, everyday human world. She and her parents had no choice but to take her back to the coven to be raised around magic, with her lessons constantly focused on controlling her abilities.

Leah didn’t mind.She knew her parents loved and cared about her dearly, but they had hoped she would have some kind of normal life. Instead, she was taught by several good witches and warlocks intent on keeping her safe. Being one of the most powerful witches foretold, a great many people wanted her dead at a young age. She couldn’t remember the prophecy exactly, but interpretation suggested she would come into her power at eighteen, and be one of the best witches for the side of good, not evil. They had been so wrong, because that hadn’t happened at all. She didn’t get to wait until eighteen for her magic—that came sooner.

There were a lot of Latin and double meanings, and, well, she was nagged by many witches and warlocks to just follow their lessons and do as she was told. Including traveling with a pack. Yep, her very first werewolf pack that wanted a protection border in place, from humans.

Protection happened to be her forte, there was just a little snag—Killian. The alpha wolf. Yeah, she had no wolfy blood or anything like that, but she had known the moment she met him, they were (vomit) mates.

There was no reason to vomit. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Killian. Yes, he was much older than her. He looked forty years old, but he was probably a lot older, as wolves tended to keep the same appearance even as they aged. That pesky little immortality they all enjoyed.

Killian, though, was pure muscle. He had thick brown hair with a few hints of grey, and the prettiest blue eyes she’d ever seen. Only, she had never seen Killian smile. No, Mr. Killian Werewolf didn’t like the fact she was a witch. He denied their mating, even though everyone saw it, and his rejection had stung. This kind of caused a little pesky rainfall that lasted the entire trip. She was casting a protection spell around their town. She hadn’t been a bitch to him, though. She hadn’t weakened the spell, in fact, it was bound tightly, because Killian aside, the rest of his pack had been awesome.

Now she had to go on some kind of quest with Killian. The coven and her parents demanded it, which was so unfair. She hated being around Killian. She hated crying over his rejection, and when she was emotional, controlling her magic became difficult.

“Honey, I know his rejection hurt, but after this, trust me, you’re going to feel better for it.” Her father came toward her, grabbing her hands and holding them against his chest.

“Peoplewill say I’m a little lapdog for following him around like a damn puppy. I can’t do it,” she said.

“No one will think that, sweetheart, trust me. Your presence has been requested and you know the coven can never turn down a request for help. He needs help. Please, do not embarrass us and let us help.”

She blew out a breath.

The point of their coven was to constantly do good. To be good. It fucking sucked. Not that she’d say that out loud. She knew the whole coven would have freaked out if she had turned into a bad witch.

Leah wasn’t badand she wasn’t mean. From time to time she got angry, upset, and frustrated, but she made a point of not using her magic then.

“Fine. Fine. I’ll do it, but I’m not going to be nice to him. Not at all.”

“You leave immediately,” her father said.

“Yay.”

****

Ryan watched his daughter go and knew Vivian, his wife and soul partner, didn’t like this.

“We should have told her,” Vivian said.

“You know that would have been bad.”

“And allowing her to go off on some quest to do this is … better? They’re going to dark magic, Ryan. You know how fine a line Leah walks. This could push her over the edge.”

Ryan closed his eyes and clenched his hands into fists. When Killian had requested a meeting with him and told him what he had planned, he had nearly done the unthinkable. He wanted to kill that man, that alpha, but he knew Killian was a good man who had his reasons.

“Can he really do it?” Vivian asked. “Can he really sever the bond of mating to give Leah her freedom?”

He opened his eyes andgazed into his wife’s. “If he does, I hope it doesn’t destroy our daughter.” He only hoped that during their quest, Killian would realize that what he was doing was wrong, and would live his life, miserable, cold, and lonely. He knew Leah being mated to a wolf wasn’t ideal, but it was what the fates had decided.

Everything was now set in motion, all he could do was hope.

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