Page 2 of Wrong Mate

Chapter One

One day.

Twenty-four hours.

Leah was never good at math, so however many minutes added up to twenty-four hours, was how long she had spent with Killian. This was the longest she had ever spent with a man who didn’t like her. Her mate who had rejected her. Good times. A lot of fun times.

Actually, at Killian’s request, she was not to talk orperform any kind of magic. That had lasted for a couple of hours but then she got bored of cursing him out inside her head.

“Where exactly are we going?” she asked, not for the first time. “And don’t tell me that it’s none of my business, because having to go on this journey with you makes it my business.”

“What did I say about not talking?”

“In case you didn’t know this, I’m not adog, Wolfboy, and I don’t have to take orders from you.”

Killian stopped and spun toward her. “I don’t give orders to dogs.”

“Fine, little wolves, whatever.” She rolled her eyes and couldn’t help but smile because she knew her little act of insolence pissed himoff, and that did make her incredibly happy. “And why does our quest have to be in the damn forest?” She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. He stayed perfectly still. “You do know this journey of yours will go a lot better if you learn to be nice.” She hated this.

“Your parents told methat your … abilities are still quite fragile. There are other things out there that would love to turn you evil, or harness your abilities, or just plain kill you.”

Leah smiled. “Yeah, there’s that pesky little problem.”

“I’m an alpha, my scent is strong, and we have a better way of hiding your scent by sticking to the woods and forests. There’s a risk you’re always being tracked, but as it is, a wolf’s scent is somewhat repulsive to many different things.”

“You’re telling me you’re stinky, aren’t you?” she asked, and couldn’t help having a big smile on her face.

If she’d not been staring at Killian, she would have missed it, but right at the corner of his lips there was a twitch. So subtle, but she had seen it. She had made him smile.

“I can hold my own,” Leah said. “You don’t have to protect me. Wait, if you stink, like badly, why am I not affected by it? You don’t smell to me.” She moved closer to Killian and took a sniff. “You don’t smell.”

Any hint of a smile faded and Leah knew why.

“Because we’re mates, right? That’s why you don’t smell to me.”

“We should stop for the night. It’s late and the light has all gone.”

“I can fix that,” she said. She drew light from her hand and flooded their path for them to see.

“Damn it, stop that!” Killian grabbed her palm and thrust it against her back, pushing her up against a tree.

“Hey!” She was tempted to shove him off, but she didn’t think that would end well, and seeing as he’d already upsether by not answering her question about them being mates, she wasn’t going to allow her emotions to consume her.

The pain in her chest meant nothing to her.She didn’t care that he rejected her at every turn. It was fine. She handled rejection like a piece of cake, she ate it.

“Part of your life is valuable to many and we could be tracked, don’t you get it? Do not draw attention to us. Not only are we at risk from fellow witches and warlocks, there are wolves who would take you, vampires, and many other pieces of shit that go bump in the night.”

“If this mission is so important, why did you ask for my presence?”

She hated that she loved the feel of his hard body against hers. Why did she have to crave his touch?

Killian hated her.

He let her go and she spun to look at him, tempted to rub at her wrists. The light was gone.

“Because I need the most powerful witch ever born,” Killian said. “It’s important to my pack. Trust me, I wouldn’t have risked your life if it wasn’t important.”

At least he needed her, for business.

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