Unexpected Mate

MEADOW

Meadow took a relieved breath.

It was the dark-haired man from earlier. Still, she watched him warily as he closed the door and sat behind his desk.

He folded his hands together on top of the desk and leaned forward. “My name is Kai Winslow,” he said gently. “And this is my pack, the Silver Nights. I’m the alpha. What’s your name?”

“Meadow Waters, and I’m not from a pack. My father owed the old Red Dawn alpha money, so he and my stepmother gave me to him to pay off the debt. That was eleven years ago.”

Her eyes welled up, then overflowed. “I was just a little kid at the time. My father was a lone wolf for a number of years, and then he married Selma, my stepmom, but…she never liked me.”

“How much money did your father owe?” he growled.

“I never knew. I just had to clean and cook and do whatever I was told. Last year, the alpha said the debt was paid and I could leave, but then his son took over the pack and refused to let me go.

“He started locking me up in a cell in the basement and only allowing me to come up to do my chores.”

“You were locked up for a year? Where was Draiden?”

“He picked a new mate and moved to her pack. Cole is now in complete control of Red Dawn.”

KAI

Meadow shifted in her chair, and Kai noticed she grimaced in pain. He frowned. “Why haven’t you healed yet?” he asked. Then he mind-linked Jason to bring him the medical kit from under the bar.

“I haven’t shifted yet, and the beta…used…a silver knife…” She slumped in her chair, then slid, unconscious, to the floor.

“Shit!” Kai flew around his desk and knelt beside her just as Jason came in.

“What the hell happened?” Jason said, opening the kit.

“She’s lost too much blood. Get Doris over here.”

“What if those guys are still watching the bar?”

“Have Tommy and Paul do a perimeter search for unknown wolves and haul in any they come across. And tell Doris to come in the back door.” Kai pulled up the tank Meadow was wearing and cursed when he saw how deep the wound was.

Blood was still flowing, so he applied pressure with some clean gauze. “I’m surprised she stayed upright for as long as she did.” He leaned in and sniffed.

There was another scent to the wound, something he couldn’t put his finger on. “Looks like he poisoned the knife too. Not sure what he used, but she needs the doc.”

As he continued to press the gauze over her wound, he took the opportunity to study her face.

Her skin was flawless—except for the small scar above her right eyebrow. Any closer and she could have lost her eye.

“Tommy and Paul say they already have two in custody,” Jason reported. “They were on the roof across the street. The other one must have left to report to the alpha of Red Dawn.”

Kai nodded curtly. “Tell them to throw them in the dungeon.”

There was a tap at the back door and Jason went to answer it, then came back with Doris, the pack doctor.

“Evening, Alpha Kai,” she said as she knelt down on the other side of Meadow.

Kai removed the bloody gauze.

“Oh my!” Doris leaned closer, then nodded. “Wolfsbane. How long’s she been unconscious?”

“Maybe five, seven minutes,” Jason said.

Doris pried Meadow’s eyes open and looked into her pupils. “Okay, I’ll stitch her up here while she’s out. Then we need to move her someplace to rest. This girl is in bad shape.”

“I have an empty apartment upstairs we can use,” Kai said. It used to be his beta’s, but two months ago Daylen had found his mate and moved out. “We can’t take her to the infirmary—Red Dawn is looking for her.”

Doris looked up. “That’s not good, Kai. That pack is trouble.”

“I’m well aware. Let’s just take care of the girl, then we’ll deal with Red Dawn.”

COLE

Cole paced back and forth in his bedroom.

He couldn’t believe Meadow got away. How the hell could a little wolfless bitch fight a full-blooded wolf like that?

The harem bitches were whimpering and sniveling—he’d brought pain to them all tonight—but he didn’t care. He wanted Meadow back. Now!

He heard the door downstairs open, then smelled Darrel, so he opened his door and met him in the hallway just outside his office. “Well? Did you find her?"

“No. We picked up her scent just outside Silver Nights and followed it into town. She went into their bar. The alpha was there. He claimed to have not seen her, but Lester found the hoodie she was wearing when she took off.”

Cole’s temperature rose as his beta spoke. He’d failed. He’d failed and now she was gone! His fist flew and hit Darrel square in the jaw. “You will find her, do you hear me? Go! Now! Find her before I kill you!”

KAI

When Doris finished cleaning Meadow’s wound and stitching it up, Kai carried the unconscious girl upstairs to the apartment’s bedroom, where Doris pulled back the sheets and blanket so he could lay her down.

“Get me a washcloth and some warm, soapy water in a bowl,” she said. “And one of your T-shirts. I’ll clean her up and make her more comfortable.”

Kai nodded, then went next door to his own apartment to do as she asked. When he returned. Doris already had Meadow’s tank top off and was sliding the too-big sweatpants down her legs.

While the girl lay still in just panties and a bra, Doris wet the cloth and started to soap it up. “Can you roll her over to her left side, Alpha, so I can wash her back? Then I’ll do the rest.”

Kai leaned in and gingerly lifted Meadow’s hip and shoulder.

Doris gasped. “Oh my Goddess! What did they do to this poor girl?”