Unexpected Mates ~ Book One

“Girl, what happened to your face?”

Natalie stared wide-eyed at Sylvie from the doorway.

“Oh, um. Normally I wear makeup, so you can’t see the scar,” she lied. “It’s from childhood.”

“Oh,” Natalie nodded and swallowed hard. “Maybe you should go put some makeup on then.”

Sylvie grumbled, dropping her eyes to the torrent of emails she needed to sift through before lunch.

“I can’t believe you are still here...” she said then. “Two days MIA without notice is a write-up, at least.”

“Miss Edwards,” Elias’s voice boomed from the end of the hall. The gruffness made Natalie jump and scurry back into the hall.

“Coming, sir!”

Sylvie chuckled softly, rolling in her chair, his phantom touch on her body igniting heat in all the right places.

The mumbled voices of Natalie and Elias bounced back and forward until a pair of clacking heels sped walked back down the hall and past Sylvie’s office without so much a glance her way.

What did he say to her?

Oh well, she lowered her eyes back to the email and went through spam. Highlight all. Check. Delete. Check.

Kian returned with a coffee and breakfast muffin and, based on Natalie’s flirtatious utterings, assumed he had gotten something for her too. Smooth.

She ate in contented silence as the day stretched on. Finally, 10.45 hit and Elias slapped her door, startling her.

“Kian and I will organise lunch and gather your things from your apartment. Is there anything there that you want us to ensure we get?”

She searched her mental image of the apartment and shook her head. “No. Just clothes and stuff. I don’t have any valuable possessions.”

The second the words left her mouth, Elias’s face flickered between anger and resolve.

“Well,” he started. “I believe we’ll have to remedy that immediately.”

Sylvie’s mouth opened and closed, but he had already gone.

The whirring ring of the elevator sounded from the hall, and the moment the doors thudded closed, nervous energy buzzed down Sylvie’s fingertips. She hadn’t been left alone or out of earshot of her mates for quite some time, and the prospect both thrilled and terrified her.

A few minutes of silence ticked by with nothing strange happening.

Obviously, Elias expected her to stay in her office the whole time, which was perfectly safe. And, of course, Natalie sat tapping away at her keyboard. Everything was mundane. Safe.

Boring?

The steady chime of the elevator returned, and Sylvie rolled her eyes. Well, that was relatively short-lived freedom.

She rose and smoothed her skirts about to give her mates a scolding when a sharp inhalation froze her to the floor.

“Miss Edwards,” a smooth, unfamiliar voice said, forcing the hairs on Sylvie’s nape to stand on end.

“Mr Hex?”

Fuck! So much time had passed since she scheduled the meeting she completely forgot about it or him even existing.

“You seem surprised.” The timbre of his voice made Sylvie shudder. So deep and gritty. A slight accent sounded on the r’s.

“I am.” Natalie’s wavering voice echoed, strengthening after she cleared her throat. “I didn’t realise you were scheduled for a meeting.”

“Eleven. I assumed you organised it.”

“No, that would be Elias’ assistant.”

“And where might they be?

Sylvie stood, staring at her empty doorway, listening to the conversation with a pounding heart. Why did his mere voice cause her so much anxiety?

“Down the hall... But, might we maybe talk about your intentions to- to turn me?”

Turn her? Was Rowan Hex not human? Suddenly the memory of the bear shifter at Elias’ cabin shot into her memory, and she shuddered. Could he have been turning humans? And did Natalie want to be one of them?

“Not here,” he growled, the sound making Sylvie jump. The low end of his voice held a dual quality; the growling bass was almost animalistic. Primal.

With a deep inhale, she smoothed her outfit and headed for the front desk, freezing again as a strong scent hit her nose. His cologne coiled in waves between them, and her eyes almost fluttered shut. Fire and wood stain. Why did it smell so mouthwatering?

The crimson, violet mate marks on her chest twinged, and she touched them absently.

Another step and her eyes found the scent’s owner— pure muscle in a perfectly tailored navy suit. Her eyes scanned up his body, flitting from his tattooed hands to the designs peaking from his collar. Fuck. Fear swirled in her belly as she let herself look at his face.

Oh god.

His full dark beard matched the short hairs calculatedly framing his eyes. She couldn’t quite make out the colour from her distance, but their lightness struck her. Their eyes met, and she swore his narrowed as he took his scrutinising look over her.

For some reason, she hoped he liked what he saw. His square jaw clenched, and she pulled her gaze away before her mind got her in trouble. Natalie wasn’t faring much better; her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes glassy.

Scared or horny?

“Natalie, go and fetch Elias, please. He’s in the cafe. Mr Hex is here for a meeting with him.”

“Who do I look like-”

“Go,” she shouted. “Now.”

They needed to get there. She needed her mates. The way he stared at her with open hatred made her skin prickle. Why did she like it?

As Natalie stood, he raised his hand without looking at her. “Sit down. There’s been a change of plans.”

Sylvie’s chest tightened as she slowly walked closer as if calming a wild animal. He very well could’ve been a wild animal. Were shifters actually animals?

“Mr Hex,” Sylvie tried again, ignoring the painful ache over her heart. “Mr Fletcher will be back shortly-”

His wolfish scowl forced her words to die in her throat.

“You reek of him.”

His gruffness made her pause. The urge to sniff herself nearly overcame her dignity. She showered. What was his problem?

“I- I don’t understand....”

“How about you come with me? Miss Edwards will keep her mouth shut, and I will get the artefact to end this disgusting lie driving my wolf insane.”

Sylvie stepped back, heart beating in her throat. Why the fuck did her mates have to leave her alone. Besides what sounded like a plan to kidnap her, his words hardly made sense.

“Uh, no. You will sit and wait for Elias to return, and whatever other issues or desires you have for this artefact will be discussed with him.”

He growled — a thick, rolling bass shot right through her stomach. “You think you have a say here, but you don’t. You will walk from this building with me, or I will message my pack to swarm this place and kill everyone inside.”

His eyes flashed gold, and she took another step back as her adrenaline spiked. Her whole body vibrated with frantic energy that she had no idea how to channel. Maybe she could kick him in the dick and make a run for it, her average fighting knowledge potentially proving useful for once.

“Elias will kill you if you touch me,” she said, edging towards Natalie’s desk. Maybe getting distance would be easier than fighting the beast of a man. She just had to distract him long enough for Natalie to push the panic alarm under her desk.

He just laughed and started unbuttoning his suit jacket. “One bite from an Alpha shifter would put down that beast in minutes.” Shrugging off the blazer, he folded it and threw it over Natalie’s desktop. “Now, will you walk out of here like a good little blood-whore, or will I need to drag you?”

Sylvie’s mouth dropped open in shock, and her wide-eyed expression turned to Natalie, who sat frozen like a fucking statue. She wasn’t even close to the alarm.

“Push the fucking button,” she growled.

Natalie glanced at Rowan and back at her. “I- I can’t.”

Rowan flashed his perfect teeth and unbuttoned each cuff to his dress shirt before rolling them to his elbow crease.

While his gaze was down, Sylvie lunged behind the desk and pushed Natalie towards the back of the reception area before dropping to her knees and reaching for the panic alarm.

The red button, the size of a thimble, stared at her mocking as a tight grip clenched around the back of her neck and dragged her backwards before throwing her across the hall towards Elias’ office.

She skittered to her feet and sprinted towards his room, hoping to lock herself in his bathroom, when her blouse pulled against her chest as a hand latched onto her.

“Fuck off!” she screamed, half-turning to kick her sandalled foot into his gut.

“I see you’ve chosen the second option,” he growled, grabbing her ankle in a vice grip and dragging her back to the elevator. Her pants warmed from the friction of the carpet as she screamed and clawed at every available doorway.

“Natalie! Help me!”

“I’m sorry,” she sniffled back. “I can’t let you get in the way of my plans.”

“Don’t worry, Miss Edwards,” Rowan grunted as he palmed the arrow button on the elevators. “You’ll be one of us in no time.” His grin then almost looked genuine, a micro crease wrinkling his eye corners before he flashed his golden eyes at Sylvie’s red-faced, kicking body.

“You, on the other hand, are about two kicks away from being hog-tied.”

“Fuck you!” she screamed, kicking his shin so hard she heard a click.

“Don’t fucking test me, woman!” he shouted, yanking her through the opening doors and throwing her into the corner of the room. She wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Not this fucking time. And not with this fucking asshole.

“You don’t test me!” she spat at him and stood, throwing her clenched fist straight at his crotch. To her fury, he spun, making her hit brush uselessly against his thigh, and hurt her hand.

She had never been so furious and so driven to attack someone in her life. Something about his dark expression, burning holes into her, spurred a rage she had never felt.

It was liberating.

That was until he grabbed her wrist, twisted it behind her back, and forced her face into the ground. She screamed as the elevator doors slid shut, and he lowered himself, straddling her torso, pinning both arms between his muscled thighs.

“Get the fuck off me!” Sylvie’s screams were cut off by a soft fabric wrapping across her lips, pulled taut behind her head.

The muffled curses only increased as she realised it was his tie, now clamping her mouth shut.

“There.” He gripped her throat and tilted her head up so she could see his smirking face above her. “Don’t you look sweet when your mouth is shut? Well, besides that vein popping out of your forehead.”

After flicking the throbbing vein, he reached across and pressed the ground floor button, still sitting on her back.

The hatred that grew in the deepest pit of her belly ate away at her very soul. Her skin burned, especially near her heart, and her body glistened with sweat.

Surely her mates would return any second, and when the elevator doors opened, they would be there to save her.

Her hopes were dashed the second a freezing collar curled around her neck and latched at her nape.

“Well, what do you know, silver suits you. Now get up, and don’t bother making a scene. No humans will even smell you with this on.”

There he went again about the smell. Under her visceral rage was the tiniest smidgen of self-consciousness. What the fuck was he on about? Stupid fucking dog.

The elevators dinged open, and he stood, latching both huge hands around her ankles, dragging her backwards as she slapped the polished floors.

As Rowan said, no one batted an eye at either of them, and her mates were nowhere in sight. She clawed at the collar while arching her back and pedalling her feet in his grip, but he held firm.

They passed the doors, and she nearly lost her breakfast as he hoisted her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing before crossing the path to a convoy of black trucks.

Her adrenaline spiked as she slapped and scratched his back. If he got her in the car, she was done for. Her favourite crime shows always said don’t let them take you to a secondary location.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

She screamed against his silky tie, a sob threatening to escape as he whipped open the back door and threw her in, blocking her escape with his colossal torso.

“No one is coming for you, so give it up,” he growled, snatching off the gag and using it to tie her hands around the headrest roughly.

“Let me go, you fucking cocksucker. I’ll help you find the stupid fucking artefact. I won’t tell Elias. He will help you!”

Her voice took on a pleading quality as he sneered.

“You don’t even know what this is about.”

“No, obviously I don’t, you fucking bastard! Let me go!”

“Your sharp words do not affect me, woman.” He grinned and stepped out of reach as she twisted and kicked her feet at him, hurling more insults.

“But mine affect you, don’t they?” he growled, shoving her feet to the other side of the car. “Be a good little blood bag, and wait here.” Then, slamming the door shut, he walked behind the vehicle and to the next one in convoy.

It was her chance; she pulled the headrest out, freeing her hands and turned the two prongs toward the window. She turned her face away before slamming the metal to the glass, enjoying the rush of air through the shattered window.

Before she could reach through and grab the handle, the door flew open, and a hand gripped her throat, holding her steady.

“That’ll cost you, woman.”

Sylvie scowled up at Rowan’s dark expression, curling her fingers over the hand at her throat. A zap of pleasure shocked her, and she tried to cover up her arousal by twisting from his grip.

He held steady and eyed her, his brows furrowing for a moment before pushing her to the other side of the car and shaking his hand free from hers. Then, exiting, he walked to the other side, running his gloriously tattooed hand through his hair before pulling the door open.

“You’ll ride with Jace now. And if you try to escape again, he will put you in the trunk.” She followed him, eyes darting across the busy street for just a glimpse of her mates. Where were they?

A giant man sat in the driver’s seat as she was ushered behind him and buckled in. The urge to bite Rowan’s ear off hit her, but he turned his face just as her jaw twitched, scoffing as if reading her mind.

“Enjoy the ride. I will see you when we reach the pack borders. Perhaps the time apart will give you time to learn how to behave.”

“You are kidnapping me, you psychopath. You are the one who needs a reality check. Just stop this! Please! I won’t tell Elias anything!”

He laughed darkly then, gripping her chin roughly. Again her belly flipped from the touch.

“You still don’t get it.”

“What?”

His jaw clenched, and the tattoos on his neck flexed. “I don’t know what the Fates are up to, but I’ll find a way to end this.”

“End what?” Sylvie hated the way her voice wobbled.

Rowan stayed silent for a brief moment, looking at the presumed Jace in the driver’s seat and then back at her. “Leave us, Jace.”

The bear of a man left the car without a word or a glance at the pair disappearing behind the Jeep in front of them.

Whatever Rowan was about to say seemed to be paining him. What the hell could he be talking about, and why the fuck would it have anything to do with her?

All she knew was he wanted some Fae artefact linked to mates, but she knew nothing about the damn thing. What was his problem? Why would he-

“Our matebond,” he said.

End of Book One