Melinda

“Give her to me right now!” I snatch Jessie from the stranger’s arms.

He hisses at me, eyes turning red and scaring the shit out of me.

I take a step back with Jessie in my arms.

I sat down for ten minutes because Luna Gianna made me. I came out for some fresh air to find that Lorcan had passed Jessie off to a stranger. Now they’re all looking at me like I’m in the wrong!

How do they think I’d react?

I’m too shaken to acknowledge my wolf yelling ‘Mate’ inside my head. Goddess, I hope this stranger isn’t my mate; he’s scary!

“Hand back my child, girl.”

Oh, Goddess, even his voice is bone-chilling!

Wait. . . “Your child?” I look from the stranger to Jessie.

She cups my cheeks and giggles. “This is my daddy, Mel.”

“What?”

Jessie kisses my cheek and then reaches for her father, who takes her with a smile.

“Melinda,” I turn to look at Lorcan. “This is Adam, my cousin and your mother’s mate.”

I look closely at Adam, realising that he’s the handsome stranger who swept my mother off her feet.

A growl so low it’s threatening has everyone turning to the man I tried to ignore.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Leander snaps.

“Move away from my mate,” He growls.

Everyone looks at me, then my mate, and my stomach is churning.

Why did this have to happen now?

I have so much going on that I can’t deal with a mate as well. I don’t have the headspace for any of this; I feel like I’m going crazy!

My mate takes a step towards me, but I take one back. I shake my head at him because I don’t want this; I have no room for a mate. He wouldn’t want me if he saw the mark on my skull. Mike made sure to tell me no one could ever love me.

Why should I believe this man would be any different?

My mate cocks his head to the side, confused by my reaction.

“Stay away from me.”

“Why? I’m your mate.”

I look to Lorcan. “My Alpha, I’m not ready for this. Please, don’t make me go with him, I’m not ready. I just can’t deal with all of this right now; I need to be with my mother.”

Lorcan tips his head. “This is the way of things, Melinda. You can’t fight fate.”

I close my eyes and breathe deeply through my nose.

When I open my eyes, I look at Leander. If my Alpha won’t help me, perhaps his brother will.

Leander must understand how I feel because he tips his head. “Take Adam to your mother; I’ll deal with this.”

My mate growls so loudly Jessie whimpers.

“Jai!” Leander yells, allowing me to hear my mate’s name for the first time. “Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! How dare you keep my mate from me?”

My eyes widen when Jai’s flash a darker shade of charcoal. Mike aside, I’ve never seen anyone look so angry.

Jai’s claws begin to grow, and I can tell he’s seconds away from allowing his wolf to take over. If that happens, his wolf could do all sorts to me!

“Please don’t be angry,” I all but whisper. Though Jai and his wolf hear me because they suddenly stop moving towards me and blink. “Let me go,”

“I will never let you go!” Jai hisses.

Lorcan and Leander sudden grab Jai and pull him away from the house. I feel like crying because I know it’s not Jai’s fault that he reacted the way he did; it’s nature. However, he frightened me, and that’s the last thing I need right now.

“Let’s go,” Adam takes my arm and turns me away from the scene unfolding outside.

With Jessie still in his arms, I lead Adam to the infirmary. I can’t believe he’s here right when we are, and I wonder if he felt my mother’s presence.

Is that what brought Adam here?

Could the mate bond really be that strong?

I know they say everything happens for a reason, but what are the odds of Adam being here with my mate?

It’s like the world is conspiring against me!

The Goddess knows that I have always dreamed about finding my mate. I imagine him holding me tight, kissing me softly, and loving me endlessly.

I knew it was nothing more than a dream because who could love someone like me?

My mum used to say that Mike was lying, that there would be someone out there for me. All I had to do was keep the faith, and one day, we’d find each other.

I would chuckle and shake my head, knowing that it could never be but secretly hoping it could be at the same time.

Now here I am, having just found my mate and wishing I hadn’t.

Why does everything have to be so complicated?

Why couldn’t I have had the fairytale?

I wish, more than anything, I could have met my mate under different circumstances. Sure, I’ve always been terrified of being rejected by my mate. But I still wanted the dream, the same as everyone else.

No matter how many times I call her name, Cece won’t speak to me. My wolf is angry with me for not immediately running into Jai’s arms.

My wolf doesn’t understand my fears; when she’s the only one who should. I love Cece, she’s part of me, but we have very different ideas regarding mates.

How can I not think Jai will reject me?

Mike forever told me that those who carry the figure 8 could not be loved. Those people are the scum of the earth, not meant to have been born, but for some reason, are. The Moon Goddess does not favour those poor souls, and Selene ensures their lives are forever miserable.

Mike said that nothing would ever go right for me. I will always be the person who is bullied and looked down upon, and if I ever did find a man to take me on, he’d do nothing but hurt me.

I believed him because I had no reason not to. Everyone hated me; no one ever so much as asked me to go for a walk with them. Then there’s the fact Alpha Lorcan and Luna Gianna stayed away from us. I only remember seeing them speak Mike less than a handful of times in my life.

I wasn’t offered a position within the pack like most others were. No one would hire me to work for them, and Mike said that was because they knew I was nothing.

How am I meant to believe that I could be something to Jai when I’ve never had any experience with such?

‘You worry too much; that’s your trouble. Jai will love you because he won’t be able to stop himself.’

‘The mate bond will make him want me, Cece, but that doesn’t mean he could ever love me. That poor man has been cursed with a mate like me. But I’ll put it right; I swear I will.’

‘You’re fucking hopeless!’ I sense my wolf rolling her eyes, but I have bigger things to worry about than Cece’s attitude right now.