Chapter 3

Sienna

My large mate doesn’t want to listen to me. I’m about to open the door when I hear him stomping after me. When I turn around, I find him standing in the doorway. His body is so large it takes up the entire space. 

Shirtless. 

Wearing just a ridiculous cloth to hide his…thing. 

Goddamn it. 

Do not look at his bulge, Sienna. Tell him to hide and get your head out of the gutter. Focus!

“Hide,” I whisper-yell at him. 

“Hide?” he questions. 

Is she stupid?

“Yes!” I whisper-yell. “You need to hide right now!”

He doesn’t move. Just stands there with his yellow eyes glowing like twin moons in the dark while his large, muscular arms are crossed over his chest. There is a huge part of me that wants to surrender and touch his abs, but I force myself to stay stern. 

My eyes narrow to glare up at the behemoth. “Do you want them to kill you?!”

“Who?”

Seriously?

“My pack!”

Nothing. 

Then he cocks his head, sharp canine teeth showing in a smirk. “Let them come.”

Oh my god, he is so cocky!

“You really think you could fight my entire pack?” He can’t!

“Yes.”

What the actual hell?!

I groan at his arrogance, but there is no time to respond. The person behind the door knocks, and I finally open it, hoping it isn’t Felix. 

It’s not. 

It’s Maya, a low-ranking omega wolf from the pack. Not a close friend or a threat. But dangerous in the way gossip is dangerous.

“Hey… sorry, weird time, I know,” Maya says, trying to look behind me since she must smell the zareth. Her nose is twitching, but she keeps talking. “There have been reports. Patrol saw something big and Blue-skinned in the forest. Thought you should know. You’re close to the woods, and…”

“I’ve been inside all night,” I lie while sweating bullets. “Probably a bear.”

Maya gives me a skeptical look. “A blue bear?”

“Y-yeah,” I lie again. “Might just have looked weird in the rain.”

I can tell Maya doesn’t believe me in how she tries to eye the space behind my back. Her nose twitches again and I hold my breath. 

Please don’t let her pick up on the zareth’s scent. I don’t want any trouble.

“Well,” Maya cracks her shoulders. “If everything is okay here, then I suppose I will head home.”

I force a smile. “You do that and Maya? Thank you for checking in with me.”

“Of course.”

Before I can close the door, my mate steps forward to place a large hand on my shoulder and Maya’s eyes grow huge. 

Her mouth opens. “Is that…???”

Fucking shit!

“He is a friend!” I say, one second away from strangling my large mate since he was supposed to hide, not announce himself. Now I have to save this situation before everything derails. I wet my lips. “He is not a threat.”

Maya laughs. “Not a threat? Sienna, that’s a zareth!”

I try to ignore the fact my mate is sniffing my hair. “And?”

“And he could kill twenty werewolves all by himself! Have you seen the size of him? That’s not a man; that’s a bear wearing blue skin!”

“I saved him,” I say quickly. “He won’t hurt me.”

Maya shakes her head with terror in her eyes. “I-I need to tell the Alpha—”

No, I can’t have her run her mouth and tell Felix. He would kill us!

“Please don’t!”

Maya hesitates when she hears the panic in my voice, then she waits for me to elaborate.

 

My heart is pounding and I sigh. “This zareth is… He is my mate.”

Maya’s face pales. She is scared, but she is one of those wolves I’ve heard talk about true love during every pack hunt. She believes mate bonds are sacred and that’s why she is now hesitating. I look at her with pleading eyes until her shoulders slump. 

“I didn’t see anything,” she whispers. “But you owe me.”

“I know.”

“Don’t get killed.”

She leaves and I close the door with my head ringing. 

 

What do I do now?

My breaths are coming out uneven. My adrenaline has crashed. What even is my life? A day ago, I was kissing Felix; now there is a dangerous zareth inside my house. A creature that could kill my entire pack if he wanted to and he is my fated mate.

 

I sink to the floor and snort when my mate does the same. He is crouching in front of me and he looks…concerned.

 

Those cat-like ears flicker. “Why protect me?”

“You’re my mate,” I whisper, then with a grimace I add, “Even if I hate that.”

There is a long pause.

 

“I would have killed her if you asked.”

Oh my god, is he insane???

“She is one of my pack members,” I growl. “Why would I want her dead?!”

He frowns. “Because…isn’t that what your kind does?”

“Huh? No! We do not kill innocents.”

He squints at me. “Are you sure? I’ve heard werewolves are…barbaric. Especially when they don’t want someone to…talk.”

I hate that he isn’t wrong. Alpha Felix is known for abusing omegas and low-ranking pack members, especially if they speak up against him, but I’m not about to share that information with a stranger. 

Instead I just say, “Maya won’t talk.”

The zareth studies me with a look that tells me he doesn’t believe me, but he doesn’t push the issue. He just says, “My name is Korrin.”

“Korrin…” I taste his name on my tongue and stand up. “You have a strange name.”

“And you have a pretty name,” he says, grinning. “I like the name Sienna.”

Do not blush. 

Too late. 

My face is hot and my heart is somersaulting. “I never liked my name.”

“Why not?”

I frown, look down at my feet. “It means reddish-brown and isn’t that cool.”

“It suits you since you have beautiful red hair.”

Okay, why is he so smooth?

I glare up at him. “Are you always this charming?”

He blinks. “You think I am charming?”

Gah!

“More like annoying.”

He doesn’t comment on the insult, but he does stand up and then…then he picks up a photograph from on top of the drawer. It's one of me and Felix smiling for the camera.

 

A snarl leaves my lips. “Give that back!”

I lunge for the photograph, but Korrin easily lifts it out of my reach without looking away from the picture. “Is this the man who hurt you?”

My heart clenches. He hit the bullseye, but I’m not about to discuss my past relationship with Korrin. He is my mate, but I don’t trust him and his kind. Part of me cares about him, yes, but I’m also not stupid enough to realize he is an alien. Who knows what he might be thinking inside that head of his? He might not even respect me.

 

“Put down the photograph.”

He doesn’t move. The most irritating part is that I can’t control him. The guy is built like a freaking brickhouse. 

 

I growl in pure annoyance. “I mean it! You can’t just walk around like you own my house!”

He turns his head away from the photograph and blinks repeatedly until his brain finally starts working. Then he slowly puts down the photograph on the top of the drawer.

But he doesn’t do it without talking.

 

“I may not own your house, Sienna, but I own you.”

I gasp. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” he frowns. “You’re my mate and that makes you mine. It also means I’m not going to apologize for stepping on your toes by asking too many questions. You’re hurt. There are bruises on your face—” he shows me his teeth in disdain, “—and I hate how I wasn’t there to protect you.”

My heart races at the word “protect” and I hate it. I brought Korrin home to help him recover after I ran him over with my car and yeah, he is my mate, so part of me cares about him. But the man is insane. He just threatened to kill my pack member and I should get rid of him. He is dangerous, but fuck, why does his eagerness to keep me safe arouse me? I’m feeling hot and needy and I can’t have that!

I groan in frustration. “You’re fucking insane.”

“No, I’m different.”

“Same thing,” I tell him. “And you know what? You should probably leave in the morning.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you here.”

His lips quirk up by the corner. “Now that is a lie, Sienna,” he glances down at my crotch and looks even more smug than the second before. “You’ve been wet ever since I said I wanted to protect you. You want me.”

I almost choke. “I do not!”

He breathes a laugh and steps forward, forcing me to back up from his hulking frame until my back hits the wall. My inner wolf is whining, recognizing the threat. 

Korrin is much bigger than me, much bigger than my Alpha. 

He could snap you like a twig, I find myself thinking. 

But he doesn’t. 

Instead, he smirks as if amused by my fear and steps closer until the smell of him hits my nose. He has this scent I don’t recognize. It sends me into a frenzy. My wolf is clawing at my senses and my sex swells. 

I should NOT find him attractive, but I do. My pulse is hammering against my neck and it only grows worse when Korrin lowers himself so that we are eye to eye. He is breathing into my face with his yellow eyes staring into mine. 

The color emphasizes the fact that he is an apex predator, so much stronger than any werewolf man in my pack. My wolf doesn't know whether to panic or lie down with her belly facing up in surrender. 

I'm so confused!

I'm convinced Korrin is going to hurt me. That's what I'm used to. Felix abuses me all the time. So when Korrin lifts his hand, I flinch. He has large claws that could tear open my skin, but...he carefully places his hand on the side of my face. Gentle in a way I'm not used to. 

“Lying doesn’t look good on you,” he murmurs while stroking my chin. “But you know what? I’m a patient man. I will wait for you to be ready.”

My eyes bug and I lick my lips, trying to find words, “R-ready for what?”

Another breath of a laugh leaves his lips. He is amused. “Ready to admit that you want me tangled in your bedsheets, Sienna.”

I gasp, mortified at his audacity, and Korrin laughs before stepping back. His tail is moving slowly, almost as if it's laughing too. “I will take your silence as a sign of me being right.”

What?

Does he…no. 

Hell no!

“Y-you’re wrong!” I blurt out, heart racing but my mouth is still moving. “I’m never going to want an alien in my bedsheets!”

“No?” Korrin asks over his shoulder, still smirking. 

Infuriating!

“No!” I repeat and then, when it looks like he doesn’t believe me, I tell him exactly why it's never going to happen. “I’m never going to accept you as my mate, Korrin. You’re not a werewolf like me. You’re a blue alien with cat-like ears and a tail—our babies would look so fucked up!”

“Ah, thinking about carrying my kits already?” 

My jaw drops before I recover. “Wh-what?! That’s not what I was…fuck you! I’m not having your fucking babies, Korrin!”

He laughs. “Oh, you will, believe me, and you know what, Sienna? I don’t think it bothers you that I’m blue. I’ve seen your mating ritual guidebooks.”

“Those were fantasy novels!”

He snorts as if I’m the crazy one. “Whatever you say, Sienna,” he walks away, but not without saying more ridiculous things, “I will stay on the couch, but make no mistake, you’re soon going to beg me to share a bed with you.”

Moon Goddess save me, he did not just say that!

“You’re delusional!”

“And you’re wet.”

“I’m not!” 

He dips his head, nostrils flaring. “Then why can I smell it?”

Deny-deny-deny!

“Your nose is wrong!”

Korrin doesn’t respond. He just laughs and I blush because even if I tell myself I don’t want him, my traitorous brain is already painting up the picture of us sharing a bed. I can almost imagine how wonderful it would feel to have a male so large hug me. Korrin would be such a sexy big spoon with his muscles and—

NO!

What the hell am I even thinking?!

I need to get a grip because I AM NOT mating with a blue cat-like alien.