My Mate

Ronan

I stared at the bed in the guest room, or more accurately, at the woman sleeping on it.

She hadn't moved much since we'd brought her to my house. Every now and then, her chest rose and fell beneath the thin blanket, but otherwise, she remained completely still.

I sighed again. I had lost count of how many times I'd done it in the last hour.

This was ridiculous.

A mate.

Out of everything the Moon Goddess could have thrown at me, she had decided that this was what I needed… A mate.

The thought alone made me want to sigh again.

Instead, I turned away from the doorway and stepped into the living room.

Caleb was sitting comfortably on the couch, one leg crossed over the other as he leisurely enjoyed a glass of wine. There was an unmistakable look of amusement dancing in his eyes, although he was doing a terrible job of pretending otherwise.

The corner of his lips twitched the moment he saw me.

My eyes narrowed. “You think this is funny?”

His expression immediately became innocent.

“Funny? I don't know what you're talking about.”

I grabbed the nearest throw pillow and sent it straight at his head. Caleb barely moved before the pillow smacked him in the face.

That finally did it as he let out a stupid chuckle.

I glared at him. “This isn't funny!”

He pulled the pillow away from his face, still trying unsuccessfully to hide his amusement.

“You have to admit, Ronan, this is probably the funniest thing that's happened to you in years.”

I dropped onto the other end of the couch with a frustrated sigh.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with a mate?”

He shrugged. “You'll get used to it. Or do you want to cast her away?”

My jaw tightened as I reached for the glass in Caleb's hand.

“Hey—”

Before he could complain, I tipped it back and swallowed the wine in one go.

“The problem isn't just the mate thing. From what we saw, that bastard Jared had her locked in there and kept her prisoner for some sick reason known only to him… She was barely alive, Caleb.”

The image of her lying against that wall came rushing back; that thin body, tangled blonde hair, dull eyes, and the fear in them when she'd looked at me.

My fingers curled slowly into my palm.

“How could he do that to her? Fuck! I swear, if I'd known she was in there, I wouldn't have killed him so quickly. I would have skinned that bastard alive and made him suffer instead of giving him a painless death!”

My hand closed around the empty glass I was still holding. The pressure increased without me realizing it, and then…

CRACK!

Fragments slipped between my fingers and fell onto the floor, leaving a few shallow cuts across my palm. I stared at the broken pieces but didn't even feel any pain.

Caleb stared at me.

“Are you this angry because Jared hurt that girl? Or are you angry because the girl in question happens to be your mate?”

I frowned. “That isn't the point. The point is that Jared hurt my ma—”

The word caught in my throat. I stopped.

“I mean, he hurt her. That animal locked her away and reduced her to that state. No one deserves that kind of treatment at all.”

“Of course.”

“And what are we supposed to do with her now?”

Caleb's expression shifted. “We? She is YOUR mate, not OUR mate. She's your responsibility.”

I almost scowled at the man I'd spent years calling my brother. He was enjoying this far too much.

“But you know we are hardly around,” I argued. “We're always moving. We don't even know where we're going half the time until we get there. How am I supposed to start taking care of her?”

Caleb shrugged. “You'll figure it out.”

I stared at him. This was completely useless.

With another sigh, I sank deeper into the couch.

“Maybe when she wakes up, we can ask her about her family, her pack. Where she came from. Anything she remembers. There has to be a way to trace her origins and send her back.”

That seemed like the only logical place to start, because honestly, I didn't think it would be wise to keep her with me.

For the past two years, I'd been moving from one place to another, chasing leads, hunting people connected to Jacob's operation, and trying to uncover whatever remained of the project he'd left behind. I didn't stay anywhere long enough to call it home, and I certainly didn't have the kind of life where I could suddenly start looking after someone else.

Worse, my enemies were still out there.

The people I was hunting might not know my real identity yet… I always make sure not to let them live long enough to tell, but that could change the moment they discover I have a mate. She was already weak and vulnerable. If anyone realized how important she was to me, she could easily become a target.

And that was the last thing I wanted.

She needed somewhere safe to recover, somewhere far away from all of this. A place where she wouldn't have to worry about someone coming after her simply because she happened to be connected to me.

I couldn't give her that.

If anything, bringing her into my world might be the same as handing her a death sentence… And I didn't want that.

My gaze drifted toward the hallway. Another problem had been bothering me since we'd found her.

Her wolf… Or rather, the lack of one.

Leo had tried sensing her several times. He'd even tried sniffing her scent more closely, but there had been no trace of a wolf's presence inside her.

The thought of using the siphon's power crossed my mind, but I just couldn't risk it at all. Even though my control over the siphon had grown tremendously, and I could handle it far better now than I had before… that didn't mean I was about to risk hurting my ma—

Her.

Caleb leaned forward and said thoughtfully.

“We could take a picture of her. Run a background check through the dark web. You know how it works. There's practically nobody who can't be found or traced there. Names, packs, family connections, old records... someone will know something.”

That actually made sense. The dark web might be dangerous, but information was its greatest currency.

“That's right. Do it. Once we find her family or pack, I can send her back and...”

A soft, frail voice suddenly came from behind me.

“You want to send me away, Master?”

My words died in my throat. Slowly, I turned toward the doorway. She was standing there with one hand resting against the doorway like she needed it to keep herself upright.

My mate.

Gods… I really needed to stop calling her that.