Page 7 of The Wolf's Kidnapped Mate

Was our alpha losing his razor edge on surprise pairings?

Blake gestured with the card to a table up at the front. “The next pairing is Dahlia Matthis and Sean Combs.”

More applause. This wasn’t that interesting. And I felt like the people around us were also showing growing signs of disappointment. Mate pairings lately had been rather amiable. Where was the drama? The passion? The rumor mill?

“And the last,” Blake announced, cutting the sound of clapping down to a trickle, “is Fred Duke and Kylie Mullen.”

I dropped my cookie.

There was no way my alpha had just slapped my name into a list of mate pairings like it truly was no big deal. He slammed me right next to Fred, probably knowing good and well what our history was like with each other. All was friendly in that world—and nothing more than that.

I lifted my head, noticing the way the crowd turned its attention to me. The heat in my cheeks made me feel like I was about to start sweating bullets. And maybe I was. Yet no matter how much Faye was patting my shoulder, I couldn’t seem to break out of the weird funk I was in.

Fred looked right at me. His green eyes sparkled with recognition as a lock of dusty white hair fell to his cheek. He squinted, that look he had when he was trying to figure something out, and then he offered the smallest of smiles. Thatsmooth pale skin made me want to reach out for him, like he was inviting my touch.

Oh, that was a relief. Liam would probably throw a fit or something, but of all the people I could have been lumped with, Fred was probably the best. He was highly intelligent, quiet, clean, and he completed every mission with a zest for life. There couldn’t have been a more perfect pairing.

Alright, I can get used to this, I thought as I stood tentatively.

Some applause reached my ears. Maybe it was a lot. I didn’t know, because I was too focused on Fred, on his absinthe eyes drawing me toward him.

I bit my lower lip. A tingling sensation started up in my core. And then that grew into a wave of goosebumps.Yeah, I could definitely get used to this.

Truthfully, mating still seemed like a silly thing to me. But if I had to do it with anyone, then Fred was my first choice. It had never occurred to me, and maybe that was why Blake had chosen Fred. I was confined to this pack—maybe being with Fred would finally get me outside the perimeter.

With a smile, I started walking toward him.

And then his eyes flickered away, and the smile faded. “Alpha, I’m sorry, I can’t do this.”

Fred walked out of the room, leaving me with my breath caught in my throat and my heart thundering in my chest. He left me there, and the tiny sliver of hope that I might leave my prison left with him. It was like I was being left at the altar all over again.

At least this time, it was well before the wedding.

Chapter 3 - Fred

This was definitely abadidea.

I wasn’t sure what the alphas were thinking, but they must have been up to something sinister when they decided I should be paired with Kylie. My mission required a certain level of care and discreetness. If I mated with her, then I wouldn’t just be violating the mission—I would be disrespecting the very clear request of a close friend:

Look alive. But don’t you dare marry my sister.

Was Liam in on this? No, that was impossible. He would have said something. He would have prepared me for it, so I didn’t offend his sweet sister’s sensibilities. The look on her face when I walked out of there told me everything I needed to know about her.

Like how she could get hurt over the rejection of a guy she didn’t even care about.

I already knew a lot of things about Kylie—like how she sang in the shower and cycled every morning—and I knew she didn’t have an ounce of interest in romance. Unless she texted those secrets to Faye. It made me double-check my mental log as I walked rigidly toward the other side of the path, the part hidden by a line of trees.

Every evening was a lot like this. I napped until my alarm went off, and then I went to watch Kylie walk home. I kept a good distance, letting my sharpened hearing tell me if anything about her or her situation had changed. It usually hadn’t. She was often with Faye when she walked home. Today wouldn’t be much different, since the two had been sitting with each other when Blake decided to make that truly magnificent announcement to the whole damn pack.

There was no way that Liam had signed off on this. The guy wasn’t possessive of his sister or anything, but he was definitely protective of her. When Bernadetti showed interest some years ago, Liam had drawn a very sharp and bold line in the sand. This couldn’t possibly be any different. And it wasn’t part of the plan.

I whipped out my burner phone. Sometimes, I wished I could use one of those fancy smartphones everyone used, but it was a huge security risk. No social media. Not even a damn email outside of the encrypted one I used that was based in Switzerland. Even that one didn’t have a speck of information on it that could be traced back to me.

Right now, none of that really mattered. I just wanted to get a hold of Liam and get his opinion on this wildly reckless idea from the alphas I was supposed to trust with my life. And my best friend’s sister’s life.

Was this their idea of fulfilling my mission?

“That was just plain rude,” claimed a high-pitched voice.

---