Undone: A New Adult College Bad Boy Romance (Mature Young Adult Fun Contemporary Romance) (39 page)

There is no way this was happening.

Most people thought arranged unions were a thing of the past or something that only happened in third world countries; boy were they ever wrong. Of course most people didn’t know about people like me.

I stared out my window refusing to turn and face the person who had opened my door. I took a deep breath. Rosemary, sage and a hint of lemon mixed with cleaner. My mother.

“Becky, you have to understand…” It was my birthright, my job to the pack, my only use. 

“I’ve heard it all before.” My arms wrapped around my chest hugging myself tightly.

“Your father loves you.”

“Of course he does, but he sure seems to love his land more.”

That’s what I was worth. Land. Fucking land. My mother didn’t say another word, probably good honestly. I was so close to losing my shit. The wolf inside me screamed to get out, to snarl and bite and run away from here.

But I couldn’t do it. Trust me, I’d tried last night.

The night before I was supposed to meet my new mate I’d packed my bags and tried to escape. I wasn’t even able to open the window I am now staring out of. I couldn’t.
I can’t leave my pack.
It was stupid and I knew it but they were my family.
A family that is going to pawn you off for land.
I reminded myself but it did no good.

“He will be here soon, please try to look your best.” Her voice was small as she spoke and for a second I thought about how hard this must be on her. I bit my lip as I heard her turn to leave.

“I love you mom.” I whispered. I wasn’t sure if she heard it or not because she didn’t reply, but I did hear her cry softly as she made her way to her room. I forced myself to turn away from the window.

As part of the pack I wanted to please. I wanted to do as I was told, but the human side of me couldn’t get past the fact that my dad had sold me so easily. For land his great-great-great grandfather had owned, but still. Was I that worthless to him? He hadn’t even tried to put up a fight or find another way around it.
Then again he probably thinks he’s doing me a favor.
My dad was old school. The fact I was 23 and not interested in at least trying to find a mate (let alone married with pups) shocked him. I guess the wolf wasn’t strong enough in me.

I blew out a deep breath and walked over to the closet that I’d soon be giving up. This room had been mine since I was in a crib, now I had to give that up; and all to keep peace between packs. It was stupid really.
The alpha’s probably some gross old man who can’t get a girl without a forced union.
I shivered at the thought of having to spend the rest of my life in a bed beside him.

None the less I did as my mother asked and put something nice on. I picked a knee length shirt and a beige and white oriental patterned blouse. I tied my thick brown hair into a neat bun and even applied some mascara, eyeliner and red lipstick. Nothing like a bold red to make everything seem better; even if I was about to lose my life.

As I slipped into stockings and a kitten heel my head snapped towards the window. The sound of gravel crunching against the driveway.
He’s here.
Great.

I looked around my room. I hadn’t even begun to pack.
What if he wants me to go with him tonight?
My heart skipped a beat at the thought. Would my mother let that happen? I swallowed and, just in case, rushed for my small suitcase.

The vintage blue suitcase had been my great grandmothers and had been given to me when I was a little girl. The first things I put in there weren’t clothes. They were my prized possessions. Gifts from friends, keepsakes from family members and most of all my top 6 books and my laptop. Then I filled it with as many clothes as I could fit.

The doorbell rang.

My heart did a backflip.

“Becky!” My father called and seconds later I heard the front door open. I stuffed a couple more clothes in, closed the suitcase and stood.

“Oh god.” I turned to face my mother. She’d put fresh makeup on but her eyes were red. “You look so beautiful.” Another burst of tears seeped from her eyes.

“Mom, relax.” I walked over to her. “It’s just clothes. I look the same as I ever do.” I pulled her into a hug unwilling to face the real reason she was crying. I was leaving.

After a couple seconds she pulled away and forced a smile over her lips. “You’ll like Nathan.” She gave weak laugh. “And I’m sure he will like you.”

“Well let’s go find out.” I put a smile on my own face unable to risk upsetting my mother any more than she was already and we headed down stairs together.

I took a deep breath trying to gain his scent. Sweat, sweet like chocolate, musk and sage. He smelled too close to my father. I wrinkled my nose at the thought and let a small shiver escape me before we made our way into the living room.

I didn’t waste any time in assessing him. He was older than me, but not old. Maybe in his  early 30’s at most. He wore a black muscle shirt that showed off his muscles- and boy did he have muscles! They flexed as he stepped up into the doorway, his eyes locked on me. His nostrils flared taking in my scent as I stepped towards him. His green eyes roamed over my body, his brown five o’clock shadow tilted as a smile spread over his face. His hair was brown too- though there looked like it had a touch of red in it that his beard didn’t.

“Hi.” He stepped forward and held his hand out to me. “I’m Nathan.”

“Becky.” As I reached out and touched his hand he lowered his eyes. My heart skipped a beat. Was he willing to admit that I could be just as dominate? His hand was warm against my.

My heart jumped into my throat as we touched. A shiver ran down my spine but not the kind that was bad. I felt my cheeks flush slightly as I realized we were still touching. I pulled away from him quickly.
I don’t care how cute he is. I still don’t like him.
I thought.
He’ll be a good mate.
The wolf inside me said. And she was right. He was strong, he smelled healthy and he was an alpha. He had control, apparently control he was willing to give up to me. I wasn’t buying it.

Wolves didn’t give up control.

Nathan turned back to my father. “Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?”

Please say yes. I wasn’t ready to leave yet.

“No, I will let you two get better acquainted. We’ll see you next week, right?”

“Of course.” For the second time since I met him I saw Nathan showed a sign of submission as he bowed his head to my father. My brow furrowed.
I hope he isn’t weak.
That was the wolf talking. I did hope he was weak he would be easier to kill if I needed to.

Nathan turned to me. “Do you have a bag packed?” I nodded not trusting my voice. “I’ll go get it; if that’s alright?”

Again I forced myself to nod. I didn’t really want him being in my room. I didn’t really want him to get my stuff. I didn’t want him to think I liked him or needed him or really wanted anything to do with him- but I wanted time to say goodbye to my family.

As Nathan slipped past me my mother pulled me into a hug, tears rolling down her cheek again. “I’ll see you next week.” It sounded like a death sentence to me. I held her tight unwilling to admit how scared I was.

“The girls wanted me to give you this.” She held out a small box. The girls. My best friends are what she meant. I took it with shaky hands.

She stepped away from me and my father stepped forward. “I love you.” He said pulling me into a hug. “I’m sorry, Becky. I…” He pulled away from me. My father was a gruff kinda guy. To hear him say he was sorry and that he loved me in the same sentence was too much. My eyes stung with tears that wanted to escape. I ignored the prickling and nodded, knowing that if I said anything I would cry. I wasn’t going to do that.

My dad stared at me, our eyes locked for a fraction of a second, not in a stare down but silently communicating. Silently telling him I would forgive him for what he’d done. Again he pulled me into a hug, trying to hide the water that spilled from the corner of his eyes. “He’s not bad.” He whispered in my ear. “And if he ever hurts you I will kill him; I don’t care the cost.”

Those last words I heard from my dad left me with some faith that he did care. That he wasn’t just going to let me suffer.

My dad pulled away as Nathan came down the stairs. Both men looked at one another.

“I’ll take good care of her.”

“I expect it.”

A smile touched Nathan’s lips as he stepped towards me holding my suitcase in one hand and my purse in the other. “I saw this on your bed… I wasn’t sure if you’d want it but I figured…”

“Thank you.” I took it from him without making eye contact and we made our way towards the door.

I kept my tears to myself as we made our way down the driveway and to the car. Without a word I sat down in the passenger seat and waited as he put my suitcase in the back before getting in the driver’s seat. He started the car without a word and we drove away from my home.

It wasn’t until we’d hit the highway that he spoke. “We’re not that far away. The place I have is about a mile away from the beginning of their territory…”

I grunted in response. What else was I supposed to say?

“You’re welcome to see them whenever you want… I’m not that kind of alpha.”

The kind that didn’t let his wolves mingle with other packs is what he meant.
What kind are you?
I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I stared out the front window as tears ran down my cheek. I didn’t make a sound.

Nathan blew out a deep breath and for a split second I felt bad for acting the way I was; only for a split second though then I remembered that he’d pretty much bought me in return for land. I’d been part of a trade, part of a sale.

Anger tugged at me. Anger at him, at my father, at myself. But it didn’t last long. I couldn’t bring myself to make it last long. I bit my lip staring down at the box I still had in my hand. The one that my best friends had wanted me to have.

As if reading my mind Nathan spoke again. “Is it from your pack?”

“My best friends.” I said and to my own surprise my voice didn’t break. I pulled the lid off slowly and stared down at the contents of the box. The simple chain was not silver. I didn’t need to touch or sniff it to know that, but it looked like it. There was a small, simple gem in the center. A green stone with a purple one on either side. I turned it over in my hand to see each one engraved with a heart.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I stared at it.

“It beautiful.” Nathan said from the driver’s seat. He was right.

Chapter 2

The house was nice, but that didn’t make me feel any better as I made my way towards the door with my suitcase in hand.

Nathan opened the door for me and I stepped inside. Three people stared at me.

My heart sank as I looked at them all. Two males and a female. I wondered if she was in a forced marriage too.
Maybe she’s lucky and didn’t get sold by her father.
The two males stared at me, judgment written all over their face. The girl stood, avoiding eye contact. “You must be Becky; it’s nice to meet you!” She smiled as she came over to me. “I’m Christine. And this is Jesse and Jack.” She held her hand out to me.

I looked down at it. Dropped my suitcase, still not letting go of the box that held my necklace, and shook her hand.

I would have said it was nice to meet her, but I wasn’t feeling it so I forced a smile instead.

Nathan cleared his throat behind me. “We’re going to go get Becky unpacked. We’ll be down for dinner.”

My heart skipped a beat. We. What did he mean by that? Was that some order not to disturb us, no matter what they heard? I swallowed dryly, my heartbeat picking up as his fingers curled around my shoulder and he guided me towards wherever it was he wanted me.

I stumbled along, forced to follow him, in all reality, to whatever my doom was. We came to a stop in front of a door and he opened it.

The room was large, with a bed in one corner and a desk in the other. Book shelves covered the wall to my left and a window the wall to my right.

“This is my room.” His eyes locked on mine. “I… I put a dresser in here and cleared out closet space for you- if you want it.” He paused as something flashed across his eyes. Was it disappointment? He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. “If you’d like there is a guest room down the hall. I… I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine.” I didn’t want to let on to how hard this was for me. If I took the guest room there would be a lot of talk behind it and who knows how it would affect my and Nathan’s relationship. The most I could do was try not to become hated within my first couple of days here.  Without another word I stepped it to the bedroom and looked around. With white walls and black sheets I had to admit it was a nice room.
I could have worse places to sleep.
I admitted, but only to myself. I dropped my suitcase beside the dresser and went to the bookshelf. He had lots of books. “Are they all yours?”

“Yes… I um, cleared a shelf off for you, if you need more room… just let me know. Same goes for the dresser; we can always buy a new one.”

I had to admit, he was trying to make me feel at home. I turned to him and saw something cross his face that I couldn’t read. It tugged at my heart.

“Thanks.” I said. I took a deep breath. “I… I don’t think I’m ready to unpack though.” It would all just feel too raw if I unpacked. If I kept my suitcase out I could pretend I could leave if I wanted to.

“Of course.” He smiled but it looked forced. “Well, when you’re ready… if you need anything. Just let me know and we’ll get it.”

“What if I need to leave?”

My jaw dropped. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud. My hand covered my mouth as I stared at him, unable to look away and trying to process how I could have possibly said something that stupid.

His eyes locked on me. “The door is always open, but please let me know if you decide to leave. I’ll worry about you if I think you’ve gone for a run and don’t come back.”

Without another word he walked out of the room.

My heart sank into the pit of my stomach.

~

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to her. After all, what was there to say? I couldn’t be mad at her for hating me. I’d taken her from her family but the fact was I needed a mate, and Becky was… I bit my lip. I’d seen her running so many times, it was amazing we’d never actually met. When her father came to me about making a traditional deal to be sure I didn’t move in on his land I hadn’t even thought about saying no.

What did that say about me? I didn’t really want to know.

“She’ll warm up.” It was Christine who spoke. I just hoped she was right. “I’ll go see her.”

I shrugged, my way of letting her know it was allowed. Jesse looked at me. My second in command. “She’s right.” He just said that because he had a crush on her. “She will warm up to it. She just needs time to grieve. It’s hard to be taken away from your family.” It sounded like he was speaking from experience.

“I don’t want her to feel like she’s trapped here.”

“Well she’s going to.” Jesse shrugged. “Her dad gave her away, think about how that must make her feel.”

I paused. I’d been selfish. I was too worried about trying to make her feel at home that I hadn’t stopped to think about how she felt being uprooted from her home. Jesse stood. “Jack and I are going to go get some fresh air, send Christine out when she’s done in there and the three of us are going to head into town. We could use a couple things and it seems like you two need some time alone.”

He was probably right. But I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to leave us alone so soon after everything.

~

It took everything I had not to tell her to fuck off when she came into the room. I knew she was trying to be nice and I didn’t want to be a bitch; I just really wanted to be left alone. I’d changed into pants the second he left and now sat on his bed staring blankly at the floor.

“How are you doing?” She jumped right into the feelings. Great. She wanted me to open up to her. As nice as that was, it wasn’t my cup of tea.

“I… I’m fine thanks.”

“Sounds like bullshit to me.” She padded into the room and sat down beside me. “Look, I can’t begin to guess what’s going on in your head, but I just wanted to let you know that if you want to talk I’m here. I know Nate was really excited about this stuff.” She looked around the room and let out a soft laugh. “Trust me, his room did not look this nice a couple weeks ago. It’s was a mess! Such a typical boy, he put it off until the last second and then scrambled around to try and find the right stuff.” She shook her head.

I stared at her listening to what she was saying. He’d been excited? Were arranged marriages supposed to have excitement?

“And oh god, the entire time he can’t asking me ‘do you think it’s enough? Is that enough space for all her clothes? What if she has more books than that? What if she doesn’t like the bedding? Do you think it will be alright?’” She chuckled. “Honestly I think he did up the guest room in case you didn’t like the way he decorated this one.”

He’s good. Caring mate.
The wolf said.
I like him, he will protect us.

Without realizing it a smile had spread across my lips. “Well… it is a nice room.”

“Of course it is, I handled everything.” She gave me a wink and a grin. “But I’ll be sure to mention you don’t hate it. It will put him at ease a little. He’s been so on edge.” She frowned.

This had put him on edge?
I
had put him on edge? Why?

He was the alpha, it wasn’t supposed to matter what anyone else wanted. It wasn’t supposed to matter if someone didn’t want to be there, not me at least. Maybe the rest could leave if they wanted, if he wasn’t too possessive of them, but I was part of a deal. If I left the deal went up in smoke.

“Anyways.” Christine stood. “I just… wanted to make sure you’re okay. I have to admit, when Nate told us about you, I was excited. I mean, I know it’s probably really hard on you, but I’ve been the only female for years.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m just so glad to have someone who wants to get a manicure with me!”

The mental image of a werewolf with blue nails popped into my head. I smirked.

“I’ll let you unpack and have some time to yourself, just give me a shout if you want anything… and you know, aren’t ready to face everyone else.” She turned and made it to the door before I spoke.

“Hey,” She stopped. “Thank you.”

It was the best I could say right now but I could tell it had made her smile.

I was alone up there for half an hour before I heard footsteps outside of the room. He knocked gently. “Can I come in?”

“It’s your room.”

“If you like it you can have it, but I was hoping we could share it.” A nervous smile touched his lips.

I stared at him and my mind wandered back to what Christine had said. For a split second I got over my anger and gave him a real smile.

“I guess we could try that.”

He stepped towards me.

“The others went out.”

“I know.” I’d heard them leave a while ago.

“I…” He looked lost trying to find something to say so I stepped forward.

“Christine said you guys redid the room recently.”

Pink covered his face. “That’s not quite what she said, was it?”

“No.” I laughed. “But it looks good.”

“So you like it?” He looked like a puppy dog eager to please. “If you don’t we can-”

“No. I like it.”

And I did. It would be a wonderful bedroom, once I was ready to accept that it was mine- if that time ever came.

He came over to the bed and sat down beside me. He glanced at me and then held his hand out for mine.

I took it and without another word he pulled me close to him. My heart skipped a beat but for two very different reasons.

The human side of me was scared of what would happen next as his hands traced up the curves of my body gently.

The wolf side of me wanted what my human side was scared of.

“Becky,” He whispered softly. His warm breath touched my skin. Goosebumps prickled my arms. “I understand if you hate me and I won’t hold that against you but please give me a chance to win you over.”

I swallowed unsure of how to respond to that. Was I supposed to answer him at all?

One hand cupped my cheek. “Can I kiss you?” His eyes locked on mine. Those beautiful green eyes. I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

Yes.
The wolf said. She wanted to scream it, she wanted him.

I nodded without realizing that I was doing it.

Nate pulled me closer to him, a deep breath escaping his lips as he pulled me into a gentle kiss. My fingers tangled into his hair. A soft moan passed through my lips as he pulled me onto his lap. He froze.

“Um… Becky…” His eyes locked on mine. “Are… are you a..?”