Mated: Reluctant Love

Author's note: I haven't written fantasy romance in a long time and wanted to start diving back in. This is inspired by several of my recent readings on this site as well as in published works. I'm trying to wrap this in 3-5 parts but is a total of around 40k words I think. Thank you for reading!

Lifting my drink up to my lips, I glanced around the neon-lit club with vague disinterest. I had been sitting here for the last hour ever since my left heel broke in the middle of Chappell Roan's 'Good Luck Babe' on the dance floor. This silver strappy pair of heels were on the last leg of their life, I knew, but I'd been hoping they would hold out just a little longer. Yet here I was, not wanting to go barefoot, and left in the corner.

There was no one to call me Baby so I stayed there a while longer.

"Let's go!" Someone screamed right next to me. I jumped, my drink sloshing halfway in my lap. So now my skirt was ruined----perfect.

Two guys pushed by and jostled me again. The third lingered to turn and nod at me. He made a smirk like it was supposed to fix the situation of my spilled drink, like acknowledgement from him would solve everything. All I did in response was roll my eyes so he left. It wasn't like I needed anyone else here.

Of course, I had come with someone. Lacey, Will, and Quinn. But Quinn and I had wound up in another argument. It didn't help I had broken a heel in the middle of me telling him to grow up, so now neither of us wanted to talk to each other----and neither of us had to. I had left him on the dance floor and limped off in a huff.

Part of me regretted it but part of me didn't. He was talking to his ex again. What was I supposed to do, just be okay with it? I was so sick of being everyone's rebound.

I would have left by now if Lacey wasn't my ride home. My car had broken down for the fourth time. There was a good chance there wouldn't be a fifth and tonight was supposed to help me forget. Except now I had a drink----half in my lap and half in the glass----and wound up totally alone at a crowded club I didn't even want to go to.

Dancing was fun sometimes. But I would have rather gone to a quiet bar with an arcade or gone for a midnight hike in the valley and brought along a few beers.

This was what I got for giving into Lacey. And for arguing with Quinn. Even the fun, colorful lights couldn't lift my mood. I glanced at the remaining ounce or two in my glass and shrugged. I drained it and winced, remembering yet again why I preferred ciders. But no one drinks cider at the club, Lacey was always saying.

I checked my phone to find it only at twenty percent. I hated leaving it anywhere under fifty, and looked around as if someone might have a charger for me. But I hadn't brought my purse and neither had Lacey. Quinn might have brought something in his jacket, but he'd checked it; there also wasn't a chance in the world I was going to ask him for anything.

"Pen!" I managed not to flinch this time when someone screamed in my ear.

Forcing a smile, I looked to Lacey. She was ready for a rave in her bright clothes and body paint. Her hair was slicked back and dotted in fun, glowing stickers. And as much as I wanted to hate her, it was nice to see her so happy. Med school could be such a drain. "Hey, Lacey. How's the dancing out there?"

"So good! You should just come out barefoot!"

Not after seeing a girl vomit on there two hours ago. They'd only used paper towels to clean it up and it left my imagination too active about what else could be there. I shook my head. I glanced at my phone again to consider my options. I didn't have a lot of funds to use on my card at the moment, but a cab home couldn't go too bad, could it?

"Thanks, but I think I'll go home." But taking a cab sounded awful. Especially ride shares at this time of night meant creeps. So I quickly tried asking, "Can I take your car and you can go with Will?"

Sighing, she shook her head. Lacey's critical look fell on me as she fluffed my already ridiculously fluffy hair. "You look so great. Like you just walked out of an eighties magazine only a hundred times hotter. Quinn keeps looking back over here, you know."

"Quinn is an asshole," I reminded her. "I'm not talking to him. The car, Lacey?"

"I need to drive Will back after this, sorry."

That didn't make sense seeing as he had his own car. "Doesn't he have a car?"

"Yeah, but he lent it to his grandmother this morning. Isn't that sweet?" She beamed, always able to see the best in people. I hated that. Sometimes it was the worst, like now. "Quinn hitched a ride over so he doesn't have his car either. I'm taking them both back."

Right, because they lived in the expensive dorms which she and I couldn't afford as scholarship students. A groan escaped my lips. Tonight had been a complete bust. What a mistake. I hated everything and couldn't do anything. The lights were too bright, blurring my vision. I tried to wipe my eyes while still holding the glass and wound up dropping it. We both screeched.

I grabbed her hand so she didn't try reaching down to grab the broken glass. She couldn't be that stupid. A sheepish smile crossed her face as I shouted an apology over the music for tonight's behavior. "Sorry! I think I'm tired."

"You don't look so great," she admitted, righting me when I tried again to lean against the corner table I'd stolen over an hour ago. "Do you want me to walk out with you?"

Over her shoulder I saw Will making his way over. Or three of him. I blinked several times to clear my vision and shook my head. "No, you can stay."

"Fine, but text me when you get home," she reminded me.

"I will."

With that, I hastily made my way to the exit. There was no way to escape all the dancers here. I was jostled about and touched by everyone. My limbs felt soggy, slow and weak. I accounted it toward the music on my way. At one point, I stumbled into the lap of someone when an elbow shoved me in my lower back.

"Careful!" The guy grabbed my upper arms to pull me back up. "Are you all right?"

He was shouting in my face but I had to read his lips to understand. They happened to be very pretty lips, I realized. I blinked several times before looking up to find gray eyes looking at me. He stared back. His nose twitched and I wondered if he could smell the whiskey I had spilled. There was a bitter taste lingering on my tongue as I licked my lips. Hot damn, he was beautiful.

Dark shaggy hair covered his forehead. I could tell he was with other people, all of them looking at us, but my vision zeroed in on him for a minute. Everything blurred and then focused on him. A crooked nose, plump lips, and a hard jaw line. Dark eyes that seared into my soul, so nothing out of the ordinary. Just a light skip of my heartbeat. After his nose twitched, however, he pressed his lips tightly together like he was unpleased.

Probably because I was in his lap.

"Sorry!" I finally sputtered, awkwardly pulling myself free.

Maybe this was all his fault because I realized he was sitting on the edge of a low table with a few of his friends. They all hovered about as I backed up, righting myself. I felt too many eyes on me as the man before me stood, following me.

"Can I----"

He was gorgeous. There was nothing to say about him but that. Gorgeous. I wanted to kiss him, to feel him, to devour him.

But at the same time, my stomach was queasy. Something was beginning to feel off inside me. I felt ridiculously lightheaded. Everything was doubling in my vision. I needed fresh air----or something. Realizing that I needed to still get home to where I could be safe, I shook my head. "I have to go!" I shouted at him over a new song that seemed twice as loud.

"Where?"

"Home!"

"I'll take you!"

"No way!" I wasn't that much of a fool. Even pretty boys could cause real damage.

"But----"

When he reached for me, I shied away and resumed my search for the exit. The room was suffocatingly hot. All I had was my phone in my hands. It fit inside my top snug between my ample breasts but not inside my skintight skirt. I would need my phone now to call a cab.

Stumbling out into the night at last, I leaned against the wall in relief of finally escaping the suffocating club. Maybe all I needed was fresh air. Then my vision was would return and my stomach would stop feeling queasy. I rubbed my eyes hard with the palms of my hands. Then I slid further until my ass was nearly on the ground, my elbows resting on my knees. I waited a minute to no avail. There was acid in my esophagus and my head was still swimming.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it," I muttered while fumbling with my phone.

It was down to fifteen percent. By ten percent, it ran the stupid risk of turning off like it was out of power after all. Why was technology so stupid? I needed to call a cab or something to get home. Otherwise, I'd be stuck here all night. Rubbing my face, I tried to focus and find an app that could hook me up to a ride.

"Hey there, are you okay?"

I looked up with the hopes it was the gorgeous man from before. Instead, it was a group of three guys. There was amusement on their faces as they looked down at me and then at each other. I felt like I was the butt of a joke. Frowning, I shook my head. "I'm fine, you can go away."

Part of me was aware I was being stupid. Stupid in not getting up or being harsher to make them leave me alone. I was in med school and knew the horror stories of what could happen to women. Hadn't my parents warned me to never talk to people I didn't know? Boys especially. They could cause a lot of damage for girls if we made a single misstep. Life was messier for us. There were more dangers. We had to take precautions like avoiding strangers, not being alone in the dark, and keeping our drinks to ourselves.

"Aw, come on." One of the guys crouched down. I didn't like the sly smile on his face. "I think we can help."

"Help with what?" I asked dumbly. My words were starting to slur, I realized dimly, but I didn't know what to do about it.

I blinked and sagged a little further against the wall. It hurt my back but I couldn't find the energy to move. I didn't even have the energy to stop the third guy from coming over and plucking my phone right out of my hands. I thought I reached out but I didn't see my arm move.

"Ah." He waved my phone about to the others. "She's looking for a ride. We can help with that, can't we?"

The other two laughed. "We can definitely do that."

"I don't need help." My eyelids were weighing me down. I felt myself starting to tip over but my arms weren't strong enough to keep me up. It was the oddest sensation. Like I was swimming through thin air. I would have thought it was like falling asleep in a pillow, drugs like whatever they must have put in my drink earlier. A smooth slide I couldn't have noticed.

But wasn't my drink bitter? More bitter than usual? Maybe that was my imagination. There was no telling now. But falling on my side was not like falling on a pillow. I felt the gravel dig into my elbow and cheek.

Though I tried to keep my eyes open, the voice inside my head screaming to do something, I couldn't. They closed and I tried to even my breathing to hear what was going on around me. The fear was close but felt right out reach. I should be terrified. My body shivered. Everything was going so wrong too fast.

"What's going on out here?" A new voice interrupted the laughter. I thought I heard a growl, but nothing came to mind after that.

~ ~ ~

I woke up feeling dryer than Death Valley. My skin felt shriveled and I wanted to throw up in my mouth but lacked the moisture. Everything ached as well. It felt like I was coming back from an ugly fever, though I couldn't recall suffering that way when I was last awake.

Whenever I was last awake, anyways. Time wasn't feeling normal to me.

It was the voices that brought me out of the weird dreams that I couldn't quite recall----and didn't get the feeling I wanted to remember. People were arguing nearby. Part of me wanted to bury myself back in the dreams just to not deal with the drama while another part was begging for water. I was nearly ready to drown myself just to feel normal in my own skin again.

"You don't even know her name," someone snarled. The voice was more feminine but I couldn't quite place them. "You can't just kidnap her!"

That didn't sound good.

"I saved her! I didn't hurt her. They did!"

"Yes, and you dealt with them. Now it's time to take her home. I don't care what you have to say; we don't kidnap people. You said once you became the Alpha, you would do away with the traditional shit!"

The word Alpha was enough to wake me up. It made me want to gag. Groaning, I tried to pry my eyes open. Maybe they were too dry. Everything blurred. I thought I saw gray and some body movement but that was all I could figure out.

"Alphas don't make sense out in nature and are total garbage," I managed to blurt through a dry mouth. "The wolf study was all a lie. When it was written by that guy, he----"

"Shh, it's okay." A hand gentled on my shoulder.

"That's what she wakes up to say? Yeah, Warren, you found yourself a real winner," came the other voice dryly. "Dana, aren't you going to say anything? I can't be the only one upset here."

A soft laugh sounded further away while I tried to shrug off the physical contact. My hands were trapped in the blankets but I managed to wrestle one free to start rubbing my eyes. "I'm just as upset as you are, babe. However, she needed help. Maybe we should think of it as a rescue mission. It's not like Warren won't let her go... right, Warren?"

The hand on my shoulder returned. It was warm and tense. I managed to look at it, noting it was rather masculine. Thick fingers with a hand gently brushed over in dark hair. It was not, I managed to put together, Lacey's hand. I hadn't heard her voice here and it only confused me more. My stomach clenched but told me nothing about where I was.

"I'll do what I need to do."

Hearing a growl over me, I squinted before I was finally able to focus. The beating of my heart picked up. Maybe he could hear because he turned down to look at me. Eyes widening, I gaped at the gorgeous man standing over me. He was even touching me. I glanced at the hand just to make sure I wasn't dreaming and then back at his face.

"Don't panic," he started.

Obviously, I couldn't trust a stranger, so I started screaming.

My body felt uncomfortable and heavy, and still dry, but I found the energy to grab the pillow behind me and fling it at him. It wasn't the best sort of weapon, I had to admit. He didn't even have the decency to flinch. But reality was crashing down fast and I knew I had to act fast.

"Get away from me! Don't you touch me!" I screamed again at the two people at the end of the bed.

My bed? No, I had never been here before. This wasn't my bed and it wasn't even my home. Nothing looked or sounded familiar, which meant serious danger.

The person in the corner threw their hands up in defeat before looking at the woman who gaped at me. Apparently, my reaction was not what they were expecting. As for the gorgeous man, he had taken a step back to raise his hands up in surrender.

As if I could believe that after taking a date rape drug.

The room was gray and spacious and as unfamiliar to me as these three people were. I started to climb out of bed before shrieking again, and tugging the blankets over me when everything suddenly felt too cold. "Where the hell are my clothes?!" Then I whirled on him angrily. "What did you do to me?"

"Nothing, I didn't do anything," he began to explain in a calm voice.

"Don't you come near me," I hissed, grappling for anything else I might find. My hands located something under my pillow and I grabbed it. It was my phone. I threw it without thinking, regretting the move at once. I needed my phone.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, he caught it.

My shout fell apart in a short choking sound as I stared at him. His arm had moved faster than I could have seen it properly. But he still caught my phone. After I threw it. Me, who was kicked out of softball league because I couldn't throw anything anywhere no matter how much I practiced. It had to have gone wild so how did he catch the phone?

"Can you stop screaming?"

I flinched, turning back to the others at the end of the bed. The tall skinny one waved at me. I glanced them over warily and then to the woman who beamed. "We're not going to hurt you," the first one added in annoyance.

"They're right. Even though Jac isn't always sweet, they never lie. And I won't either. I'm Dana, that's Jac, and that's Warren. Are you thirsty?" The woman asked me like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Okay so may I was a little fast with the screaming thing.

Chest heaving, I glanced between the party of three as they stood around watching and waiting. They all had drastically different things on their minds. I could tell. Jac didn't want to be here and kept eyeing the door. Dana was just happy to be here, smiling at everyone. And Warren... He was a little harder to read. I inched away from him from my place under the blankets, wondering what he was doing if he hadn't already done something to me. I didn't get that sense from him that he would have done something. But it didn't make a lot of sense if I was waking up a strange guy's bed naked if something hadn't happened.

"Warren, the water," Dana prompted.

I warily watched him reach over on the nightstand. Antiques, I noticed dimly. Nineteenth century and still in great condition. There was a thick square coaster on top holding a small glass of water, which he offered to me without saying a word.

"That seems like a bad idea," I said finally.

Sighing, he raised an eyebrow before he took a sip. I squinted and watched

just to be certain. A droplet of water spilled down his jaw and down his throat as he swallowed. I watched his Adam's apple move in fascination before catching myself. When he offered the glass to me again, I hesitated before accepting it. And then I drained it in a second.

"I knew it wasn't a big enough glass."

"Jac." Warren turned to them with a sharp glance. "Maybe it's time you left."

"No, I think I should leave," I retorted. "But I need clothes."

Dana clasped her hands together. "Totally, we'll totally take care of that. Only they're in the washing machine still." She saw me glance toward the window. There were thick white blinds pulled over it but I still saw the daylight creeping through. I wondered how long I had been here and then wondered if Lacey had noticed I had never texted her or made it home. As I eyed my phone in Warren's hands, Dana chattered on. "We were hoping to have them clean by now but the door broke again and everything is still sudsy. It'll just take a few hours until we get that fixed."

"I'm not staying here for hours," I protested.

"Told you. We need to take her home," Jac confirmed.

"Jac, you can go," Warren pointed out again. Then he turned to me with a frown. "You can't leave naked."

My eyes narrowed. "You would like that, wouldn't you?"

His lips twitched but he apparently had enough decency not to say this aloud. Still, the way his eyes lingered on me seemed to say he was imagining just that. I tried to hold back a shiver and looked away.

And then this Warren guy told me, "We got you in bed and you took everything off yourself. No one touched you or hurt you."

That took me aback. My mouth dropped open even though I wasn't really that surprised. There was a weight of truth in the air. Blinking several times, I looked down to where I clutched the blankets close to my chest. One was ridiculously soft, the one pressed to my breasts. Then the larger duvet was light and comforting. As for my body... dry in every way, I supposed. Nothing felt weird or sore. I shifted experimentally before relaxing again. My legs rubbed against each other, feeling like sandpaper.