*Authors note: Thanks for taking the time to read this! Any comments are appreciated and please take the time to vote! Any useful criticism is always welcome, along with any insight. Be warned that this is story based, not sex based, so be prepared if you are looking for a 'quickie'.*
.........
"Why can't the pack come to the 21st century? Why do we still have these archaic rules? So, you are just going to pimp me out to another pack? Really?" Kaylee fumed as she listened to her alpha. It was so unfair. Why did she have to be shipped out to another pack?
"Kaylee," her alpha said, exasperated. "We've been over this countless times! You know how this works; you know what happened when Hunter came here this last winter. You know what protocol states. He's the alpha of his pack, so you must go to him."
"What if I don't want to be mated to him? You can't just make me..."
"Kaylee! Enough! You get no choice in who your mate is, you are lucky to actually find your mate. There are several pack members who have yet to come across their mate."
"But Hunter is like 70 years older than me! Are you trying to pimp me out to some old guy? Who do I look like to you, Anna Nicole Smith?"
Her alpha covered his face with his hands. He looked like he was counting again. He must be hitting a thousand by now. Kaylee knew what would happen if she ever found her mate. One or the other would have to leave their pack to join the other. But she had the misfortune to have a mate who is an alpha of his own pack. Which meant relocating from Oregon to Montana. She had never been outside of Oregon before.
"Werewolves don't age, Kaylee. Why are you being so difficult?"
"Because I don't want to leave the only home I've ever known!" Kaylee yelled at him. A tear slipped down her face and she turned her back to him and stared out his office window. She heard her alpha sigh behind her and then felt his hands on her shoulders.
"I know you don't want to leave. And I know that going somewhere where you know no one is scary. But Kaylee, Hunter is a good man. He'll take care of you." He turned her around and pulled her into his arms. "It will be alright. You'll soon come to love him and look back at this day and laugh at yourself."
"Not bloody likely," Kaylee murmured into his chest.
"Come; let's run with the pack one last time before we leave."
Kaylee relented, for now, and followed her alpha outside where several of the pack was already changed. Kaylee closed her eyes and tried to do the same to her heart. She stripped out of her clothing and got to all fours and began to change. She would enjoy this last run with her pack, since she was sure she would hate her new one in Montana.
...........
"Gordon!" Kaylee turned her head in the direction of the voice. She had just gotten out of the car when someone approached. She had hoped to put off seeing Hunter a while longer. Like, maybe a few months, or even a year. But she had been packed up and in the car the day after her last run. Her alpha, or rather former alpha, Gordon, had driven straight through to rural Montana. She had lived closed to Portland, where there were plenty of things to do. She had never been this far away from civilization before. The only thing she was excited about was having more room to run. It was hard to do where she had grown up.
Hunter approached them as Gordon walked around the car to join Kaylee. He had her bags in hand already and sat them down beside her feet. Great, so he was in a hurry to get rid of her.
"Hunter," Gordon greeted the man. "How've you been?"
"Good, good. Won't you two come inside? You must be hungry."
Hunter stepped closer to Kaylee, hand extended for a shake. Before she reached out, she caught his scent. He smelled delicious. Damn it! Kaylee's hands flew to her face, trying to cut off the scent. Just because she was mated to him, doesn't mean she had to like it.
Hunter gave her a funny look before changing course and picking up her bags and leading them inside the house.
"Could you be any ruder?" Gordon hissed in her ear.
"Could you?" Kaylee spat back, which earned her an odd look from Hunter. Apparently Gordon hadn't told him the whole story yet. At least this should be a great way to amuse her.
"What's that supposed to mean," Gordon spat back.
"Just can't wait to be rid of me, can you? If you had it your way, you would have just pushed me out of the car while it was moving as you drove by!"
Gordon clenched his teeth, but didn't respond. Such a shame. Kaylee was spoiling for another fight. Gordon left her and walked inside the house after Hunter. He didn't even look back to see if she had followed him. That's what he gets for being used to all his pack obeying him automatically. Kaylee turned to stare at the car. The car, with the keys still in the ignition. Could she? Could she just take off? She wasn't like the rest of the wolves, she didn't need a pack. Right?
"Don't even think about it, Kaylee," Gordon yelled out to her. Kaylee huffed before turning back to the house and climbing the steps. She stared at the door but couldn't make herself go inside it. Not yet, anyway. She sat on the top step and decided to feel sorry for herself instead. She could hear them inside talking, probably about her. She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't sure she'd ever be ready for this.
Kaylee had always imagined when she mated it would be a gradual process. She knew it didn't work that way, but she had always hoped. Some boy from her pack, someone she'd known all her life who wouldn't take her away from her home. Who wouldn't make her move across several states.
Deep down, she knew the real problem was she knew nothing about Hunter. She'd met him once months ago when his pack visited. Packs generally don't come together like that, but there had been a civil war of sorts long before she was born. There were wolves who wanted to stay hidden from the public eye, who wanted a quiet life. There were wolves who wanted to go public about who they were. Mostly, they thought humans should fear them and that they shouldn't have to hide. Those who wanted to stay hidden and not start a war with the humans won out. Well, in the states anyway. Kaylee wasn't sure if packs everywhere else went through the same thing. Now the packs gather whenever they can to meet and discuss anything of importance and keep in contact. Probably through email, since Kaylee had never heard Gordon on the phone talking meetings or whatnot before.
"Kaylee, aren't you going to come inside?" Gordon sounded like he was losing patience. But then again, his patience had run out a long time ago, ever since Kaylee had discovered her mate. He was tired, she was sure, of fighting her tooth and nail on the subject. Kaylee had been so sure that he would relent and say she didn't have to leave, but she was wrong.
"No," Kaylee relied without turning around. Kaylee brought her knees up and hugged them to her chest. She was trying to close off her feelings. The last thing she wanted to do was breakdown in tears right now. She'd do that later, probably in the shower. She hated the abandonment she was feeling. She wasn't sure she was justified in it. Just because her parents abandoned her on Gordon's step and disappeared without a trace 26 years ago doesn't mean anyone else had abandoned her before. Until now. Stupid Gordon.
The screen door squeaked and it opened and banged shut. Kaylee tensed as footsteps approached her. She felt someone sit next to her and from the scent, it wasn't Gordon. Hunter settled in next to her, touching her from shoulders to thighs. He sat with her, patiently, until she was squirming from the silence.
"I just want to go home," Kaylee whispered.
"I know," Hunter said. No judgment, no anger nor any yelling, which was a point for him, if Kaylee cared to acknowledge that. "I know you don't want to leave your pack and coming to live here with a virtual stranger isn't easy. There are no other rules here. I can wait until you're ready, until you get to know me."
His voice was gentle and kind. He reached down for her hand and pulled her to her feet and she let him. He stood before her and she finally allowed her to get a good look at him. Okay, so he didn't look like someone's grandpa. He looked like he was in his 30s maybe and he had short dark hair and a strong muscular jaw. He was taller than she was. She was 5'5 and by the way he towered over her he was probably well over 6' tall. His eyes were a brilliant green, which were staring right back at hers with sympathy. Great. The bastard was feeling sorry for her.
"Why don't you come in and eat. You must be hungry since Gordon didn't stop for anything but gas to get here," Hunter said. He swept her blonde hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear before Kaylee moved out of his reach and hugged herself. He gave her a kind smile before holding the door open for her.