Chapter 2

"Spare, you are not going to like this, but since you are my mate, and now you know I am here, you are going to have to come with me to my pack."

"What?! No! I can't. I graduate in three months. I have money saved up so I can leave here and go to college. It’s the only thing I have had to hold on to all these years. I promise I won’t tell anyone; believe me, I have no one to tell.”

Her pleas were once again breaking his heart, but his decision stood: she is coming with him.

“When your shift ends, I will take you home. You will quietly gather anything you want to take with you. As for your schooling, we will discuss it once we are safe and on our way.”

Spare should be mad. Every time she looked at him and smelled his delicious scent, she just went weak in the knees. She wanted to scream, but all she did was nod her head. It shouldn’t be too hard to get her things, since they were all planning on going out on the town tonight for some sort of celebration.

Spare finished her shift and returned to Duncan’s room. He was carrying a backpack as he guided her to his truck. “Ok, my little wolf. Time to get your things, and I will get you far away from here.”

They drove in silence, then parked on a side street from her house. She took one look at him as she got out of the truck. He smiled a wolfish smile. “Little wolf, don’t make me chase you. At least not tonight.” He could see her shiver as she walked back to her house.

He knew he’d lied to her when he told her that she knew he was here and would have to come with him. He just couldn’t leave her here, knowing she was living in that house with that family. He’d finally found his mate; he wasn’t letting her out of his sight ever again. They would have to do something about her name; he refused to keep calling her Spare. Her mother was a cruel bitch to give her that name.

Spare grabbed what little stuff she had and her saved-up money, angrily stuffing it all into an old duffel bag. Lastly, she grabbed Max, her teddy bear. She had made him from all the torn-up ones Lilly tossed away in her temper tantrums. She snuck back out of the house and walked up to the truck, cursing herself and this mate-bond crap. She yanked open the door, got inside, and slammed it shut just as her family pulled up into their drive.

It is a long four hundred miles when there is an angry she-wolf in the truck with you. At first, he said nothing, but when he looked over at her silent figure, he noticed tears running down her face. “Crap," his wolf said in his mind. "We made our mate cry.”

“Look, I am sorry about your plans. I promise, though, to make it up to you. Your life is going to change as my Luna. My pack is a strong pack; we have over two thousand members. All of us are warriors; you will be safe.”

“Won’t your warrior pack be disappointed in a Luna that can’t fight? I was never allowed to train.”

Duncan didn’t even give it a second thought; it didn’t matter to him, and it won’t matter to his pack either. He was more worried that she was so thin; clearly, she needed to eat better. He was going to take her straight to the pack doctor for a checkup to make sure she was okay. Then they will have breakfast, and he'd get her settled in his room.

He knew she was angry, and putting her in his room wasn’t going to make things better. He didn’t care; he was going to put her where he knew she was safe.

She’d fallen asleep two hours ago when they were almost home. Ten minutes later, he pulled up to the gate as the guards waved him through. He came up to the pack house and parked the truck. He looked over at her; she must have been exhausted to sleep so deeply.

He decided to change his plans a little. He'd take her to his bed and let her sleep. He carried her inside the house as various pack members stared on in curiosity.

Once in his room, he laid her down on his bed, took off her shoes and jacket, then covered her up with his blankets. It was a very satisfying feeling to see her in his bed. He decided to look into her duffel bag; there wasn’t much there, that was for sure. A really odd-looking teddy bear, a couple of T-shirts, a pair of jeans, a couple of pairs of underwear, and a bra.

In the bottom was an envelope. He looked inside. It must be the money she had saved up. He counted it; there was over three thousand dollars in there. He went over to his hidden safe and put the money in there for her. He took note of the sizes of her clothes and then put them all neatly in the top drawer of his dresser.

He left her to sleep and mind-linked his beta, Marco, to meet him in his office. Marco was already there waiting for him, with a big grin on his face. Duncan chuckled; not much happens here that he doesn’t know or find out.

“So, Duncan, did you find something interesting at the Rising ‘Nasty’ Moon pack?”

“You know I did, asshole. I found my mate, and you are not going to believe who she is.”

“Well, don’t keep me waiting in suspense, drama queen. Who is she?”

“She is the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. Her name is Spare Williams—yes, as in the Williams of Rising Moon Pack. She is their second pup, fraternal twins. She is nothing like that scanky slut Lily. As a matter of fact, she found me knocked out on the hotel floor; she is, or rather was, a maid there.”

“Spare? As in a spare tire? That isn’t a nice name,” Marco said with disgust. How could a mother do that to her child? "Seriously, this pack is a piece of shit. Did you get any evidence before they made you leave?"

“I got some names of places to look up and names of missing girls; not all of them are wolves either, seems they like variety. They are taking girls from human towns, too—not too many at a time, and not at the same place.”

“Maybe your mate will know a few things?”

“I don’t think so; she was living in the shadows. I doubt there were many pack members that even knew of her existence. You are right, though; it won’t hurt to ask her, even though she is really pissed at me right now.”

“Oh, really? And pray tell, why is she pissed at you? Did you use your not-so-charming charm on her, perhaps?”

“Nope. As it turns out, I ruined her plans to escape her pack. She was saving up every penny to make her way to college. I don’t know what her life was like, but I can tell you it wasn’t all that good. She is underweight, for one thing. She is as jumpy as a long-tailed cat in a rocking chair factory. I can also tell you she is smart and clever as well. She is also fast and is probably going to plan escaping here as well, at least till we can show her what a pack is really like.”

“We will take it slow, Duncan. She is going to be scared and untrusting for a while, but we will win her over. Show her she doesn’t have to give up her dreams either.”

With that, Marco went off to check the border patrol, and then he was off to bed. Duncan sat in his office, watching the fire in the fireplace, thinking of his wonderful mate and all the things that she is going to have to go through to be normal again.

He knew he was going to have to take it slow with her and earn her trust. He was going to go back to her family house and have a look around; he will have to use his special talent to become invisible to do it. That whole pack is a den of vipers, in serious need of being taken down.

As for Spare’s dreams of college, he had no problem helping her gain that dream. He was also going to have her change that name of hers; he wasn’t going to let that name be a reminder of what they did to her, for the rest of her life.

He texted his sister, Marnie, telling her everything and sending her Spare’s sizes, asking her to get enough for a few weeks until they could take her shopping. Marnie was a very cheerful and wise nineteen-year-old she-wolf, who also had a mean side if anyone messed with someone she cared for.

Marnie texted back that she will be there tomorrow afternoon with all the things that Spare might need.

With that, it was time for bed. He had someone bring a spare cot to his bedroom; he wasn’t going to frighten her right off the bat.

When he got into his room, her scent hit him like a runaway train. His wolf wanted to mate her and mark her right now. Duncan cooled him off by reminding him that they had to earn her trust first. There she was, sound asleep in his bed; she might not know it yet, but it was going to be the only bed she would be sleeping in for the rest of her life.

She was clutching that weird bear and his pillow. He was going to have to ask her what the deal was with that bear; it looked like it was pieced together from a bunch of other stuffed toys.

She was even more gorgeous in her sleep. God, her scent took on a warmer, sleepy quality to it, making his mouth water and his cock hard in anticipation. Sigh, this isn’t going to be easy to go slow.

Duncan knew he was in for several cold showers as he walked into his bathroom for his first one.