Chapter 3. She's His F*ucking Mate!

Olive’s eyes widened in shock. Wayne Knight… her mate? Was that even possible? She laughed at her own stupidity. Yes, she was stupid enough to think that. She knew it was just her mind playing tricks on her and giving her what she desired. She desired a mate, and her mind was toying with her. Wayne was Cynthia’s mate. That explained why she was with them in the first place, because she couldn’t work against the cult unless she was mated.

Olive shoved the thought of Wayne being her mate to the back of her mind. She growled at her wolf to sit still and stop miscalculating things.

Though this was the very first time her wolf had acted this way toward someone, she still didn’t want to believe her. The Big Bad Alpha couldn’t be her mate. And even if he was, she was sure he would reject her. That angry look he gave her a few seconds ago made it clear he wasn’t going to show her any mercy. She closed her eyes there on the floor and fell asleep.

***

Alpha Wayne Knight was beyond angry when he saw Olive. So, she had been sent to kill him?

He walked into the kitchen, where he found the rest of his men alongside Cynthia, who was the only woman there.

Ignoring all their looks, he opened the fridge, almost yanking the door off. He pulled out a bottle of shifter-made tequila and a shot glass. He filled the glass to the brim and chugged it down.

All eyes were still on him. Seeing how angry he was, no one spoke. They thought he was having a hard time with the fact that the Vrek Cult was truly after him, just like Cynthia had said.

“Did you kill the girl already? You look so agitated,” Cynthia’s smug voice rang out to him. He looked at her, scoffed, then chugged down another shot of tequila.

“She’s alive,” he answered simply and coldly.

Cynthia smiled. From his answer, she assumed he was going to give Olive a slow death. He was going to torture her because he seemed furious and agitated. She tried to walk up to him and massage his shoulders to calm him down, but he asked a question in a deadly voice.

“Who. Tortured. Her?”

Cynthia stopped walking and blinked repeatedly.

“I did,” she answered. His face reddened as he looked at her.

“You did that to her?” he asked in a calmer voice than before.

“Yes, I did. Did I do a good job?” She smiled at him, thinking he was impressed.

He raked his fingers through his messy hair and clenched his jaw.

“You did too good a job. She looks like a battered piece of bread!” he gritted out angrily. Cynthia flinched at his tone.

“If she did a good job, then why are you yelling at her, Alpha?” Jake, his Beta, asked. Cynthia made a puppy face.

“Because that girl lying on the bare floor, bloodied and in pain, is my fucking mate!!” he barked while pointing toward the door.

Everyone in the room was shocked beyond comprehension. Their hearts dropped to their feet. Their blood ran cold, draining the color from their faces. No one moved, no one spoke, and no one even dared breathe too loudly. To say they were shocked would have been an understatement.

Cynthia—she felt like she had just died the moment he said that. The body still standing there was nothing but flesh. Her mouth hung open, her eyes widened like an owl’s, and her breathing stopped.

“What?” her subconscious mind whispered aloud for her. Wayne kept emptying glass after glass until he began to sway and had to hold onto the counter for support.

“Shit,” Jake muttered.

“How’s that…” one of the men, Terry, started to ask how that was possible, but trailed off.

The rest of the men recovered from their shock and looked at Cynthia, who was still standing there frozen like Lot’s wife. They knew how obsessed she was with their Alpha and how possessive she had become of him. She never wasted a second flaunting him in front of any woman they came across. And they knew she had been flaunting him in front of Olive too. But that same Olive had turned out to be Wayne’s mate. The irony!

“What are you going to do now?” Jake asked a very tipsy Wayne Knight. Wayne ran his fingers through his hair and clutched it tightly.

“I don’t know. I fucking don’t know,” he muttered and reached for another shot, but Jake grabbed the glass and poured the liquor into the sink. He put the bottle back in the fridge and shut the door.

“Is she still there? In that room?”

“Yes. I couldn’t stand the sight of her,” Wayne answered and closed his eyes as though she were still standing before him. The blood flowing down her face hurt him deeply. How dare Cynthia?

“Terry, go take her to a room with a bed. Clean her up and find something for her to eat,” Jake ordered. Terry was about to leave when Wayne straightened up.

“No. I’ll go clean her up. You go get her some food,” he said and walked out of the room, swaying slightly. Terry looked at Jake with questions written all over his face.

“What are you waiting for?” Jake asked.

He glanced at the door, then back at Jake. “Are you sure that’s really his mate? What if this is just—”

“Terry, how many years have you been with Wayne?” Jake cut him off.

“Roughly five years,” Terry answered.

“And have you ever seen him spare a victim, get drunk over a victim, clean up a victim, or get furious because someone hurt her?”

Terry gulped. Truly, everything that had just happened was completely foreign. The Big Bad Alpha wasn’t a man known for emotions other than hate, anger, and pleasure. He didn’t have sympathy, empathy, love, or kindness for anyone outside his circle. So for him to spare someone sent to kill him, that was definitely something new.

“Now go get that girl some food,” Jake added, and Terry walked out of the kitchen. There was no food in the house because they had come there specifically to set a trap for Olive. The tequila bottle was the only thing in the fridge, and it belonged to Wayne. Since it was still early morning, it wasn’t difficult to find food outside.

Wayne Knight staggered until he reached the empty room where Olive was being kept. He opened the door and steadied himself. He saw her lying curled up on the floor, surrounded by blood. So, this was his mate. The one created for him… and him alone.

What if he had let his men kill her immediately the night before when she was caught? That would have been how he lost his mate forever.

He walked up to her and bent down. Her hair covered most of her face. He gently brushed it aside and stared at her.

She was truly a mess. He saw torn skin on her neck and face and knew it must have been from the whip striking those areas. He shuddered at the thought of what the rest of her body must look like. Carefully, as though she were a newborn baby, he lifted her into his arms. She whimpered and winced in pain but didn’t wake from her sleep. He carried her to the room where he had slept the night before.

After laying her on the bed, he began tearing off her clothes until only her underwear remained. He closed his eyes at the sight of her skin. He had no idea someone’s wounds could affect him this much. He didn’t want to look at her in that condition, but he also didn’t want any of his men seeing her like that either. It would humiliate her to be seen in such a state… even though she had already been tortured in front of them.

Wayne got towels and a bowl of warm water from the bathroom, then began wiping the blood from her body. She wasn’t healing, which worried him slightly. Some of her wounds continued seeping fresh blood. Still, he managed to clean her up completely.

He didn’t want to see her naked, so her bra and panties remained on. He treated her injuries and rubbed healing balm from his pack onto them. Then he covered her with a blanket and gently removed her panties and unhooked her bra, being careful not to touch her skin. He was sure she had injuries there too, but he simply didn’t want to see her naked.

On any normal day, he wouldn’t have cared if she were the curviest woman in the world. He could have seen her naked and not looked twice. But today wasn’t normal for Wayne Knight. He had found his mate—the woman he had ordered tortured, the same woman he had wanted dead.

Olive slept soundly and didn’t stir once. Her face was still flushed because her blood hadn’t cooled yet; she needed time for her body temperature to stabilize. He left her there after discarding her torn clothes and underwear. He closed the door, walked into the kitchen to wash his hands, and then headed outside. He found his men gathered in front of the house. His face was locked in a terrible frown, and they all straightened immediately, knowing he was still in a foul mood.

“Where is Cynthia?” he asked.

“She’s in my bathroom,” Jake answered. Wayne’s brows furrowed, and he looked upward as though he could see through the ceiling.

“Jake, go stand by the door to my room. Don’t leave until I return,” he ordered and started walking toward his car parked in the driveway.

“Uh, where are you going?” Jake asked.

“To get some clothes for Olive,” he answered before opening the car door and climbing inside.

Jericho, one of his men, looked at Wayne and stifled a laugh. Jake shot him a glare, and he looked away immediately.

“Okay, Alpha,” Jake replied and headed inside. He had an idea why Wayne had ordered him to stand guard there. It was because he feared Cynthia might try to hurt Olive. Everyone knew the relationship between Cynthia and Olive was anything but friendly.

Alpha Knight drove off to buy new clothes for Olive. He didn’t know her exact size, but he could estimate what would fit her. When he returned, he found Jake standing outside his bedroom door.

Wayne gave him an appreciative look, and Jake walked away. He opened the door and stepped inside, only to be met by the wide, terrified green eyes of his mate.