His Unidentified & Untouchable Mate

Anxious Anticipation

Zahraa POV

Nervous wasn’t a strong enough word to describe how I was feeling. This meeting would change the course of my life, one way or another.

I’d tried to dress professionally, in a pencil skirt with hose and nice shoes, but I couldn’t go exposing skin – so I’d had to wear a turtleneck, and my usual black leather gloves. I brought with me everything I had to prove my worth to the pack – my diploma with honors, my college acceptance letter, and an outline of reasons I needed pack resources.

A car was waiting at the entry to the building for me and four others. We loaded in with heavy silence, all tense.

“Did you bring what I told you to?” Alpha Rowan asked. He was one of the only people that didn’t seem to think of wards as a burden on pack resources. He’d taken the time out of his busy morning to drive us to the central pack, where we would apply for a longer residency.

We all droned yes, except for one – a boy by the name of Edgar.

Edgar was human. His family had been killed by vampires, which left him scarred, with a knowledge of supernatural things he had no business knowing about. The pack picked him up to educate him, to help him through his fears.

But he was still fearful. To the extent that he never went to school, that he barely left the ward’s quarters.

“Edgar?” Rowan asked, “I didn’t hear you.”

“I don’t have anything to offer,” he muttered, under his breath. “There was nothing to bring.”

I could see the furrow of Rowan’s brow. “I see. Well, I’ll put in a good word for you regardless.”

I reached over and put my gloved hand over Edgar’s lightly. I’m not sure if it’s because he didn’t know what I was, that he didn’t fear me so much as the others, or if it was something else, but he squeezed my fingers in return and offered me a half smile.

We rode in dreadful silence to the central pack house, where Rowan parked us. “Now, you’re the only graduating wards that applied to stay this year. I’ll be back to pick you up later.” He paused as we shuffled out of the van, then smiled out the window at us. “Good luck – all of you.”

I turned to go but heard my name before I got too far. I turned to see Rowan waving me down.

“Yes, alpha?” I asked, hesitantly. Rowan was my personal savior – he’d rescued me from a life far, far worse than I could’ve had. When everyone else wanted me gone, he vouched for me.

Without Rowan, I’m sure I would’ve been dead by now.

“Whatever happens in there, you’ll always have my personal support,” he said. “We’ve been through more than any of these others have, and I don’t intend to let you go before we get answers to all our questions.”

I could feel his pure determination, but it just didn’t feel as touching now as it had before. We’d been trying for ten years, after all, with no results.

Regardless, I nodded my head. “Thank you, alpha.”

“I’m sure everything will be alright,” Rowan forced a smile, “Go on, then. You’d better catch up.”

I nodded, turning and jogging to catch up.

A turtleneck in California summer heat was brutal, but necessary. By the time I caught up to the others, I was sweating – and when we entered the central pack house with it’s blessed air conditioning, I sighed with relief, tugging at my collar.

An older woman cleared her throat and looked over us with disapproving stares. “Follow me, and I’ll take you to a waiting room. You’ll be called upon when it’s your time.”

Muttered thanks were uttered, and we followed her through the pack house. It was styled like a cabin, but impossibly large, with a spiral staircase stretching the too-high ceiling. A fireplace so large I could stand in it was in the main room, in which several younger wolves were lounging around, talking animatedly. We passed it, disappearing into a wide hallway, lined with pictures.

The largest was a portrait of the alpha and his very large family: five sons and two daughters. Others were pictures from events they’d held. There was Alpha Rowan and his omegas manning the picnic, Alpha Jared and his twelfth annual boxing tournament, alongside the champion gamma, Alpha Archer and his carnival fundraiser, Alpha Samuel at the annual alpha conference. I almost stopped in my tracks when I saw one with Jacob – well, kind of. It was a picture of the high alpha, after a successful negotiation with a hostile pack. He was shaking the other alpha’s hand, but in the background was Jacob, standing straight, hands behind his back.

It reminded me of last night and brought a fresh flush to my cheeks. Luckily, I shouldn’t be seeing him again anytime soon.

The sitting room was nice, with a large painting of a wolf and more photographs – these had plaques under them. When we were deposited, I started roaming the room, reading each picture and its description – which brought rise to a new game. Spot Jacob.

He attended all the events, it would seem – even helped out with a few of them. He could be found somewhere in the background, working while the assorted alphas were smiling proudly at the cameras. By the time my name was called for my meeting, I’d found him in ten of the twelve pictures I’d searched.

The omega assisting the meetings called two names – mine and Edgar’s. She dropped Edgar off at an office across the hall from the one she dropped me off at. She knocked on the door twice, paused, quirking her head to the side as if listening for something no one else could hear, then opened the door.

And I was face to face with him again.

My mouth went dry, but I stepped forward with feigned confidence, trying my best not to flinch when the door behind me clicked shut.

“Have a seat,” Jacob said, without looking up from my file. “Zahraa Snow.”

I sat obediently. On the clear spot in front of my seat, I placed my file. “I brought a few more things to help your consideration.”

His eyes flickered to the folder, then up to me. “May I?”

“Of course,” I replied, in what I hoped was a calm manner.

He accepted the file and flipped it open, leaving whatever he had in that old file open. He glanced back and forth between them for a few minutes, while I desperately worried that last night’s events might have sealed my fate.

He let me sweat for what felt like an eternity, then shut both files, steepled his hands and looked at me with a deadpan stare. “Your file looks promising, Zahraa. But I’d like to hear it from you: why should we keep you here at the Wild Fangs pack?”