Chapter 2

What is a Mate

Mel felt trapped. She was somewhere she didn't want to be. There were people after her that she was afraid might catch her, and a mate she never wanted who was trying to defend her. It was even worse that he was a handsome devil and persistent. She suspected he would never quit or be happy until she was his.

Melina was just a little bit older than Joey. Her name was unusual. She was sure most people thought it was Melissa, but her mother liked unusual things. What would she think of it all if she knew? She would probably think it was all very cool since she was unusual. Because her mother loved unusual and odd things, Mel had gone the other way and didn't like anything unusual or strange. Oh, she hadn't minded when Joey and others had mated wolves. She only cared when those things happened to her directly.

It was just too much for her to handle. Everything was odd or unusual, and it wouldn't change any time soon.

It had been a big step when she allowed Ariel to change her to a wolf. She had done it out of fear of those coming after her, fear of being taken, and fear of losing the ability to make her own choices. Wouldn't anyone do it under those circumstances?

Except for all the fear, she never would have taken that step. It was simply too odd and unusual for someone who liked everything to go as expected. However, Ariel pointed out that the blood of wolves ran through Mel, which meant it wasn't unusual at all, at least not for her. That was when she decided to do it.

Unfortunately, that decision in and of itself was not enough to protect her. She needed more. That was why she had been forced to come to her cousin, where protection was everywhere. It was too bad that part of the protection was Adam.

She worried because he appealed to her, and she didn't want to mate, especially not a wolf. At first, she resented Adam for what he had done to Naqi. How could someone do something like that to their own brother and treat him in such an uncivilized manner?

Then she heard more about his upbringing and what happened to him. It made her feel bad for him, but she still didn't want to mate him.

She understood what led him to do what he did, even as wrong as it was, and Mel saw that he was beginning to understand how bad it was and why. He had even developed relationships with Naqi and Trev and was starting to work his way back into his pack in a way they would respect him.

Mel feared he would get back into leadership of the pack, and more than anything in the world, she did not want to be a pack alpha's bitch. Most people did not use that term, especially if the female was a white wolf, but that was what they were, whether they wanted to be called it or not.

"What are you thinking about?" Janie asked.

Mel wondered where she came from as she answered, "Nothing important." Then she asked, "Why are you here?"

"Don't you remember? We are working on hiding," Janie asked. "I thought we would have lunch and then get to it."

"I will escort you both," Adam immediately said.

Janie nodded, and they headed toward the house with him. Then, Mel realized she was hungry and was sure Adam was too. Janie walked so quickly that she must be hungry as well.

Most of the pack ate in turns in a large dining room, but she, Janie, and Adam went to the kitchen, where they could talk because the dining room was so loud. They fixed their plates and then sat down to eat, paying more attention to their food than each other.

"What is this hiding that you do?" Adam asked.

"Sometimes, a white wolf is attacked by a large group. They intend to take her, and force mate her. It happened to me, and I could hide because I knew how. A wolf has a much better ability to scent than a human does. We had to mess with that, so they couldn't be sure which way we went. They also have certain places they look, and others they don't. That needs to be used as well," Janie explained.

Adam laughed, "You two could never hide from me. I would find you every time."

"You want to bet on that?" Janie asked.

"Would you want to bet since I have no money?" He wondered.

"How about I bet a hundred, and you bet a favor whenever I need one? It won't be a difficult favor," Janie explained.

"I can do that, but how will this work?" Adam wondered.

"I will work with Mel for an hour. At that point, I'll come and get you, and you will give us ten minutes to hide. You will have ten minutes to find us. If you cannot find us in ten minutes, you will lose," Janie explained.

"That sounds easy enough. I'll go work in my woodworking tent. You come find me when you're ready," Adam agreed.

Janie and Mel took off toward the woods. "First, the easiest way to lose a wolf who is hunting you is the water. If you went through the water for a decent distance and then got out, you should be able to take off without them finding you. Another way is to take an item with your scent, put it in the water, and let it go down the river. Another way to cover your scent is by using perfume or rubbing leaves on yourself. It will disrupt your scent, and they will have difficulty finding you. Hiding behind a bush rarely works because wolves check bushes. Something that may work well is going up. For some reason, they never look up unless they hear a noise. Do you understand so far?" Janie asked.

"I do, but it is freezing, and I do not want to get wet," Mel replied.

"This is a great time to try an experiment," Janie said excitedly. "I will go through the water, and you try some leaves that smell strongly. We'll see if Adam can find either of us. Of course, the one who is found will pay him the hundred. Fair?"

"Fair, since I don't want to get wet. Any other way to hide my scent?" Mel asked.

"Yes, mud will also make your scent harder to catch," Janie explained. "When you pick the leaves to rub on yourself, the stronger smelling ones will work better. You can also use pine or cedar because they have a potent aroma."

"How did you learn all this?" Mel asked.

"Damon and Tyne taught me when I was staying with Ariel," Janie admitted. "Do you think you're ready to hide? Let's go get Adam," Janie suggested.

"I'm ready to see how this works," Mel admitted.

Janie led the way to where Adam was working.

"You two ready to hide?" Adam asked.

"We are. Wait ten minutes, and you can come after us," Janie explained.

"Are you sure you do not need longer? I am an alpha with an excellent sense of smell," Adam mentioned.

"I believe we'll be fine, but this will be a good test for Mel. We are leaving now," Janie said.

They left the tent and started toward the woods. Mel watched as Janie ran to the river and began to walk down it. Then she went farther into the woods until she found a pine tree. Rubbing it all over herself, soon all she could smell was pine. After throwing the pine branch into the water, Mel turned and ran as fast as she could. Looking at the different trees, she found one that was good to climb and went up carefully. It was a big tree, so she went very high.

Mel could hear Adam howl, letting them know he had their scent and was on his way to discover where they were. Even though she knew he would never hurt her, she feared being found. It made no sense. She didn't care about the hundred dollars. Maybe she was anxious because it was a test, and tests always worried her.

It wasn't long before Mel heard Adam walking through the forest close to where she was hiding. She was immediately relieved when he continued. Hiding in thick branches, she could hear him but couldn't see him. She wondered where Janie had hidden.

He was coming back. He must not have found Janie either.

Not long after, Janie yelled, "Time's up, Adam!"

"Where were you?" He asked, clearly disappointed that he had not found them.

"I'll only tell you if you promise not to tell anyone else," Janie said.

"I will not tell another living soul. I need to know. If Mel hides, I have to be able to find and save her," Adam explained.

"Wolves never look up. I took to the trees. I'm sure Mel did as well," Janie observed.

"Here I am," Mel announced as she climbed down the tree.

"You are right. The things we hunt for food stay on the ground, but if they go up, we cannot follow them. That's why we never bother to look up. Had I stayed in human form, that might not have been true," Adam explained.

Mel was sure he would learn something from this. If he ever became alpha again, he had to learn to adjust his behavior and expectations.

She had learned something as well–how to escape as long as she had a head start from anything coming after her. A ten-minute head start would be needed to get away.

Janie had taught her well, and it hadn't taken very long. Mel would never have believed her cousin could teach so well and so quickly. It taught her not to make assumptions or draw conclusions. Mel and her cousin were as different as possible, but now, she was more interested in finding similarities.

"We'll let you get back to your woodworking," Janie suggested.

"What will we do?" Mel asked as they walked away.

"We can go swimming or bowling," Janie suggested.

"Why don't we do both? We could go bowling and then swim to cool off," Mel said.

"I like the way you think. Have you ever bowled before?" Janie wondered.

"I'm from near where Ariel lives. Most of us learn to bowl in school–like I believe you did," Mel explained.

"That I did. I always enjoyed it and having a bowling alley in my house allowed me to start playing again," Janie observed.

"I'm afraid that's true of me too. There are many things I did when I was younger that I don't do anymore," Mel declared.

"Yes, but there are new things we do that we have never done before. I'm learning to drive a sled and to ice fish. Have you tried either of those yet?" Janie asked.

"Yes, I have driven a dog sled but have not gone ice fishing yet. It's a little scary. I'm afraid I'll fall in, and I really don't like the cold," Mel explained.

Leading the way to the house, Janie went straight to the bowling alley. Mel did a good job. Janie was surprised she could do both so well after not doing it for many years. After bowling several games, they changed into swimsuits and met at the pool. It was a beautiful Olympic-sized pool. She was surprised to see a sign that said 'no screwing and no pissing' in the pool. Why did they need a sign when everyone should know not to do either in a pool? It could be because Janie was a little unusual and thought it necessary.

Mel arrived at the pool first. Looking up, she saw Janie approaching and realized her cousin was expecting. There was no way to misunderstand the bump. Why had no one mentioned this?

"You're prego?" Mel wondered.

"Yes, but it's no big deal right now. I hear when I get big, it will be hard for me to get around," Janie admitted.

"I've heard that too. Seen it even when it came to other cousins," Mel observed.

"Ready to start swimming?" Janie asked.

"I am," Mel said as she ran and dived in.

She loved to swim and was very good at it. In college, she had been a lifeguard. The job gave her extra money to spend and let her do something she enjoyed.

Mel never expected she would be going for a swim in Alaska. It felt good to do something she enjoyed that she hadn't been able to do in so long. Her work consumed most of her time. When she stayed at Joey's, she played solitaire and watched television. It was not the best use of her time. Nevertheless, it was what she had done. She had a feeling it was not what she would be doing here.

They had a lot of fun swimming, but their time was over. They were hungry, so they got out of the pool, dried off, and went somewhere to change their clothes.

"We'll meet up in the kitchen," Janie suggested.

"That sounds good," Mel agreed.

It was convenient because her room was close by. Once inside, she took off her swimsuit and hung it on a towel rack in her bathroom, then changed into jeans and a T-shirt.

Mel wondered if she would get any responsibilities while she was here. She would train and continue her usual job but felt she needed to do something to earn her keep. It was something she would ask Janie while they ate.

Heading upstairs, she saw a few people. Most were eating supper, relaxing, or preparing for a good night's sleep. As she cut through the dining room, she saw most were eating. When she entered the kitchen, she saw they were serving Salisbury steak, one of her favorites. Mel grabbed a plate and loaded it up, adding corn mas, heavy potatoes, and gravy to the main course. There were other options, too. She would try something different if she was still hungry after eating what she had.

"There you are. Come sit here." Janie pointed at the seat next to Adam.

Why not? There was no way to avoid spending time with him here. She sat down and began eating her food. Mel listened as Janie talked about them hiding, and Adam admitted he learned a lot by trying to hunt them. Neither of them had discussed how or where they had hidden, and she suspected that it was something they didn't want to discuss. Next, Adam mentioned the session where he tried to teach her how to defend herself. Surprised, he asked Trev why he hadn't mentioned it earlier.

"I didn't know. The only advice I can give you is that when you're training someone, expect anything because there's no way to know what kind of training they might already have. Many of those in Janie's and Mel's family have some training. Some might be able to take out a pack alpha if given an opportunity," Trev explained.

"Do you really believe that?" Adam wondered.

"If you met some of their relatives, you would believe it too," Trev observed.

"Does your family have warrior women?" Adam asked.

Mel nodded. "There are legends of such women."

"Those are the legends that go back to the white wolf. She was a legend among wolves," Trev observed.

Mel knew that was true. She had heard many stories about when their bloodline was discovered. She had also seen Ariel and some of the others battle against wolves who came to take them. It had made her wonder if she could fight like that. She was from the right family to have the skills if she developed them. There was also the need to protect herself and those trying to protect her right now.

When she looked up, she saw that Adam was looking at her. She wondered what he was thinking. She thought she could do the hiding, but the fighting was something different altogether. Tomorrow, she would work with Adam once more and try to learn about the fighting. He told her she needed more strength and resilience to hold off an enemy. She realized he intended for her to exercise, and she hated that. It was difficult for her to keep up with Adam, so he was creating a program she needed to follow using the gym available in Janie's house.

She had never enjoyed working out but knew she had no choice but to do it. To her, exercise was a dirty word. Mel was not a physical person; she was a cerebral one. Now, that would have to change because she would be able to run faster and keep up her strength so that she could escape. Honestly, she resented that. Changing to wolf had given her more stamina and strength, but it was not enough for what she might need to do. Why couldn't they just give her a gun and let her shoot it out? She liked guns, and she could use them. Not many people could say that these days.

One of the problems was that once attacked by multiple wolves, Mel could not shoot fast enough to get them all. She acknowledged that was true but could not fight well enough to hold them all off either.

They were at the gym, doing what Adam called warming up. After thirty minutes on the treadmill and thirty minutes on the bike, she had a different name for it. It was called wearing her out.

"We need to train now," Adam instructed.

Mel was shocked. He had worked out on the heavy equipment, lifting weights and other things while she'd worked out–not just sat there and watched. He had also removed his shirt and sweat ran down his chest. Watching him when he looked like that was not good but touching him when he looked like that was really bad.

"Are you ready?" Adam asked.

Mel had finished exercising, and he gave her time to rest. She drank some water and sat to calm her breathing and be ready for the next step of what he would expect from her. It would be hard. She didn't like to exercise. Her job had her sitting at a desk for long periods. It wasn't that she didn't exercise at all. She went on walks, and she had some small exercise equipment she used in her office. She had one under her desk that allowed her to pretend to be riding a bike. The other was weights she put on her hands and lifted them up and down.

It was clear to her that Adam's exercise program would be much more challenging. They had just begun, and she was already tired. There had been an exercise program that required dancing. She had considered getting it but had decided against it. Now, she was regretting that.

"You are in very poor physical condition," Adam assessed.

"My work is at a desk. I do not walk, run, or exercise much. That is how I make a living," Mel replied.

"How can you make a living that way?" Adam looked confused.

"Do you watch any TV? Listen to the radio? Or get on the computer and scroll?" Mel asked.

"I don't do any of those things," Adam admitted.

"That makes it hard to explain what I do," Mel offered. "That also shows me how very different we are."

"I can learn just as you are going to have to learn how to get along in my world," Adam explained. "Now, I need to teach you more about defending yourself. Using the elements of surprise as you did on me yesterday is good. But once they see what you can do, they will be more careful when they come after you and may even use helpers to come at you from all sides. That will be hard to overcome. You will need to learn ways to hit them where it hurts. That is what I will try to teach you. It is about doing things they don't think you can. You will use their size against them."

He began to show her what she could do when attacked by someone larger. She could use their weight and gravity against them, and they would fly, possibly even into others attacking her. They didn't have that long to learn, so she needed things that could be quickly learned and used against the larger attackers. Adam continued showing her different ways to take down anyone who opposed her. Over and over, he worked with her to show her what to do. By the time they quit to go to supper, she was exhausted.

Mel felt more confident in her ability to take on someone that was trying to kidnap her. She also thought she could hide if she got a big enough head start on them. Coming here was the right thing to do. Tomorrow, Adam would work with her again. She was sure he would teach her as aggressively as he had today. When Damon suggested joining a group to learn self-defense, she should have done it. She hoped the fact that she hadn't wouldn't be the reason someone could capture her.

While she had found the day exhausting, she couldn't deny that she had enjoyed working with Adam, and every once in a while, she had gotten in a hit on him. The look on his face when she had was something she could laugh about. Tomorrow, she intended to take a break to finish some office work. The schedule she and Janie had discussed was one day of office work and one day of training. Training every other day would be enough. She would remember what she was learning. It would help her build her muscles and get in better shape.

She hoped the alpha's mercenaries wouldn't find her, but she wasn't naive. They probably would. That was why she was preparing in every way that she could. She even had a gun in her room in case they found her and entered her room. As many white wolves were, she was a crack shot, and she would not hesitate once she was sure that whoever entered her room did not belong there. Mel followed Adam to supper, and the scent was amazing. It was Italian night. There were several marvelous pasta dishes and even pizza, a rare find in the area.

She took a bit of every pasta dish and got two pieces of her favorite pizza. Then she grabbed a breadstick and a small slice of Italian cream cake. Mel intended to eat every bite and enjoy it. The meal was almost worth all the exercise she had done. The exercise might even work off all the calories in this marvelous meal.

"See, our cook is as good as Joey's, maybe even better, depending on what she's like," Janie observed.

"My compliments to the chef. This meal is outstanding," Mel said, taking another bite. "I'm probably going to gain weight."

"Wolves rarely do," Trev observed.

"You won't after the workout we did," Adam added.

He was probably right. Mel's wolf yipped in agreement. Mel was slowly getting used to having that wolf inside her. It was weird to have a voice inside that she didn't recognize. Her wolf had been good, mostly. She'd not interfered much like she'd heard some other wolves had. Mel looked at her more like a friend, and her wolf gave her advice from time to time. Adam had told her she didn't act like a wolf. How did a wolf act? For that matter, how did a mate act? From what she had seen from her cousins, she wasn't sure exactly what a mate was. They had told her it was like a husband and wife and yet different. She wasn't sure how it was different. Some had told her it was like a soul mate, but she had never seen anyone who had a soul mate. It was only recently that she had seen her cousins become mates.

Mel finished eating, cleaned her space, and took her plates to a bin for cleaning. It was time for her to do some work. Advertising appealed to her. It was mainly verbal, but Mel was also an artist. She could draw or paint and also do graphics. Her job was often double-checking and ensuring others' work was as good as possible. Joey had told her she was very skilled, but she didn't believe in herself.

Mel worked on some of their jobs because there were certain things she could do better than most. She liked to make cartoons, and sometimes, they made perfect ads.

Doing those could be fun and relaxing, especially when she did funny ones. Couldn't everybody use a good laugh? Mel knew she could, and it helped relax her. Joey had recently had her do a whole ad for a child's toy. It turned out very well. She had gotten the big bonus, which she had squirreled away in her savings account for a rainy day. Her savings account was significant because she was careful about spending her money. Her house in Chicago was rented, and she had let it go when she moved in with Joey in Wilde. She'd been living there quite a while and hadn't had to pay any rent or utilities. That only gave her more money to save. Eventually, she planned to buy a house. With all this mate stuff happening, it was good she hadn't purchased a home. Who knew where she might end up?

Mel wasn't even sure who she might end up with. Adam seemed all right, but was that a good enough reason to mate with him? That was hard to say, and she would keep her options open because that was what she usually did. Hopefully, no one would try to take those options away from her. If they did, she would fight with everything in her, and they would know exactly how unhappy she was.