The Mate He Never Wanted

To everyone around her, Josie was a light in a world often shadowed by harsh realities.
Jayden Parker, on the other hand, was the polar opposite. As the soon-to-be alpha of the pack, he carried the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Hardened by the loss of his mother, Jayden had seen firsthand what the mate bond could do. When his father broke after losing his mate, Jayden vowed never to experience that kind of pain. He didn’t want a mate, didn’t need one, and had built walls so high that even the fiercest wolf couldn’t climb them.
But fate has a way of ignoring what we want.
On the day Jayden turned eighteen, everything changed. The connection hit him like a lightning bolt, undeniable and unrelenting. Sweet, kind Josie Reynolds was his mate. The girl who always smiled at everyone, who treated him with warmth even when he kept his distance, was the one the universe had chosen for him.
For Josie, the revelation was like a dream. But dreams, she would soon learn, could quickly turn into storms.
Jayden wasn’t ready to let her in, and the bond they shared became a battlefield of emotions. As much as he wanted to reject the pull, he couldn’t ignore the way Josie’s presence softened the edges of his hardened heart. Meanwhile, Josie found herself caught in a whirlwind, trying to navigate the turbulent waters of Jayden’s resistance while facing a pack that was watching her every move.
But the mate bond wasn’t their only challenge. Shadows loomed on the horizon, dangers that neither of them could have foreseen. As Josie’s world shifted, she realized that being the alpha’s mate was far more complicated than she had imagined. And the path ahead wasn’t just uncertain-it was dangerous.
Josie was in for the ride of her life, and the ending was anything but guaranteed.