Rescued by His Lone Wolf Mate by Anya Byrne

Rescued by His Lone Wolf Mate
    Lone Wolf Pack 5.1
     
    Anya Byrne
    Copyright 2014
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter One
     
    Willow Cove. Willow Cove.
    Connor spread his map on the diner table, tracing the line of
the freeway with his index finger. He hummed thoughtfully as he pinpointed his
location and the distance that still separated him from his destination. Quite
a while to go, a day at least. Enough time to change his mind, if he so
desired.
    He took a sip of coffee, staring at the map and wishing it
held the answers to the questions in his mind. Of course, it didn't. If
anything, it taunted him, reminding him why he couldn't even use GPS, smart
phones, or any sort of Internet-connected device that could draw attention to
him.
    He was a lone wolf, an exile from his former pack, and had
been for most of his life. He was used to it, used to the loneliness, the
abandonment, the cold that settled deep in his bones and never went away. At
one point, that chill had become comforting, numbing the memories. Did he want
to risk it, risk what little anonymity he had left for the vain hope of finding
refuge?
    Connor took a sip of his coffee and sighed. He didn't have
much choice. Otherwise, he wouldn't be here to begin with, considering throwing
himself at a stranger's mercy. In past decades, being a lone wolf had become
harder and harder. He could barely stay for a week in one single location
before an enforcer or a silencer passed through and sensed him. Sometimes, they
left him alone, but other times, they hunted him, and there was not much he
could do about it, since lone wolves had no rights.
    Neutral territory had always been his best bet—like the area
around Willow Cove. But even there, he couldn't risk staying too long. Not
unless someone was willing to help him and include him in their pack—such as
Saul Simmons, the leader of the Lone Wolf Pack.
    By now, most everyone in the werewolf world knew the man's
story. Moon be blessed, even non-werewolves had learned of it, which was how
Connor had found out to begin with. Saul Simmons had found his human mate and
left his original pack to start a new one, just so that they could be together.
His brothers and his father had followed, with their respective mates.
    It hadn't come without a price. TJ St. Claire, the feline
shifter Connor regularly kept in contact with, had told Connor that the choices
of the Simmons family had caused quite the mess at the Gathering. Nonetheless,
in the end, the Lone Wolf Pack had prevailed, and that had convinced Connor to
make the attempt to reach out to Saul Simmons and his family.
    It was also through TJ that Connor knew the pack included an
enforcer, and now, even a silencer. Still, they had all distanced themselves
from the ways of regular werewolves, and Connor had hope that, once they
listened to his story, they would understand.
    At some level, Connor knew his chances of success were slim
at best. He should be trying to find a remote location, maybe shift into a wolf
on a more permanent basis. It gave him a better chance for survival than a
ragtag bunch of crazy werewolves who'd gone against the Gathering and somehow,
through some twist of fate, managed to win. They would never chance drawing the
eye of the werewolf world on them, not for a stranger. Someone like Connor
wouldn't be welcome in Willow Cove—or anywhere else for that matter.
    Shaking himself, Connor folded his map and packed it up in
his jacket. He took another sip of his coffee, letting the warmth of the liquid
soothe the chill in his heart, at least for a brief second. He needed to
decide. Should he go through with his original plan, or turn back?
    Before he could figure out an answer to his dilemma, the bell
announcing the entrance of another customer snapped him out of his trance.
Well, to be fair, it wasn't the actual sound that startled him. Plenty of
customers had come and gone while Connor had been sitting in the booth, eating,
then poring over his map. But this time,