The Alpha's Unwanted Mate: (BWWM) Paranormal Romance Standalone Read Online Free

graciously offered to have it dry cleaned for her and, as she had a key, she simply let herself in to find the garment hung up in the coat closet.
    While she was around, she figured there wouldn’t be any harm in raiding the fridge. It seemed like she didn’t get her fair share of her mother’s home cooking recently, she’d been so busy arranging matches for the wolves of God knew where. She had a mouthful of succulent roast beef when the doorbell rang.
    Arching a brow, she headed for the doorway. She hadn’t seen hide or hair of her mother since she entered, and assumed she must be in the bathroom or shower. She swallowed the bite of food in her mouth before pulling the door open.
    The young woman tried very hard not to gape at the sight that met her gaze. Standing in the doorway was a man who was quite obviously wolf, but he was like no wolf she’d ever seen. Most of the cocky, brusque men who had come to her mother’s door were giants, close to seven feet tall, with haunting good looks and piercing eyes in every color of the rainbow.
    This one, well…he was a bit small for a wolf. That wasn’t to say that the man was short – he still had to have a good six and a half feet on him, towering above her lowly five eight. His eyes were an effervescent, silvery grey color that gleamed in the light of the foyer, contrasting sharply with the deep mahogany hair that fell in disorderly waves around his face. He hosted the beginning of a beard, interspersed with the slightest amount of gray that she found curiously alluring. That, and he had a strong facial structure, with a hard jaw and chiseled cheekbones, which was evident even below all the stubble.
    He wore a long-sleeved sweater and jeans, beneath which a body just as hard and unyielding as any wolf’s was hidden, that much she could tell by the way he carried himself, and the thick arms that hefted a heavy leather jacket. His full mouth parted slightly at the sight of her and for a moment, she just drank him in.
    He was absolutely gorgeous, less blatantly crude and oafish than the wolves she was used to, and she had to assume it was because he must be older. The men her mother dealt with were usually in their late thirties to early forties, quite young, for their kind. This wolf…she wouldn’t be surprised if he were pushing fifty or even sixty.
    Swallowing thickly, she forced a greeting from her mouth. “Hi. Um…is my mother expecting you?”
    The man’s eyes widened. “You’re Madeline’s daughter?”
    To her surprise, despite the man’s rugged appearance, his voice was a low, mellow tenor that both delighted and titillated her senses. He didn’t growl, he didn’t bluster, and he didn’t leer. But he was still a wolf.
    “I…yes.” The question caught her slightly off guard. I think she’s in the shower…or the bathroom. I’m sorry, come in.” She barely remembered to step back and make space for the man, who had to stoop to get in through the doorway.  He carefully laid his jacket across a chair in the foyer as she closed the door behind him. Angeline took the opportunity to take him in from head to toe while he wasn’t looking.
    The man was certainly fine . He had physical appeal, yes, but there was something about the way he spoke and the look in his eyes that intrigued her as well. One could see from first glance this wolf was far more experienced than those who usually traipsed in. Though she was immediately on her guard, as she had learned what to expect from his kind, it was hard to swallow the acute attraction that immediately sizzled deep in her gut.
    “I’ll go…check on my mom.”
    With that, she tore her eyes away, hurrying down the hall and up the stairs. She found her mother on the way out of her room, running fingers through her short, graying locks. Madeline Hayes looked every inch of her fifty-five years, and she didn’t mind one bit. She had been independent for most of her life and raised her daughter to be the same way.