
My Unexpected Mate
Tessa Lilly · Completed · 171.5k Words
Introduction
Gabriel, a brooding warlock haunted by the loss of his family, embraces a life devoid of love while honing his magical skills and evading the inquisitors. His only companion is his loyal friend, Nick.
Aria, a beautiful witch unaware of her powers, is forced to flee her destroyed village and seeks help in the city. Her path intertwines with Gabriel's, but who are they to each other?
As their kind faces imminent destruction, they must find each other in time to save themselves and preserve their future.
Will they overcome their pasts and unite against the encroaching darkness? Their journey will test their strength and reveal the power of love amidst chaos.
Chapter 1
Gabriel’s POV
The smell of burnt flesh was the only thing in the air these days. It was making me sick. The only thing that helped was this cheap wine I was drinking. I was halfway through my second bottle when Louis walked in carrying a box full of liquor.
“They burned another one today. Man, you would think we would have left witch-hunting in the Middle Ages,” he said, putting the box down. He looked at me frowning. “How many of those are you going to drink today?” he asked pointing at my now almost empty bottle.
I looked at him and pulled my wallet out. “Until I give you all my money.”
“You know I shouldn’t even be serving you. There is a rumor about you.”
I was lucky he didn’t believe in witches and warlocks. Or any supernatural being for that matter. Because the rumors were true. I am a warlock.
“What rumor?” I asked, knowing damn well what he was going to say.
He coughed and pulled a towel to wipe some glasses that were drying on the bar.
“You know… They say you are a…” he was nervous and didn’t even look at me.
“I’m a what, Louis?”
“Warlock,” he said, lowering his voice.
If I wasn’t one, I wouldn’t even have heard him.
“Well, if that was true, I would be on one of those poles in the middle of the main square by now,” I said, drinking the last of my wine. “Give me another bottle, would you?”
He frowned and went to the back room.
I looked around. There weren’t many people in the bar. They were all afraid to be out at this time of the night. When the new inquisition started a lot of people ran from the cities and were in hiding. Inquisitors condemned people without proper investigation. Just like the first time. A lot of humans died. A lot of werewolves and vampires died as well. Some were my friends, some were my enemies. But I would never wish such death on anyone. Despite my reputation, I wasn’t that cruel. They didn’t only burn them. They were torturing them, killing their loved ones in front of them, and starving them. When you were captured by them it didn’t mean instant death. It meant suffering for months. I think that was even more terrifying than just simply dying. By the end, most of them were probably happy to be on that pole. It meant the end of suffering.
“You drank my stash,” Louis said, coming back from the back room. “I had to dig pretty deep to find this one,” he said and put the bottle in front of me.
“Well, I'll pay you to have them, Lou.”
I got my wallet and handed him the money.
“Maybe you should drink this at home, Gabriel,” Louis said, looking at the clock. “It’s getting pretty late, and if I don’t close soon those witch hunters will be all up in my ass.”
“Sounds even better. It smells like crap here, you know,” I laughed.
I liked Louis. He was an old man. A human. He had gray hair that went down past his shoulders, dark eyes, and a wrinkled face. He didn’t have a wife or a child. He had this bar. And even though it was a dump where only drunks and shady people came in, he loved it. He once said to me that his bar couldn’t leave him as Carol had. He refused to talk about her, and I didn’t insist. Even though a lot of his clients were supernatural beings, he wasn’t aware. Or maybe he was. I was not interested in finding out. He and my neighbor Nick were the only ones I would remotely describe as my friends. Louis’s crappy, dark bar was more of a home to me than my own house. Ever since they killed the woman who raised me. Now it’s just an empty space that reminds me of her, my guilt, and the possibility of me being tied up to that pole.
I started getting up, but I felt dizzy. This red mush he called wine was getting to me. I liked it. It was far better than being pissed off all the time.
“Damn Lou, I like your wine.”
I was at the door when Louis called out to me.
“Gabe.”
“Yeah, Lou?”
“Get a haircut. You look more like a werewolf than the thing they say you are.”
I laughed. Fortunately, the bar was now empty. If not, I would have to kill him and everybody who heard that. I wasn’t planning on killing my friend today.
I got out and started walking to my so-called home.
Aria’s POV
My Dear,
If you are reading this, it means they have caught me. I am so sorry. I never wanted you to be alone. I spent 20 years of my life taking care of you. You are my sunshine. If I could, I would be with you forever. But these are dark times my Aria. Soul-wrenching dark. I am somewhat glad I don’t have to live anymore. To see all the suffering of our kind. But I would like to be with you through everything that is going to happen. Even though I know how strong you are, I wish I was by your side. To comfort you. To hold you like I did all those times through your childhood. You are the key to stopping this, Aria. I need you to find someone. Her name is Claudia Richardson. She lives somewhere in Moon City. She has a prophecy. You need to find her and let her know you are alive. I wish I could tell you more. I wish I could help you. I can only leave you knowing how strong and smart you are. Knowing you will make the pain go away.
I will always be watching you and taking care of you from afar.
Love, Grandma.
I couldn’t cry anymore. I’ve read her letter over and over. Each time I understood less. Who was Claudia? What prophecy? How could I stop the war between our kind and humans? I was nobody. A little witch who lived in a small village with her grandma. I wasn’t important or powerful. I didn’t have any special skills. I was not gifted with any unique magical powers like some witches and warlocks. It just didn’t make any sense. I decided to get off the dirty floor and try not to think about this anymore. It was the only thing I could do until I got to Moon City.
My heart hurt. I just lost the only person who loved me, raised me, and took care of me. She was the only family I had. My parents died in a car accident when I was just a baby. My Grandpa Jack was also in the car. I had no memory of them. She didn’t talk about them much. It was too painful. I lost a mother and a father, and she lost a daughter and a husband. My grandparents from my dad’s side died when he was a child. My parents didn’t have siblings. I am alone in this world. My Grandma Grace was everything to me. My parents, my teacher, my family.
I looked around the room. It used to be mine. Now there was nothing left. I sighed and walked to the living room. I took my bag and started packing a few things that survived the fire. My grandma was prepared. When the inquisition started, about a year ago, she sat me down and told me her plan. She removed some floorboards in our small living room and made a little safe where she put some important stuff in case anything happened. There was a picture of my parents, money, my documents, a picture of us when I was a baby and some spare clothes. There was also a locket that I couldn’t open but she said that when the time comes somebody will open it for me. I was confused but she said not to ask any questions. She must have added the letter after because I never saw it before this day. I placed the locket around my neck and packed the rest of the stuff from our little safe in my bag. I hoped I would have enough money to at least find Claudia.
My grandma and I earned our money by healing our fellow villagers. Maybe I could do that in the city. Earn some money. Try to rebuild my life. I wasn’t as good a healer as my grandma, but I was a quick learner. I could do this. I must. My grandma was an excellent healer and I learned everything I know from her. We even had our little garden where we grew our herbs. But that was gone too. I felt tears starting to accumulate in my eyes. I quickly wiped them and focused on packing the rest of my stuff. I couldn’t let myself cry anymore. I had to get out of here before they came back.
I tried to clean my dirty clothes. I was covered in ashes from the fire. My brown hair that fell down to my waist was now gray. My green eyes were now probably red from crying. I gave up, there was too much ash on me. I would have to clean myself in a nearby stream that provided our village with fresh, clean water. I walked out of my home holding a sob in my throat.
I was near the forest line when I turned around and looked at my village. There was nothing left. They burned it to the ground. I wasn’t sure if anyone survived. My heart clenched painfully in my chest.
This morning I had left to go to the market like any other day. My grandma and I used to go together but today she decided to stay at home and make her famous “limb growth potion”. Her potion saved a couple of village kids a few years back when they were playing around with spells and lost some fingers and toes. It was a lot of work and she told me to go by myself. I was gone for about an hour and when I came back inquisitors had already destroyed everything and left. I checked every house and every building hoping some of my fellow villagers survived. There was nobody. I was alone.
I glanced at my home one last time and turned towards the forest before I started crying again. I couldn’t let myself cry now.
Moon City was an hour away by car. It was going to take me a lot longer on foot. I could use a spell to transport myself there, but I was too scared to try. I couldn’t risk appearing somewhere I could be seen. Walking it is. It was 11 am and I was hoping I would arrive before dark.
The first thing on my to-do list was to find my childhood friend Annie. She was a werewolf. I really hoped they hadn’t caught her. She used to live here with her parents, but they moved to the city a few years back. We stayed in touch after they left, but I hadn’t heard from her in a while. I think she had changed her phone number. She told me a little about the place where she lived. She was an artist and a gifted one at that. When she described something, you felt like you could see it clearly in front of you. I could probably find her just by her description of her new home. At least I hoped I could. I must be very careful though. I can’t get caught.
Last Chapters
#82 Chapter 82
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#81 Chapter 81
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#80 Chapter 80
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#79 Chapter 79
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#78 Chapter 78
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#77 Chapter 77
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#76 Chapter 76
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#75 Chapter 75
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#74 Chapter 74
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#73 Chapter 73
Last Updated: 3/3/2025
You Might Like 😍
The Prison Project
Can love tame the untouchable? Or will it only fuel the fire and cause chaos amongst the inmates?
Fresh out of high school and suffocating in her dead-end hometown, Margot longs for her escape. Her reckless best friend, Cara, thinks she's found the perfect way out for them both - The Prisoner Project - a controversial program offering a life-changing sum of money in exchange for time spent with maximum-security inmates.
Without hesitation, Cara rushes to sign them up.
Their reward? A one-way ticket into the depths of a prison ruled by gang leaders, mob bosses, and men the guards wouldn't even dare to cross...
At the centre of it all, meets Coban Santorelli - a man colder than ice, darker than midnight, and as deadly as the fire that fuels his inner rage. He knows that the project may very well be his only ticket to freedom - his only ticket to revenge on the one who managed to lock him up and so he must prove that he can learn to love…
Will Margot be the lucky one chosen to help reform him?
Will Coban be capable of bringing something to the table other than just sex?
What starts off as denial may very well grow in to obsession which could then fester in to becoming true love…
A temperamental romance novel.
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
The mafia princess return
Surrendering to Destiny
Graham MacTavish wasn't prepared to find his mate in the small town of Sterling that borders the Blackmoore Packlands. He certainly didn't expect her to be a rogue, half-breed who smelled of Alpha blood. With her multi-colored eyes, there was no stopping him from falling hard the moment their mate bond snapped into place. He would do anything to claim her, protect her and cherish her no matter the cost.
From vengeful ex-lovers, pack politics, species prejudice, hidden plots, magic, kidnapping, poisoning, rogue attacks, and a mountain of secrets including Catherine's true parentage there is no shortage of things trying to tear the two apart.
Despite the hardships, a burning desire and willingness to trust will help forge a strong bond between the two... but no bond is unbreakable. When the secrets kept close to heart are slowly revealed, will the two be able to weather the storm? Or will the gift bestowed upon Catherine by the moon goddess be too insurmountable to overcome?
King of the Underworld
However, one fateful day, the King of the Underworld appeared before me and rescued me from the clutches of the most powerful Mafia boss's son. With his deep blue eyes fixed on mine, he spoke softly: "Sephie... short for Persephone... Queen of the Underworld. At last, I have found you." Confused by his words, I stammered out a question, “P..pardon? What does that mean?”
But he simply smiled at me and brushed my hair away from my face with gentle fingers: "You are safe now.”
Sephie, named for the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, she's quickly finding out how she's destined to fulfill her namesake's role. Adrik is the King of the Underworld, the boss of all bosses in the city he runs.
She was a seemingly normal girl, with a normal job until it all changed one night when he walked through the front door and her life changed abruptly. Now, she finds herself on the wrong side of powerful men, but under the protection of the most powerful among them.
Invisible To Her Bully
The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride
Yet Alexander made his decision clear to the world: “Evelyn is the only woman I will ever marry.”
The Human Among Wolves
My stomach twisted, but he wasn’t finished.
"You're just a pathetic little human," Zayn said, his words deliberate, each one hitting like a slap. "Spreading your legs for the first guy who bothers to notice you."
Heat rushed to my face, burning with humiliation. My chest ached — not from his words alone, but from the sick realization that I had trusted him. That I had let myself believe he was different.
I was so, so stupid.
——————————————————
When eigteen-year-old Aurora Wells moves to a sleepy town with her parents, the last thing she expects is to be enrolled in a secret academy for werewolves.
Moonbound Academy is no ordinary school. It's here young Lycans, Betas and Alphas train in shifting, elemental magic, and ancient pack laws. But Aurora? She's just...human. a mistake. The new receptionist forgot to check her species - and now she's surrounded by predators who sense she doesn't belong.
Determined to stay under the radar, Aurora plans to survive the year unnoticed. But when she catches the attention of Zayn, a brooding and infuriatingly powerful Lycan prince, her life gets a lot more complicated. Zayn already has a mate. He already has enemies. And he definitely doesn't want anything to do with a clueless human.
But secrets run deeper than bloodlines at Moonbound. as Aurora unravels the truth about the academy - and herself - she begins to question everything she thought she knew.
Including the reason she was brought here at all.
Enemies will rise. Loyalties will shift. And the girl with no place in their world...might be the key to saving it.
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
The Biker's Fate
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Dani," he pressed. "Do you get me?"
"No, Austin, I don't," I admitted as I pulled my robe closed again and sat up. "You confuse me."
He dragged his hands down his face. "Tell me what's on your mind."
I sighed. "You're everything my parents warned me against. You're secretive, but you're also honest. I feel wholly protected by you, but then you scare me more than anyone I've ever known. You're a bad boy, but when I dated a so-called good one, he turned out to be the devil, so, yeah, I don't get you because you're not what I expected. You drive me crazier than anyone I've ever met, but then you make me feel complete. I'm feeling things I don't quite know how to process and that makes me want to run. I don't want to give up something that might be really, really good, but I also don't want to be stupid and fall for a boy just because he's super pretty and makes me come."
Danielle Harris is the daughter of an overprotective police chief and has led a sheltered life. As a kindergarten teacher, she's as far removed from the world of Harleys and bikers as you could get, but when she's rescued by the sexy and dangerous Austin Carver, her life is changed forever.
Although Austin 'Booker' Carver is enamored by the innocent Dani, he tries to keep the police chief's daughter at arm's length. But when a threat is made from an unexpected source, he finds himself falling hard and fast for the only woman who can tame his wild heart.
Will Booker be able to find the source of the threat before it's too late?
Will Dani finally give her heart to a man who's everything she's been warned about?
I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis
Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now—billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn’t mind. I’d crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one?
Wrong.
One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That’s when it hit me—he didn’t love me. He didn’t even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn’t even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup.
So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster—my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise.
Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol.
Enter him.
Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I’d met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes.
It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised.
But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life.
And, as it turned out, the best decision I’d ever made.
Because my one-night stand isn’t just some random guy. He’s richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with.
And now, he’s not letting me go.
Balance of Light and Shadow
Little did she know how much both worlds need her to bring peace and true freedom.












