Chapter 2: I Found Her

*Nikko's POV*

"Mate." I couldn't help but whisper out as I step closer to this mall girl.

"Um, I'm sorry, what?" she asked, and I looked at her a little closer. She was only about a head shorter than my 6'2" frame, had blonde hair, and beautiful deep blue eyes. I took a slow sniff in and she smelt amazing; like citrus and cinnamon. But there was something else there as well.

"She's human," my wolf, Ash, said, "our mate is a human."

I stood there in disbelief looking at her, but then as she stared at me in confusion, I realized I hadn't answered her question. I was probably scaring this poor human girl.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"Hey, Jo!" a girl behind me slowly walked to this blonde girl's side.

"So, our mate's name is Jo, how cute." I ignored Ash and glanced at this other girl, but she was nothing exceptional, so I returned my gaze back to my mate and caught her still watching me.

I didn't know very many wolves from my pack that had human mates, but I had heard that they were still able to sense a mate physically even without a wolf to confirm it. I looked down at her gorgeous full body and saw her arms covered in goosebumps, which made me smile slightly. I liked having an effect on my mate.

But she was human. My mate was human. What should I do?

While I was focused, I hadn't noticed two more girls walk up, but was indifferent to them and their jaws on the floor. It was common to get reactions like this from humans. My mate still hadn't taken her eyes off of me, but she hadn't said anything else either.

"Maybe we are scaring her?" Ash thought.

"Then what should I do?" I replied to him.

"Introduce yourself, dummy! Did you suddenly forget how to have common manners or talk to a girl?"

I rolled my eyes inwardly and focused again on this girl.

"My name is Nikko," I told her in as calm of a voice as I could manage. Feeling a nudge on my shoulder, I gestured behind me. "And this is Byron."

"My name is Emily, and this is Taylor, Chloe, and Jo," one of the girls chimed in when there was a short pause. I glanced at her, but then back at Jo.

"It's nice to meet you," I said and smiled. I heard Jo do a slight intake of breath and smiled a little bigger.

"It's nice to meet you too," the one called Chloe said, a little over the top for my taste. "Are you guys from around here?"

"No," I answered, still not taking my eyes off my mate. She finally looked away and at the girls, but I noticed a slight flush to her cheeks.

"They are starting to ask too many questions," I heard Byron's voice in my head. "We should leave. You can always find her again later with fewer watchful eyes."

"Agreed," I replied to him.

"Hey, sorry, but we gotta get going," Byron said from behind me, giving me an excuse to leave. I watched my mate, but she still wasn't looking back at me, and her cheeks were a shade darker.

"It was great to meet you," I said directly to her.

"Don't come on too strong." Ash nudged.

"I hope to see you again sometime." I said, ignoring Ash.

I turned around to walk away before the girls could include themselves or ask any other questions. After only a couple steps, I heard my mate's sweet voice for the second time.

"I'm having a birthday party this weekend." I turned to see her cheeks redder than ever, but a determined spark in her eyes. "You should come."

I couldn't help but smile as Ash growled in delight hearing our mate talk again. I stepped back up to her and put my hand out.

"Give me your phone."

She hesitated only a second before reaching into her back pocket and pulling out her phone and unlocking before handing it to me. I saw a recent text from the name Aaron, which made Ash growl in anger this time, but I ignored it for now and added my phone number to her contacts under 'hot mall guy'.

"There's my number, so just text me the details."

I smiled again and then turned to follow Byron, unhindered this time. I glanced back and saw her surrounded by her friends, but still looking at me. I looked away before Ash could convince me to go back. Byron and I found the stairs and made our way back up to the top floor. The more distance I got from my mate, the more concerns I was starting to have.

Our mate is a human, I thought. I never expected something like this. A young human too. Granted, I was only 21 myself and had already become Alpha of mine and Byron's pack, but that was still a pretty large gap for a person not accustomed to wolf culture.

Would a human make a good Luna? How would that even be possible? I didn't know any human Luna's…maybe I should just reject her as a mate. Ash let out a loud whine.

"No, she's our mate." He insisted.

"We need someone strong right now though. The pack isn't safe."

"We can be strong enough for the both of us."

"How do you know that?"

"The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes. There is a reason she is mated to us. Maybe she's exactly what we need." Ash said, not backing down.

"I'm just not sure…" I trailed off.

"Hello? Nikko?" Byron suddenly pulled me out of my thoughts and was looking at me expectantly.

"Sorry, I was in my head," I explained. "What were you saying?"

"I asked what the plan was. You found your mate, so that's pretty big. Did you want me to follow her or meet up with her later?"

I thought about his words. "No. You heard her, she invited us to her birthday party, so we will start there. I don't want to scare her with too much too soon. She's just a human and doesn't understand exactly what mates even are." I paused. "Plus, I need to figure out what I want."

"What do you mean?" Byron asked. "You don't want your mate? It seemed like you two already hit it off."

"It's not that I don't want her, I just don't know if it would be the best thing for the pack to have a human Luna, especially right now," I admitted. Byron and I had been like brothers our entire childhood, which is the main reason he was my Beta; I could trust him with anything.

Byron paused for a moment before saying, "The best thing for the pack is to have a happy Alpha, and there is nothing that could make you happier than a mate. Plus, not that I am recommending this, but you could still choose her as your mate and then have a chosen Luna. Most of the time, Alpha mates become Lunas, but there is the occasional instance where they make a more political choice for the pack in terms of the position of Luna and keep their bonded mate as well."

I was surprised as a low growl left my lips. The idea of anyone else had just made me angry. It had only been minutes and I already couldn't imagine being with anyone besides my mate. I was even walking close to the railing again, just for a chance at seeing her below. This was going to be a problem.

"Thank you for your council, friend, I will keep that in mind," I genuinely said. I looked up and noticed we were by the small bakery that we were looking for and entered.

We didn't come into the human world often, but occasionally we made trips to get a few key things. Byron and I had already gone and picked up some outdoor trail cameras from the sports store, but then we had to make a stop by the mall for a few requests from my little sister, Ava.

She was still too young to leave the pack and used to give me lists of all the things she wanted when she found out I was going on a trip. Over the years though, I had learned exactly what she liked and picked it out without her requests. For instance, this bakery.

I walked up to the counter and looked at all the goodies that they had out today. My sister had a wicked sweet tooth. Byron, who was like a brother to Ava as well, helped me pick out the best-looking things, including: cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, brownies, and even a giant cookie cake that we spent the extra time getting the frosting personalized for her.

With our arms full of sweets, we left the store and went to leave the mall. I stopped to look at the new additions to the stuffed animal store we were walking by and was trying to remember which one's Ava had or if she would be interested in any of these. Then, my ears pricked up at the sound of my mate's voice once more.

"Okay, here's the third one, which is the one you picked, Emily," I heard her say and was thankful for my wolf hearing. I looked around and realized we were right next to one of the high-end dress stores.

"Wow, Jo, that one is absolutely gorgeous!" one of the other girls said, and I couldn't help but step forward and sneak a look into the store.

There stood my mate in front of the dressing mirrors and a bench occupied with the three girls I had seen earlier, but I didn't notice them, I only had eyes for Jo. She was wearing a tight dress with long sleeves that stopped halfway to her knees. It was a gorgeous blue color that I was sure would match her eyes perfectly. It was sexy and hugged her curves in all of the right places.

The front of the dress came up high and covered everything, but then she turned slightly, and I saw the low cut back exposing her skin. Even being this far away I suddenly felt warm, and I could almost sense Ash drooling internally.

"I agree, I love this one," Jo said and the smile on her face told me that she was being honest. But then I saw her check the price tag and her face fell a little bit. "I don't love it that much though."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't even think about looking at the price," the one I believe was called Emily said with a shrug.

My mate took one more look in the mirror, and then put a smile on her face and stepped away from them. "That's alright. I'll just go with the second dress; it was pretty too and will fit a summer themed party a little better."

"Okay, if that's what you want," one of the other girls said. "But I'm going to make sure I look my best in case that sexy Nikko or Byron actually show up."

Nobody could look better than my mate, but I saw her considering what the girl had said and I thought she looked worried. "Nah, the other dress will be perfect," she said, sticking to her guns.

I watched as she stepped away from the mirrors and into the side to change, so I decided to duck into the stuffed animal store to avoid her friends- we had already decided this wasn't the time or place to have a real conversation with my mate.

Without even a word, Byron followed me. Once we were sure they were far enough, we stepped out of the store. II handed the sweets that I was carrying to Byron and walked into the dress store. Within minutes, I was back with the blue dress wrapped up and tucked under my arm.

"Looks like we are going to a birthday party," I said and couldn't help but smile in anticipation.