Chapter 7: Need

*Nikko's POV*

I woke up early, anxious to start the day. I was restless, and didn't get much sleep, thinking about my dinner plans with Jo tonight. I was excited. No matter how much I worried over taking her as a mate, I couldn't ignore the fact that I simply could not stay away from her. I had heard of mate bonds my whole life, but this was much stronger than I ever expected.

The only thing that helped was shifting into Ash. So, the first thing I did when I woke up was go outside and quickly transform before running a quick perimeter search of the territory. Byron had mind-linked me at the party last night to let me know that there was a rogue sighting not far from us, so I had reluctantly left my mate and rushed back.

Our pack had been experiencing a lot of rogue attacks lately, so I took the threat of a nearby sighting extremely seriously. Especially since one of the last recent attacks resulted in the Alpha's, my father's, death. It had been hard to deal with, but I had been there shortly after it happened and enacted revenge on my father's killer. And it was lucky I did, because wolf law states that you become an Alpha either by birthright or by killing an Alpha and taking their place. I couldn't imagine what would have happened if a rogue had been able to take our pack.

Even a day later, I was being cautious. I patrolled the entire perimeter of the territory and focused on the direction the rogues had been seen, sniffing for any trace of their stench. When I was satisfied, I returned to the main house to clean myself up and contact some other local wolf packs to see if they had any news.

I nervously glanced at the clock all day as we got closer and closer to the time I would need to leave. I asked her to dinner tonight partly because I didn't want to overwhelm her with too much information at once, but mostly it was just to give myself more time. Not knowing much about her, I was worried that she would reject me when she found out the truth.

I spent an hour getting ready and picking out my clothes. I had never been this nervous for a date in my entire life. Granted, I hadn't been on a ton of dates, but I think it had more to do with the fact that this was with my mate.

Finally, Byron mind-linked me to know he was in the car downstairs. Usually we had a different driver, but I still didn't want anyone else to know that I had found my mate until I was sure what was going to come of it. I rushed down the stairs and into the waiting black car with Byron in the driver's seat.

"Let's go," I said as soon as I shut the door.

It would take about an hour to get to the human town from our pack and I was antsy to get there. I checked my phone again to read the message that she had sent late last night.

'See you at 4' followed by a little winky face.

I couldn't help but send a quick message back.

'I am on my way… I'll see you soon.'

'I'll be waiting,' she immediately answered.

A little less than an hour later (I had Byron step on it, so we could get there sooner) we pulled up to her house. I got out of the car and was shutting the door when my wolf hearing allowed me to hear her house door open behind me. She really was waiting for me. I turned around and I couldn't help the smile that covered my face when I saw her.

She was standing there in a pair of tight high rise jeans and a white crop top. She looked amazing. When she saw me standing there, her face broke into a grin and I saw the tops of her cheeks turn rosy. I thought the way she made me feel would fade with the more exposure I received, but it almost seemed the opposite. I wanted and needed her now more than ever.

She hurried over and stopped in front of me, breathless. I side stepped and opened the back car door for her.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, sliding into the backseat. "Hi, Byron."

"Hey there, Jo," I heard him say as I slid in beside her.

"Do you guys ever go anywhere without each other?" she laughed.

"Not very often," we both admitted.

"So, where are we going?" she asked as Byron began to drive.

"I was thinking of picking up some pizza and going somewhere a little more private," I told her. "If you are comfortable with that anyway. It's up to you."

"No, that sounds great," she stated as she smiled and reached over to grab my hand.

Tingles and sparks danced across my skin where she touched me and I closed my eyes for a second to enjoy the sensation.

"Okay, well it will take about half an hour to get there, if that's alright?"

She just nodded and stared at me, and then turned to look out of the window. We sat in silence as we picked up the pizza and rode to the location. It was a little cabin that my father had owned on the edge of the pack territory. He liked having somewhere to have secret meetings away from the skilled wolf ears, but mostly my little sister and I had used it as a place to escape the pressures of being an Alpha's child while growing up.

The cabin was still about half an hour drive from the pack house, but probably only about a fifteen minute run in wolf form. Humans couldn't find the path that led to it, and wolves knew better than to go near it; there were standing Alpha orders that kept them away, except in cases of emergency. So it was the perfect place for my first date with my mate, to answer any and all of her questions without any listening ears around.

The car came to a stop and I grabbed her hand and one of the boxes of pizza (leaving the other for Byron) and led her inside the cabin. I set the pizza down on the little dining room table and flipped the light on. I pulled a chair out for her to sit in and walked to the cabinets to pull out a couple of paper plates.

"So, how did the rest of your birthday party go?" I asked, breaking the silence as I dished out a couple of pieces of pizza on each of our plates.

"It was fine." Her cheeks blushed. "It would have been better if you were still there though. I'm sorry for how the girls were talking to you, and all of that crap with Aaron."

I couldn't help it as Ash surfaced for a second in rage at the sound of Aaron's name. I knew we didn't have anything to worry about, but it still made us jealous to think of our mate with anyone else. Jo seemed to notice even the slight shift in my eyes while getting Ash under control.

"Just so you know, Aaron and I were never actually boyfriend and girlfriend. All we did was go on a few dates and hang out every now and then. We never even did more than kiss." Her cheeks were bright red now. "So there is no reason for you to be jealous of Aaron."

"Please, just stop saying his name," I said through gritted teeth with my eyes closed. "And I definitely didn't need the mental image of you kissing him."

"Oh," she said. "I'm sorry."

I opened my eyes and looked at her, reaching out to put my hand against her cheek. I growled in delight as she leaned into my hand, which made her open her eyes wider at me.

"Don't apologize, it is not your fault," I explained. "I'm just not used to feeling this way about anybody, so I am trying to control it."

"You've never felt like this about anybody?" she smiled. "Really?"

Now it was my turn to be embarrassed, and I dropped my hand from her cheek.

"Well, I was a teenage boy once too, and definitely gave in to some things with women that I'm not too proud of in this minute," I admitted. For a minute I thought I saw her eyes shift to gold for just a split second, but brushed it off as the lighting. "But, yes really. I have never had feelings with any of those women, especially feelings that are this strong. As I said, the mate bond is completely different."

"Because we are meant to be together?" she asked softly.

I just nodded.

"But I am human, and you are not, right?" her voice was much calmer than I expected.

Well I guess we were just going to jump into this then; no time like the present I suppose.

"Right," I answered, and continued on, knowing what her next question would be. "I am a shifter, a wolf shifter to be exact."

"A wolf?" She raised her eyebrows. "I thought that your kind had died out? We learned about it in school."

I stared at her in shock, glad that she had at least some knowledge of my kind.

"We didn't die out, we just pulled back from the human world after years of strained relationships," I told her. "What did your school teach you about us?"

"Not much really," she admitted, and I happily noticed that she sounded almost relieved. "Just that the wolf shifters were a superior race that could transform into wolves whenever they wanted, and that the wolf gave them powers, like super hearing, advanced eyesight, extra strength, and impressive endurance. But with great power comes great enemies, and over the years they died out."

"The first half of that is all true, but the second part, not so much. Our numbers have definitely diminished over the years, but it is more due to our own kind trying to take over territories or packs," I explained. "We just didn't like to follow human rules, so we pulled back more into our packs. However, there are some of us that still enter the human world occasionally, but we typically keep our interactions to a minimum and go without notice. You were an exception to that of course."

She smiled at me, and I continued.

"I am actually Nikko Wood, Alpha of the Peak Ridge Pack, which means I am the leader of my pack. I control them all," I told her. "And Byron is actually my Beta, which means he is the second in command."

"Wow, really? But you guys are so young," she asked.

"Well, my father was killed almost a year ago, which made me Alpha," I explained, "Most Alpha's are not as young as me."

"That must have been really hard. I'm so sorry for your loss." She reached over and put a hand on my shoulder.

"You're not freaking out," I whispered. "Why aren't you freaking out?"

"Honestly, I was imagining much worse. Super badass, strong wolf guy, I can handle," she laughed. "For some reason it doesn't feel that weird, it feels natural. Also, I think you're worth it."

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into my lap, burying my head against her neck and sucking in a deep breath of her enticing scent. She gasped, but then settled against me, raking her hand through my thick hair.

"Come with me," I blurted out before I could think. "Move to the pack. I want to be with you all the time. It's torture when you are gone."

Jo held her breath for a few seconds and then said, "Could I have a few days to think about it?"

I slouched down, and she must have felt it.

"I'm not saying no, I'm just saying I need time to think," she reassured me. "I had a life before I met you, I can't just leave it all behind without a thought."

"I understand," I admitted, but that didn't mean I liked it.

We sat there for another minute, not wanting to part, but eventually I pulled my head away.

"Are you ready to go then?"

She hesitated only a minute before nodding, so we cleaned up the kitchen and went back outside into the car. As soon as Byron began driving, I pulled her back into my lap; I wasn't ready to have her leave yet. We spent the rest of the ride back to her place with her cuddled into me as I stroked her back.

When we pulled up, I walked her to her door and gave her another quick hug. I pulled slowly away, and she reached up on her tippy toes and kissed my cheek.

"I'll text you soon, okay?" she said with a comforting reassurance. But I couldn't help but feel like something was off.

However, all I could do was simply nod, to which she smiled before heading inside.