Chapter 4 : The First Meeting

Alpha’s Xavier’s point of view.

The rogue attack alone was just a cherry on top after everything that had happened in the last few hours. Actually, no! Not in the last two years. My anger was slowly getting mixed up with my jumbled up thoughts as my mind slowly got overwhelmed by my confusion.

I took a deep breath in as I took a look at my surroundings. Dead bodies littered the ground and soiled my grass with flesh, limbs, and blood. The smell of rotten flesh and the metallic taste of blood filled the atmosphere and made the evidence of war more obvious. Fighting the rogues was the least of my problems and the last thing on my mind as I walked back to the pack house, with my face fully displaying all of the annoyance I was feeling. I took a deep breath in and cleared all of the loud voices in my head, just trying to get my thoughts in order.

I walked over dead bodies, muddying my grass, and made my way to the pack house, longing to see her, be in her presence, and continue our conversation.My curiosity was slowly getting the better of me as all the questions I wanted to ask her started spinning around in my mind. I could feel my heart beating fast and faster by the second as I inched closer to her. I did not want to admit it to myself, but I badly wanted to be in her presence and hold her in my arms.

The memories of the previous night’s events were still fresh in my mind, but somehow still a haze. It was as if everything was just induced by some sort of high or a very long acid trip. Somehow, the urge to see her again was driven by the insecurity in my mind that I was losing my mind and she was not real. I realized that everything that happened the night before was just a figment of my cruel imagination. I needed to see her again, talk to her, find out more about her, and I just couldn't help wanting to do anything and everything necessary to figure out whatever it was that was driving me wild. Ignoring my wolf was starting to be the hard part as I tried with all means to make sure that he did not influence me. A whole mate, delivered right to my doorstep.

I remember it like it was yesterday... well, actually it was yesterday. Everyone was on high alert and panic was thick in the air. Someone trespassed into my land and left everyone in a state of mass chaos. The entire pack was evacuated just in case the package was a bomb. And I sent enforcers to handle it as I rushed back to the pack house to handle the matter myself.

I remember stopping dead in my tracks and following a sudden peculiar scent as it led me to a random girl's path off in the distance. No, not a girl, a woman. She looked pitiful, to say the least. Confusion and panic were written all over her face as she struggled to run. I remember my eyes selfishly feasting on all of the tattoos that covered her naked and exposed flesh. Only the moon goddess knows how many times I have gone over the memory of when I first laid my eyes on her.

I tried to pick up the weird smell that lingered with her but still couldn’t quite make sense of it. She looked like a rogue and slightly smelt like one too, but had no werewolf scent... Like, she was actually a human? Could she be under a spell? Maybe a vampire got to her and brainwashed her, or maybe this was all her plan all along, but then what would she want? What would she gain from all of this, and how would she know that we were mates if we had not yet met? I know for a fact that I would remember meeting such a beauty, especially with her being my mate.

Her beautiful fiery gold eyes called out to me. Her pale, chapped lips quivered with fear as her eyes were constantly looking around with a great deal of alarm and confusion. It was as if she couldn’t comprehend what was going on in her surroundings. The weird thing was how she looked beaten and abused, but there was no shred of fear coming out of her system, just the apparent confusion masked with fear on her face. It was as if she was not scared at all but just using fear to cover her confusion.

I couldn’t smell or see traces of actual fear from her, even though she was a stranger, trespassing and running away from a riled up pack of werewolves curious about her motives and ready to tear her limb from limb if needed.

Everything just happened so fast. I could barely control my emotions, my feelings, my thoughts, and my words. All I could focus on was her and her scent. It was as if a switch had just gone off in my head. It was like I was being released from a delusion and getting trapped in some sort of hold. I was getting a rush of emotions and feelings. Some were mine, but most of them belonged to my wolf. No matter what angle I looked at it from, the conclusion was the same. It did not matter whether it was my wolf's point of view or mine, the events of our meeting ultimately ended the same way every time I went through them in my head or in my wolf's thoughts.

I could feel deep passion brewing and burning up deep within me. At first, I thought maybe it was anger from seeing someone trespassing on my pack land. Someone had found a way to trespass on my land and go all the way to the heart of my pack without being detected. I could feel a growl threatening to rip through my chest and my wolf losing control. I caught more of her scent in the air as a growl came out of my lips. I was about to shout when I noticed she was losing her balance. Something deep in me just told me to protect her with all my being as she fell into my arms.

Her eyes opened for just a few more moments, allowing me the opportunity to look at her one more time as her heavy, fiery orange eyes had let an ocean of tears escape and slowly come down her pale cheeks. My chest increasingly went up and down... up and down, then faster and faster. Everything just clicked... It all made sense. The words fought to leave my lips, but I couldn’t help but let them out as she passed out in my arms.

“Mate,”

She was my mate.

“Mate,” but how? No, I must be wrong. My wolf must be wrong... She can’t be my mate. She’s... she’s Well, she’s just not my mate. How can “she” be my mate? Why would the moon goddess mate me to another woman after the loss of my mate? A beautiful woman with welcoming eyes and an aura filled with warmth, but still not my actual mate... I had a mate and this woman wasn’t her.

What trickery is this? No, I'm mistaken. That’s it. I mumbled on and on to myself, not sure what I was feeling or thinking, just pure confusion. I am confused about my own thoughts and feelings. What if my Beta finds out? What will happen to my pack? What will I say to them? How will I explain this? How do I tell my beta, best friend, brother-in-law, and late mate's brother that I have found my second chance mate so soon after losing his sister? How do I even explain it to him when I don't even fully understand it myself?

How could this be? Was this really happening to me? Maybe I am losing my mind. Did I really have a second chance, mate? A lot of questions kept running up and down the corners of my mind. I could not bring myself to get my mind off of the picture of her, the pain and sorrow that filled her eyes. Her skin was covered in a slew of carefully designed and inked tattoos, as if she were both a muse and a canvas.My cheeks were littered with a stream of dry and wet tears of pain and agony.

Her eyes are just covering a bottomless pit of pain and sorrow. It was not like anything I had ever seen. Even the prisoners in our cells were not as tormented as she appeared to be. Her eyes held the most anguish I have ever seen in all my years of existence. I may be older than she, but she has been through things in this world that no man could imagine or ever experience in my whole life. I could just tell by the way that my wolf got riled up at the sight of her and how instinctively very protective of her he already was of his beautiful little mate.

After all the drama, dealing with rogues, fighting, blood and gore, I was finally ready to face her. It was finally time to face the tattooed goddess that is my mate...my second chance mate.