Chapter 2

                                                          -Colter-

A human?!

This can’t be! Her?! My mate?! No! No, no, no, no, no. Absolutely not!

She wasn’t a bad looking human girl. She was pretty? I guess? She had a pair of mesmerizing eyes-even for a human; it was that heterochromic thing that some humans were born with. Hers wasn’t extremely noticeable, but if you looked long enough you could see that, while both eyes were a rich whiskey brown, one had hints of green in them. Her even richer latte brown skin, seemed to make her eyes even more noticeable.

Still, despite all of these positive physical aspects I could sense her insecurity. She had no confidence, at all, judging by her baggy, faded T-shirt, and those hideous, distressed bell bottom jeans. Her hair was in a haphazard bun at the top of her head. I loved women with messy buns, but something about the way that she wore it…

The girl wasn’t taking care of herself, that much was for sure. She had a clean face and she smelled really good, but…her scent…. her mating scent was hardly strong enough for me to catch.

It was only when I bumped into that Maxim, my wolf, became restless and excited. Though, he seemed to have been sensing her well before now.

‘Mate!’  he growled hungrily in my ear as we stood in front of each other.

“Who are you?” I asked. Why did fate see fit to match to a lowly human?

“Aurelia,” she answered me without hesitation. “Aurelia Smith.”

‘Aurelia! A beautiful name, that is!’ Maxim exclaimed excitedly.

I hardly had a moment to respond to neither my wolf or her before she spoke again, asking me a question. And taking a closer step to me in the process.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

“No.”

“Then why do I feel like I do?”

She was almost entranced by whatever was going on. It was clear that she knew nothing about this mating thing. The only thing that she seemed to understand was that I provoked a feeling from her-one of familiarity.

This was far too important for me not to handle it right away. I needed answers. Without another word, I took her armed into my hand and snatched her into the first bathroom that I could find. I locked the door behind us, and then I faced her.

I started to part my lips to speak, but I couldn’t because in earnest…I wasn’t even sure what to say.

I didn’t want a human for a mate. I wanted a strong alpha daughter. Something that she most certainly is not.

‘How do you not sense the potential in her?’ said Maxim.

“Why would fate do this to me?” I hissed.

“D-do what?” she asked. “Listen, I don’t understand what’s going on here, I just-“

“Where did you come from?”  I snarled, towering over her.

She was intimidated, that much was certain, but I didn’t care at the moment. And it’s not because I made it a habit of treating females this way. I was otherwise a decent guy, but this? This moment…meeting her…it brought something out of me.

“I came from…I…”

“Where are you from?”

“I-Oregon?” she answered sheepishly. “Look, I don’t want any trouble or anything. I just…I’ve been having a rough couple months since my dad died, and for some reason, I…you…I don’t know,” she chuckled nervously. “This isn’t normal…but…I feel okay? Right now?”

So, that’s what I was sensing. This girl was suffering and if I was being honest, it was actually disheartening to see. Part of me was glad that my being near at least comforted her.

But still. It didn’t change the fact that she was a human.

“That feeling…the feeling of calm that you’re feeling. You’ve probably realized by now that it’s because of me.”

“But why?” she asked me curiously. “I…I don’t understand-“

“It’s because we’re mates,” I said. “I…am your mate.”

“What does that mean?”

I didn’t know how to answer her, but I was going to try. Then the bathroom door started to tremble. Someone was trying to get in.

Now wasn’t the time. “We’ll talk about this later.”

I was glad to turn my back on her and headed toward the door when I felt her grab my arm. The immediate shiver that left body at her touch, sent a shock through my body, one that I admittedly liked. One that I didn’t want to leave. It lingered for a moment before slowly fading away.

“I-” she stumbled back, seemingly surprised by her actions. She was deeply confused. “I just…I like…not feeling sad,” she confessed. “I cannot believe that I am telling you this…I…” she sighed. “It just feels nice…to finally feel…all of those feelings being taken away…even if it’s for a little while.” Her sadness…it did resonate with me. “I’m…I’m hoping that…you can explain this further…maybe we can be friends or something? I or…not friends? I don’t…”

I didn’t want to be this girl’s friend out of pity, but the truth of the matter was that I did feel pity for her.

“Like I said, we’ll talk more about this later.” I unlocked the bathroom door and started to leave, but something compelled me. Maybe it was Maxim, or maybe it was just what I had described to be earlier. Pity.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said and then quickly headed out of the bathroom to my next class.

All morning into the afternoon I had been thinking about that human girl. The one supposing to be my mate. Flashes of her eyes popped up in my mind. Her button nose…she did have nice lips.

She had potential, and I sensed that the bond created by our fated match also carried certain possibilities that I was curious to seek out.

I was curious, yes, but I still had to question the worth of that curiosity. There would be a lot of work that would have to go into acclimating the human into my life as well as the role she would one day carry as my Luna.

Dad probably won’t be so happy about this.

My life was far too hectic at this point in my life to take on such a burden. Maybe I should just reject her.

‘No!’  snarled Maxim.

“Oh, now you want to have an input,” I murmured.

“Anything you want to add Mr. Sloan?” said Professor Jonas. He must have heard my irate response to my counterpart. Apparently, I was louder than I had intended.

“If I did, you’d have been the first to know teach,” I replied to him nonchalantly.

The class seemed to have found my response to him amusing. He got intimidated by this, and quickly turned to continue his lesson. Good. I wasn’t in the mood to entertain at the moment.

“You alright?” a whisper sounded next to me. I had almost forgotten that my best friend was sitting next to me.

“Not really,” I replied.

She chuckled as Madison always did when I was in troublesome situations. “Aww, well don’t you tell dear Madi all about it.”

“I can’t.”

“And why is that?” she asked. I sensed the perk-up in her voice when she asked this question. I had piqued curiosity.

“Madison not now.”

“Ooo, this must be pretty serious.”

“Serious isn’t the word.”

“Okay.” At this point, Madison had completely pushed aside the fact that we were in class.

Fortunately, since we were in the back of the class, and we had inhuman earing, a simple whisper was enough for us to communicate between each other. Still, I wasn’t ready to tell her everything. Not yet. Not until I spoke with dad, and my uncle about it.

“I need to speak with dad first,” I finally said.

“Da-your dad?” she asked incredulously. “It’s really like that?”

Madison waited for my answer. I reluctantly nodded. “Unfortunately, I think so.”

“Ooo,” she exhaled, nodding her head. She looked forward as if she was resonating on something. I knew that she was only trying to figure out what it was that had me so bothered that I’d actually go to my father about it before talking to her. “If that’s serious,” she finally spoke again. “Might want to go to your uncle first.”

I chuckled, thinking it amusing that she already knew the drill. Dad always just seemed to take it better when he heard controversial from his brother.

“You read my mind.”