Chapter Fifteen - Check Mate Jake's POV

Jake’s heart skipped a beat as he looked down into the crystal blue eyes of his intended. They were the same colour as the water around a glacier, with a darker, almost violet ring in the center of them. He remembered her mother’s wolf, then looked at the thick, shinny white hair that was cascading over her slender shoulders and realized her eyes would be blue as ice water and her fur as white as snow. His wolf growled in appreciation. Jake didn’t realize he’d actually made a noise until Liana’s eyes widened and she stepped back in alarm.

“It’s alright, Lia,“ David said reassuringly, “When a wolf rumbles like that it’s sort of like men whistling from a construction site, but it isn’t considered rude among werewolves. Once a female has found her wolf she usually really enjoys hearing that sort of appreciation from a male. It makes her feel pretty and cherished….or so my wife tells me.”

“I’ve heard you do that before,” Lia said accusingly, her attention still fixed on Jake. “I’ve heard you and smelled you. You were the wolf in my yard, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” Jake admitted, rather than trying to lie to his mate. He heard David’s sigh. This wasn’t the way they’d planned to broach the subject, but he felt it best to be completely honest since she remembered that first meeting. “I scented you and tracked your smell through the woods. My wolf wanted to meet yours. We were...surprised to find you in human form. I didn’t understand at first, but David has explained.”

“He has,” she deadpanned with one eyebrow raised, glaring daggers at David, who had the good sense to feel guilty for talking out of turn.

“The next day Lia,” He said in his own defense, “when he was watching your house. I told him you were seventeen, hadn’t shifted, and you wouldn’t have been very happy with him if he knocked on the door and announced the moon goddess had sent him to you and he was your mate.” Lia wrapped her arms around herself and sank onto the sofa.

“Gran would have shot him,” she whispered, “Or I might have done it myself.”

“Well...probably,” David admitted. “But maybe not. She was going to tell you about your wolf soon. She had admitted that it was becoming unavoidable. We’d been discussing it at my house that afternoon.”

This wasn’t going at all how he’d hoped, Jake thought. Certainly nowhere near how his wolf wanted. He hadn’t really expected her to jump for joy, but he’d hoped she’d at least be happy. Instead, she looked a bit sick and was starting to smell a bit scared. Talking about shooting him definitely wasn’t what he’d been anticipating.

“Jake is your mate, Lia!” Ellie said, bouncing into the room from behind her father. Lia felt her heart rate accelerate and tried to swallow the fear that accompanied the word ‘mate’ by reminding herself of the positive bond that it had been in all of the stories she’d heard and read this afternoon, but the stories she’d learned first kept floating to the surface. “It’s so awesome!” Ellie continued, “You haven’t even shifted yet, but the goddess already picked your mate! You won’t even be eighteen for three whole weeks yet and you already know who your mate is! Elsie and I are soooo jealous!” Liana was still trying to calm her nerves and Elsie’s constant use of the word was not helping. The buzzing in her head was getting in the way too.

Jake didn’t miss the fact that Lia flinched a bit every time Ellie used the word mate. Apparently, she wasn’t as comfortable with the transition to the real werewolf tales as the girls had thought. It had only been a few hours after all. He’d considered waiting to meet her, at least until dinner, but his wolf had insisted. Maybe it would be best to leave her for now and talk again later.

“No pressure,” he said softly. His comments were for Lia but also directed at Ellie so she would give the stories some time to settle with Lia rather than continuing to talk about it. “In this pack, both werewolves have to be eighteen and agree to the match. We don’t allow forced pairing,” he continued, trying to reassure her, “David and I just came in so that I could let you know we’ve decided to move Selene to a smaller, less busy room. It’s the first door to the right of the main hall that you were in earlier. She’ll have more privacy there. You’re welcome to visit her anytime you like and I’ve instructed the omegas to notify you the moment she wakes. I’ll be off now. Lots of plans to finalize before the wolf moon. It was nice to finally speak with you, Liana. Maybe you’ll join me for dinner?” He left the room quickly, not giving her time to answer his question in case she said no. In the meantime, he and David could arrange to get her acclimated to life as a werewolf and introduce her to all the young wolves in the Cloud Lake Pack as quickly as possible. Living among them was surely the fastest way to acclimatize to reality.

The stories were a good start, but his Luna would need to know his people, their people. If she started at the pack school when this semester began, she could meet a lot of other werewolves from the area and see what some young mated pairs looked like. There were two fully mated pairs in the graduating class this year if he remembered correctly, and a few more who knew who their matches would be and were greatly anticipating their 18^th birthday so that they could consent to the match. Liana could make friends within the pack, with wolves from the other two nearby packs, and learn their ways all at the same time. She’d be graduated and ready to fill the spot of Luna by the time she graduated this summer! He could hardly wait.

Now that she was well enough that his mother would let her out of her sight, he’d put her in a room on the top floor Alpha’s suit. Far enough from his room that his wolf wouldn’t have him standing at her door all the time, but close enough that he could keep an eye on her and bump into her often so that they got to know each other before the 17^th. Maybe she’d agree to watch movies with him in the evenings, or even sit and talk on the rooftop patio! His wolf really liked the later suggestion, but Jake got the impression that his wolf expected more than just conversation. It might be best to avoid the patio unless she had agreed to the mating. By tonight at dinner he hoped to have her school changed, her room ready, and a selection of suggested reading available to help her understand their pack as quickly as possible.

In less than three weeks, she’d be his mate. Luna to the werewolf pack of Cloud Lake. Jake smiled, his steps light as he walked up the stairs to his office with David following a few steps behind.