*Jo's POV*"Please stop, Aaron," I said as he came up behind me while I was finishing my makeup in the bathroom. He started pulling me towards him."Oh, come on Jo, don't be a prude," he replied, reaching unsuccessfully to grab me again.I looked into the smiling face that I had once found so attractive and couldn't help but turn away. When Aaron, the most attractive boy at our high school, had asked me out on a date after graduation, I didn't hesitate to say yes. He had been my crush all through high school and I thought dating him would be magical, but really, I was just happy that the summer was coming to an end, and I would have an excuse to leave and never talk to him.At first, the relationship had been pleasant, and I loved going on dates with him. He had kissed me after our second date at the movies and I was elated. The kissing was great…at least at first. However, over the last month, I had started to feel different. Not just about Aaron, but about everything else as well
*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 ha
*Jo's POV*I looked down at my still blank cell phone screen for what felt like the hundredth time already. Sighing, I looked back up at myself in the mirror and continued to apply my makeup. Most of the time, I didn't wear this much, but today was my 18th birthday, so I figured I should go big. There would be a lot of people at my house. I had finished my makeup and moved onto curling my hair when my phone vibrated loudly on the bathroom counter.Suddenly, a hot searing pain erupted on my finger. Cr*p! A welt from the burn instantly appeared as I grabbed the phone. I instantly felt deflated as soon as I saw it was just another text from Aaron. I opened up the message anyway.'I forgive you for the other day, we can make up tonight.' There was a winky face at the end of it and I could only roll my eyes. The girls and I had gone to the mall and then went and had a nice dinner before they dropped me back off at home the other day. When I got there, I saw that Aaron was already
*Nikko's POV*I stared around the backyard of this large house trying to see if I could discern any information about my mate. I had fought myself (and Ash) back and forth about coming to my mate's party, and in the end, I just couldn't stay away. I had to see her again. However, I had convinced myself by saying this would almost be a sort of recon mission at the same time. Enjoy myself, but find out more information.I had gotten to the house with Byron a little early, so that way we could give my mate her birthday present and hopefully she would wear it. I was hoping to give it to her myself, but I met her mom at the door and was shuffled away to the backyard with a promise that she would deliver it for me.Now, I was just nervously walking around, staring at a backyard. Most of the humans stared at us, but I didn't pay attention. Byron tapped me on the shoulder, then proceeded to hand my own cellphone to me."I am going to give you your phone back now, because you are starting t
*Jo's POV*One second I was staring at Nikko, and the next, he was gone. But then the girls walked up to tell me happy birthday, and I realized this was a party and I had to socialize with everyone, not just the one I burned to see. So I plastered on a smile and let them guide me into the huge group of our graduating class, plus a few stragglers from the surrounding classes."Happy Birthday, Jo!" Emily exclaimed as she gave me a hug. "I can't believe you went back and got that dress without even telling us!"She was indeed wearing that red shirt I had fallen in love with, and an extremely short jean skirt, but I just rolled my eyes inwardly and moved on. How had I never noticed, until the last month or so, that my so-called friends were so awful to me. Talk about passive aggressive. After this party, I would have no reason to see them again. Thank goodness."Actually, the guy we met at the mall brought it for me," I smiled as I looked down at myself. "As a birthday gift."Emily di
*Jo's POV*Black eyes. What could that mean? I looked at Clark and Aaron, but they were just staring at me. They hadn't seen anything. I looked back at Nikko, and he was watching me, waiting for a reaction."Nikko, could we go talk somewhere else?" I asked him.At first, he looked surprised, but then he smiled slightly and nodded."But, Jo," Aaron began, but I cut him off."No, Aaron, I already told you everything you need to know in my text this morning. I'm sorry, but my feelings haven't changed, and they won't ever change," I said firmly as he stood there in shock. Then, I glanced towards Clark who was smiling, "I'll talk to you later, Clark.""Sounds good," Clark said, still smiling. "You two have fun. I'll just go find Dylan."I smiled back at him with appreciation and then turned to walk back towards my house, knowing that Nikko would follow. I didn't even have to look behind me to know that he was; I could feel his presence. People watched us and whispered as we walked by
*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 the
*Jo's POV*I closed my bedroom door and leaned my back against it, breathing hard. It had been the hardest thing I had ever done to say 'no' to Nikko at that moment, and even harder to walk into my house and shut the door on him. My body felt cold and numb from the absence of warmth and tingles that I had been feeling all night.'So, my soulmate is a member of the wolf shifters,' I thought to myself as I began getting ready for bed.'Mate,' I heard my internal voice whisper in confirmation.Halfway through getting my pajamas on, I changed my mind and decided to take a hot bath instead, since I was so wired up. I walked over to my bathroom and got the water filling the tub as I restripped. Once it was full, I had to slowly step in to let my body adjust to the temperature.I sunk into the water all the way up to my chin. Another thing I loved about my house was the giant soaking tubs. After a few minutes, I already felt more relaxed, and my mind drifted back to Nikko and our convers