•Mandy's POV•

"Ryder! Stop! Don't hurt him!" I hear Mara say as she bursts into the room. Layla follows but I just stay behind the door, hidden.

As the door closes, the final scent of strawberries and white chocolate waft through my nostrils.

Surely he can smell me too. I mean, it's not that hard to miss. But he didn't even give me a glance when he ambushed us.

Cole is my mate.

I feel like a should be begging to the Moon Goddess, asking her 'why him?' but I shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I'm just sticking to what Ryder told us earlier about how he's kind and caring.

"Mara? Layla? You girls shouldn't be down here." Ryder growls.

"We can go where we please, thank you very much. I need to speak to Cole." She replies, putting Ryder in his place.

It's about time someone did that.

"Me? How honoured I feel Luna." I hear Cole reply.

Just the sound of his voice makes me melt.

"Did you smell anything today? Like something that you've never smelt before?" Mara asks.

Cole doesn't reply for a second.

"Maybe. In fact, I think the scent is coming back to me now." He replies.

My wolf starts jumping around.

"Mara. What the hell are you talking about?" Ryder asks.

I decide it now or never and I step out.

Everyone's eyes go to me, but I'm too busy looking into Cole's grey ones.

His jet black hair falls over his face messily, due to the infrequent cuts obviously. He has grey eyes with flecks of Green throughout them and you can see the muscles on his arms and through he shirt. I'm sure that he has a six pack under there.

Not that I'm fantasising about him shirtless...

"Mate." He whispers.

The guys eyes widen and they look between us.

"Can I talk to him?" I look to Ryder, when nobody says anything I add, "Alone please."

Ryder looks hesitant.

"Oh Ryder." Mara snaps him out of his thinking state, "They're mates for crying out loud! They deserve some privacy."

He looks to her and I see something in his eyes that I've never seen in Ryder before.

Love.

Pure and utter love. And it was beautiful, not to go all mushy and stuff.

He rolls his eyes and Mara takes his hand, dragging him out, "Stop being a drama queen."

Ryder tries to protest but Mara lets him go and links arms with Layla. She give me a wink and Layla smirks at me.

I don't look at the guys as they leave, but as they walk out the door, I hear Josh say to Ryder, "Dude, you're so whipped."

The reply was muffled, but I'm sure I heard Josh cry in pain.

I smile a little at the performance before turning to Cole.

He grins at me, "What's your name beautiful?" He asks.

My heart clenches when he calls me 'beautiful.'

"Mandy." I reply, stepping up to the bars where he is.

"Perfect name for a perfect mate." He smiles.

Like actually smiles.

As cheesy as it sounds, I find myself smiling back while blushing a little.

"Well, I know your name's Cole." I reply.

"I thought you would." he replies, "What did you want to talk to me about?" he asks.

I clear my throat, "I know this sounds a little up front, but I need to know if you're going to reject me or not." I say.

He looks at me like I've just put caviar in my cereal.

"Reject you? Why would I reject you?" He asks.

"Well, Ryder told me that you've had a rough life, you've lost loved ones and you got kicked out of your own pack. You just ambushed my pack, so I didn't know if you wanted or had time for a mate." I admit.

He sighs, about to say something but I beat him.

"You know what? Just don't say anything. I already know what you're going to say, so I'll just leave now before I regret something." I say and turn to leave.

I feel sparks ignite from my arm and I look to see Cole's hand there, reached through the stupid metal bars.

"Don't leave Mandy." He says honestly.

My wolf howls when he says my name.

I nod and step back to where I was.

"Ryder was right, about me having a rough life. It didn't go the way I wanted, and I took it out on myself and Ryder." He says.

"Why Ryder?" I ask, interested.

He sighs and looks into the distance, "Because he had everything I didn't. He had a loving family, whenever we went out together, all the girls would look at him, he was the next to be Alpha and he was a stronger wolf than me." He says.

I cup his face through the bars and make him look at me. "But you have nothing to be jealous of now Cole. I want to stand with you, be your partner, live my life with you." I say.

"Mandy, I accept you as my mate." He says.

I smile, no, I beam at him.

"I accept you as my mate too Cole." I say.

He grins and cups my face leaning in closer.

But I put a hand up to stop him, "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like our first kiss not to be in between metal bars while you're in a holding cell." I smile apologetically.

He laughs and nods, "Sure, but as soon as I get out of here, nothing's going to stop me."

I giggle and shake my head.

"Mara's about to talk to Ryder. Give the go ahead?" Layla mind-links me.

We made a plan that if Cole and I accepted each other, Mara would talk to Ryder about him joining our pack.

"One second." I reply.

I look to Cole, "Cole, I want you to join my pack."

•Mara's POV•

I look to Layla and she holds up a finger, silently telling me to wait.

I tap my foot on the ground impatiently.

Layla suddenly breaks into a smile and nods eagerly.

That means he accepted!

I smile too and we do a little happy dance.

This also just happens to be the time when Ryder, Josh and Trent decide to come out of the office.

They look at us funny and I Layla and just start bursting into laughter.

"Right," Trent says, stressing the 'i' sound.

"Well, I think they've finally lost it." Josh says.

We both stop laughing and glare at him.

He smile sheepishly and motions to the door with his thumb.

"I'm gonna, yeah..." he trails off as he slips through the door.

I'll deal with him later.

I look to Ryder, "I need to talk to you."

I say through mind-link.

"Should I be scared?" Ryder asks.

I laugh out loud and Trent and Layla give me weird looks.

I motion to the office door and Ryder nods.

After we enter, Ryder closes the door and faces me.

"You-" I start but get cut off when Ryder crashes his lips to mine.

I sigh and sink deeper into the kiss, making it passionate and gentle.

Ryder slips his tongue into my mouth and explores whilst I twirl strands of his hair with my fingers.

He stops kissing me, but stays where he is, making his lips brush mine as he talks, "I had to do that."

I pull away and giggle.

"Okay, being serious now." I begin, clearing my throat.

Ryder nods and takes a seat in his office chair.

"It's about Mandy and Cole being mates. He's accepted her Ryder! He wants to be her mate!" I smile.

Ryder looks at me with slight shock and then smiles too, "I'm glad, he needs someone like Mandy in his life."

"That's the other thing." I add.

He looks at me suspiciously, "What?"

"Well, we can't let Mandy become a rogue and Cole has no where to go. And there is absolutely no way they are being separated. I want to ask you if Cole can join the pack?" I ask.

He purses his lips, "It's a big ask Mara. The reason he got kicked out of his last pack was because he was being difficult. I really don't want to have to deal with him as well as my Alpha duties." Ryder replies.

I skip forward and sit on his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. His hands claimed my waist and started drawing lazy circles on the small of my back.

Under my shirt, since I got changed a while ago.

I tried not to get distracted as I spoke, "But Ryder, he has a mate now. Mandy will make sure he has good behaviour, if he likes her, like I know he will, he'll listen and be with her at all costs." I say.

"We're still not on good terms." Ryder adds.

"Then what a good way to fix it." I smile.

He sighs, "Okay, I'll consider it. But I need to consult with Josh and Trent."

I smile, "Thank you Alpha!" I tease and get off his lap.

"Ryder to you Princess." He sternly reminds me.

Just as I get to the door, I turn around.

"Or what?" I giggle playfully.

Ryder smirks evilly, "Bad things will happen."

I mock salute him, "Sir, yes, sir. Alpha." I smile on the last word.

He stands up and growls. I squeal and run up the stairs of the pack house.

Some leftover werewolves from the ceremony look at me weirdly as I run down the hallway.

Wow, how big is this house?

I run into a room and realise it's a bedroom, I sneak into the closet and hide in the clothes.

"I will find you Princess" Ryder says through mind-link.

"Aw, you sound so sure of yourself." I reply.

Suddenly I hear the door to the bedroom I'm in slam open, I think it nearly broke off its hinges.

"Oh shit." I whisper.

The door to the closet opens and Ryder grins down at me. But his eyes are different, they're more dull than his usual bright ones.

"Found you." He smiles.

I jump out and hold my hands up, "I'm sorry I didn't mean it!" I blurt.

Ryder chuckles and looks at me shaking his head, "I'm so happy I finally get to talk to you." He says.

I look at him weirdly.

Um, what?

"What? And your eyes, they're not as bright as usual." I squint to look at him.

"Oh yes, these are my eyes. Ryder has brighter ones than me." He says.

Okay, this is really confusing.

"Um, I don't believe we've met?" I say.

He grins, "I'm Caleb, Ryder's wolf."

So Ryder has an inner wolf too? Like Snow. I guess that would be right, why would I have one.

"So, does this happen usually Caleb?" I ask.

He wraps his hands around my waist and pulls me to him.

"Only when I'm really angry or just want to come out badly. But I think you might see me more often now." He smirks.

I smile back, "I'm glad, you're very nice."

He gives me a quick kiss on the lips, "As much as I'd like to stay, I better give you Ryder back now." Caleb pouts.

I laugh, "Thanks Caleb."

He closes his eyes and when he opens them, Ryder's bright green ones locked with mine.

I smile, "I just met your wolf."

"Yeah, sorry about that. He wanted to meet you ages ago." he replies, still not letting go of me.

"I have an inner tiger you know?" I ask.

"Really?" He smirks, "I'll have to meet her some time."

I bite my lip, "I don't even know if she can come out like that."

'That would be so cool!' Snow suddenly says.

'Where have you been lately?' I ask.

'I thought I'd just step back for a little bit.' She replies.

'Oh, well I'm glad to have you back.' I smile.

'I'm glad to be back.' She replies.

"And now you're not even listening to me so I should just shut up." Ryder says, snapping me out of my conversation with Snow.

"What?" I ask.

He laughs, "I said that I better go talk to the guys now and see what they think about Cole joining the pack." He says.

"Yeah, Mandy's probably bursting right now about wanting him out of that cell." I reply.

He nods and gives me a kiss on the cheek before starting to walk to the door, when he gets to it I quickly stop him.

"Ryder!" I call.

He turns to me, "Yeah Princess?"

I smile, "Just remember that this is Mandy's mate we're talking about." I say.

He nods and closes the door as he leaves.

I think back to when I zoned out of Ryder's conversation when I was talking to Snow.

I swear he said something else that he didn't repeat.

I just can't remember what it was.

In the back of my mind, I feel like it was something important.

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