He sat down on the couch beside me and took a deep breath. There was only about a centimeter of space between us as he rubbed his hands together nervously. "The beginning. Right."

"Wait," I said, cutting him off. "I don't even know your name. Oh, my god," I moaned when realization hit, "I've been calling you Rafe this entire time and it's probably not even your name!"

He smiled slightly. "Actually, Rafe is the name of my wolf. If you think about it, you'll know my name as well, now that I'm in my human form."

I raised my eyebrows, seriously doubting that I could just know his name.

"Before you start doubting me, try it," he replied. "I assure you that you will know my name if you concentrate."

I rolled my eyes but looked at him, wondering what I was supposed to be concentrating on. Getting distracted, I let my eyes roam down his body, noticing how little the shorts covered. His washboard abs were on perfect display as he lounged on the couch beside me, the muscles in his arms rippling as he played with his hands. Jackson, my mind whispered as I stared, shocking me.

"J-Jackson?" I asked, shocked that my mind would pick that name. I guess he did kind of look like a Jackson. I waited for him to laugh and tell me that I wasn't even close.

He didn't. With a small smile, he nodded. "Jackson Walker," he replied, holding out his hand to shake mine.

Shocked, I couldn't do anything but reach out and shake his hand, those strange tingles coursing up my arm as I did so. "How did I do that?" I asked him shakily.

He rubbed my hand gently before giving it back to me. "Don't worry, I'll explain that as well, but it's not going to make sense unless I start from the beginning like you suggested earlier."

I nodded in agreement. He'd better explain everything because I was not walking out of this pavilion feeling like I was going crazy.

"Alright, so if you haven't pieced it together yet, I'm a werewolf. I spend most of my time in my human form, when I wasn't with you, although I do really enjoy my wolf form. I live in a pack, to which I'm second in command. Any questions so far?" he asked, looking over at me.

I took a deep breath, trying to process the couple sentences he'd given me. Werewolf. Human and wolf form. Lives in a pack. Second in command. He sounded like he was the insane one, but I couldn't argue with the proof I'd already been given. I chose to just shake my head.

He nodded, giving me a small, nervous smile before he continued. "The day that we met, I was hunting down a rogue."

"Question," I interrupted, holding up a hand.

A smile spread across his face at my actions, but he nodded for me to go on. "What's a rogue?" I asked.

"A rogue is a werewolf that doesn't have a pack," he replied. "Most of the time they're kicked out of their pack because they did something bad. Almost all of them harbor a hatred of packs and when they enter your territory, it's usually because they're trying to find a way to harm it. For that reason, we try to capture and interrogate any that cross into our territory without permission."

"So, you interrogate them, not kill them, right?" I asked, the question feeling necessary because of the look on his face when talking about them.

He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced up at the ceiling, avoiding my eyes. "Well...it depends."

"On what?!" I nearly screamed at him in shock. They killed people? Well, werewolves, but they were people half the time!

"Calm down, Cecilia," he told me gently. "Sometimes, rogues are mentally unstable or they threaten the lives of pack members. We lock them up when they do, but if they put up a fight, it's either us or them, and we choose us every time. My pack trusts us to protect them and we do." His voice was deadly serious and I could tell that the safety of his pack was very important to him. I knew he couldn't be bad. He'd been protecting me for a month and had saved me from Bane.

"Okay," I relented. "Continue."

He reached over and squeezed my hand, smiling thankfully at me. "The rogue ran into town and while I was searching for some clothes, an animal control officer caught me and took me to the pound. I was going to find a way to escape, but your parents decided that I was the perfect dog for you. I pretended to be a good dog and when we got to your house I was going to disappear into the woods, never to be seen again." He stopped talking, seeming as if he wasn't sure how to continue the story.

Wanting to know, I prodded, "And you decided to stay and pretend to be my dog because...?"

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair again, obviously agitated. "Okay, look. What do you know about wolves?"

I was a little confused as to why he was asking, but he motioned with his hands for me to go along with it. Figuring he had a point, I did. "Pack animals, social, patriarchal, fiercely protective...you know, the normal stuff."

He nodded. "That's all true. Did you know that they mate for life?"

I thought about it for a moment. "I've probably heard it before. It sounds right."

"It is right," he confirmed. "Wolves mate for life and werewolves are the same way. We have a key difference though. Our mates are picked for us."

I raised an eyebrow at him, clearly not understanding what he was saying. "Do you mean that you have arranged marriages?" I asked, thinking how out of date and ridiculous that is.

He shook his head. "No, we have soul mates," he replied. "The legend is that our souls are split in half and find each other. We know them immediately by sight, touch," he reached out to take my hand, causing the tingles to course through me again. "You're my soul mate, Cecilia," he told me quietly.

My eyes widened and I scooted away from him. "No, no, no, no!" I exclaimed my hands up in the air as if proclaiming my innocence. "No. That's not possible. I'm human and it's just not possible!"

He smiled sadly as he stared at me, staying exactly where he was. "Did you think werewolves were possible ten minutes ago?" he asked. "It's more than possible, Celia. It's the truth. Give me your hand."

I looked at him like he was crazy and shook my head vigorously.

He huffed in aggravation. "Just give me your hand, Cecilia. I just want to show you something, give you some proof that what I'm saying is true."

I watched him cautiously, but couldn't say no. I reached my hand out slowly and grabbed hold of his. The tingles and sparks jolted through me once more and I tried to pull away as they built up and got stronger from the prolonged contact. He gripped my hand tighter, refusing to let it go.

"That is our bond, right there," he told me forcefully. "That's one way to tell that you're mates. Can't you feel it?" I didn't need to answer; he knew that I could. "I can also tell by sight and scent. Well, I can't, but when I saw you, Rafe knew."

I remembered him saying earlier that Rafe was his wolf's name. I was still confused about how that worked though. "So, are you and Rafe separate?" I asked.

"Yes and no. It's like I have two spirits in my body. Mine and Rafe's. We are the same person, yet not. We have different personalities and consciences. He's led mostly by wolf-like instincts and I'm led mostly by human ones. We coexist." He was watching me carefully, concerned eyes glued to my face, probably thinking that I was going to freak out anytime.

Truthfully, I was probably a lot calmer than most people would be in my situation. There was just something about Jackson that made me feel safe. I couldn't feel uncomfortable when he was with me because I'd been around him in his wolf form for a month now. He'd protected me and was my confidant. Then it hit me.

My face grew hot as blood bloomed in mortification and I groaned. "Oh, god, I told you everything!" I moaned.

Jackson laughed. "Yeah, you really did," he agreed.

I smacked him. "Why would you just continue pretending to be my dog like that?" I asked him. "Don't you realize how rude that is, to listen to everything I was telling you, thinking I was just talking to my dog?"

He had to good grace to look abashed. "Yeah, that was kind of rude. I was just enjoying getting to know you, Ceci. I really do like you and it was really nice pretending to be your dog."

I sighed, rolling my eyes and trying to stop blushing.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, Ceci," he assured me. "Nothing you have told me made me think less of you. You're amazing and caring and so sweet."

I blushed even more looking down at my hands, causing Jackson to chuckle at my reaction. "Alright, I'll stop with the compliments for now. You are taking all of this really well, you know," he commented.

I smiled slightly. "Yeah, I'm surprising myself as well. I know that I'm not in any danger when I'm with you. I can feel it, but you've also been around me for a month in your wolf form and you've done nothing but protect me."

He reached out and took hold of my arm. "Cecilia, werewolves don't hurt their mates. Ever. Their wolf would tear them apart from the inside if they even thought about it."

I shifted a little bit, uncomfortable now that he'd brought the topic of mates back up. "About that..."

He watched me nervously. "What?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"I know that you think we're mates, and that's great and all, but I just met you, met you. I don't want to just jump right into a relationship with you," I told him shyly, not really knowing what he was expecting of me now that I knew his secret.

He raised his eyebrows at my statement. "First of all, I don't think you're my mate, I know you are. Second, I am not going to rush you into anything you're not ready for. I just want a chance. How about we go on a date this Friday?"

I thought about it. It wasn't a bad idea. We needed to get to know each other and a date is a good way to do it. I did find one problem though. "So...how do we explain the disappearance of my dog?" I asked him.

He stared at me in shock. Obviously, this thought hadn't occurred to him yet. "Tell everyone I ran away," he told me after a minute of contemplation.

I rolled my eyes. "Then I would have to pretend to be miserable, put up missing dog posters and deal with everyone's pity," I told him. "Plus, you've been an extremely loyal puppy dog. No one is going to believe that you just ran away."

He nodded in agreement and looked pretty proud of the loyalty part. "Tell them...tell them that my real owners tracked me down and took me back!" he exclaimed proudly.

"That's-actually a good idea," I told him, almost saying no before I realized it was probably the best idea. "I can go tell the gang that I just found your real owners in here and that they took you back. Then you can coincidentally bump into me on the beach and we can hang out. Perfection!" I said, kissing my fingertips like an Italian chef.

Jackson laughed at my theatrics and took my hand again, making the sparks and tingles go crazy again. "Do you want to talk about what happened earlier?" he asked carefully.

I froze. How could I have forgotten Bane and everything that happened?

"What was that all about?" I asked him. "Why wouldn't he leave me alone? Who is he?"

Jackson glared stonily at the opposite wall. He obviously knew of Bane and didn't like him. "Bane is the alpha of a pack nearby that we don't get along with. He's vicious and cruel. Even to his pack members. My guess is that he took a liking to you, which is never a good thing with Bane. He's an ass, and a dangerous one at that."

I bit my lip, worried. "Will he leave me alone?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly.

"He better if he wants to live!" Jackson growled. "After how I protected you earlier, he'll know that we're mates and hopefully just go away."

I thought back to the fight from a few minutes ago. Jackson had kicked his ass good. If Bane was an alpha and Jackson beat him... "Jackson, I thought you were second in command of your pack. How did you take down Bane?"

Jackson smiled slightly as he looked down at me. "Bane might be an alpha, but I have alpha blood as well. My older brother took over the pack when our father stepped down. I have the blood for the position, but it generally goes to the eldest son."

I nodded slowly and Jackson smiled as he stood up, holding out a hand to help me off the couch. "I'll kick anyone's ass that tries to hurt you, Celia," he told me.

I laughed as I took his hand. "I'll help you," I told him with a cheeky smile.

He rolled his eyes as he pulled me fluidly to my feet. "Go tell your friends that my 'owners' came and claimed me."

I grinned back at him over my shoulder as I walked away. "Be a good doggy for your owners, Jackson," I teased him.

I heard his laugh and then he said, "Hey, Cecilia?" I looked back at him as I pushed the door open, pausing to hear his parting statement. "You have to come meet my pack tomorrow." And then he was gone through the back door, leaving me alone to panic.