| KALEB

My wolf was restless, wanting to find our mate quickly. I scanned the clearing looking for any indication that another person was here. My eyes landed on a sleeping form amongst a cluster of wild flowers. It looked like a... tiger. Realization dawned on me as butterflies turned my insides to mush.

It looked to be a male, a rather large one at that. The stories my mom had told me proved true. I have never seen a creature of this immense size before. It was like he was just big for no reason. I crept closer silently, hoping to not startle them awake. Their chest was rising and falling steadily with each intake of breath.

I almost swallowed my tongue. Even in his second form, he was so handsome, I couldn't pull my eyes away. His rich orange fur looked beautiful in the light of the fading sun as it contrasted beautifully with the black stripes that adorned his coat. I just wanted to rub myself all over him and cover my body with his scent.

After a while of just staring at his perfection, I started to feel like a creeper. Should I wake him up? As if in answer his eyes snapped open revealing two beautiful hazel orbs with green flecks. Oh shit. His gaze was even as it trailed over the absolutely non-threatening form that was my wolf who currently had our ears pressed flat against our head and our tail tucked in automatic submission. I shivered, but definitely not because of the chill in the air.

My heart was pumping rapidly in my chest by the time his eyes finally met mine. He sat up slowly, never breaking eye contact. His gaze was predatory, pinning me in place. Another shiver ran through my body even though the air around us had heated a few degrees.

Mate. My wolf chirped happily.

Yeah, I know now hush.

Then he stood his full impressive height, towering over me, his lips pulled back over his teeth with his tongue lolling as if he was trying to smell my scent and taste it at the same time. At the sight of the long incisors, I instinctively rolled over in submission.

With his face now relaxed he dropped his big head down to run his nose along the length of my body. I remained still, trying to be as non-threatening as possible meanwhile my heart felt like it was going to pound a hole through my chest and fly away.

A deep rumbling sound came from his chest and I felt the vibration roll through my much smaller body. My wolf let out a whine in reply and before I knew it I had shifted and was now completely naked and exposed to the big male hovering above me. It felt as though my whole body turned pink- no, scratch that- crimson all at once.

A startled and completely manly 'eep' blew past my lips as my hands flew down to cover myself. I was literally contemplating murdering my wolf with my thoughts right now, the asshole just looked at me sheepishly. I wanted to scoff and roll my eyes and probably would have if it weren't for the fact that a giant male tiger was staring down at me with what seemed to be a mixture of amusement, surprise, and confusion.

We stared at each other for a while longer before he stepped back and shifted all the while never losing eye contact. My heart literally stopped, keeled over and then started beating triple time. Where there was once an abnormally large tiger now stood a man who was even larger than my alpha.

I wasn't complaining as my eyes drank in his dark honey form. My gaze traveled from his tousled dark brown hair to his rich brown eyes with green flecks passing over his pink lips that were too kissable for words then to his jaw. Down his defined stomach, that I tried not allow my eyes to linger over for too long, before they fell to his narrow hips and defined v.

I tried to refrain from looking any lower.

And failed.

The thick organ hang limply and proudly and I unconsciously squeezed my legs together as my body temperature heated a few degrees in response to the mouth watering sight. If it was even possible my face turned an even darker shade of red.

I quickly looked away, settling for simply appreciating his other features. Not that it helped cool the sparks he ignited in me. My breathing was heavy and drowned out all of the noise in the little clearing we were in. I was simply mesmerized by him. The fact that he was my mate caused a weird bubbly feeling in my stomach. Part of me couldn't believe that my mate was standing right in front of me and the other part was in la la land getting high off his delectable scent alone.

Surprisingly it wasn't awkward as he looked down on my naked form, drinking in the sight of the sun's fading light bouncing off my pale skin as my black hair tangled in with the green grass and flowers. I could only imagine what look my stormy grey eyes were giving him. Probably something along the lines of make me yours now, please. His hazel gaze trailed over the length of me one last time as if he was trying to figure out how to proceed.

Finally, he let out a sigh and ran a hand through his chocolaty locks. I was too focused on the way the movement caused his muscles to flex to think too deeply into the breath of resignation that passed through his lips. And then he spoke, and damn it, I moaned. I don't even know what it was he said. The sound of the deep rumble was simply too arousing for words. Mortified, I instantly dropped eye contact as my face turned an unnatural shade of red. I rolled my bottom lip into my mouth in order to prevent any more embarrassing sounds from escaping.

"Well, you're quite responsive aren't you, little one." he murmured sounding pleasantly surprised while stepping closer. His voice was like silk even with its deep timbre. I sat up slowly careful to keep my privates covered meanwhile trying to keep my eyes of the tantalizing sway of his. He sat down gracefully in front of me his eyes continuing their constant analysis of me. Reaching out with one giant hand, and a gentleness you wouldn't expect from someone of his size, he stroked my cheek almost as if he was trying to not break me. My pale almost white skin was a stark contrast to his rich caramel. Immediately shocks went off in my body at the contact shooting straight to my awakening cock. I groaned softly and leaned into his warm hand, reveling in the sweet torture the simple touch caused.

"Tell me your name," he said, more like commanded, seeming pleased with my acceptance of his touch. He was calm and assertive which I thought was oh so sexy. It was hard to think clearly being this close to him completely naked. I had to tune out the less than decent thoughts floating around in my head. Not that my wolf was of any help as he let his imagination run wild with absolutely no filter.

"Kaleb," I whispered shyly, still embarrassed by my needy reactions to him. He hummed a deep sound that reverberated throughout his immense chest. Removing his palm from my cheek he used his fingers to trace my jaw line and trail down the slender column of my neck.

"Kaleb, " he repeated. I shivered in response and my wolf rolled over in pleasure at the sound of him saying our name. "I am Zev, little one."

"Zev," It was my turn to test out his name and I wasn't disappointed. I loved the way it rolled off my tongue and I could tell Zev did too with the way his brown eyes heated up.

Silence hung in the air for a while after that as both of us basked in each other's presence, familiarizing scents. I wanted to say more, but what do you say to the other half of your soul that you just met only minutes ago?

Breed me. Offered my wolf smartly. I mentally glared at the little hussy, I still hadn't forgiven him for the stunt he pulled earlier. Instead of retorting I settled for ignoring him. I knew full well if he had his way, Zev would have us with our ass in the air as he roughly took us from behind.

I tried not to linger on that thought for too long in order to avoid popping a woody and Zev seeing it. Thankfully, the overgrown tiger provided me supple distraction with his next words.

"You're a lot smaller than I'd thought you'd be," Zev spoke thoughtfully. My record of going a whole five minutes without blushing because of the sexy beast was broken with his statement as my cheeks warmed slightly. I hoped my size wasn't a deterrent and not something he would reject me over. Though Zev didn't seem the type to do that my insecurities kept nipping at me in the back of my mind.

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked meekly voicing my thoughts. Zev's brows furrowed in confusion as if I had grown an extra limb. With a shake of his head in the negative, he responded in kind.

"No, I just meant that I had expected to be mated to male - and be the dominant in the relationship- but you are quite tiny. I am almost afraid that I'll break you." A hint of amusement filling his tone at the end of the sentence.

"Oh," was my lame response but I recovered quickly by explaining why I was so tiny. "I am a runt, I was born small."

His facial expression morphed into one of understanding. "I see, when I first saw you I thought you were exceptionally small for a wolf, though all wolves are small to me I guess," he explained.

"Wolves aren't small, you're just freakishly huge," I giggled at him unable to hold it. A smile quirked at the edge of his lips as he looked at me indulgently.

"Mmm," he hummed thoughtfully still amused by me. "Now, more importantly, what in the world was my little mate doing in the forest all alone, where is your pack," his voice took on a more serious tone as if he was admonishing me, no he was. I understood though, from his view I was tiny and vulnerable, hell if he wanted to overpower me there would be nothing I could do about it. He raised an eyebrow expectantly at my silence. I smiled sheepishly before sighing sadly.

"Unfortunately, along with being a runt, I am an omega. An omega is the lowest rank in the pack and the most submissive. My size combined with my over sensitivity to dominance makes it...difficult to be around my pack mates sometimes." I paused to gauge his reaction if anything his gaze had hardened as if what I just told him was even more reason for me not to be in the woods but I continued anyway. "I come here to get away. It gets overwhelming sometimes, especially around testosterone filled teen boys who like throw their weight around and see who can dominate who."

Zev looked aggravated by my last statement as a scowl weighed his brow. "I have to admit, I don't like the thought of you out here, but I dislike the thought of anyone dominating you besides me even more." His whole expression darkened as his eyes flashed emerald.

"I understand," I said softly, "I am yours, after all." After nineteen years I had finally found the other half of my soul. Thank Goddess my wait was finally over.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!

-J.T.