My Mate, My Hero

Just a normal day at the office

Ravenna

We arrived at work and I managed to get away from the car before the old woman decided to want something else from me. I noticed the fancy cars close to the entrance, that meant the big boss was in. In my mind, I rolled my eyes. That meant, we had to be on our best behavior and there wasn't any room for mistakes. In the canteen, I got my hot chocolate from the cute guy. I fancied him since the first day that I saw him, but I wasn't brave enough to talk to him. Even if I would, there was no point in trying to get a relationship with anyone. The old woman would find a way to destroy it. I glanced one more time at him and then hurried to my desk.

The day was going quite well, till about 10 am. The door to the floor opened up and Shane, the boss of our company, walked in. He was incredibly handsome, so all the women on the floor tried to get his attention whenever he was around. But today, he wasn't alone. He was accompanied by two equally handsome man. One had black hair in a man bun, but my attention was on the other one. He was tall, definitely over 6ft, his thick blond hair was scruffy, the grey suit sat tight over his muscled arms and chest. I felt like a pull towards him, I couldn't explain, but then suddenly I saw his head snap and his eyes fix on me. They had a beautiful electric blue color, nearly cobalt blue, but... did I see that wrong? Did they just turn... golden? I stared, I openly stared and I was surprised to see, how Shane and the black haired man, grabbed to blond guy and pulled him out of the office. What did just happen? Everyone who witnessed this, was as confused as I was, a few women on the other hand, glanced into my direction and whispered. I felt uncomfortable and concentrated on my work.

After my lunch break, I came back to my desk to find, I received and email from Shane:

Ravenna,

could you please come to my office, when you're done with your lunch-break? I told your team leader already, that I will need you for some special project for the next few days.

Thx

S. Evans

I swallowed. What have I done wrong? More importantly, what if this special project took longer and I wasn't ready to leave together with the old woman. She would be furious!

My team-leader nodded at me, when I got up and gave me a quick smile. I returned that smile and made my way to Shanes office. I have never been inside his office and was so nervous, before I knocked. “Come on in”, said Shanes voice. I opened the door and was greeted by Shane and the two other man. The blond one was staring at me, but his whole demeanor was friendly and again, I felt a pull towards him, I couldn't explain and tried to ignore. “I got your email Mr. Evans, I'm more than happy to help with whatever I can do.”, I said and tried my best to not look to the floor. Shane smiled and stood up. “Ravenna, let me introduce you to my cousin, Conner Evans. He is here to help us with some company business. You know, how I informed you that we are planning to go international? That's why he made his way all the way from the States to Ireland, to help out.”, Shane pointed at the blond guy and gave me a huge smile. Conner stood up and made a step towards me, which made me doing the same. He held out his hand and before I gave him mine, his aftershave hit me like a warm wave. It smelled like nothing, I've ever smelled before. It was like Hot Chocolate, together with sunshine after a rainstorm. When our hands touched, I thought I must have given him a shock, as that's what it felt like. I wanted to pull back, but Conner held my hand as tightly as possible, without hurting me. I felt some tingling, but I probably just imagined it. He smiled at me and that was the most gorgeous smile I've ever seen, my knees got week.

Shane introduced me to the second guy, but I couldn't really listen as my head was humming with thoughts of Conner. I think his name was Chris? Something like that. But then Shanes voice got me back into reality: “Conner needs a personal assistant for his time here and I suggested you.” I looked surprised: “But Mr. Evans, I have never done this before. What do you expect of me?” Shane laughed: “Don't worry Ravenna, Conner will tell you what he needs you to do.” I nodded and gave a quick glance to Conner. He was in the chair again and smiled at me: “Do you live in town, Ravenna?” he asked me. His voice was absolutely amazing and I couldn't find words, so I just shake my head. “Ravenna lives outside, it's about a twenty minuets drive.”, Shane answered for her. Conner leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs and said “Would you be willing to move into the hotel for the time being? Just in case it gets late and I wouldn't want you to drive home alone then.” I was too embarrassed to tell him, that I had neither a driving license nor a car in that matter. So I just nodded again. But then I remembered something: “I... I actually can't. Helen won't allow it.” I nearly whispered. I could she that this didn't go down well on Conners face, but Shane jumped in “Don't worry about her, Ravenna. I talk to her.” He smiled at me and shot a look to Conner. He got up, smiled at me and said “Well, Ravenna, looks like our first appointment is with a supplier, so grab your bag and we will go.”

Conner

Shane wanted to give Chris and me the whole tour. He was so proud of his company, that was clear to anyone. Our last stop was the finance floor. He told us, that he had a few werewolf working here alongside humans. For us, it was easy to spot them, but the humans were clueless. When Shane opened the door to the finance floor, a smell hit me like a sledgehammer. Strawberry with Creme, together with Christmas mornings. Myca was on edge since we entered the building, but now he was close to be out of control. My eyes scanned the room and then stuck on the source of that smell. Myca howled MATE!! I felt him pushing for control and I wasn't sure if I would have had any luck fighting back, if not Chris noticed something being off hissed to Shane and both of them pushed me out of there.

Back in Shanes office, I got my control back and was pacing the room. “Who is she?”, I asked Shane. “Her name is Ravenna o'Neill, she works here since nearly a year and she's human.”, he replied, studying my face carefully, It didn't bother me that she was human, but it seemed like, that Shane was holding some information back. I shot him another look. He sighed and sat down: “Ravenna is in a complicated home situation. She lives with a woman, who is technically her legal guardian, but Ravenna turned 18 nearly a year ago. Apparently there is some tension at home, what I've heard, but if asked directly, she doesn't admit to anything. I heard a few of the she-wolfs laugh, that she's always wearing the same clothes and no makeup, so I thought, the pay she's getting is not enough. I gave her a raise, but she didn't seem happy about it and nothing has changed. She told her team-leader, that she needs to pay off a dept and that it will take some time. But that's all I know.” I stared on the ceiling trying to fight my feelings towards this. Something was off and my mate wasn't happy. But the bigger question was, how could I get close to her without making it suspicious? Humans didn't know about mates and the mate pull, or did they? I was wondering...

“Did you see how she was staring at you?”, said Chris and his tone of voice wasn't the usual joking one, it was serious, as if he was carefully thinking about what words to use. I looked him straight into the eyes: “I did...” my answer was careful, but I hoped my Beta would notice the hidden question in my voice. Chris bit his lower lip, like he always did, when he was thinking very hard about something and then said: “Shane said, she is human. So technically she shouldn't be able to feel the mate pull. But however, I heard some rumors and also remember reading a few stories, that some humans, experience a similar feeling to ours. Not as extreme, but still...” his voice trailed off again. There was a heartbeat of silence, then he said: “What if she is one of them and actually is able to feel the pull? I think humans call it 'love at first sight', don't they?” I was confused, but Shane nodded his head: “Yes! You know that our community here is quite small and our kind wouldn't have had any chances of surviving, if not mating with humans. My father in law told me stories, that back in the dark ages, werewolf would forcefully take human mates, just to secure the surviving of their bloodlines, but then the first of our kind was paired by the moon goddess with a human and they had to learn the whole courting thing.”

He and Chris exchanged a look and then both of them started laughing. I sent them a puzzled look and Chris, who, at this point, was nearly crying, explained: “We just imagined you walking up to her with a bouquet of red roses and a heart shaped box of chocolate, like the guys in this old movies?” he started laughing again. I had to admit, this thought was funny... Despite what everyone thought, I actually had some sense of humor.

When the both of them, caught their breath again, I asked the question, Myca was pretty much yelling in my mind: “How will I court her? I can hardly walk up to her here, can I?” Shane pulled a frown for a few seconds, then said: “I tell you what we are doing. You need to talk to suppliers here and some of them are old man, they don't want to do business over the phone or, god forbid, email... You will be on the road for the next few days and probably need a personal assistant...” He made a dramatic pause and Chris looked like as if he wanted to protest, but then realized the plan and a wide smile came across his face. “That's brilliant, Shane! So she's in the car with Conner, they can talk, he can thank her with taking her for dinner, she will fall in love with him and eventually, he can make hints and then, hopefully, she will figure it out and understand.” I smiled and Shane sat down to send her an email...