My Mate, My Mystery

Xena's P.O.V I stare out the small circular window of the airplane, as I watch the mist of the clouds flow over the wings, I can't help but to think back on the last couple of weeks. My life as taken such a dramatic turn that I can not wrap my mind around it. It all started a couple weeks ago when some strangers showed up at our pack. The Beta, soon to be the new Alpha of the pack in Ireland, his second in command and several body guards. Their pack was the home of my Luna's deranged mother and her second chance mate, The Rogue King. These men showed up to witness the trail and death sentence of The Rogue King and his mate. The entire pack was on edge, not knowing if this group of dangerous looking men agreed with our actions and the punishment we chose. I stood there on high alert next to My Luna, Aurora, as her Gamma it was my duty to keep her safe at all costs. My entire body was in sensory overdrive, as I intently watched our guest for even the slightest movement that would suggest they mean any harm. Although I couldn't help for my eyes to keep drifting to the dark and mysterious second in command. His face was void of expression, his dark features seem to be set in stone as he stared directly infront of him not making eye contact with anyone. Once in while I would catch him looking at me from a sideways glance. I would immediately look away feeling the intensity burning inside him. I have never been someone to not meet someone elses eyes but there is something about him that makes me feel shy. Athena, my wolf, feels it too, she stirred with every eye contact we made. It wasn't til after the trial when we were all standing close, talking about what had just occurred, that his smell hit me. He smelled like he just stepped out of the shower, with a very masculine clean scent that sent my full body into a melt down. Athena was going crazy I my mind, howling the word Mate over and over again. I looked at him to see if his reaction was the same, but his expression was unreadable, he acted as if he hardly noticed me, except his body language he positioned himself closer to me putting his body in between me and the other men in the group. It seemed protective but also possessive. At the end of the day I heard The Beta was leaving to return to Ireland, out of nowhere I felt a crushing pain. Was my dark mystery man also going to leave, my mate who as yet to approach me? Was he going to reject me? I listened so intently as the Beta turned to him and asked him if he would like to stay in his place to attend the wedding. Just for a moment I caught a glimpse of excitement from him. He quickly replaced it with his emotionless mask and nodded in agreement. I felt so much relief that even for a few seconds he was excited to stay behind with me. I have a few days to the wedding to try to get to know him and see if he is really my mate. Athena growling in mind at the thought of me doubting it. "How come he doesn't seem like he cares about us?" I ask Athena and she sends me warmth and assures me there is more to him than we can see ad feel now. She can feel his wolf and knows that they know we are their mate. Over the next few days I was like a high-school girl with a crush, always finding exuses to be where he was in hopes that he would talk to me and he did usually find a reason to talk to me. The reason were silly and no deep conversation ever came out of it but I felt his need to be near me and talk to me. I normally am a confident women with alot to say but when I was around him I could not find my voice. I felt like my brain was completely disconnected from my mouth and everything I managed to get out just sounded dumb. The night of the wedding I was so frustrated, I managed to talk to him here and there and was absolutely sure the connection was there but I couldn't understand why he hadn't said anything. He was going to be leaving soon, is he really going to get on a plane and act like he didn't find his moon Goddess given mate! I knew I had to make the first move and honestly that scared the s**t out of me. I sat at the table watching everyone dance, thinking of a way to approach him. Then out of nowhere my body started to heat up and Athena started to stir, but before I could realize what was happening I looked up to see him standing beside me. His intense hazel eyes staring down at me possessively. He reached his hand out and asked me to dance. My mouth just fell open like an i***t as I stared up at him. His lips curled into a cocky smile as he c****d his eyebrows as if to say "well?" I jumped up almost knocking into him and tripping over my dress. I'm such a f*****g i***t! Taking his hand letting him lead me to the dance floor. As we started dancing his expression remain the same, hard to read, but I could feel his body reacting to me, pushing against me. I looked up at him and caught him looking down at me. We stayed staring at each other for what seemed like hours. Then I heard myself say it, not even realizing I was talking, I asked him " you are my mate?" I wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement only that I waited patiently for an answer from him. Without taking his eyes from me he said "I am, but I can not stay here I have to go back to Ireland atleast for a little while". It was so matter of fact, so dry that I didn't know if he was rejecting me or just brushing the whole thing off. My eyes started to fill with tears but I still couldn't look away from him. I saw the worry in his face, he knew he had hurt my feelings. He pulled our bodies closer and leaned down to me to say " I'm not very good with words but that was my way of asking you to come with me." My heart stopped and before I could think I responded "yes!" He leaned further down and kissed me cautiously not knowing if I wanted him to. I kissed him back nervously, I felt as if the whole room had eyes on us. We went to talk to Aurora and Zeke and ask for their blessing for me to go with him to Ireland. I felt so guilty asking with Aurora being pregnant with the twins and all the craziness that has happened, but I could not say no to him. Of course they reluctantly gave their blessing. The plane was set to go early in the morning, so we said are goodnight with another awkward kiss and went our rooms. I packed as much as I could fit in a few bags, not knowing how long I would be staying. It was so hard to sleep knowing that in the morning I would be flying into the unknown. with that thought I came out of my trance of the past and felt his intense stare. I looked over and I was right, it was as if he was trying to read my mind, carefully watching me for any signs as to what I was thinking about. I nervously smiled and wondered if we would ever get past this awkward stage. The pilot came over the loud speaker to tell us we were getting ready for our decent and I went back to looking out the window as he reached over and grabbed my hand as the plane took us down to his home.