Lydia's POV:

I could feel his gaze on me as I walked towards the chair.

Quite literally.

That tingling feeling wasn't as bad as it used to be ever since I touched him, but it was still there.

Instead, it just felt like a slight bit warmth when I first touched him grew ever so slightly when he was looking at me, and more so whenever we made eye contact.

A warmth that I didn't quite want to admit to myself that I enjoyed.

This was all too weird for me to come to terms with that.

I heard his footsteps follow me the best he could as I reached it

Regardless, I pulled the chair forward a couple feet before I sat, preparing myself to meet his gaze again.

I  placed the chair in a spot that made sure I was at least an arms distance away from him.

I was actually surprised to see him so willing to answer my questions.

Actually, I was more surprised by the fact that he offered to before I had to ask him to.

I guess I just wasn't used to guys being... cooperative.

In all honesty, I was fully prepared for having to beg for some sort of answers.

Ever since our little talk last night, my brain couldn't stop coming up with questions, and because of that, I didn't get much sleep.

Thus deciding that this wasn't a dream and I was going to have to actually deal with this.

He leaned back against the sidewall, arms casually crossed and a white brow rose, ready to hear what I was going to ask.

I bit the inside of my lip, now thinking I should have gotten him a shirt as well.

No, idiot, focus!

"Okay," I blew out, "Werewolves. Dog... hybrid... people."

God, I really didn't know how to even approach this.

I had to come to terms that they existed in general last night. I couldn't really even try to deny the fact itself.

I brought a wolf into this place, and now there was a man.

On top of that, he claimed very confidently that I was one as well.

Luka just smiled, responding with a simple, "Mmhm?"

"How does that whole thing work? I mean, how would one become one?"

He didn't even need time to think before he answered me.

"Its hereditary, just how any other living creature comes to be. We've been around for countless centuries, but the beginning of our species history got lost somewhere along the line."

"If it's hereditary, then how could I possibly be one? I've never heard of any of this until now."

I feel like Father would have mentioned that I descended from literal wolves at some point in my life.

"Do your parents live in this village too? Any siblings?"

I felt myself slouch a bit.

"The only family I have is my dad, and he just left on a trip." I spoke, my voice being softer than before.

Luka's eyebrown pinched together in confusion, taking a step closer to the bars.

"That man you were with?"

I nodded, growing curious about his new expression.

"That's not your dad, Lydia. Not biologically at least."

My eyes widened, "How would you know that?"

He was right, Oliver wasn't my actual biological father, but how did he figure that out so easily?

"I didn't smell a biological relation," He answered, tapping the end of his nose twice with his finger.

"Smell? What do you mean sme-"

Wolf, Lydia, he's a wolf.

I discarded the question, hands falling into my lap.

"He's my uncle on my mother's side and he's raised me alone ever since I was a baby. Apparently my mother had me during a period of her life that she couldn't take care of me and handed me off. So I never met either of my biological parents." I explained.

He seemed surprised by how casually I talked about it, but it was something I came to terms with a long time ago.

Plus, Oliver was never anything other than a dad to me, so I never really saw him as anything else.

Sometimes I even forgot that he wasn't my real dad.

"Well, from that I can only come to the conclusion that your biological father was one of us, judging by the fact that it seems your mother's side of the family is human."

'Us' he says.

Okay, whatever, I could roll with that theory for now.

"So then what? Does that make me like half-werewolf or something?"

He shook his head, now turned to fully face me.

"Not really. The Lycanthrope trait is a dominant gene and thus the offspring of a human and lycan end up being full werewolf."

Lycanthrope?

"Okay, sure. let's say hypothetically my biological father was a... Lycan," God I hope I'm using that word right, "and so by that logic, I'm one too, but I feel like that's something I would have figured out by now."

"I've been told its because you've lived here all your life, and that other half of you is laying dormant because of your lack of contact with other... Lycans," His smile grew as he mimicked how I spoke the last word.

I had to stop myself from letting my cheeks puff out and ended up crossing my arms again instead.

"If it's dormant, then how could you know that I even have that part of me?"

"Because that half of you called to me."

"It what now?"

He chuckled at my reaction.

"You say you've never seen a wolf physically until me, but what about ways other than physically?"

"Like what?"

He rolled out his shoulders before closing the rest of the distance between him and the bars separating us.

I'm glad I was sitting down because that pull in my chest was getting stronger.

"Well, as werewolves we only have one place where both of our halves exist within separate bodies, and that's within our dreams. Have you ever experienced anything like that?"

My body went rigid the very second he spoke the word 'dreams'.

"You have," He said, his eyes practically lighting up as he received his answer from my reaction alone.

"I..." My words died off instantly, my palm rising to press against my forehead.

No... this couldn't be real.

Luka, on the other hand, seemed absolutely elated.

"How long have you had them? What does she do?"

She...

I still struggled to find words for a moment.

The answer couldn't be that. Three years of the same dream with the same wolf and that's what it was?!

"Three years," I managed to quietly get out," Ever since I turned eighteen," I paused for a moment, trying to grasp more of an answer through the sudden confusion in my mind, "All she's ever done is just lay there silently with her eyes closed until-"

I gasped, hand going over my mouth as everything started to make sense.

As much as I didn't want to believe it, it made sense.

"She opened her eyes, looked towards the direction that you first found me, and whimpered, didn't she?" He finished for me, his tone now calm.

No fucking way.

I just nodded, hoping he'd continue.

Ever since I started having those dreams, I've been trying to figure out why, what it meant, and after yesterday, why it changed.

And here he was, filling in the blanks as if it were common knowledge.

"That whimper was a call, I heard it so vividly in the back of my mind. I guess I wandered close enough for your wolf half to sense my presence and called out to me. Then I ran as fast as I possibly could to get to you."

I finally processed my heart racing, not because of his presence, but because of the reality, he was throwing at me.

This was so impossibly new to me, yet every questionable word that left his mouth about this managed to fit into a question I've had.

It made sense, and that fact was actually beginning to unnerve me.

I was starting to believe him, and he fact that he could be right was frightening.

I could actually be a werewolf...

"Why you?" I croaked out.

His smile turned to a softer one.

It almost looked sympathetic.

"Like I said, were mates. You and I were connected at birth, so the half of you that knows all of the details of that has been waiting for me. You have been waiting for me, and I've been looking for you for years."

The wolf in my dreams knew, but I still didn't have a single idea of what that meant.

All I knew was that I felt completely strange around him and had to check myself in order to think straight.

And I craved that warmth I felt when I touched him.

I still had so many questions.

"You say were connected... How, Why? What does being mates entail?" I think my voice was coming out desperate again.

His smile fell for just a moment.

"I can explain this to you later. It's a lot to process, and it looks like you still need time to process other things."

Well, at least he's observant.

I nodded silently, trying to fish up a different question.

"Why eighteen? Why did this start when I was eighteen?"

"Eighteen is an important age for us," He began, "It's the age where we can feel the effects of our mate and seek them out, as well the age where our physical aging starts to slow. I guess you only saw her then because the lycan part of you began craving her mate."

"Wait wait wait, your physical aging starts to slow?!"

His eyes danced with amusement.

"After we turn eighteen, seven physical years for humans equals one for us." He expounded.

I took a second to look him over.

He didn't look too much older than me.

"So that would make you...?"

He actually hesitated for a moment.

"By the end of this year, I'll be seventy-one." he eventually answered.

Wow.

I did some quick math in my head.

25... Okay, yeah. He fit the physical description of a 25-year-old.

I guess.

"So I have the dreams, and the... ability to feel whatever the whole mate thing is, but I don't think my age has slowed."

Would I even notice if my age was slowed?

I felt like a 21-year-old...

"I don't think it has either. Nor do you have the eyes of a lycan."

"Eyes?"

He gestured for me to approach him, answering as I did so.

"When shifted into our wolf forms, all of us have golden eyes, but when we're not, our eyes are as variant as regular humans. Though, no matter which form we're in you can always see remnants of the other one."

I remembered thinking the wolf's eyes were strange, with the flecks of light blue floating around them.

As I approached Luka, I could see that it was the exact opposite.

Small flakes of gold, calmly floating amongst the pool of blue.

"I guess its just kind of a way for both sides of us to be present at both times," he concluded.

I continued to look, my eyes betraying what I was trying to do and began looking over his entire face.

I had to admit, he was insanely attractive.

"Y'know, you might not have the eyes of one of us yet, but I can only imagine they'd be absolutely captivating. Gold mixed with that deep dark blue of yours?" He nodded subtly, greatly agreeing with his own thoughts, "Yeah, absolutely stunning."

Heat overtook my face before I had time to react.

Taking a step back, I cleared my throat and attempted to hide it.

I remembered the face he had the last time I stepped back and didn't want to cause that again, so I tried to explain quickly.

"Well um," I fumbled, "I think this is enough for me right now at least um, I'm gonna head into town and get me something to cook up for breakfast. Would you like some?"

Luckily, that hurt expression didn't show.

Just a small incline of his head in what appeared to be gratitude.

"That would be lovely."