~Ashton's POV~

I stared down at the comatose hooded figure still on the ground in front of me, and slowly dropped my hand back to my side, almost immediately afterwards lifting it again to run it through my hair as the awkwardness engulfed me. Where the hell did Lee go?

Then I froze as I caught a whiff of something in the air. My eyes going wide, I quickly took a deep breath, and then froze up again at the foreign sensations coursing through me at the intoxicating smell of cinnamon, mint, and something else that I couldn't identify.

I glanced back down in shock as the sudden flood of thoughts joined the feelings inside me, and the realization struck me that I'd just half-killed my one and only mate, even though I immediately started rejecting it unconsciously. Extremely overwhelmed, my fight or flight instincts kicked in, and so I did the only viable option--I booked it out of there as if the Hounds of Hell themselves were nipping at my heels.

~5 minutes later~

I sat in the janitors closet on the first floor, my head in my hands as I slowly thought over, and tried to make sense of, what had happened in the hallway.

What the hell had just happened? How the hell did it happen? It'd just been another morning, joking around with Lee, flirting flippantly with Emma on the way to second period, and then--what? I'd just pushed Lee's shoulder after he made an obscene joke about me being "The Mate-less Alpha" and then careened around the corner and right into--WHO?

I shook my head mockingly at myself. Just great, Ashton. Not only do you introduce yourself to your effing LIFE MATE by ramming her into the floor, you then proceed to have a freak out and don't even catch her NAME?

I froze again as even more questions start frolicking around in my head, joining the other ones that were rehashing the Nutcracker. What if she doesn't WANT to be my mate anymore? What if she rejects me? What if she's not proper Luna material? What if Father doesn't accept her? What if she's not even a SHE? I'd heard of it happening before, but hadn't thought much about it. But I suppose that could explain it. No girl I'd ever seen would go to school wearing THAT.

Thinking back to when I'd first realized I had crashed into someone, I ran through it all in my head. At first I'd been surprised as I was filled with deja vu as a memory of, strangely enough, my 7th birthday, flashed through my mind, when I'd ran into my dad while playing tag with a few of the other kids in the pack. He'd blistered my ears with his lecture of "You're the alpha's son, not some reckless holigan!" You'd have thought he was an age-old vampire stuck in the 19th century instead of a 32 year old werewolf.

But then I'd realized I was still slowly killing someone underneath me, a skinny someone at that, and had bolted up to apologize for my "un Future Alpha-like behavior" but had been rendered speechless by the sight before me. I quite clearly remembered what I had seen. A stick-like figure shrouded in baggy, dull grey clothes, the hood of the unflattering sweatshirt still pulled low over a shallow looking face.

Well, they certainly hadn't looked or acted anything like a girl, judging from the fact that I was quite certain if I'd run into any of the girls at this school, or really anywhere for that matter, there would have been at least a shriek of some kind. But my Mystery Mate hadn't uttered a sound.

Shaking my head, I sat up as I realized that here I was, a nineteen year old soon-to-be alpha, sitting in a janitors closet mulling over whether my mate was a dude or not. I was being pathetic.

I shook my head as if to try and physically rid myself of the unrelenting thoughts, mentally berated myself. I just needed to get out there and take charge of the situation, like my father had taught me. I needed to find this Mystery Mate and we would go from there. Really, how hard could they be to find?

***

Extremely hard, as it turned out.

After 3 hours of skipped classes, several suspicious looks from grouchy teachers, a migraine dogging me ruthlessly and absolutely no progress from scouring the school, all 3 levels of it, from top to bottom, I finally gave up, sliding down the wall next to library doors on the main floor where I'd started.

I'd just put my head into my hands when the already oh-so-familiar scent of my nameless, faceless mate clouded my senses and my head snapped right back up. Fully alert again, I was surprised to find the hall flooded with students, though I immediately spotted the object of my perusal. Determination flowing through me once again, I stood up and started over to intercept Mystery Mate's path.

It was as I was just nearing the edge of the crowd that I realized that, like the Red Sea before the staff of Moses, the crowd parted around my Mystery Mate so that she--I decided to just stick with that lest my head explode--moved in an impenetrable bubble as the other students flopped into each other like a mosh pit full of hormonal zombies.

I froze, baffled, as, unlike my elusive quarry, everybody and their mother collided with me, and tossed me about on the current of students. It was as if she didn't exist, yet at the same time everybody moved out of her way. Had I once been included in their oblivious ranks? Surely I would've remembered her.

Realizing that she'd noticed me and had stopped walking, standing perfectly still with her head down and shoulders slumped, I shook myself out of my stupor and started forward again, glad by how much the hall had cleared in the rush for the cafeteria.

Carefully approaching her still clearly visible bubble, as one might a wild dog, I slowly came to a stop a few feet away, her mouthwatering scent washing over me. Feeling the awkwardness start to set in, I became aware of how very anxious I was with her.

How in the world am I supposed to go about this? I thought helplessly, desperately trying to think of something to say to break the heavy layer of ice.

Clearing my throat, I finally forced my suddenly dry mouth to spew coherent words.

"Erm, hi, uh," I managed to stutter. Well, it was a start. "Can I talk to you?"

I got no response except a slight shifting of her head. Well, if that's all I'd get, I was taking it for a yes.

"Cool! Um, let's, uh, talk in the library? Yeah, the library." I walked over to the door, discreetly wiping my clammy hands on my jeans, and pulled open the door for her. "After you."

She drifted past me, completely silent, and I looked at her feet to check they were actually touching the ground, but was sidetracked by the glimpse of creamy, delicate ankles showing from beneath the hideous sweats when she lifted her heel.

Whoa, whoa, I'm not seriously checking out her ankles right now! Get control of yourself, Ash! But, I had to admit, they were the best ankles I'd ever seen. And if this was a glimpse as to what the rest of her looked like...

I realized I hadn't moved from my spot by the door when she suddenly turned around, and if could've seen her face, I would've bet she was raising an eyebrow at me. Quickly spurring my feet into motion, I followed after her, trying not to let my gaze dip back down as she weaved silently through the bookshelves to one of the private rooms in the back where clubs would meet after school and the like.

She entered the first one and sat down in one of the four chairs at the round wooden table, and after entering behind her I closed the door and stood there, trying to think of something to say once again.

What was going on with me? I was never like this! Always knowing what to say, I could win an argument in 2 minutes, but I couldn't think of a single thing to say! To my own mate, no less!

Shaking my head, I straightened my shoulders and decided to just get it over with.

Sucking in a deep breath to steady myself, I slowly let it out and said on the exhale, "You're my mate."

~Authors note~

Ello! How'd you like the chapter? Sorry they're so short, I'll try to make them longer in the future, pinky promise!

So, I just want you guys to know that I tweaked the description a little, I decided, nah, way too cliche, so I just changed it up a little.

Anyway, so... Second chapter! Wipee! At this rate it'll probably only be 15 chapters long, so that's something else I need to work on. I should really get a list for these kinds of things... Hahaha, like that'll ever happened.

Well, hope you enjoyed the chapter! It sure was fun writing it in 2 days, I'll tell you. Yup, just the apple to my Eve! No, wait, that's a bad thing, isn't it? Bane of my existence? No no, that's bad too. Crap. I don't know what I'm going for here. Whatever, I'm weird. That's a perfectly valid excuse.

Toodles! Con mucho amo, Emily

P.S. For those of you scrubs who took French instead of Spanish... Go look it up on Google Translate, I can't be bothered ;) Hasta la Vista!