WHEN HE SAID "MINE"

I must have read too many werewolf stories online. Serene had shared like a whole list of her favourite webnovels... And they were all werewolf romances. I should have known. But because I had time to kill in the car, I read and read and read.

Most werewolf romance stories ran similarly. A lot of Serene's favourites had a human girl female lead, and an Alpha male werewolf male lead.

It moved pretty fast, they would meet by the second chapter and the male would have declared over the girl "mine".

But for various reasons, the human female would be unable to reciprocate the feelings as immediately. She would fight against the strong alpha males advances, frustrating him into a terrible mood. And then fight against the mating bond, frustrating herself into a terrible mood.

But eventually, due to the mating bond, she would come to love him. He would smell irresistible, and she would miss him for no reason, and there would be sparks whenever they touched.

And then something terrible would happen. Like they would be kidnapped by rogues, or something like that. But the alpha wolf would definitely come and save her.

Sometime along the way, she or he might reject the mating bond causing great pain to both parties. Or he might mark her. Or she might run away. Or she might get a makeover. Or be impressed by his wealth, or pack status, or immense responsibility.

Let's not forget that there would be some jealous Lycan ex who would hate her. And also a new Lycan bestie.

I've learned that if waking up from injuries, the person would be very thirsty and require a drink immediately.

I've also learned that the mate bond is very strong and can never be completely broken and drove both parties mad with need to be close to the other. Except it was much weaker on humans. For wolves, it would be a life and death issue.

And alphas had a fearsome temper... Maybe just male Alphas? Sam was always smiling and friendly to me...if a bit absent minded. Well, I've never done anything to piss her off... And after reading these stories, I think I would do well to take care not to annoy any alpha... Actually, it's not like I would ever purposely offend any wolf to begin with. I was never brave like that. Even making another human angry was slightly scary to me, nevermind someone who could change into a ferocious wolf.

And then eventually, after much drama, some tears and bloodshed, they would come to accept each other and she would become the Luna of the pack and turn out to be exactly what that angry alpha and his pack needed. And everyone that mattered would love her, especially her Alpha Mate.

The end.

That was a combination of the past 12 stories I binge read. For some reason... I couldn't stop. I read them all the way to the gold packlands.

Mum tried to talk to me, but dad said to let me study in peace. I was too engrossed to correct him.

When I finally looked up from my screen, my eyes were dry. I blinked at the window and watched the expensive looking glass buildings and manicured landscaped pavements pass by.

Dad followed the GPS' instructions and turned our family car into a road lined with brick red mansions. We were stopped by uniformed guards. Dad showed some papers and motorcycled guards escorted us the rest of the way to largest gate at the end of the road.

The security check required us to get out of the car. And then a couple of wolves sniffed around while we were reminded that silver, Wolfbane products, and projectile weapons without the right paperwork were not allowed.

Right. But they found the silver bracelet I bought at a flee market... So it was real silver after all. The guard used a glove hand to put it in a sealed bag. I had to sign it. He said it would be returned to me when we left.

Okay, back into our car and the two wolves escorted us to the garage where we parked. A man in a suit met us at the garage. He apologized for the security confiscation of my bracelet. My dad simply laughed it off as his daughter's trinklet.

I nodded, "Sorry, I bought it at a flee market. I didn't know it was silver."

The man, who introduced himself as Beta Peter returned a tight smile. He then led us up to meet Alpha George.

If our trip to the Green Packland last summer was anything to go by, this would be the only time mum and I had to enter the packhouse or meet the Alpha or anything. After this, our family would be moved to our service apartment at the shopping district and mum and I would be free to enjoy the rest of the holiday.

Alpha George and his Luna was waiting for us in a receiving room of some sort. This pack house looked a lot fancier than the one we visited at the Green Packlands. The floors were marble and the door knobs were all gold. There were footmen everywhere. I felt really small.

But Alpha George smiled and welcomed my dad. His Luna looked beautiful, all honey brown from her hair to her eyes to her skin tone... Different shades of a pale honey brown. I quickly looked down at my hands. Dad said wolves were sensitive to staring.

"Thanks for coming all this way." Alpha George said.

"It's a pleasure to be here." Dad said, matching the Alpha's smile.

"At the rate you're charging, I'm not surprised." Alpha George said and then he laughed.

Okay, I was not the one staring here, the Luna was staring at me. Why was the Luna staring at me?

"What a lovely girl." The Luna said, "How old is she?"

The Luna asked my parents, completely unaware that I was able to answer questions.

"My daughter, Christa. She just started college at Gate City Business College." Dad said.

"Business?" The Luna looked surprised.

"Well, my darling, if girls could be Alphas nowadays... Why not business school?" Alpha George shrugged, "Most of our daughters usually study art or music, sometimes fashion or design, but I hear it's becoming a trend now for Lycan girls to continue their studies in other fields nowadays. The Lycan world is changing more rapidly than I would like lately."

"It's catching up." Dad said.

I froze. Don't offend Alphas!

But Alpha George only laughed loudly, "That's why I like you! Come, come, have something to eat and drink."

"Peter, will you go get Henry? Tell him to come now." The Luna said.

This gave Alpha George pause, "Why darling? You'll just piss that boy off if you meddle."

"I'm not meddling. I just want to introduce them." The Luna said. She smiled at me, "Christa, my son Henry is unmated and your age too. He just started business college too. But he is studying at Black Forest University."

I nodded. Wow. Way a go at being subtle Luna. But I kept the thought politely to myself.

If this was a werewolf story... But it's not. This was real life. And coincidences like that didn't happen in real life.

There was a knock on the door, Beta Peter returned, "Alpha Henry is here."

Dad and mum stood up, so I did too.

Alpha Henry turned out to be the perfect werewolf story romance male protagonist. He had his mother's honey brown hair and eyes. But with darker undertones. His skin was lighter though, like his dad. A very nice tan even though its winter.

He said nothing, but his jaw ticked and I knew he wasn't exactly happy and relaxed.

"Henry!" Alpha George said, "Come sit down. Meet our consultant, Mr Laurel, his mate and daughter, Christa."

Henry stalked over. As he came closer I noticed a smell like fall leaves, fresh, a little sweet and very woodsy. I breathed in a little deeper to take in the scent. Wow. Autumn was suddenly my favourite season of the year. Did this Henry guy liked to roll in leaves?

And then I realised we were in the middle of winter. It's Christmas. There were no more leaves, not on the bare trees, not on the bare ground. Unless this Alpha kept a secret pile of leaves somewhere. Hahahaha.

Henry pretty much ignored everyone else in the room. He sat on the coffee table right in front of me. His long legs on either side of mine. And then he leaned forward and said to me in a deep growly voice, "Mine."

"No way." I said aloud in my shock, "No freakin way."

And then I slapped him.

Right on his gorgeous face. Smack. It didn't sound too loud but the force of it made his head turn just a little so that I noticed that he had a really strong and attractive profile... No, wait? What was I thinking? Focus!

I shook my head. There was no way this could be real. I must have fallen asleep in the car while reading those crazy werewolf romance stories.

Except that he smelled like autumn leaves and his growling was like a car humming... Very soothing... Except I never found the sound of cars smoothing before. And I was actually right about to freak out properly when Henry's mother laughed.

Her laughter was warm and strong, "Looks like she got you there, son."

Henry leaned back, but didn't get up from sitting directly in front of me. His knees were still pressed against either side of my sofa, but at least the smell of autumn leaves wasn't surrounding me.

Suddenly, 12 werewolf romance novels wasn't enough. What do I do now? I racked my brain to figure it out.

"I can't." I said finally.

"Boyfriend?" Henry asked.

I shook my head.

"Good." Henry smirked, "Now you do."

"What?" I asked.

"Now you have a boyfriend." He said.

"Who?" I asked, for the sake of clarity.

Henry groaned and pinched his brow, "Goddess, I finally meet my mate and she's stupid."

He was totally disregarding the presence of both our parents and Beta Peter.

And then I realised, he was behaving just like Sam. The world to a young powerful Alpha was like that - it revolved around them at their own pace. They said whatever they wanted, did whatever they wanted... and they were perfectly used to everyone changing course and pace to suit them.

Hahaha.

I'm not stupid, wise guy.

I leaned forward into the smell of autumn leaves. His breath smelled like coffee. OMG, I was getting turned on by the smell of leaves and coffee... Mating bond, just mating bond.

Henry was purring.

"No." I said simply.

I've never owned a dog before, but I've always wanted one. From the time I had a library card of my own, I had read countless dog training books in hopes that my mum would one day relent and let me have a dog.

Wolves were somewhat related to dogs right?

So I was going to be signalling that I was top dog here.

I looked straight into Henry's honey brown eyes, almost distracted by the way it was a dark chocolate brown under the glow of the honey brown.

"No. I am not stupid. Neither am I your mate." I said firmly and quietly.

"Are you rejecting me?" Henry asked. His growl turned dangerously low.

"No. I'm just not accepting you." I said.

Henry's growl sounded frustrated.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Everything has a price." He smirked.

I nodded, "It's true."

"What do you want from me?" Henry asked, "Up to half my inheritance is yours for the asking."

I laughed at that, "Alpha... If you are my mate, everything you have is mine and everything I have is yours. But you're not. The price for my acceptance is two things. One, I need time. I just met you. And two, I need to fall in love with you. I know you guys mate based on a mating bond, but humans need love."

"And look at the number of divorce cases love made." Henry smirked.

I think my mate liked to smirk. No! Not mate. Omo. This mating bond is sneaky.

"Stupid." I said, "Divorce isn't simply about feelings. Neither is marriage, or mating."

I stood up. All the dog training books had said, the top dog didn't move around the other dogs, they moved for him.

"Excuse me." I looked pointedly at Henry's leg. Henry paused, as if considering his options. Then he smirked and stood up too.

Henry was tall and broad shouldered. I couldn't even see past his shoulder without tiptoeing. We were standing inches apart and this mate bond thing? It was REAL.

I looked up at his stupid smirking face. Did he think his build would intimidate me? He would be right, but I wasn't going to back down.

I've only read 12 werewolf romances. So far, all of them only showed me what not to do.

If ever approached by a wolf who turns out to be your mate, but you were totally not expecting it:

Do not reject him.

Do not slap him. (It totally did nothing for me anyway except nearly give me a heart attack.)

Do not try to run away... In the stories, he would catch you and be furious or something worse would catch you.

Do not sass him cos the mating bond is REAL (am I the only one shocked by this revelation here?) And standing longer than necessary near him to sass would be bad for your self control.

Like you know how in some romantic comedies this couple would argue until they ended up kissing each other right? It turned out not to be just another Hollywood lie. It was the mating bond. It really messed with your mind. (And is REAL)

I KNOW BECAUSE MATE IS WAY TOO CLOSE TO ME AND HAS STARTED PURRING AGAIN.

WTH! I just called him mate again! No! Not mate. That Henry... Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, the leading pack in the Gold Packlands. Who I just met for the first time in my life except that the smell of autumn leaves was affecting me in a crazy way.

I wondered if it were true that our touch would tingle. So far the only touch I did was slap him. Hard enough for my hand to tingle. But I don't think it was supposed to be that kind of tingle. I reached out my hand before I knew it. And then I touched him very gently on whatever shirt in front of me. Stomach?

My hand shot back at the spark. Woah.

"F***." Henry stepped sideways away from me.

He was an Alpha werewolf. I was just a normal human. All I had to navigate this relationship would be 12 werewolf webnovel romances and a lifetime research on dog obedience training.