WHEN HENRI REALIZED IT

That was the BEST DATE EVER! Even though it wasn't really a date. Henri had asked Dan out on the pretext of work, but who knew it would have worked out so well?

Dan was PERFECT. Henri had never met a man quite like him. No wonder her Aunt Savy fell in love with a human. Alright, so Uncle River wasn't exactly a human... But Dan was PERFECT! Henri had no idea a human man could be so… so… Dan.

Henri's first impression of Dan was already good. He was classy and eloquent, and had the quiet air of an accomplished gentleman. But after getting to know him over dinner, she discovered that he was also funny and cute.

He didn't condescend her or made a big deal about who should pay for the meal. He didn't use any cheesy pick up lines either, or growled, or lied, or droned on and on about his financial investments and life achievements either.

Henri knew all about Dan's achievements - her betas had bought his file from Silver Mountain, and Dan was still SINGLE. He also had enough achievements to boast about all evening, but he didn't say a word of it. Not about the peace summits he organized, saving his King's life at the battle front, or the reformation of the human world after the war.

Overall, Dan was more amazing and fun and wonderful than any man Henri had the misery of sitting through a date with in her life. She was already 30, and still unmated. This was really late for a wolf, even worse for an Alpha wolf. For the past decade, well meaning wolves had been setting her up on dates. Ironically, her parents were far less bothered about her singlehood.

"Soul mates are bound by fate." Her mum had said, "He'll come when he's ready."

"You don't need a mate." Her dad had shrugged, "Lunas are a financial drain and nothing but trouble."

Which was ironic since her Dad was a Luna.

"It's true." Her mum smiled, "The more beautiful they are, the more troublesome."

Of course Henri realized that her Dad and Mum were just flirting again (and her lack of a Luna was a non-issue as far as they were concerned.) Were they even concerned?

This left Henri to deal with all the well meaning wolves who watched her grow up and cared too much about her to leave it alone. Her betas would help her fend off most of them, but every now and then, even the twin terrors of Dante and Damien wouldn't be able to fend all the proud mamas and aunts, and an inevitable date to meet a nice boy would appear in her schedule.

In such cases, her betas would make up for it by lurking around the entire date, BOTH of them, just to make sure her date was not having a great time. Henri felt Dan handled the pressure really well. He didn't even blink when Dante was glaring at their table. Although Dan seemed aware of their presence, she had to give him credit for his valiant effort to keep his focus on their conversation, and Henri felt sure he was purposely entertaining her on his end.

She also laughed way more than she had for a long time. Her wolf had never felt so happy - just the sight of him! Goddess! He was gorgeous. She had heard that humans were generally not as good looking as wolves, but that couldn't be true.

He was really handsome. Henri was quite sure this wasn't just the mating bond's opinion, she had seen Dan standing next to Teacher Hotstuff who was supposedly so legendarily handsome that the artist Micheal Ark quit his lucrative pottery career and became a sculptor, spending half a century attempting to capture his beauty in stone. A life size man in the nude entitled "No.9" now stood at the Gate City Museum but one look at his face and it was undeniably the Lord Firewolf. The artist was now working on a full collection of nude sculptures to complete the "Harem."

Henri knew because she had heard her brothers making fun of the very idea. When Uncle Ki and her dad both got invitations to Michael Ark's studio to pose for photos. Her brothers laughed till they were on the floor - not very grown up or Alpha-like at all.

Sir Wilhelm was with him too, Henri wasn't privy to whether Michael Ark had sent an invitation to Sir Wilhelm, but there were also a lot of stories about how Sir Wilhelm was so perfect a specimen of a human male that ladies would fall in love with him on a weekly basis in his heyday - even after the Water Pillar of Snow Moon claimed him as her soul mate, there were a quite a few reported duels over him.

Standing between the fire wolf with sunlight blond curls and the human with a smooth straight deep chocolate brown hair, Dan wasn't quite their height or build, but he did not pale comparison at all. In fact, Henri thought that although Dan's build was slight, he was still a little taller and broader than she was, as if he were tailor-made just for her.

Henri didn't think stone would do Dan justice either. It wouldn't show his coloring, because between the other two men, Dan was really the best of both worlds, a moderate blend of light and dark.

Henri liked the way Dan's hair was a really dark blond or a really light brown, depending on the lighting. He wore it swept back, and Henri felt it looked very suave. She liked how his eyes were brown, but on closer study, also a little blue and green - as if the lines of his iris were drawn in three colors. She also liked the way his dimple would play peek a boo depending on how he smiled. Dan had the best smiles in the world! And when he laughed, it was a rich baritone kind of low deep laugh that fascinated her.

And Dan smelled like the freshest cleanest guy Henri had ever met. It wasn't just personal hygiene, which was always much appreciated, it was his scent - citrusy and basil and mint. The citrus particularly reminded Henri of her mother's bed, and made her feel safe. The basil and mint drove her wolf mad - perhaps Henri had found her wolf's personal catnip.

It wasn't just the physical attraction she felt towards him, or the way everything about him felt so perfectly tailored to her.

Henri was really impressed by Dan's intellect and quick wit too. Dan's mind was sharp and bright like that of a sword or the metal tip of a quill. His verbal comback were on the hilt. He was an amazing story teller. He was also really polite and considerate. And at a few points when Henri felt sure she had blurted out the wrong words, he was always quick to reassure her.

DAN WAS THE MOST AMAZING MAN IN THE WORLD. It was unreal. Like Henri could hardly believe her luck. It had to be true, that good things were worth waiting for. Dan was definitely the best thing that had ever happened to Henri.

Henri had to be the luckiest girl alive that Dan was her soulmate. He really did come, all the way from the other end of the continent to Moon Bell, it had to be fate. The only problem was… how was she supposed to tell him?

He was here for work. And in everyway, he had conducted himself professionally. Henri was not stupid enough to believe that he would not in the same way entertain the other alphas and dignitaries he met with conversation and stories as he had tonight with her. Tonight was a date only to her. For him, he was working at fostering diplomatic ties with Moon Bell.

Henri felt a little guilty for using that to meet him for dinner.

But it wasn't like she could have said, "MINE!" the moment he first appeared in her office.

Humans didn't mate like wolves did. They needed more than just a mating bond. They had to fall in love. Henri wasn't sure exactly how that worked but she had heard stories to the effect of Ferris Wheels and fireworks.

For now, she had to bid her time. Oh, yes! Damien said Uncle Ki was coming to Night Leaf. Henri was quite sure Uncle Ki would know what to do. Her brothers often went to Uncle Ki for this kind of advice.

Meanwhile, until she was sure she knew what she was doing, she was going to just keep Dan here on official diplomatic grounds. Henri had always been sensible and measured like that, except she wasn't feeling sensible or measured at all today.

Her heart skipped a beat just at the thought of him. This was the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. He was too important for her to risk doing anything to lose him. If this was a hunt, the target was set. Henri would bid her time until she was sure of a successful capture. Henri was both a successful Alpha and hunter because of her ability to discern the right timing when she led her wolves.

Oh, but her heart… it had never fluttered and somersaulted like this before. Not even at her first hunt. Henri took a deep steadying breath.

"Yo, Alpha. Looks like you're done changing."

Her beta's entry nearly made her jump. He did knock twice, but he also let himself in automatically. What if she wasn't done changing?

"What?" Henri snapped. Dante only grinned wryly, "Sorry to interrupt your daydreaming, but we need to go. Tournament's starting in five."

"I wasn't daydreaming." Henri growled at her beta. The twins were as annoying as her brothers given any day.

"Of course not. You were only thinking very seriously about Dan." Dante smirked. Henri's growl dropped to a lower inflection and Dante quickly rectified, "But only from a purely business perspective because he is here to talk about opening negotiations for trade…"

He was lying and they both knew it, but then Dante stopped his teasing to ask, so Henri knew he was worrying, "You're not really buying this bull, are you Hen? You know the Three Kingdoms treats all their trading partners like eye shit."

"I'm not unaware of the risks." Henri switched immediately to her Alpha mode, "But there is no reason to turn the invitation (or Dan) away. We will take our time to move towards having some kind of talks with the Three Kingdoms, but its not to say we should have to compromise anything important."

"Ha, from what I hear, Dan's quite a charmer. Even Silver Mountain and Black Forest are in talks with the Three Kingdoms thanks to him." Dante said, "You'd think he went around seducing alphas as a hobby."

"Shut up, Dante." Henri didn't know why, Dan was a diplomat, it was his job to woo investors into the Three Kingdoms, but those words just stung, "Dan'll be your luna one day, watch how to you talk about him."

Luckily it was just Dante, he laughed, "Someone's being overprotective."

He opened the door for them to leave, "I get it, Hen, leave it to Mien and me. We'll have him in your bed by the end of the night."

Henri growled, "Just stop."

"Do you think a guy like him would be sleeping alone tonight?" Dante didn't stop, "You should hear the ladies in the kitchen gossiping."

Henri glared at her beta, "I don't need help. You two better stay out of my business."

"We're your betas, Hen." Dante drawed, "Your business is our business."

It wasn't like Henri could could deny that.

"Don't worry. We'll keep out your competition." Dante promised, "He won't score a single night while he's here."

Henri growled, that was the problem with all the men around her - they were always too ready to start trouble. Why can't they all be a little more like Dan? She sighed. Dan. Yeah, he was definitely the perfect man for her.

She refused to let Dante's nonsense spoil her mood. Today was a great day. She met her soul mate, he was single and he was PERFECT. All she had to do was make him fall in love with her.