Theft of the Heart Ch. 05

"Yeah, don't you?"

"Uhm, no. Some people might consider that rude."

AJ's baby blue eyes glassed over a bit. He didn't mean to be rude and he certainly didn't mean to be rude to the Alpha' mate.

"He didn't mean that in a bad way, right AJ? We are taught to use all our senses, that's just what he was doing. He didn't say it to offend you or anything like that," Brandon said in defence of his buddy.

"Hey don't be sad little guy, I'm not angry with you, you just caught me a little of guard there."

"You're really not angry?" he asked brightly.

"Nope not all, promise," Zan said with a smile.

"Can I touch your hair?" Brandon asked from the side.

She never understood what the fascination with touching her hair was, maybe that was one of the reasons her sister chose to wear hers straight. But Zan couldn't be bothered with all the effort it took her to keep her hair straight. She usually hated the request, but she didn't mind it so much coming from the little boy. "Sure, go ahead, just don't pull," she said kneeling next to the bed to make it easier for the little boy to reach her curly afro.

"No!" said AJ. "Alpha said we should stay away from her, Brandon, you shouldn't touch her."

There's that word again, thought Zan. Why did they keep referring to Josh as the Alpha, and why did he want others to stay away from her?

"No, it's you he doesn't want around her, you're the one with no control,"

"I have control," said AJ with a pout.

"No you don't, you're too young. You shouldn't have followed me, go back," he said to the little boy.

Zan could see the tears brimming in AJ's eyes once again and his bottom lip started to tremble. "Hey calm down guys, no one has to leave," she said trying to pacify the situation, but it was too late and AJ's face turn a deep red and he started to cry.

Zan reached out to try to sooth the little boy but he moved away from Zan's hands and in a huff of anger transformed into a little wolf puppy in front of Zan's eyes. With a panicked shriek, Zan jumped onto the bed to get away from what she just witnessed.

*******

Josh heard a loud scream coming from his room and ran in, only to find his nephew and a scared wolf pup whining with its tail tucked between its legs.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Zan screamed frantically from on top of his bed.

"Calm down, you're making it worse, you're scaring him," said Brandon, heading over to the little boy/puppy to try and calm him down.

"Scaringhim? Are you kidding me?" Zan asked incredulously.

"Brandon!" came Josh's booming voice from the door way. "I thought I told everyone to stay out of my rooms, what are you doing here?"

The little boy almost shrunk at his Alpha's scolding. He could usually talk himself out of any situation, but he was having a hard time coming up with anything that would help his current situation.

"I'm sorry Alpha, I just wanted to see your mate."

"I'll deal with you two later."

"It's not AJ's fault, it was me, please don't be mad at him," he said, and picked up the little wolf pup and walked out the door.

Zan couldn't understand why she was the only one who seemed freaked out by what just happened. Brandon being in his rooms was trivial compared to what just happened. And what was that about mates? And 'Alpha'? She felt like she was in the freaking twilight zone.

Josh walked calmly up to his mate. "This is not exactly how I wanted you to find out," he said sheepishly. "Do you want to get down from there?" he asked Zan.

She had jumped on the bed out of fear, and frankly she still felt safer up there.

"No, actually I think I'll stay here. I just saw a little boy turn into a wolf Josh, do you want to explain that?" Maybe the pills he had given her were drugs or something. God she hoped they were, at least that would explain what she just saw.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know, but you really should calm down and maybe stop pacing on the bed,"

"Calm down?" she shouted. "I just saw a boy turn into a wolf, a real honest to god wolf, with a tail, and a snout and a tail and fur, with all due respect I think calming down is the last thing I should be doing. THE BOY HAD A TAIL JOSH!"

"Look, I understand this has come as a shock to you, but freaking out is really not going to help. Please," he said in a soothing tone. "Trust me, I'll tell you everything, just please get down from the bed and come sit with me," he finished pointing to the set of chairs near his fireplace.

Zan looked at his offered hand apprehensively. It didn't make sense that she wanted to take it. Everything in her was screaming at her to run, but some foreign insane part of her trusted him enough to take his hand and allow him to walk her to the chairs. She couldn't help but think about what Nic and Chella would say if they saw her now.

Josh sat her on a chair facing his and contemplated the best way to explain, and decided on the most candid route he could think of. "AJ is a werewolf Zavagne, all of us are," he said sincerely. "And I am their Alpha."

Zan shook her head in denial. "Werewolves are myth, just stories for little kids and Hollywood. They aren't real." Even as she said the words, Zan couldn't deny what she had just seen.

Josh didn't reply to that, he just waited for her to believe what her eyes had seen.

With a heavy sigh of acceptance Zan shook her head again and then asked, "What do you mean by Alpha?"

"I'm their leader, like the president or the king if you will. I'm the highest authority in the whole compound."

"Well that explains the part about the bowing and the Alpha. But what did Brandon mean when he said he wanted to see your mate?"

"It means that you are my soul mate. It's like love at first sight, only since we are werewolves it's love at first scent. My wolf recognised you as our mate even before I saw you,"

Zan was reeling from this information. 'Love'? How could he be in love with her when he doesn't even know anything about her? "How can you think I'm your mate if we aren't even of the same species?"

"You can become like me, when you give me your consent we will complete the mating, I will give you a bite that will infect you with the Were gene and you will be a werewolf just like me."

"You think I'm going to consent to you biting me? Turning me in to a werewolf? Are you insane?" she asked incredulously as she stood up and walk to the balcony. She needed space from this man. The closer she was to him the more she wanted to believe everything he said and logically she knew it was crazy.

"No Zan, I'm not insane. I'm your mate. Don't you feel the draw towards me? I know you do because I can smell how aroused you are from here. I know you want me as much as I want you Sweetheart. Your soul belongs to mine as mine does to yours. That's the mating pull."

"Yeah I feel drawn to you, but that's only because you are really hot. I mean I don't know a lot of straight females who wouldn't be drawn to you," she said pacing the length of the balcony. "Well maybe my sister, but then again, I'm not entirely sure if she is straight." She said the last bit to herself more than Josh.

"Look Josh you seem like a really great guy and everything and I'm really attracted to you for some weird reason, more than I should be considering I just met you less than two hours ago, and you can turn into a dangerous animal at will, but you're a werewolf and I'm not. And soul-mates is not really a concept that makes complete sense to me. I'm used to going out on a few dates, maybe a movie or two before I even decide whether I even like a guy enough to sleep with him. This is a very foreign concept. Everything you are about is kind of hard for me to swallow."

Josh stood and walked towards his mate. His wolf couldn't understand why their mate was rejecting them. Part of him was wishing he had actually taken Maggie's advice, but he didn't want to start their relationship with what he considers a betrayal of trust. He had to believe that Luna wouldn't bring her to him only to have her reject him.

He knew she needed space but at the same time he need to be close to her. He put his finger under her chin and tilted her face up to stare into her beautiful honey coloured eyes. He was relieved that she didn't try to move away from him, it would have killed him.

"I've waited almost two centuries to find you, Sweetheart. I can take it as slow as you need to. We can go on dates if that's what you want, just give me a chance," his wolf rebelled at the idea, but would go along with it if it was the only way to get his mate. His wolf howled joyfully as he saw the smile that graced his mates face. "But you are going to have to teach me seeing as how I've never been on a date in my life before."

If she was smart she would run hard and fast and far from all this werewolf madness, but the thought of never seeing him again made her inexplicably sad. Besides she would definitely have fun teaching him a few things about being on a date, she thought with crafty smile.

"You've never been on a date? And what do you mean two centuries, how oldareyou?"

"Two hundred and thirty something," Josh said with a little shrug of his shoulders.

Zan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, she was so shocked. She was about to ask him if he was joking, but figured if werewolves were real, it wouldn't be so farfetched to believe that they could live that long. She was about to ask him more on the age thing, but his phone rang from inside. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and walked into the room, much to Zan's disappointment. He had actually wanted to give her a real kiss but he knew if he had done that, he would have had to say goodbye to taking it slow.

Zan followed him back into the room. She noticed the slight change on his face and heard a growl as he checked the caller ID. "Nicholas?"

"You better not have harmed a single hair on her head or so help me Auris, I will destroy your entire pack!"