The Mate Scent

*Leon's POV*


“Wow… even your wolf's eyes are mesmerising.” I whisper, watching her swollen lips grow into a strange grin. Just above her soft blush, her deep blue eyes are cautiously staring back at me.

I watch them for a moment, as her posture and form relax a bit more. A soft but *sexy* scent hits my nose, gradually arousing my wolf.

*’Mate smells so good!… her wolf's scent is so strong!!’* Jasper excitedly howls, making the hair on my neck rise with satisfaction. His excitement reaches me, making my body feel tingly and weak.

“Hmm… thank you.” Her wolf speaks more pronounced and grins, crossing her arms into a sassy pose. “But you will have to do more than just compliment my appearance to make up for the torment you have put us through, *mate*.” She laughs with her eyebrows playfully furrowed, seemingly teasing me with the word ‘mate’.

How strange, naturally she seems like a pretty shy and timid girl... But her wolf seems so forward and aggressive. The two of them seem so different, contradictory. I wonder if that ever causes trouble since they share the same consciousnesses.

I chuckle lightly, grinning ear to ear at her wolf’s cheekiness.

*’Wait… what does she mean by **torment**?’* Jasper painfully questions, his happiness slowly fading into a pang deep in my chest. Confusion takes over my face, and makes me stammer.

“Uh…” I slowly rub my neck, nervous because of my wolf's intimidated reaction. He *never* backs down from anything, our alpha blood won’t allow it.

“What do you mean, exactly?”

“You are *clueless.*” she rolls her eyes, leaning onto one hip with her arms still crossed. “She has been all broken up about how you left us in the hallway. Trying to convince herself, *and me*, that your walking off meant you were rejecting us.”

“Obviously after that *hot* moment… I am thinking you have a better explanation.” Her tone lowers, becoming slightly deeper.. sexier.

“I-…” I thought for a moment, realizing how much she must have stressed over this. All the pain she probably had to deal with, on her own.

*’She thought we were **rejecting** her?’* I thought to jasper, worried about the results of her assumptions. *’I mean, I can see how she came to that assumption from the situation.’*

*’We have to fix this.’* He whimpers sadly, as if he has drooping ears. *’She is **our** mate.. our only mate. We can’t lose her.’*

I glanced up at her, seeing the internal argument happening between my mate and her wolf. Her eyes are glazed over, obviously having a private internal debate.

I take a deep breath, and try to appease my own confusion with silence before speaking again.

“I'm sorry. I didn’t expect to bump into my mate that way.. honestly it wasn’t my intention to *‘run away’*. I kinda just got swept up by the crowd…” I trail off looking down at my feet, embarrassed that I caused such a misunderstanding.

Hurt by the fact that she assumed *I didn’t want her*, I began to bite my lip and drown in my negative feelings. I scratch my chin, attempting to make sense of my stress.

I scraped together my last crumb of courage, and looked right at her.

“By the time I turned around she was *gone*.” I blushed, feeling internally torn and sore. I reached out and took one of her hands in mine, and placed it on my chest. Briefly, her eyes sparkled as I croaked gently. “*Please* I… don’t want to lose her.”

Truthfully I’m no good at all this emotional stuff, normally I hide my feelings. But for some crazy reason I feel like I can tell her exactly what's on my mind.

“Don’t do it again. *or I will rip you to shreds.*” She growls with a serious expression, moving her opposite hand towards my face and lifting up my chin with one of her fingers.

*’Damn.. my wolf-mate is **hot**.’* Jasper purrs in my subconscious, a shiver threatening to melt down my spine. My whole body became stiff with exhilaration, my mind melting in desire.

“Well, aren’t you a tender one.” I awkwardly laugh, hoping to change the direction of this hard conversation. “How about you let me speak to her, so I can ask her on a *proper date?*”

Without moving she sighs softly, holding eye contact with me. “Be gentle with her, she's… a really good person.” She whispers with an unexpectedly soft expression, before she releases consciousness to my mate once more.

Her eyes slowly change back to their *beautiful* blue and gold, two-toned selves. I gently lace my fingers with hers, using my grip to softly pull her closer to me.

“So.. how about it? A Date?” I smile, tilting my head to the side slightly. My black hair softly blows around as the wind picks up in the alley behind the bar.

I look down at her flustered face, her long light brown waves whip around with the breeze. The soft blush in her cheeks emit warmth, and her eyes twinkle as they watch mine.

“Maybe we can.. get to know each other better?” She turns cherry red as her gaze lowers to her feet, obviously shying away from looking at me.

“I would love that..” She speaks with a squeak, grinning from ear to ear, attempting to tuck a loose strand of her hair away while still looking down. “That is, if you want to.”

I softly raise my hand, tucking away the hair she was chasing. “I do.” I smile, gently placing my hand on her face and bringing her gaze back up to mine.

She freezes at my action, but almost immediately melts into my touch again. Sparks emit in my palm and trail up my arm as it meets with her soft, rosey cheek.

Her closed and relaxed eyes slowly open, with a heavy yet dreamy look in them. When her irises meet mine, they rapidly shrink and she jumps.

“I'm so sorry!-“ She yelps, blushing harder and backing away from me.

“I-it just felt nice.. I mean-! Your hand. It w-was soft..” She stammers as her backside meets with the brick building behind her.

I chuckle and move towards her once more, my thirst for her growing.

I lean against the wall behind her and smile softly. “So, what is the name of my *intriguing* mate?” I ask, barely above a whisper as I lean just inches from her face.

“Octavia… but everybody just calls me Via.” She smiles, fiddling with the corner of the black leather jacket she wore before shyly stuttering. “Um.. w-what's yours?”

“Leon.” I grin back to her, forcing my hands into my pockets. *Attempting to look hot.*

“You know..” I gesture to her jacket and then my own, with a raised brow and a chuckle. “We have some similar taste it seems.”

“Ah.. yeah.” She turns red hot again, basically releasing steam from her head. “My friends helped me out a bit, but the jacket was my personal touch. I'm not usually a dress or skirt kind of girl.” She trails off, looking around awkwardly.

“Wanna go for a walk? Get some air?” I point over my shoulder, towards the sidewalk behind us. “Maybe go grab-”

Suddenly the back door to the bar slams open, interrupting my sentence, and out comes an angry looking Derek covered in sweat.

“What the fuck happened in there bro-?!” He snaps making his way towards me at a fast pace, before glancing at Octavia.

He freezes, staring at her for a second, then back at me. “Who's the peach?” He looks confused as he points to her, she glances his way with a deep blush flooding her face all the way up to her ears.

“Uh.. this is Via.” I awkwardly let go of her, gesturing frantically in her direction. “Shes my-“

“DUDE! I didn’t know you had a *girlfriend*!” Derek interrupts my sentence, with a loud and dramatic gasp. “Let alone that you were that damn protective over her. Who the fuck was that guy?” He closes in on us, glancing her down once more. He pauses, seeming to slowly recognize her.

“Waaait a minute… you came in with Faye!” His face floods with the realization, leaving us in a strange silence for a few seconds.

“Wow! Okay. I'm surprised I didn’t realize sooner… I’m Derek by the way.” He takes a deep breath, and holds his hand out to her for a shake.

“H-hi..” She blushes and takes his hand timidly, making anger grow in my pits.

*’is this… **jealousy?**’* Embarrassment floods my train of thought.

“How do you know Faye?” She questions softly, a curious expression on her face.

He scratches his head and blushes a little before answering her, solemnly. “Well she comes into the bar often, and well… she always drinks a bit too much haha. I used to bug her about going on a date, but she never lets any men get too close to her. Been a few years since then.”

“That sounds like her, I apologize if she causes you any trouble. She can be a bit aloof at times.” Via laughs, wholeheartedly.

A warm feeling grows in my chest, her smile melting away my previous Negativity.

*’Our mate is so beautiful…’* Jasper says softly, as I watch our adorable mate interact with my bandmate. Completely forgetting my precious jealousy.

“Hey Derek, listen man. I am gonna get Via out of here. Can you cover for me tonight?” I wrap my arm around her smoothly, sending him a suggestive look and a wink.

“Uh…” He looks down at her as she blushes furiously, and hesitates before replying to me. “…yeah man I got you.”

He scratches his head and looks towards me, confused. “Thanks bro. I know it's not like me, I just need to make sure she gets home safe.”

*’Get him off our tails before I get angry.’* Jasper growls in my head, as I look down at my scent-drunk mate.

“Wanna go on that walk?” I smile at her softly and hold my hand out for her to link onto.

Her eyes light up and her lips spread into a smile, before she replies with no hesitation. “Yes!”