*Will's POV*

I sighed as I exited the Alpha's study. If I'm real honest, I think the pack members would be perfectly fine collecting our produce without me or with a warrior accompanying them, but here I am.

Alpha is afraid that humans will create a problem. We're a secluded community, and humans often think of us like a cult. I've often heard people gossip about us doing strange rituals or people somehow disappearing when they enter our lands. Never in the pack's history has this happened though, and we usually try to go with 'reservation' when explaining people what kind of community we are.

Because of this though, Alpha prefers a high ranked wolf to go with pack members when we head to the market. We always order produce from the same people, and so far we've never run into problems.

We should really just get a bigger farm going. Our pack isn't big. If we start doing more I bet we'll be able to sustain ourselves.

"Beta, thank you for coming with us." Rayleigh says as I approach the pick-up truck. I give her a patient smile and nod before getting in.

The drive to the nearest human town is around thirty minutes, and it's mostly done in peaceful silence. Once we arrive I tell the pack members to stay close but give them the freedom to check out the market place.

I mindlessly wander around the place, making sure I kept an eye out for my pack members. The market is busy as always, but people don't seem to really look our way. If they do, they avoid us like we're infected with some sort of disease. Eventually, my wolf, Elliot, speaks up.

'Will, I smell something.'

'We're at a market place.' I reply dryly as I continue to look at the variety of plates and cutlery in front of me.

'No, concentrate. This scent is different.' Elliot presses and I sigh as I let my senses sharpen. At a market the amounts of smells usually become too much at one point. It's a mess of scents and it gives me a headache, so I try not to focus on anything when I'm here.

At first I just smelled the various amounts of spices, vegetables, perfumes, meats and fish from the market, the last two making me cringe a bit. Elliot keeps pressing though, so I try focusing on different things.

And then I catch it. I can't quite place the smell yet, but I do know that it smells amazing.

'Not an it. A she.' Elliot says and I can feel him stir. Elliot is usually more quiet, only speaking up if he has to. It's strange a scent is creating such a reaction out of him. Out of curiosity, I follow the scent until I reach the edge of the market. That's where Elliot fully catches on. 'It's out mate.'

'Seriously?' I ask excitedly. I've been waiting for my mate for so long. Usually, wolves find their mates around the age of 18, but I'm 25 and still searching.

Not anymore I guess.

Elliot immediately took action and tried to take over so we could go to out mate but I stopped him.

'We're here to perform a job.'

'But out mate is out there!' Elliot argued, whining in my mind.

I sighed and linked the pack members, 'Finish up and head back to the truck. Once everyone is present, head home. I'll make my way back on my own.'

'Beta, something wrong?' One of the pack members linked.

'No, Tom, everything is fine. I just need to grab some stuff from stores in town. Don't want you guys to wait for me.' I link back.

'Ok. See you back at the packhouse, Beta.' Tom linked and after giving him a goodbye as well, I almost ran towards the scent of my mate.

I managed to follow the scent into a grocery store, and eventually found a beautiful woman sitting on the ground frantically grabbing soup cans. It seems the soup cans fell and she was trying to clean up the place.

I decided to take in the woman in front of me. She had the most beautiful blonde hair I've ever seen and her soft voice that was throwing curser around was hypnotizing in a weird way.

She paused as she noticed me, and I cleared my throat. She smells like she's human, so I'll have to be careful here. "Looks like you've run into a bit of trouble there."

My mate raises an eyebrow, looking me up and down without any shame before letting out a dramatic sigh, "You're right. If only there was a strong, capable, and maybe even mildly attractive guy out there to help me out."

I grinned, my mate has a sense of humor, "Hmm... that would be quite convenient, wouldn't it?"

"Yep! Sadly, it seems there aren't any of those around." She spoke as she continued to pick up soup cans.

My grin widened, "Maybe I could try to fill the role the best I can?" I say as I crouch down and start picking up cans.

My mate smirks and looks me over once more, as if she's actually considering my offer, "I think you'll manage."

We clean up the mess and I then jump to my feet, holding my hand out for my mate to take. She takes it and I have to hold back a groan at the sparks that explode between us.

Holy shit I never imagined it to feel that good.

"May I ask for your name, mysterious rescuer?" My mate asks.

I chuckle, "Only if I can hear yours afterwards." I say with a wink, making her roll her eyes. "My name is William, but everyone calls me Will."

"Nice to meet you Will, my name is Isabelle, but everyone calls me Isa." My mate answers.

Elliot starts purring at the name. It's beautiful.

"It's nice to meet you too." I say.

"So, you're not holding a shopping cart or basket. Are you here to get something or were you just staring at my predicament?" Isa says, completely calling me out.

I gulp and panic slightly. I mean, it's not like you need a shopping basket to enter a supermarket, but I was just staring at her. "I'm a superhero. I heard a woman in need and came to her rescue of course." I say, hoping that I wasn't overdoing it with these cheesy lines.

Isa doesn't look impressed. Shit! "Don't you worry, I'm not a damsel in distress. I'm capable of protecting myself from soup cans." she says with a dry look.

I decided to smirk, keeping up my act. "It seemed pretty close there. You were completely surrounded."

"I had it under control. I'm a strong woman." Isa says as she starts to walk away.

Shit! Now what?

'Go after her!' Elliot panics.

I follow his command and follow our mate. "So, I haven't seen you around here before." I blurt out. Not the smoothest I've ever been but I don't want her to slip away from me after just a minute.

"I actually live pretty close around here. Have been for the past year, so maybe I should be asking you that." Isa chides as she continues to shop as if I'm not even there.

'What if she's not interested?' Elliot whines.

'Things like this take time.' I say before continuing my conversation, "I live thirty minutes out. I visit the market every month though."

"Are you from that reservation?" Isa asks.

I nod enthusiastically, "Yeah, we like to shop at the market place here."

Isa hums as she grabs a bag of potato chips, I can see her debating on grabbing another one but after another glance at me she moves on, her eyes following the chips with disappointment. I bite back a smile and grab some potato chips, that way I won't look like a complete stalker.

"What's it like living there? The entire town thinks you guys are some mystery cult." Isa asks. It seems she's straightforward and not afraid to ask questions. I like it, perfect for the Beta Female role.

"We're just a community. We don't do weird rituals or anything. I guess it's relaxing in a way, being away from the normal society norms." I say, trying to make our pack seem less weird.

Isa still seems a bit confused but accepts my answer. "Sounds fun."

I grab a random pot of spaghetti sauce and some noodles to make it seem like I was actually here for shopping and I can see Isa bite back a smile at my actions.

'She knows we weren't here for shopping.' Elliot says.

'Well she doesn't seem that disturbed by it. Hopefully we have a chance here.' I reply before following Isa towards the counter. We pay for our groceries and leave the store. I start to get more panicked as I realize this is where we say goodbye.

Elliot keeps nagging at me, trying to make me say something. Eventually, I snap and blurt something out, "U-Uh... I was wondering-" I pause as Isa turns to face me. She looks curious, and I have to force myself to continue before I get lost in her green eyes, "M-maybe we can see each other again?" I ask.

'You are so lame. Just let me take over, I'll handle it.' Elliot scolds me.

I promptly block him out.

"That depends, I'm currently planning to have a very busy evening of eating ice cream and watching TV, but... if the strong, capable and mildly attractive man that saved me from the evil soup cans earlier would politely ask me out... I might consider changing my plans?" Isa says with a smirk.

'Yes! Yes! Yes!' Elliot barks in my mind.

I gave Isa the most charming smile I have, "Would you, Isabelle whatever your last name is," I started.

"Carter." She interrupted me.

"Isabelle Carter," I corrected, "be so kind as to go on a date with me tonight?"

Isa smiles and grabs a notepad from her bag and scribbles something down before tearing the paper from the thing and giving it to me. "7PM, don't be late." She said before walking off.

I grinned as I glanced at the paper. There was an address and a phone number. "I'll be there." I called after her.

As soon as she disappeared from view I excitedly jumped up and down, ignoring the weird looks I got from people.

I have a date!

---

Hope you guys liked this chapter!

A late thank you for the 400k reads. I posted something on my account but for anyone who didn't know, I just moved to a different country to study abroad for a semester. Because of this change though, my life was a complete chaos for the past few weeks and I had no time to write so I'm sorry this final bonus chapter was a bit late because of that!

Moving countries is also the reason why I haven't been replying to comments, and I'm so sorry about that! I do still read each and every comment and love hearing your thoughts and reactions to this book! Really, I love you all and I hope I can get back to replying and stuff now that I'm settled in.

Thanks so much for reading!