Getting up and ready its a quick breakfast before heading out. Turning the key in the ignition, the engine roars to life. Glancing at the dash it reads 43° 6:02 am, the music is set to the local country station. The excitement has my body jumping. I took longer than needed on an outfit and hair, even trimming my beard down. I feel like a giddy schoolgirl. Electing on a dark grey long sleeve and jeans, with the temperature dropping into the 50s drastically in a week. She was wearing cowboy boots so I decided to drag out my work boots, I'll need them later in the week when I'm working around the pack anyways.

Arriving I glimpse in the rearview mirror for a once over raking my fingers through my hair. I need to stop this I might not even see her at all today. She may be too busy. She may just ignore me. I have to try and stay positive, show I want to be here after our first encounter, I don't need her to have more of a reason to not trust my motives.

There are a few people waiting by the gates. She isn't one of them. I choose to wait in my truck I still have twelve minutes to be here. My thumb taps the wheel to the music in the background before flipping through the stations, it's better than putting my hand through my hair over and over; the anxiety and nerves are starting to set in deep.

Never did I think it would be like this.

I can't help but wonder if anyone else felt this way when they first met their mates. Was it this difficult? Everyone seemed to settle in and click together like puzzle pieces. Sophia's more of a corner piece you need to start while I'm the odd one you can't find where it goes until last.

I see her walking out of the corner of my eye towards the entrance with some guy. They are smiling and laughing together, my chest rumbles loud at their close proximity. She looks my way and our eyes meet, stopping her in her tracks to keep our eyes locked.

Inhale, exhale.

Getting out she looks back to him with a stern look while he just smiles broadly at me, waving me towards them. I don't know if I like him. Who is he to her? My fur is trying to rise up and I have to breath out harshly to try to keep my nature at bay. My wolf demands me to let him out and show this guy who we are. They are humans, I can't risk the exposure.

Heavy steps forward. She is whispering something to him and he is telling her to hush. It's damn near impossible to not punch him when I approach trying hard to not demonstrate my anger out. Putting on a face of indifference.

He has his hand outstretched to shake, taking it with a crushingly firm grip. A little too strong. His wince brings pleasure to me. "Wayne, nice to meet you." He says as he takes back his hand to flex it, levitating the pain I caused. "Cage," I respond back stiffly, stuffing my hand in my pocket. This is who I have to spend my time with here it wouldn't look good to give him a lesson on what's Mine. She just takes it all in with the same stern look.

"Cage?" She asks. My name on her lips sends a delicious shiver to run down my spine. I look straight at her greying stormy eyes, completely ignoring him. "Yes, my name is Cage."

She raises her eyebrow before turning away and walking to the gate to unlock it with her key.

"Where is Brenda?" Wayne asks, a mocking tone in the way he says her name.

"Late" Sophia responds curtly.

"You going to act this way the rest of the day?" He asks her and her only reply is a dagger-filled look over her shoulder before sliding the metal open for people to enter. "Ohh, frosty now are we." Wayne chuckles, following behind her as she storms in.

I walk alongside Wayne, giving him side-eyed glances. "Soph is mad at me because you're here, she will get over it eventually." He tells me and I'm surprised. What does he mean? He must notice my confused expression because he laughs before continuing to explain, "Friday when you were at the window we were standing around for break when I noticed you there. She decided to 'shoo' you away. Funny to watch really." He takes out his phone to look at it before stuffing it back in his pocket. "Apologies. Anyways, since I'm the head volunteer for the place, because of her I might add, it's my job to try and get more people signing up." His grin is wide. "I made her chase you down with the paperwork. She was not happy with me. By the way, you have that schedule?" He asks. I take it out of my back pocket with the rest of the paperwork, Wayne takes it all from me folding it back up and putting it in his back pocket.

"Why?" I ask him.

He knits his eyebrows together before shrugging. "We don't tell her I gave you the timetable." He stops by the building she had entered, waiting for my answer. Nodding to him we continue through the door.

I knew it didn't belong.

I feel more confused than I did before I came here. Who is this guy? Why do this? Amusement? To make her angry? They seem close, why piss her off?

She is busying herself with a filing cabinet completely ignoring both of us when we enter. He sits on the desk looking over the papers I handed him, giving me quick glances now and then. "Look how confused he is Soph." Is he talking about me?

She slams the filing cabinet close, "Get out. Go do whatever it is you are supposed to do." She turns on him, arms crossed over her chest.

Spitfire.

"Tap your foot, your stance is cuter that way." He points at her foot and she is fuming as she stomps over to the door.

"Out." Her eyes thunder with violence.

"Make me." He scoffs with a laugh.

I stand by the window scratching my neck not knowing what to do.

She sighs loud, exaggerated. "Wayne why must you be such an ass? I have work to do, I'm not kidding, leave. And take Hotshot over there with you." She points in my direction.

He stands up to go and I guess I must follow him out shutting the door behind me with one last sight of her. Guess I won't be seeing her again today, the thought has my shoulders slumping down. Even telling myself this the entire weekend, it is still an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

We walk around the area, Wayne takes the time to tell me what's in each enclosure and how his route through is taken. Telling me Mondays are slow and he spends most of it roaming around or goofing off with Sophia. I still can't help the green envy from surfacing. Pushing it down is like trying to force down the rise of bile from my gut, almost gagging at the effort. "So how long have you known each other?" The green monster moves my tongue and mouth before I can stop it.

He looks my way with his head to the side and a scrunched look on his face. "Since we were kids about six years old when her mother came back for the summer. She would spend the summers up here while her mom finalized her divorce, they moved up fully before Sophia turned eight. So about..." He stops to count his fingers like a child. "I dunno eighteen years now?" A soothingly sly smile grows on his face. "Jealous?" He asks me.

I look away with a tick in my jaw before looking back to him. A fake smile. "Why would I be?"

Snorting "because you like her," he sees through me. "No man nothing between us, she's not the one who is my type." He says this with a devious smile, looking me up and down before sending a wink my way. Stopping in my tracks to blink a few times. Did he just do that?

"What's stumping you bud, the fact I know you like her or that I like dudes? I have all day my friend." His stance is easy, not bothered at all by his clarification.

"I just, well, I've never..." Clearing my throat and scratching the back of my neck. I'm stunned.

"Don't know any gays? I can guarantee you do, they just won't admit it around here. Not the right way to be. I'm past that stage." He shrugs it off and continues on.

The jealousy I once felt fads away, an awkwardness taking its place.

We make it back to the front gates inspecting my watch it's only 9:10 am. Going to be a long day. "Bored yet?" He interrupts my thoughts whenever I have one it seems.

"Not what I was expecting," I say honestly, I don't really know what I was expecting.

"Thursdays are better for our schedules, that's when most kids come in for field trips or people are able to come out the most. We actually have a small preschool class coming here to take around this morning." He expresses to me.

I can hear the bus when I strain my ears to listen. It's coming just around the turn before it enters our vision. It is a white bus with the name of one of the church on its side in blue lettering. Pulling up to the front entrance an older woman steps off first, followed by children and adults. Some are running around to have a mother calling to stop, others hide behind the leg of a grandparent.

Wayne leans in to whisper to me "It is a homeschool through a church from what I gathered. Kids seem wild. You ready?" I nod my head slowly. I didn't expect that I would have to show thirty people around and watch out for toddlers first thing.

"It's fine Cage, I'll be doing all the talking and showing. You can answer questions with 'I don't know, I'll try and find out for you'. You are just here to get a feel for this and see if it's the best place for you. If this isn't your thing let me know and I will put you somewhere else, though this is the easy and more exciting position." Wayne is quick to explain things anytime he notices my distress. He changes to business mode fluently for his down to earth nature.

With another nod and an "Alright," he greets the group asking if they are ready and excited. They cry out and holler their enthusiasm, following behind the best their little legs can match our longer ones, slowing our pace so the smallest of the group can keep up as we stop by each exhibit. His experience shows. He speaks well to them and they all listen, asking their questions he has mostly answers for. He works well with the children. They warm up to him quickly and he seems in tune with each one from the youngest to oldest. I feel out of place with these humans everywhere, not knowing what to do or say. It's becoming more loud and crowded than I'm used to. I feel smothered. Some of the children drift away from the group to have one of the adults bring them back. Pups sit and listen, they don't deviate their attention away for anything. It's not tolerated.

Humans are odd.

When we come up to the deer section of the tour there are fifteen small bags of feed set out for the children to give to the animals. Wayne asks me to get them and pass them out. I smell that familiar scent of blossoms and I see Sophia inside the fenced area petting one of the bucks. She looks my way quickly before putting her attention back to the deer. Writing down on a clipboard before moving to the next, counting its points, checking it over and writing again.

She makes her way over and sits on the wooden fence when the children reach up with small handfuls and the deer eat out of their little hands. A little girl is licked by a doe and Sophia giggles with her, watching them all and enjoying their reactions. I can't help but watch her, not able to take my eyes away. Her smile is soft.

I want to make her smile.

She catches me staring at her and we both look away with a blush heating our skins. The mate bond is working between us, I can feel it, can she?

We have to continue with the tour while she stays to finish her work. This is torture.

Next is the wolves. They are rounded up in caged areas unlike when I saw them the weekend. These cages are very large, tall and sturdy, and they seem to be broken into different groups, there are also more here than there were in the den.

A few children ask to pet the 'doggies' but we tell them they can't, the wolves don't allow that. Why follows. "Because just like strange dogs you don't know, they don't know you either. You can't pet dogs you don't know, you can't pet the wolves for the same reason. They might bite." I answer. Wayne winks at me and I shift on my feet, I feel like he is making me uncomfortable on purpose. He gets great joy out of it.

"Do they howl? Can we hear it? Make them howl!" Some of the older boys are jumping up and down wanting to hear them call out. "Sorry guys I can't make them howl, they do it when they want to. Only that lady back there can get them to howl for her, no one else here can." Wayne informs them, thumbing back in the direction of the deer. Sophia is nowhere to be found.

The children whine out their disappointment. I scratch my chin, I bet I can get them to sound off.

"Really no one but her?" I ask him.

"Be my guest. We have all tried with no luck." He says.

The wolf yips in my mind his excitement for her to hear us again. Putting my hands to cup around my mouth for it to carry farther, louder, I howl out proud. Some of the wolves have stopped, taking me in, a few softly whine out, some bark. Wayne looks impressed. He slaps my arm, "Do it again," he tells me, engrossed in their reaction. I go louder, longer this time and a few join in. One after another they sound out with me and the children are loving it. They squeal and try to copy my sound, cupping their hands and yelling out what they can.

Sophia is suddenly by my right just watching them. She hums. "They don't normally pay attention to idiots trying to make them howl." She announces, implying I'm one of those idiots. "Very impressive Hotshot." She gives me a smirk before turning away and walking towards her building.

Maybe there is hope after all.