"Did I scare you?"

My eyes snapped to Xavier's. His voice had become softer than I had ever heard it. The playful light in his eyes had died, and he appeared genuinely concerned about the stalker situation.

His voice becoming soft and vulnerable honestly scared me more than him stalking me the past two days. Is that concerning?

I swallowed. "No." Then I smiled, trying to ease him. "Not yet, anyway."

His eyes flashed and I saw his wolf for a split second, it was so fast I would have missed it had I not been staring into his ocean blue eyes the past minute or so.

A waitress finally showed herself and took our orders, coming back with the food faster than I was expecting. Xavier and I munched on the sandwiches for a while without saying anything. Both of us gazed out the window, watching the people passing back and forth on the sidewalk in front of us.

When our easy conversation drifted back to the surface, I found out he was in the same boat as me, not really studying anything in particular. A part of me wondered if he was lying when he said this was his fourth year here. How could you be far enough in to be close to graduating, without having a declared major? My heart jumped at the thought that he had come to campus just because he found out from Everlee that I went there. That could also explain the stalker habits he was showing. But that would be very weird for him to go to college just because a girl he had met once went there.

Unless of course I was his mate.

He was an alpha. Alphas were naturally possessive, especially of their mates. His wolf would urge him to do anything to be near me as much as possible. Him attending college for me was not the worst I had heard of.

He told me he was twenty-two. And I didn't see a reason he would bend the truth for that one. That made him three or so years older than me, depending when his birthday fell. He was surprised I was nineteen, assuming I was younger because this was only my first semester.

"Do you have siblings?" We were trying to keep the conversation basic, and I think it was because he was being careful not to scare me off after I accused him of being a stalker. I just hoped he knew it had been a joke.

He grinned. "Just one. A younger sister, who happens to be in your biology class."

Staring at his face, it made sense. The tiny details they shared in some features: their hair color, their ears, their nose, even the shape of their eyebrows gave way their shared genes.

"Everlee."

He nodded, "Everlee."

Oh, the crap Ev was going to get about letting her brother come to school to stalk me. She was going to need to watch it.

"What are you scheming?"

I blinked, realizing he had been studying me while I thought of ways to get Everlee back. "Nothing."

"I don't believe you."

"Okay."

He narrowed his eyes and I laughed. "Fine," he took a sip of his water, "do you have siblings?"

I smiled, imagining May and August then. They would be at school, probably in their last subject for the day. May would be doodling in the margins of her paper while August would be staring at the clock, willing the bell to ring.

"I have two. Both younger. August is fifteen and May is nine."

He raised an eyebrow and that stupid smirk that made my heart do gymnastics made an appearance. "April. August. May. Your parents just like the calendar?"

A snort escaped and I covered my mouth with a hand. "More like they are the least creative people to walk the planet! Me: April 19th; May: May 10th; August: August 4th."

"So, your parents just named you for the month you were born in. All three of you."

"Pretty much."

His eyes darted up for a moment, thinking. "What if you had been born in October?"

"My name would probably be October."

"That's unfortunate."

I laughed, "I told you, my parents are not creative enough."

We grabbed our things, Xavier having paid the bill — after taking an argument from me that I could pay for my own food; an argument I lost in the end — and we headed out the door to his truck. I climbed in, refusing his help again, and then realizing I should've accepted it, just to test my sparks theory. I had to know for sure, or I would be up all night wondering.

He started the vehicle before pulling out of his spot. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye.

"That was a date. You made it into a date by not letting me pay."

He turned his head, his expression turned nervous for a split second before it reverted back to the light-hearted one he wore most of the time. I noticed it was mostly only around me, though. Anyone else, he was the stone-faced, intimidating alpha I had met on Monday going into the library.

"Do you really want to pay that bad?"

I contemplated my feelings for a moment. "No."

"Then I guess it was a date." He beamed, seeming overjoyed to hear our afternoon labeled that way.

When he pulled up to the edge of the bioscience parking lot, he hopped out and went to open my door for me. With my heart pounding in my chest, making me feel like he could hear how nervous I was for this moment, I finally let him take my hand and help me down.

It wasn't like the fireworks some mated pairs made it sound like, but it was there. The electricity sparking between our hands, dancing well up to my elbow. Maybe it was stronger for him, since he had the invisible pull already, but either way that confirmed my suspicions: Xavier was my mate.

"Thank you," I told him, letting go of his hand, "for dragging me with you instead of letting me go to the Williams'."

"Anytime. I'll see you tomorrow, April."

I nodded, my brain not able to form any more words while it argued with my heart on what I was going to do now. I waited until he had left the lot before I walked to the car. I wasn't sure if he knew all of the Crescent Moon Pack's vehicles, but I wanted to be safe.

The next day was similar. Xavier accompanied me to each of my classes and then hung out with me during lunch. Friday was the same. And so was the week after. The only difference was I was ten times more nervous now that I had confirmed what we were to each other.

I had debated calling my parents, or at least my mom, to tell them the situation. But they would just pry me open like an oyster to dig out any information on him they could. I didn't need them to watch over me that closely. He was my mate, and they lived on the other side of the country. I would handle it on my own.

Several times over the next week or two, I opened my mouth to tell him I knew. Knew he was a wolf, knew he was Alpha, knew we were mates. But a logical tug in my brain closed it back up every time, reminding me saying it out loud in public was still dangerous.

So, I kept playing human, slowly becoming more comfortable with him and watching him open up more to me. Less and less he was that intimidating, dark and mysterious alpha I had seen in September. Now he was funny, sarcastic, light-hearted, charming, chivalrous, and such a flirt. But still, I noticed he turned most of that off when he wasn't around me, or was with me but not talking to me. Something was bothering him that he forgot about the second he would see me, or when I would talk to him.

On Thursday afternoon, halfway through October, it hit me. It was as if a lightbulb was shining down inside my brain.

Xavier was twenty-two, maybe almost twenty-three (he hadn't told me his birthday yet). Wolves are eligible for their mate usually at sixteen. His wolf had been aching for his mate for more than six years now. No wonder his entire persona lit up when he saw me. I made him that much closer to healing his soul, to making him and his pack complete.

A rush of guilt washed over me, so strong I couldn't breathe properly and had to leave the classroom. Unfortunately it was another class Xavier had with me, due to a transfer "because of the professor". No way did I believe that even a little bit.

He followed me into the hall, standing in front of me as I leaned back against the wall. He was holding back against the urge to touch me, hold me, make me feel better from whatever was wrong with me. That just made the guilt come harder. I gasped in air, my body jerking from the sudden action.

If I was just a normal wolf, he wouldn't feel that way. We would be normal mates, and he wouldn't feel the need to hold back, fight his wolf off from protecting me so fiercely. He wouldn't be so scared of scaring me away. If I were a wolf, not this stupid damn fox, I wouldn't have to be worried about everyone's trust, I wouldn't have to stay hidden.

It pushed me over the edge. I needed to get outside, away from him, away from the stuffy building, away from everything. I half fell, half lurched into him, my face crashing into his hard chest. His arms tentatively went around me, seeming unsure if I needed a hug or just to be there. He grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to meet his eyes.

"April! What's going on? Are you okay?"

My mouth opened and closed several times, three words pushing against my throat, daring to escape. I would feel better with it off my chest, but the risk of it all was too much. My eyes filled with tears and I grappled with his hands, pausing them off of me before I stumbled down the hallway.

"April!" He called, unsure of whether to follow after me or let me go. He followed, but I pushed him off again.

"Just," I gasped out, "leave. Me. Alone." I sucked in a breath, the guilt constricting my heart, my airways my mind. I could barely think or focus on any of my surroundings. Xavier was a blur as he slowly backed away from me, his face contorted with concern and hurt. The tears escaped, dropping to the carpeted floor underneath me. I turned down the hall and flung open the exterior doors.

I didn't care that all of my stuff was in the classroom, I didn't care I had left Xavier there with no answers, even though the whole reason I was in hysterics was because of my conscious over what I knew that he didn't, that this was hurting him more than I could probably ever know.

I blindly made it to my car, gulping an entire water bottle that had been left in there from a different day. I crawled onto the backseat, laying down with my face pressed against the back. I let myself cry, the tears seeming to never stop — now that I had hydrated myself — until the weight in my chest lessened and I was finally able to get a proper amount of air into my lungs.