Chapter Twelve.

Leon

We all froze in surprise. Even Jennifer stopped short.

Bella burst out crying.

"I'm so sorry!" She said and Frank gave her a pain filled smile.

"It's alright, pup. I'm okay. It was just unexpected." He said and pulled his injured hand out of the pad. He held his injured hand in his other and cracked his bones, probably preventing them from healing wrong. He waited for a few moments and flexed his hands. "See? It's alright." He said and Bella looked at him with wide eyes.

"What just happened?" Andrew asked breathlessly, the shock we all were feeling was evident in his tone.

"It must be because she's a special wolf." Casper suggested just as Jennifer ran towards Bella again.

"Mommy, I'm sorry." Bella cried and Jennifer hugged her, muttering comforting words to make Bella stop crying.

"This one has a lot of potential, Lu- Jennifer. It would be wise to train her early in age." Frank said and Jennifer looked at him.

"I remember now. She was the same pup Alpha saved. She was able to run faster than five rogues." A warrior said and some of the wolves gasped.

"Casper." I called and he walked back towards me.

"Yes, Alpha?"

"I want you and Frank to train her separately. I mean alone without the other wolves. If word gets out about her and her abilities, she'll need all the training she can get." I said and Casper nodded.

"Yes, Alpha. That would be the wise thing to do." Casper said I looked towards the pack.

"Not a word of what has happened here will be told to anyone! Am I understood!?" I shouted using my Alpha command on them and they nodded.

"Yes, Alpha." They chorused and I nodded in approval.

"Leon?"

"Yes, Jennifer?" I asked as I looked up from the file I was reading. After the training ground episode, I had told Jennifer to take Bella in and had Casper continue the training.

We were in my office right now, working.

"What's going to happen to Bella?" She asked and I sighed.

"Nothing. No one will breathe a word about what happened. I've asked Casper and Frank to train her separately." I said and Jennifer opened her mouth but I interrupted her. "I know I should have asked you, but you must realise that Bella is really special. Someone like that has to be protected at all costs and should know how to protect themselves. It's not all fun and games here, Jennifer. We as the largest pack have the strongest pull towards the greedy Alpha's and rogues. And we learn how to protect us against them as well." I said and Jennifer sighed, nodding.

"I understand." She said and quietly, we got to work.

Our lunch was brought in by one of the omegas and we thanked her before she left the room. Quietly we both had our lunch. Not a word exchanged between us as we ate.

When we got back to work, I quietly observed her. I noticed that she bit the end of her pen whenever she got stuck or was thinking about something. I noticed that she crossed her right leg over the left more often than not. She never fidgeted with her hair or clothes.

I noticed many subtle things about her. Like her eyes gleamed whenever she figured something out, with a hint of smile on her lips. Her violet eyes never looked away from her work. It was as if she and those papers were the only thing in the room.

That thought made my wolf growl but I quieted him down. I was glad she took her work very seriously. And glad she was so concentrated that she hadn't noticed me staring at her, admiring with the softest smile on my lips.

I was over the moon to have someone as beautiful, as hard working as her as a mate. If I hadn't learned how to be patient about finding my mate in the past, there was no way on earth I would have been able to stop myself from marking her the night we kissed.

I was still fighting with my wolf on that. But I knew Jennifer wasn't ready to be marked. She was worried about Bella. Her first priority was Bella. And I knew I'd always come second to that small five-year-old girl.

My wolf grumbled at that but I just laughed, telling him that our pups come first. He reluctantly agreed with me.

"Leon?" Jennifer called, snapping me out of my thoughts. She was looking at me nervously and it made me frown.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. What is it?" I asked as I dropped my pen on the desk and intertwined my fingers, resting them on the desk. Jennifer took a deep breath, as if gathering courage.

"That night... when-before you kissed me..." She trailed off and I moved my chair forward, silently waiting as she continued. "Your wolf said that you keep a very strong self control around me... What did he mean?" She asked and I sighed, mentally cursing my wolf who was bouncing excitedly.

Tell her the truth! She's giving you an opening! He screamed in my mind.

I sighed and got up from my chair. Jennifer looked at me in question as I walked around the desk and sat on the chair next to her.

"Jennifer..." I trailed off as I took her hands in mine. "There are some things you need to know before I tell you why he said that. I would really like it if you give me a chance to explain everything. It might shock you, even scare you, but I'd really like it if you listen to all that I have to say." I said and she nodded.

"Promise." She said with a small smile which I couldn't help but return. I looked away from her as I started telling my story.

"A werewolf's sixteenth birthday is one of the most important days in their lives. Not only because they can finally turn into a wolf but because that's when they are also given the ability to identify who their mate is. And for me, finding my mate was my top priority because an Alpha can't rule a pack without his Luna by his side.

"We have a large pack so I thought maybe I'd find her on my sixteenth birthday but I didn't. It was disappointing, but I didn't give up. I traveled continuously for two years, going to every continent, most of the countries in search for her because my father was going to hand over the Alpha title to me when I turned eighteen. I even went to some human towns to search for her, yet I failed. The years without her taught me patience in a way I never wanted to learn. It helped me control me and my urges better." I said and stopped when she frowned.

"If an Alpha can't rule without a Luna then, how did you?" She asked hesitantly. I smiled, brushing my thumb on the back of her hand.

"Since I couldn't find my mate, mom didn't step down from her Luna position. She's still the current Luna of this pack and will be until I find my mate and mark her as mine." I said. She titled her head slightly in confusion.

"Mark her?" She asked and I chuckled.

"May I?" I asked as I released one of her hands and held my hand out towards her neck. She nodded hesitantly. "Marking your mate mixes their scent with your and vice versa. It makes it clear to other wolves that you're taken and not to be messed with because we are very possessive and protective about our mate’s. Marking them is basically biting them here." I said as I rested my finger on the crook of her neck. A place where, if she accepted me, my mark would rest. I chuckled when I noticed her scared expression and pulled my hand back.

"Only the piercing of the skin is painful. All you feel is pleasure the next second. From what Andrew told he when my sister marked him." I said and her eyes widened.

"The females do it too?" She asked and I nodded.

"Marking is a two-way thing. It means that I'm yours and you're mine." I said and she blushed. I took a deep breath. "When you meet your mate, the only thing you want to do is mark them as yours because to us, our mates are the most precious thing on earth. I have met my mate, Jennifer." I said quietly and her eyes snapped up to me in shock.

"What?" She asked breathlessly and I nodded.

"I don't want to scare her off. I want her to stay by my side, rule my pack with me. But I know if I don't take things carefully, slowly, I might lose her completely. When I saw her for the first time, my wolf went crazy, my mind went crazy because I couldn't believe I had finally found her after ten years of searching. We met a few days ago when she nervously stepped into my office for a job. She looked so beautiful I could swear my heart was in awe of her beauty. My mate... She came to take the job of my assistant." I said and Jennifer's eyes widened, a tear escaped her eyes. I smiled softly and cupped her face, wiping the tear away. Her eyes closed when I cupped her face, a shiver went through her body. When she opened her eyes again, I continued.

"Do you have any idea how crazy she makes me? How crazy I am day and night just wanting to be with her, to mark her as mine, to have pups with her sometime in the future. Especially when she's wearing her sleeping attire. Now that's got me crazy on a whole different level." I said and she chuckled, blushing. "But I want to ask her, Jennifer. I want to ask her if she'll accept me as her mate. I want to ask her if she'll be with me through the toughest of times. I want to ask her if she'll fight me whenever I'm wrong. Will she, Jennifer? If I ask her all this, will she accept me?" I asked and Jennifer closed her eyes, more tears falling down her cheeks. When she opened her eyes again, I knew she had made a decision, and I braced myself if it was rejection. But then she breathed out the word, making my heart pound loudly in my chest.

"Yes."