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3. Going for a Walk

POV:Leila

I can't believe it, I found my mate. I knew I would, but it's still a shock. It was the only thought running through my mind, that is, until Fox pushed me behind him and my brothers formed a human barrier around me.

“This is all your fault, I told you not to ask them to come.” Axel snapped at Damon.

Damon faced him before exclaiming, "He's the King! How was I supposed to stop him? You were supposed to keep Lee away."

They went back and forth before Hunter and Ryder spoke up. Fox was staying quiet. I took that as a good sign, so I stood on my toes and put my hand on his shoulder to balance. I had to look between my brother's shoulders because, even on my toes, I could never be that tall. I saw my mate standing there looking all handsome with his tousled black hair and beautiful blue eyes, but there was anger and annoyance in those eyes.

I looked over at his companions and saw that their faces held only shock. I looked at the woman, beautiful bright blonde hair and pretty pale blue eyes, she was holding hands with a man that had blonde hair and light brown eyes. They must be the gamma and gamma female. I was about to move on to the next man when the woman's eyes suddenly moved to mine. I smiled at her, she had kind eyes, and waved with the hand that wasn't holding onto Fox. She looked a bit surprised but she smiled back. She nudged her mate and gestured to me with her eyes. The beta looked at me and I smiled at him too. He had kind eyes as well, he smiled back slightly and moved a little to nudge my mate. He gestured to me and my mate's eyes immediately found mine. My smile widened, I just can't believe I have a mate. He smiled back at me and c****d his head a little to the side, amusement shinning in his eyes. That's good, if my brothers thought he got angry quickly, then they wouldn't trust him as easily.

“Hey stop that.” Ryder said, gently pulling my hand from Fox's shoulder and pushing my head down.

He held onto my hand for a moment too long to be normal before he let go. Only then did I realize what my brothers were feeling; pain and fear. They're afraid of losing me. Oh, my poor big brothers, no wonder Fox is staying quiet, his voice will give him away. Suddenly I felt like crying and jumping into my brother's arms. I couldn't cry because when I cried my brothers went into overdrive, but that didn't stop me from hugging them all one by one.

It had to be from behind but still. I hugged Damon, who stopped in the middle of a sentence when he felt my arms wrap around him. I buried my face in his back and hugged him as hard as I could. He put his hand over mine and I remembered all the times that those hands protected me and comforted me. I pulled away before the water works began. If I keep this up, I'll never be able to hold it together. Damon continued on with his sentence, but his voice didn't hold the same conviction, it was slight, not something anyone that didn't know him would hear. I went behind Axel who was standing beside Damon and hugged him just as fiercely as I did Damon. He put his arm over my arm and held on to it. I pulled away again and hugged Hunter as hard as I could. Next is Ryder who I knew was already waiting for me, so when I hugged him I jumped up, wrapped my arms around his neck, and held on. He wrapped his hand around my arm and held it tight.

The room had gone completely silent as I made it to my last brother, Fox. Fox has always been not only my protector but also my best friend. Right before I jumped up to hug his neck, he spun around, wrapped his strong arms around me, and picked me up so that my legs were dangling in the air. I held onto him just as tight, waiting until he put me down. I kinda hoped it was soon because the waterworks were about to start. Maybe Hunter sensed that because he gently set me down on my feet and, when I turned back around, the others were now facing me.

“How come he gets a front hug sis, that ain't fair.” Fox said even though his voice was shaky like he might cry.

I did my best to ignore that, as did the others, and laughed a little like the others, even though they were all shaky laughs. We were quiet for a few moments before Damon stepped up to me and put his big hand on my shoulder, making me look into his big gray eyes.

“You don't even know him.” he whispered, so only my other brothers and I could hear him. A slight twinge of desperation was in his voice.

I smiled up at my big brother and said in the softest voice, "Then I guess I better get to learning."

He hung his head and when I looked around, the others had done the same. We all know that, since my mate is the Alpha King, I will have to leave the pack. I will leave them. I looked back at Damon and saw him already looking at me. I smiled, and suddenly he pulled me into a big bear hug. He held for a few minutes before he let go. He nodded and my brothers all parted, coming to stand beside me instead of in front of me. I smiled at all of them, then looked toward my mate whose face held only shock, and so did his companions. I walked toward him, stopping before I got too close.

I didn't have a clue what to say to him, but I knew we'd never have a good conversation with all these people around, so I said the first thing that came to mind. "Do you wanna go for a walk?"

He recovered quickly from the shock evident on his face as he smiled a little and said, "Yeah."

“Are you sure that...” Hunter began, but I stopped him with a pleading look. He only nodded and looked down.

“Follow me.” I said, turning back to my mate. We began walking out when I heard Axel call,"Don't go far."

I couldn't help but chuckle at him. "We won't." I called back just before we reached the front doors.

Try as they might, my big brothers can't stop themselves from being a little over-protective. I began leading him to the right of the pack house. There's a path that leads to a meadow filled with beautiful wild flowers and a big tall oak tree in the center that I love to climb up. That meadow has been my safe haven from a lot of problems. I want to share that place with my mate. As we passed a few houses, some pack members looked curious at us but didn't ask any questions. A few of the pups waved and shouted hello to me. I smiled and shouted hello back. I looked forward again but felt my mate's eyes on me, so I glanced at him. I saw him looking thoughtfully at me.

“Something wrong?” I asked, hoping the answer was no.

“Of course not. I was just thinking." He said, smiling faintly at me and, much to my dismay, I blushed, for no reason at all.

I was going to ask what he was thinking about when it hit me that I hadn't introduced myself yet. I let out a sudden nervous laugh at my own silliness.

My mate looked at me confused and asked, "What’s funny?"

I bit my lip and said, "Nothing. I just realized that you don't know my name." Understanding sparked in his eyes and he chuckled as we got to the edge of the forest and began walking down the path.

“I know your name. Or, your nickname at least, Lee? I heard your brother say it after you ran into Hunter." He told me, an amused smile playing on his lips.

“Oh. Well, my full name is Leila, but everyone mostly just calls me Lee." I said, looking up at him before continuing, "And, obviously, I know your name, Alpha King Lucifer Hendrix."

My mate shook his head before saying, "Just Lucifer for you. You're my equal, you do not call me Alpha King."

I smiled widely as I jumped in front of him, walking backwards, and extending my hand to him before saying, "It's nice to meet you, Lucifer."

He smiled broadly at me and took my extended hand. At the touch of his hand, sparks erupted through my hand and up my arm. I gasped and stopped walking, causing him to stop close enough to share a breath. We stared into each other's eyes, breathed each other's breath, and held each other's hands. I want to be closer still, I want to be held in his arms and never let go. It was complete silence, the only sounds were of our breathing and the birds chirping. I'm not sure how long we stayed there. It could have been minutes or hours. Either way, it didn't really matter, I could stay this way forever. Slowly he leaned down and turned his head slightly to the side, he's about to kiss me, I realized. Suddenly, all the talks with my brothers about kissing and how I should let men treat me came flying back at me and I pulled away so quickly that Lucifer stumbled forward a little.

“Uh, we should keep going before my brothers come looking.” I said, blushing furiously and turning away from him.

We walked on for a while before we reached the meadow. I couldn't believe that I had almost kissed a guy that I met only ten minutes ago. I glanced at him to see him already looking at me. He quickly looked away, but I could swear that I saw a flash of pain in his eyes. I instantly felt guilty. I didn't mean to hurt him, I just didn't think I should kiss a guy I had just met, mate or not.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. It's just that my brothers have always said that if you're gonna kiss someone make sure you know at least ten things about them and I only know two things about you. One of those things is your name and Fox would say that doesn't even count. I didn't mean..." I said quickly, playing with my hands.

“Leila, it's alright really. I was just worried that you would be upset with me, but if you're not, then it really is okay. I shouldn't have tried to kiss you. You're right, we barely know each other. Forgive me?" he asked. His blue eyes were pleading and sincere. I couldn't help but smile.

“There's nothing to forgive.” I said sincerely and, just for the heck of it, I stood on my toes, stretched, and kissed his cheek.

I laughed a little at the surprise on his face. He smiled brightly at me as I grabbed his hand and pulled him along. His hand swallowed mine.

He let me pull him and asked, "Where are we going?" I laughed at his question, finding it a bit late.

“What?” he asked, confusion sparking in his eyes.

“Well, you did pick an odd time to ask that. We've been walking for five minutes" I said, trying to hold in my laughs.

“Maybe, but it's not my fault that your beauty is so distracting," he said with a smirk. I blushed and bit my lip to try and stop my smile. It didn't work.

“We're going to one of my favorite places.” I said, ignoring his comment and my blush.

“Okay. Are we almost there?" he asked, still smirking.

“Almost," I said, not wanting to give anything away.

We walked in silence for another minute just enjoying each other's company and the feel of each other's hand in the other. After another few minutes, we came to the meadow and I stopped to let Lucifer take it in.

"Whoa." I heard him breathe.

He was staring at the meadow in amazement. I'm so glad that he likes it. I pulled his hand to lead him to the center. I looked at Lucifer as we walked. I saw amazement on his face as he looked around the meadow. There were flowers of every color as well as dandelions all over the meadow. When we got to the base of the tree, his eyes met mine and there was such light in his eyes.

“I see why this is your favorite place," he said, smiling broadly.

I smiled back at him, let go of his hand, and stepped onto a short branch that's about two feet from the bottom, grabbed onto a higher branch, and pulled myself up into the tree.

“What are you doing?” Lucifer asked, a slight twinge of confusion and worry in his voice.

“I'm climbing into a tree.” I answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Yeah, but why?” Lucifer asked again.

“I don't know. I've always felt at home in a tree. When I was a kid I used to climb as high as I could, so I could see as far as possible." I said as I climbed, getting to a spot that was about halfway up the tree.

I turned around, put my hand against the trunk, and dangled my legs over one side of the branch. I looked down at him expectantly and waited.

After a few moments, I asked, "Aren't you coming?"

He once again looked confused. "Up there?" he asked, pointing up.

“Yeah.” I replied, not understanding why he was so hesitant. I smirked a little as I looked down at him and teased, "Don't tell me the big bad Alpha is scared of heights?"

Lucifer playfully glared at me before saying, "I am not afraid of heights, I was just thinking."

I don't know what he was thinking about to get so confused. I mean, I could find out if I wanted to, but I try not to invade people's privacy like that. I look at him, and he's slightly smiling up at me.

“Promise me one thing, and I'll climb up there.” he said, smirking.

“What is it?” I asked, remembering all the times that my brothers told me to look before I jumped.

“Promise that after I know ten things about you and that you know ten things about me, you'll let me kiss you,” he suggested, smirking.

I'm surprised that's what he wants. He could've just asked. Of course, I'll promise that. I mean I want to kiss him, my whole body is telling me to be close to him.

“ Okay. I promise to let you kiss me after we each know ten things about each other." I replied, like it was no big deal.

He looked surprised that I agreed so easily but ignored it and began to climb up. Well, after a few minutes and ten questions, I'll have my first kiss with my mate.