All it Takes is Love
Chapter 3

The Alpha cleared his throat, bringing everyone’s attention back to him. “You may stay here, Lynn, and if you replace your mate, all the better. If not, then I suppose you could go to some of the other packs and try to replace him there.”

Lynn glanced at Byron, who stood next to her because she’d almost swear, he had growled at his father’s words.

His dad must have thought so too. He gave Byron a questioning look as he asked, “Is there something you would like to say, Byron?”

“No, sir,” Byron replied as he ducked his head.

The Alpha narrowed his eyes and waited. When Byron said nothing else, he huffed and said, “Alright. Take her to the house then, Byron. She can stay with us for now, so you can keep an eye on her while she heals. Since she technically isn’t a rogue, the pack should leave her alone.”

“Yes, sir,” Byron agreed as he carefully picked her up.

The two of them made it back to the Alpha’s house in record time.

Byron had put Lynn on his back, piggy-back style, and she found herself dozing off at the steady motion of his body. The doctor had given her some pain pills, and she was feeling good. Although, she decided that the drugs weren’t the only thing making her feel good.

Byron’s back was warm, and as she laid her head in the crook of his neck, she found herself taking deep breaths. He smells so good, like Cedar and sunshine. Weird, I know, but I can’t get enough of it.

Lynn felt the urge to whine at the loss of his scent when he laid her on the bed. She must have made some noise, though, despite her effort not to because he quickly turned and looked at her.

“Are you alright? Are you in pain?” Byron asked.

“No, I’m alright,” Lynn answered. “The shot the doctor gave me took away all the pain, so I’m just feeling sleepy.”

“Well, considering how far you ran and then your blood loss, I’m surprised you’re even coherent,” Byron said as he sat down on the bed next to her.

Lynn glanced around at the room. There wasn’t much in the way of decoration, so she thought perhaps it was a guest room. As her eyes began to cross with tiredness, the room entirely out of focus, she yawned and said, “I appreciate your dad letting me stay.”

“Well, you aren’t rogue, and everyone deserves a mate, so… yeah.”

“Byron,” Lynn whispered.

Byron looked at her, and she gave him a bright smile causing his eyebrows to shoot upward. That had her noticing his eyes. They were such a pretty blue with long lashes surrounding them. They seemed to draw her in, and she just wanted to drown in them. Since the pain meds were making her feel very brave, she blurted out, “I think you’re cute, Byron.”

He looked shocked at first, then he grinned. “I think you’re cute too, Lynn. Now, let me go so you can sleep.”

Lynn grabbed his hand as he went to get up, and she begged, “No, please stay.”

The thought of him leaving made her feel empty and lonely. She wondered if this was how her mate would make her feel, but even stronger perhaps.

Her mom had done a lot of research, in which she had found out how much harder it would be for Lynn to recognize her mate because she’d been born with a dormant wolf. A dormant wolf is almost like not having one at all. The only difference is; if you don’t have one, you are entirely human. If it’s only dormant, then you’ll have the heightened hearing, sight, and smell, like a wolf, but won’t shift at sixteen.

Lynn had the heightened senses, so she knew she had a wolf. So, meeting my mate should awaken her and cause me to shift.

She pulled herself from her restless thoughts and found Byron was still watching her. It was almost as if he were trying to read her mind. “What?”

“Why do you want me to stay with you, Lynn?”

“You don’t want to stay with me?” She asked, feeling like pouting.

“It isn’t that. It’s just that if I stay with you, your mate won’t be happy to smell a male wolf’s scent on you,” Byron mumbled. Then he looked away as he growled lightly. It was as if he were upset about something.

“Have you met your mate, Byron?”

He shook his head.

“I don’t even know if I’ll have one. Mom said it’ll be hard to replace mine even if I do without the normal tells of a wolf,” she told him in a soft voice.

He turned back to face her then, asking, “You can’t tell if someone is your mate or not?”

Lynn shook her head, answering, “No. I have wolf hearing, smell, and vision. I just don’t have a wolf to tell me who my mate is. So, unless the male knows I’m his mate, I could walk right by him and not even know it.”

“Oh, Lynn, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t know.”

Smiling sadly, she said, “It’s okay. It isn’t your fault I’m a freak of nature.”

“Oh, sugar, don’t call yourself that,” Byron scolded as he scooted down to lay next to her. “If anyone is a freak of nature, it would be me.”

Lynn snuggled close to him and breathed in his scent, which she was beginning to like. Curious at his words, she inquired, “Why do you say that?”

Byron snorted softly. “Look at me, Lynn. I’m an Alpha’s blood-born son who is, well, something other than an alpha. A body can’t get much more freakish than that, now can they.”

Lynn pushed herself up so she could gaze directly into his eyes as she said, “Byron, I think your perfect no matter what you are.”

As quickly as one blinks, something seemed to snap between the two of us, and we connected. Whatever it was caused Lynn’s eyes to widen, and she began to feel a tingling where their bodies touched. Suddenly, his scent was even more potent, and she began to crave a kiss from him. Not knowing what was going on, she asked, “B-Byron? What just happened?”

Byron let out a slight growl as his eyes turned gold, answering, “Mine!”

Lynn stared at him wide-eyed and confused, yet somehow knowing this was Byron’s wolf before her. “Yours? How? Why now when there was nothing earlier?”

Byron continued to stare at her, unblinking as he brought his hand up to run it through her hair. “I felt a slight pull toward you, Lynn, but it wasn’t strong enough for the human side of me to feel. It wasn’t strong enough to know if it was the mate pull or just an attraction to you until you told us we were perfect.”

“How…?”

Wolf Byron snorted. “You heard my human. He feels like he is inferior to everyone because he is not an alpha. But you just stated that you replace him, us, perfect. He needed to hear that from you, from his mate.”

“Oh,” she whispered. “Well, Byron is perfect. I-I mean you are?!”

Wolf Byron laughed and pulled her closer. “You are perfect in my eyes also, sweet Lynn. Now you must rest, heal, for tomorrow you will shift.”

“I will? How do you know this?”

“I am a wolf, and I can feel your wolf beginning to stir inside you,” he answered. “She is weak though from your blood loss; otherwise, she would already be shifting. So, sleep.”

Giving a content sigh, Lynn lay quiet on his chest for a moment before she whispered, “Can I at least have a kiss?”

Rolling us over so that she was on her back, he leaned in over her. Then he gave her the sweetest first kiss a girl could ever receive, and Lynn sighed in happiness.

Happier than she’d ever been, Lynn snuggled into the side of her mate, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.