Gorgeous olive skin.

That was the first thing my mind processed.

The tanned olive skin that this supposedly naked man in my basement possessed.

Luckily the stone wall that met the bars covered his lower half.

The next thing I processed was the stark white hair that fell just slightly passed his broad shoulders.

A combination of skin and hair that I had never seen before, yet was admittedly stunning to see.

My eyes then locked onto a pair sky blue eyes that were staring right back at me

My already thundering heart somehow grew worse, the thumping now spreading to the rest of my body.

That annoying tingling also began to spread and the pull actually caused me to take a step forward.

I should be screaming.

Why wasn't I screaming?

There shouldn't be a man down here!

Yet here he was, his hands intertwined above his head as he leaned against the bars, effectively showing off his nearly perfectly toned build.

All with a content smile on his face.

A couple strained sounds exited my throat as I tried to say something, but couldn't seem to do so.

All I could do was stare, and take on whatever the hell was happening to my body.

Until finally, he looked away, his eyes shifting down to what I had dropped.

"Is that for me?" He asked, his voice apparently being smooth enough to cause butterflies in my stomach.

I shook my head a bit, trying to snap myself out of whatever the hell I was in.

Soon after, my voice came back to me.

"No..." I winced a bit at the fact that no sensation within my body was calming down, and it was impeding my ability to breathe normally.

It was impeding my ability to think.

In fact, the only thing I could think to do was to get closer to him, but luckily the logical side of my brain was more powerful and was cautious.

"No this... this is for the wolf," I managed to get out, turning to pick the meat back up.

Wherever it may be.

The man hummed, that smile never fading, "I guess that means it is indeed for me then."

"Wha-?" I winced again, squeezing my eyes shut for a second, "Who are you? How did you get here?"

The man took the opportunity to move along the bars so he was closer to me.

"The names Luka. Luka Lovota. As for your second question, well, I can only assume you brought me back yourself. I only saw you in that grass for a moment before that man you were with knocked me out," He casually shrugged, blowing it off as no big deal, "And you are?"

My answer came involuntarily.

"Lydia Anabor."

"Lydia," he repeated after me in a whisper, his smile growing as he spoke.

Those butterflies swarmed yet again, and I had to push through them to get my next thought out.

"Wait, wait, wait. Are you trying to tell me that you're that wolf?" I questioned.

He said nothing, just nodded.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say he looked slightly amused.

"There's no way," muttered under my breath.

"No?" he began, and I was just surprised that he actually heard me, "Dont you see the resemblance?"

He just pointed to his hair.

The stunning white strands that had just the slightest wave to them, tossed together with an odd wildness to it.

It looked soft too.

Jesus, what's wrong with me?

He took my lack of an answer as an answer, deciding to take this one step further.

"I guess the hair isn't enough to convince you. then how about," He closed his eye for a moment, my entire body tightening when he reopened them.

His right eye stayed that brilliant blue, where the other now held that familiar gold color.

No. Absolutely not. This was not happening.

This had to be a dream right? Right?!

This whole day. Yeah, this whole day had to have been a dream, since absolutely nothing about today was adding up.

Maybe I accidentally shot myself with a tranquilizer this morning and now I was suffering the consequences.

"No... the wolf had black fur too," I defended, honestly just grasping at straws to find some sense in all this, "If you're that wolf, then wheres the black?"

He just blinked at me for a moment, his eyes shifting down towards himself before looking back at me.

"Do you really wanna know?"

A blush quickly swept itself across my face, succeeding in making me actually take a step back.

He almost looked panicked by my reaction, but it withered as I began talking again.

"Okay. So what, you're like a dog... person... wolf thing?"

He bit his lower lip in what looked like an attempt to stop a laugh.

"Sure. But personally we call ourselves werewolves."

"Were...wolves?"

Another nod.

"Yup, and judging by you're reaction to all of this, I take it that you're unaware of the fact that you're one as well."

My eyes bulged.

Yep. A dream. This had to be a dream.

God, please tell me this is a dream.

"I've never even seen a wolf until today. Plus I think I'd know if I was part wolf." I countered.

"I'd think so as well, but we can figure that out later," his left eye returned to blue after a blink, "I'm just happy that I found you."

That pull at my chest grew stronger.

"W-why?"

His lips quirked up.

"Because Lydia, you and I are mates, and I've been looking for you for a very long time," he said, with a grin that showed off his ridiculously sharp canines.

My body seemed to shiver at the very word itself, despite my confusion that just seemed to keep growing.

"Mates? Like buds? Friends? Chummy chum pals?" I think my desperation for some common sense was becoming a little too evident.

His smooth chuckle filled the room.

"Not quite." Is all he said

"Then what?"

I was surprised to see him actually reach a hand through the bars towards me.

"Come here and let me show you."

That pull in my chest came hard this time, actually causing me to stumble a few steps forward.

I just stared at his outstretched hand, one half of my mind urging, begging for me to take it, while the other half was beyond skeptical.

"Last time I touched you, you shocked me," I stated, a tinge of nervousness showing in my voice.

I had no idea how to feel about this, and the hope that it all was just a dream was diminishing by the seconds.

"I was unconscious so it doesn't count," he replied.

I met his eye again, the look of reassurance oddly calming me.

In a strange, involuntary, I-still-have-no-idea-whats-going-on kind of way.

I looked back at his hand, swallowing hard as I raised my own.

This was going to be a mistake, I could feel it.

I grabbed his hand anyway.

That same shock coursed through my body instantly, except this time it was stronger.

So much stronger.

I felt my feet move to gain a better sense of balance as the electricity flowed throughout my body, seemingly shooting through every single nerve I had in my body before it exploded.

Into an odd warmth that I had never felt before.

It too made its way across my body, slower than the shock and definitely much more enjoyable.

It was like it was crawling over my skin starting from the center of my chest.

I let out a blissful sigh among my sudden heavy breaths, my heart now beating just as fast as before, but not as hard.

It was hard to explain, but a part of me felt relieved.

Relieved about something that I've never even worried about.

Like I had dropped a weight from my shoulders I didn't even realize I had been holding.

The feeling slowly faded, luckily leaving me with just a tad of that warmth.

Then I came back to my scenes and realized I was still grabbing Luka's hand.

I was about to pull away but realized the labored breaths he now had.

"Did you feel that too?" I asked.

His grip on me tightened a small bit.

"Of course. Being mated is a two-way-road."

My brows furrowed in thought.

"Does that mean you felt those tingles too? The weird pull?" I just needed him to say yes so I didn't feel crazy anymore.

His thumb began softly stroking my hand.

"Yes. It started when we first met eyes, didn't it?"

I nodded, a sudden hope of all my questions being answered resurfacing.

"That's the mate bond. The thing that pulls us to each other, and the thing that causes this." he gestured to our hands.

Now suddenly reminded of it, I pulled my hand back.

The warmth faded the very second I was no longer touching him.

I almost immediately started longing for it back, looking towards Luka for some sort of answer before I spotted the barely noticeable nervousness on his face.

He slowly retracted his own hand, clearing his throat.

"You're overwhelmed," He spoke in a calming, almost apologetic tone.

Uh yeah, you think?!

This morning I was just trying to enjoy spring with my father, now he's gone, I was allegedly a werewolf, and this guys mate?

Whatever that means.

"I-I Uhm," I stuttered out.

I didn't know what to say. What was I even supposed to say?

And why did I miss that warmth so damn much?

So many questions were flying through my head, I couldn't even focus on just one.

I needed to get away from this. Just for a little bit.

I can come back to this later, after I've cleared my head and actually processed half of this new information.

He seemed to have the answers, but I didn't know if I was even ready to hear them.

I took a step back, one hand holding the other at my chest.

His eyes held a look of understanding, taking a small step back of his own as if he was trying to give me space.

Although It also looked like the act of doing to physically hurt him.

Which caused somewhere deep inside of me to ache as well.

Just one more thing to add to the list of questions.

"Ah shit, sorry," He began, "This is a lot for you, and I probably could have handled it better."

I looked over his face again for a moment, that ache growing just a tiny bit

"I just need to um" I dropped the venison back onto the ground, "I'll be back."

That was the last thing I said before I raced out of that room and up the stairs.

My body was tired in way too many ways that seemed possible.

I hoped that maybe if I got some sleep that some of this would make sense.

Or that I'd wake up and find out that all of this was indeed just some crazy dream