He's beautiful. The redheaded boy before me is possibly the most beautiful person I've ever laid eyes on. As cringey as that sounds, it's the truth. His shaggy ginger hair and deep green eyes, his slim and small figure. The faint freckles littered on his nose and cheeks. His fragile and delicate hands. He's everything I could have ever wanted and more. How have I never noticed him before? What's his name? Goddess, do I need to know his name...

The emerald green eyes I am looking straight into at this moment belong to my mate. The moon goddess knew what she was doing when she chose him to be the one and only for me. I can feel the bond pulling me towards him and the wolf inside me yearning for his touch. Before I can even think of what to say, my feet start taking me in his direction.

"Fuck..." I hear him say under his breath. Why is that? Is something wrong? Is he okay? Now that I think about it, he seems quite pale and looks like he's sweating a bit. The closer I get to him I begin to hear the rapid beating of his heart and see the look of pure terror in his eyes. Is he scared of me? I think to myself as I begin to wonder if I have met this boy before. No, that's not possible. I would remember him, I'm sure of it. So then, why does he look like he's about to run away out of fear?

Once I am close enough to speak, I say the first thing that comes to mind. "Umm... Hi...?" Really, Trent? Wow... I mentally facepalm myself as I try to figure out his expression. I notice him look away from me and down at the ground as he attempts to hide his trembling hands in the pocket of his black hoodie.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask him as I reach my hand out to grab his shoulder. By the time my hand is about to touch his shoulder, it looks as if something clicks his mind to the rest of his body. He takes off running in the opposite direction before I can stop him.

I stand there in complete shock as I watch him disappear around the corner of the hall. Should I go after him? I think to myself as I try to gather my thoughts and figure out what my best option is. If he is truly scared of me, I don't want to make the situation worse by following him. Maybe he thinks I want to bully him? The mere thought of him thinking I want to cause him harm sends a sharp pain through my chest. I may not know who he is or anything about him, but I want him to only feel loved and protected in my presence. I must figure out a way to fix this. I need to talk to Roni!

Roni Wolfe is my cousin/soon to be Beta wolf once I become the Alpha of the Cherry Blossom Pack. Her and I have always been best friends since either of us can remember; she is older than me by only a few months. When we were young, we were inseparable, and honestly not much has changed since then. We know we have each other's backs and she gives the best advice. We are both the only child, so we grew up as siblings. She is like a sister to me and I tell her everything.

I turn around from where my mate ran away and start jogging up to the classroom on the second floor where I know Roni is.

I finally get to the door of the classroom where Roni is and bend over to catch my breath. Once my breathing is back to normal, I stand up straighter and pull out my phone to send Roni a quick text.

ME: Hey Roni! I'm outside your class, I have something important to talk to you about!

She replies almost instantly which is quite typical of her.

RONI: Hey, I'm coming out now, is it bad?

ME: I don't know yet. Just hurry up!

RONI: Okay, okay! I'm coming!

I hear the door to her classroom open before I can reply to Roni's text. I look up to see a pair of beautiful blue eyes with long inky black hair down to the waist. Roni stands at around 5'11 and is a bit toned, but she isn't as toned as I am.

"Ren? What's wrong? Is everything okay?" Roni asks me in her sweet, singsong voice.

"I met my mate!" I blurt out before I can stop myself.

"You WHAT?!" She practically yells as she grabs both of my shoulders with her hands and looks me straight in the eyes.

"I met my mate, Roni." I look at her with tears welling up in my eyes.

Roni looks at me confused for a moment before her expression softens and she pulls me into a hug, my chin awkwardly resting on the top of her head, considering our height difference. "Isn't this a good thing? Why are you crying, Ren?" She asks me as she pulls away.

"Well, I tried approaching him, but he freaked out and ran off. I don't know what to do Roni! He feared me, but I don't remember doing anything wrong. I haven't even met him before. But, Roni, you should've seen him! He's amazing." I tell her as a tear falls down my cheek.

Roni cups my cheek and wipes the tear away with her thumb as she speaks, "Fear you? There must be something else. Maybe he was just nervous, yeah? Give him some space and then try talking to him, okay? I'm sure this will work out. You deserve nothing but happiness, Ren." She tells me with complete confidence in her tone.

I wrap my arms around her again and say, "Thanks, Roni. You always give the best advice. I'll try talking to him on Monday."

"Of course, Ren. Now let's get back to class before we get into trouble, yeah?" She laughs out.

I snort. "Okay." I forcefully smile at her before turning to walk to my next class that I'm sure I'm late for.

~

The weekend comes to an end and Monday finally rolls around. I'm standing outside of the Alpha's house, my dad's house, waiting for Roni to come pick me up and take us to school.

Roni's black Jeep finally comes into view as she slows to a stop and unlocks her car doors. I jump into the passenger side and close the door behind me after chucking my school bag into the back seat. Once I am settled and buckled up, I glance over at Roni and realize she's giving me a weird face.

"Roni. What's that look for?" I ask her.

Roni smirks with mischief evident in her eyes, "Remember how you pretty much told me everything about your mate that you know of when we got home on Friday? Well, I took your description of him and did some research. I didn't get much, but my information can at least help you talk to him."

My mouth drops open and I stare at her in awe. "Are you serious? How did you get anything from just a description of what he looks like?" I ask her.

"A she-wolf never shares her secrets." She tells me with a wink.

I roll my eyes at her and ask, "Okay, so what'd you find?"

"Not much, but I did find out he goes by the name Kai, and apparently during lunch break he hangs out in the library on the second floor. That would be a good place to try and talk to him. I hear he gets bullied by that kid Jake and his friends. He probably thought you were one of them, Ren. Just be cautious when you approach him. You don't want to scare the little lamb away again." She says with a little laugh.

Kai... That is such a beautiful name. I want to see him again. I guess I'm going to the library then.

"Wait... bullied?!" I whisper yell at her.

"Yes, Jake and his friends aren't the nicest to him, from what I hear. I don't know the extent of their bullying so be cautious around him. I'm sure that's why he freaked out on you Friday."

"Jake? I think he's on my lacrosse team. Jake Samson, right? Isn't he a part of that pack across town? I never understood why he attends Cherrywood to begin with." I said with an eye roll.

"Yeah, something's definitely off about him. Anyway, we're here. Have a good day in class, Ren. Tell Kai I said hi, yeah? See you after school." She winks at me as she unbuckles her seat belt and gets out of the car.

"Yeah, you, too. See you, Roni!" I say before she closes the car door.

Once she is on her way into the school, I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. I'm going to talk to Kai today. I need to stay calm and collected.

I unbuckle my seat belt, grab my school bag from the backseat, and exit the car. I close the car door and make my way into the building with my nerves bouncing around inside me. I make it to my first class and sit my school bag down before taking my seat and continuing to calm my nerves. Three hours until lunch, I can do this!

The rest of the morning goes by quickly, and I don't see Kai once. I guess it makes sense I've never seen him before Friday because the boy's practically invisible. It's like he's trying to go unnoticed. He probably goes through all the longer hallways to avoid as many people as possible.

The bell for lunch break finally rings, and I book it out of my classroom to make it up to the library. Once I am standing in front of the library's door, I lean against the wall next to the door to collect myself before walking in. Once I step inside, I stop for a second to take in my surroundings. As usual for a library, there are bookshelves and desks piled with books left and right. I glance around, trying to spot Kai but to no avail. I stand there a second longer before giving up on searching the library and turning around to walk back out the door.

I stop dead in my tracks with my hand hovering over the doorknob of the library as I catch a whiff of the most beautiful scent. I slowly turn around to look at the library again and notice the scent is coming from the back of the library where I presume the secluded tables to be. I walk toward the direction of the secluded area to find the source of the calming and elegant scent. I stop at a bookshelf in the back of the library to take another sniff.

Cherry blossoms... That's the scent! It's the smell of cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms were my mother's favorite. After she passed away three years ago, I went to the human mate of a beta in the pack across town to get a cherry blossom tree tattoo that goes from my lower back, up my spine, and across my shoulders. I got it to remember my beautiful mother and have something that reminds me of her, and always close to me.

I peak my head over the corner of the bookshelf and my eyes go wide.

There he is. Sitting at the table by the window. Then I realize, the sweet scent of cherry blossoms is coming from him. I must have been far too shocked and excited to notice the amazing aroma coming from him on Friday. The sun rays coming in through the window were highlighting his beautiful green eyes as he was looking down at what appeared to be a sketchbook. So, he likes to draw? A feeling of warmth flows through my chest when I realize that I've just learned something new about my mate. I want to learn more about him. I want to know everything there is to know about Kai. I want to know things no one else knows about him. But, to start off with, I really want to know what he is drawing right now.