*Jo's POV*I smiled as I received Nikko's response to my good morning texts, and laid back down on my bed and covered my face. Then I sighed. If I was honest with myself, I knew that I was always going to say yes to Nikko, so now, I just had to work on the part that I was putting off…talking to my mom.I sat back up and kicked my blankets off. It was Monday, which meant I would have to wait for my mom to get off work before I could talk to her. But I was too wired to sit still, so I decided to go for a run.I threw on a pair of workout shorts, a sports bra, and a baggie zip up hoodie. Walking into the bathroom, I grabbed a hair tie and threw my hair up into a ponytail. Then, before I could second-guess myself, I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture of myself and sent it to Nikko with a text.'Here is a picture to help you with missing me- don't want you to forget what I look like.' Then I added a winky face.My headphones were still in my room, so I went back to grab them and th
*Jo's POV*I gasped and thought, "My wolf, I really have a wolf?""Yes," Cressa said, laughing softly."How is this possible?" I thought again, and this time there was a small pause before she answered."I am still very weak—hard to talk—being with mate—making me stronger," she pieced together."I understand, please rest as much as you need," I told her. "It is just nice to know you are here and to know your name.""Mom!" I exclaimed, speaking out loud again. "I can hear her, I can hear my wolf!""If you can hear her, then that must mean that she is powerful," my mom said. I remembered what Nikko had said about how strong wolf spirits presented with their own identities."I don't think she is very powerful right now. She said that she is pretty weak, and that the only thing that is making her stronger is being near our mate…" I looked at my mom and blushed. "Which apparently you already know about.""There is no need to be embarrassed, honey. It's not something you can control
*Jo POV*After a quick goodbye with my mom, and a promise to call her as soon as I got settled, I found myself walking with Nikko to his car. He insisted on taking all of the bags out while I was talking to my mother, so we just walked hand in hand. He took a step ahead of me and opened the front passenger door, stepping aside for me to get in."Not in the back seat today?" I asked, looking inside, "Where is Byron?""It's just us today," he said and shut the door, then walked across to get in the driver's seat. "I had Byron stay behind, since I wasn't originally planning on picking you up, and I wasn't sure how long I would be. I don't like to leave the pack without someone to lead for too long."He put the car in drive, and then brought his hand over to rest on my leg. The tingles from his touch were starting to feel normal, but I still craved them when they were missing. He rolled the hand over and I placed mine in his, and he closed his fingers around it."Need to stop anywhere
*Nikko's POV*I had to convince myself for minutes to pull myself away from Jo, but I knew it had to be done. If I stayed there much longer I wouldn't be able to get myself to leave. So, I dropped my arms and took a couple of steps back, trying to avoid the disappointed look on her face."Well, I guess I should be getting back to work, so that way you can get settled in," I told her. "Everything has been stocked and cleaned in the cabin, but if you think of anything we missed, or anything that you might need, then just shoot me a text or call me.""I can do that," she said with a smile.I may have only known her for a little while, but something (and maybe it was the mate bond) was telling me that the smile wasn't 100% genuine. However, I marked it up to her being sad that I was leaving and brushed it off."I'll see you soon, alright?""Do you know when, for sure?" she asked back."No. I still have a few things I need to catch up on tonight, but I will come and see you tomorrow
*Jo's POV*With Nikko gone, it suddenly felt very quiet in this little cabin. I looked around the room and decided to take a small tour of the house before I began to unpack. There was a decent closet on one corner of the room, and I opened to see that half of it had been cleared out for my stuff, and the other half was full of what I assumed to be Nikko's clothes.I grabbed one of the shirts and smelled it. It didn't smell like Nikko since it was clean, but it definitely looked like it would fit him. I walked out of the room and passed the small dresser to the door on the other side of the space.Through the door was a large bathroom, with a soaking tub and a huge glass shower. There was another door straight across, so I opened that one as well and found that it led to another bedroom.This bedroom was decorated a lot more feminine, which made me curious, so I looked around. I finally found a clue on the wall in the form of a picture. There was a young Nikko, plain and clear, and
*Jo's POV*At some point in my sobs, I must have fallen asleep, because I suddenly woke up as I felt something crawling towards me on the bed. Half asleep, and without hesitation, I swung my arm behind me and felt my hand connect with something hard.I heard a grunt from behind me as the pain in my hand jolted me awake, and I sat up, ready to defend myself more if need be. The room was still pitch black, making it hard to see anything in the room. But as I looked at the dark space laying on the bed, I suddenly could smell evergreen and lavender and gasped."Nikko?" I whispered."Yes, Jo," he whispered back.And I couldn't help it. As soon as I heard his voice, I started crying again. Before I could say anything else, Nikko sat up on the bed and pulled me into his arms, trying to soothe me. He kept saying my name over and over again as he stroked my hair, and we sat there like that for minutes."How are you here?" I asked with quick shallow breaths in between my words; I was never
*Nikko's POV*I was already sitting in the office when I heard my phone buzz and saw Jo's message. Despite my conflicting feelings, I still couldn't help but smile. However, I set my phone back down on the desk, feeling too guilty to reply.I had spent the night in bed with this girl, and I was falling in love with her, but I still couldn't see myself making her Luna. And based on how she was last night, I knew this revelation would crush her when I finally revealed it.It had been harder than I had imagined to see her laying there crying…and over me. I felt like a piece of sh*t. Maybe it had been a mistake to have her come before I had made my choice, but it had been so hard to be away from her.My head hit the back of my tall black chair as I turned to stare out the windows. I was exhausted. Most of the night was spent just watching Jo and thinking of any other possible solutions to my problem. But I hadn't come up with any."You could just make her Luna," Ash said. "Why are you
*Jo's POV*I woke up in the morning and was disappointed to find an empty bed next to me. But laying in the spot where Nikko had been was a little piece of paper with his neat scribble on it.'Sorry, duty calls. See you soon--Nikko'I smiled and grabbed my phone from the nightstand and opened up my messages. There was one from my mom, but I wasn't looking for her name right now.'Good morning, handsome…I missed you in my bed this morning…can't wait to see you…hope you are thinking of me…'After sending the message, I looked back at the piece of paper. The note seemed sweet."That's not good enough for us," Cressa announced in my head louder than she had ever been. "He could have easily waited for us to wake up, or he could have woken us up to at least tell us bye.""I agree with you, but it's still early," I said. "Plus, being close to him seems to be making you stronger.""And? Something doesn't feel right," she said. "He kept avoiding your questions.""He said we would talk