"So about that staring thing."
"Forget about it, it's OK. Probably one of your customs back home or something. It's culture shock, totally understandable."
"He needs to learn how to listen, he just said something smart, but because he didn't let you finish, it only sounds like he is showing off."
"No, I was not staring actually. I was looking at you intensely because..."
"Staring - looking intensely – 'tomaeto'-'tomato'. Same thing."
"Would you mind letting me finish a sentence?"
"I am sorry! I tend to do that sometimes. I'm listening."
"So I was looking at you intensely because..."
"You are our mate and we've searched for you for a long time and we want to be together forever!"
"... you had that handmade vest on, and it reminded me of home, and I miss my father."
Thinking of her father actually makes Jena sad and on the verge of crying. Her sadness is obvious in her tone of voice.
"Nooo! That is not what I said!"
He stands up from his bench and comes over, crouching in front of her.
"I'm really sorry; I didn't mean to make you sad! I... OUCH!" He jumps as he touches her arm, trying to comfort her.
"See? I told you he is our mate! I TOLD you! I told YOU!"
"Wow, what the hell was that?"
"The sign we found each other!"
"Jena, you really shouldn't be wearing so much polyester, it can't be healthy! Man that was one hell of an electrostatic discharge! Can you believe my hand is still tingly?"
"Yes, I can. It's exactly what's supposed to happen, you idiot!"
"I felt the same..."
"Of course you did, how could you not? I'm half expecting our hair to stand out like we've been electrocuted or something."
"Well, it's because you are my ma..."
"Hold on for a second, my phone's ringing."
He pulls out one of those little rectangular boxes Luisa told her are called cell phones and with which people communicate over great distances.
["Hey love! How are you? Yeah? Me too! Nothing, just hanging out with someone I've just met 'till next class. A foreign exchange student. Yup, I get to practice my English. Yeah, she's interesting. Comes from Africa or something. Hold on a second!"]
"Sorry Jena, I have to go! My girlfriend is coming over for one of her classes and she wants to meet up. You don't mind, do you? Thanks! I'll see you around," he says in a low voice, hand covering the lower part of the cell phone and starts moving away, not giving her a chance to say anything.
["Yeah, so where were we? Right! I'll come pick you up from the campus gate and..."]
He is now far enough she can't hear what he is saying anymore.
"What just happened?"
"He left..."
"I know THAT! But why? Didn't he feel what we felt?"
"He did. He was most obvious complaining about it while finding his version of a logical explanation."
"Because you didn't tell him. You didn't explain..."
"I TRIED!"
"And you failed!"
"I know you are hurting. I am too. But it's not fair and you know it. I was telling him he was our mate and that little black box interrupted us."
"You're right, I'm sorry. But why didn't you grab his hand and make him listen?"
"Because it would be weird and he might think I'm crazy? And the call was important enough for him to leave. It was his girlfriend. He has a damn girlfriend!"
"So what? You have a girl friend too, Hannah. And you have a boy friend in Joel. Even Alastair could be considered your boy friend now. And any of them would understand you needing to talk to your mate."
"No, Lana. It's not girl friend, it's girlfriend. Like a non-mated pair back on Calla; you know where two people attracted to each other spend time together and they give themselves to one anoth..."
"SHUT UP! I know what a non-mated pair is and it's WRONG! If we waited for him, why couldn't he wait for us? Why? Why, WHY, why?"
"I... I mean maybe it's this world that is so strange. This Earth of his. Where you only have one funny looking Moon and people don't even pray to it. Where people only have their human side and they're just humans. Not actually were. And these humans have distanced themselves so much from nature, they can't even read the signs anymore. Simple signs their own bodies give them... like the mating pull and the spark. I've heard the spark described many times before. It has rarely been this intense. And he just said it was electro-something-something."
"So what do you want to do now?"
"I don't know, Lana. I don't know what to do anymore."
"Let's kill the bitch! Throw her in front of another big metal people carrier."
"You mean bus."
"Yeah. Bus. Preferably in front of the wheels, so the results are guaranteed. No more competition from the non-mated slut!"
"She may not be a slut you know. Maybe they were faithful to each other. They don't know about mates, mating bonds, anything."
"Yeah, they just play around with their bodies, like teenage hormonal weres on Calla. Master Conall had a solution for that – MORE training. You don't fool around when you have no energy left to do it with."
"But this isn't Calla, Lana. And I'm not killing an innocent just because she was ignorant about mating bonds."
"BUT she stole what's OURS!"
"She didn't know that. And until two days ago we didn't know him either. Hell, a week ago I couldn't even imagine a place like this Earth."
"Are we being punished, Jena? Have we done something wrong and the Moons are punishing us? All three of them?"
"I don't know. I can't think of anything we could have done differently. I just feel like crying and I don't want any of these just-humans seeing me cry. I want to go home. I wish I knew how to go back to Calla right now!"
"I hate these just-humans and their ignorance!"
"Luisa is OK."
"Yeah. Except her. She's all right. You want to wait for her?"
"No. Let's go to the park and run ourselves into exhaustion and then go to Luisa's and sleep. I wish they had some forest where I could shift so we could run in wolf form."
"Me too. But we couldn't do it anyway, because of the pressure. You know we barely managed to shift a claw, and I didn't tell you back then, but I almost blacked out."
"I know, I felt it. And thank you for that! Actually, thank you for being my amazing wolf, for your constant support, for being the one friend I can always trust to have my back, calm me down and cheer me up. I wish YOU could be my mate!"
"You know it doesn't work like that, silly! But I love you too! And I enjoy running even in human form, so let's do it!"
"Yeah. Let's run!"
Chapter 16 - Second chances
"You know what? It's been three days, and it has become truly annoying seeing you moping around the house all day depressed and all. And when you aren't here, you're out in the park either running or crying. Or both. No guy is worth that! Snap out of it already!"
"But he is my... I love him, and he has a girlfriend!" Jena starts sobbing again, and the word girlfriend becomes almost unintelligible.
"Then so what? All is fair in love and war! Go after him!"
"I did and..."
"And you didn't even get to tell him you like him! Not to mention, if you really want to play dirty, maybe you should give him more than just your words..."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I could go watch a movie or three tonight for example."
"I don't get it."
"Sometimes Jena, I think you may be thick in the skull!"
"I'm sorry; I don't know what that means either."
"Arghhh! Means tell him you like him! As in like-like him. Oh for fcuk sake! Just tell him you loved him from the first moment you saw him and he should just come back to your place so he can see how much. Stick your chest out and bite your lower lip as you say the last part. He'll get the point."
"What poin
t?"
"Oh my God, Jena! I mean sleep with him!"
"WHAAAT? But I can't do that! It's too sudden! Didn't you say I shouldn't act like a slut?" Jena says alarmed, her face all read and body heating up in all the wrong places.
Or maybe they're the right places?
Lana, on the other hand, perks up in the back of her mind, listening intently.
"That was five days ago. How long until you have to go back to your country?"
"Midnight at the latest. Something will come after me."
"Excuse me? Something? You mean someone?"
"Oh yeah. I mean my travel agent, the one my father hired to bring me here will send a car to take me back. Yeah. So something was the car, sorry."
"Like I said, you don't have the time to be all ladylike. Time for an all-out assault. We are going to my favorite beauty salon and spa right now so we can get you ready for a full-contact encounter with the man of your dreams."
"But I'm not... I don't know how... I mean what..."
"Yeah, yeah I got that you're a virgin. That much is obvious. I'll teach you everything I know and show you a couple of short movies of stuff I haven't been able to try yet, and he'll know how to handle everything. No guy stays in a relationship for almost six years without getting any action. You are going to have to measure up to his expectations, but I bet he is bored of that girlfriend of his by now. You just got to rock his world, and leave him a phone number. I'm telling you he will call."
"Wait, how do you know he's been in a relationship for six years?"
"Well, you're my best friend and interested in a guy. Of course, I'll find all I can about him! At least he's the loyal type."
"OK, I guess you're right."
"Great. Let's go. I'll call my friend on the way and book her for the entire day."
***
"Hey Jeanine!"
"Hey, Lu! That's her?"
"Yeah! Jeanine this is Jena. Jena – Jeanine."
"Hi!"
"Wow, similar names – how cool! So what do you girls need?"
"Well Jena is about to have a seventh-degree encounter with a boy, and she needs everything you can provide. So she needs her hair done in a nice ponytail, but it needs to look awesome when she lets it down, which she will. Nails – go for the discreet good girl look. Oh and any hair below the neck should be gone by the time you're done. Add some discreet makeup that compliments her features, and she should be ready to wow him off his feet and into her arms."
"Woo-hoo! Means I can close up and deal with you exclusively for today! Changing booth is that way; on the right, as you enter, are clean bathrobes on hangers; the slippers are on the top shelf above them and the shower is the door on the left. After you shower, come back wearing the bathrobe and slippers only. No need to blush! Just we girls here and I already locked the door."
***
"Wow, people actually do that?"
"Yes, Jena. Love-making is quite complex in the 21st century. Remember what I told you when we left the salon: you look amazing! I almost wish I was into girls! So don't worry and once you get him back to the apartment, the most important thing is to be passionate about anything you guys do together and don't be afraid to suggest some of the things I showed you. Again, be passionate and take the initiative and it should be awesome."
"Thank you, Lu! You've been the best friend I really needed in this strange country, and I'll always be grateful for it."
"You're welcome. You too! I realize you may need some time this evening so I'll sleep at my grandmother's. I know I said movies for me, but I truly miss her. And if you have to leave tonight, I hope you think of me now and then. Maybe send me an email or call sometime. There he is! Good luck!"
"I'm so nervous! By Calla, why does my life have to be so complicated?"
"Because you are Jena Abbyline Rork – Female Alpha through the old ways of combat and not just inherited, Diplomat and right now gorgeous looking woman going after her mate! I'm guessing the Moons think you have extra things to prove for some reason," Lana says from the back of her mind, on high alert and sniffing for their mate.
"He went into the park again. Could it be fate giving me another chance? Damn it, where did he go? Why do these bushes have to have so many leaves?"
"Calm down and just go after the scent, it's easy enough to follow."
"Fancy meeting you here, love! So unexpected!"
"Didn't we just talk on the phone 30 minutes ago about where to meet?"
Jena stops dead in her tracks, looking at her mate with his arms around another girl, well another woman actually, judging by what Luisa had told Jena about her.
"I can't watch this, I have to go," she says to Lana, taking two steps back, behind the safety of a nearby large bush, before she can't take another step.
"Lana! What are you doing? Let me move!"
"I'm sorry, I can't. Not this time. Our mate is out there, and we will talk to him if it's the last thing we do in this world!"
"Just kidding! You know me. How was your day?"
"Fine. One of our teachers decided his personal life was more interesting than the actual stuff he should have talked about in the seminar. Why would I ever care about the troubles he has at home with his ungrateful kids and his nagging, boring wife?"
"Calm down love; it's not like it affects you in any way, right?"
"Well, it got me thinking about what could happen to us in 25 years. What if you get bored of me?"
"That would never happen, sweetie! If I haven't gotten bored in six years, what makes you think something will change in 25?"
"I can't listen to this anymore. Please let me move!"
"No."
"So you still love me?"
"More than ever! Nothing will ever come between us!"
"I love you too! OK, I've got to run to the Computer Science Lab. See you after?"
"Sure! Just..." He brings her closer, and they kiss again.
There is an invisible, giant hand coiled around Jena's heart, squeezing it mercilessly.
"There! Now you can go!"
The girl is all smiles while Jena feels like crying.
"Maybe she'll get hit by a bus!"
"Lana! It's not fair to her either you know? She was here first. And what's with you and buses?"
"What? It's a very efficient way to kill someone. We were both there when it happened. And why would I care about that bitch? She touched our mate! She is not his mate, we are! She is irrelevant! Bus! Bus! Bus!"
"Shut up! After witnessing all that, I think it's clear to both of us we have no chance of this working. They are planning their entire life together."
"Plans change. We are here to make sure of that."
"Didn't he just tell her nothing will ever come between them?"
"Oh please! You are so much hotter than her!"
"She is beautiful."
"Not as much as you! And you are taller!"
"Why would that matter?"
"Cause you could easily kick her ass!"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Nothing. Just saying."
"Anyway, we are done here. Let's go."
"No."
"What do you mean no?"
"No. Because you haven't talked to him yet."
"And I won't. Things are pretty clear. They love each other."
"No. They are not mates. Their love is irrelevant. It will wither and die. Once he gets to know you, he won't even remember her name."
"I'm not talking to him, and you can't make me!"
"True, but then you leave me no choice!"
"You wouldn't dare!"
"We didn't go through all the preparations of today for nothing, and I want to talk to our mate! And I wouldn't mind mating with him later on either!"
"Don't you dare!"
"Since I've been letting you lead us without a shift since we came here, I'm taking over! For the sake of balance, of course!"
"Of course?! Lana, don't do this!"
"Too late!" Lana says, and Jena feels the slight, momentary disorientation as she's pushed to the back of the mind and Lana takes over.
"No more games! Time to talk to our mate!"
So she steps out and casually continues along the alleyway towards him, smiling widely.
"Wipe that grin off my face, Lana. You're making me look ridiculous!"
"Don't think so. Check out his expression! He looks star struck. And by the way, it's OUR face!"
"Hey, beautiful!"
"You did not just call him beautiful! By the moons, this is so embarrassing! At least you could have said something smarter..."
"You mean like 'Hi'? Oh wait, you already did that."
"Hi, Jena!"
"It's Lana actually, but I'll forgive him since he doesn't know any better."
"You know he thinks he is talking to me, right?"
"For now. We'll see about that!"
"Wow, you look... different."
"Oh." Lana loses her smile and frowns. "In a bad way?"
"What? No, no! I mean in a good way. It's like there is a glow to you; like you're another person entirely, yet not quite."
"Wow, isn't he perceptive? Seems like our mate has quite an open heart to be able to sense that."
"But you know, not that I don't appreciate the compliment, but you don't call a guy beautiful. It's quite embarrassing for him."
"I told you, Lana! See what you did?"
"You tell that to a girl like... well, actually like you. You call a guy handsome."
"Yup, I made him tell us we are beautiful."
"Sure! Like you did that on purpose."
"I did!"
"Aham."
"I see. Thank you! You know, I actually wanted to talk to you about something last time we met, but we got interrupted..."
"Yeah, sorry about that, I was meeting my girlfriend, and she was calling, so I had to answer."
"Yeah... by that. Anyway, this is going to sound a little strange..."
"It's already strange. And awkward. You already talked to him, so can we just go?"
"Shush, you spectator you!"
"Can we sit? This is kinda hard to talk about."
"Then don't!"
Coincidence or not, they are exactly between the benches where they talked the first time. He sits in the exact same spot as before, only Lana sits right next to him this time.
Rise of an Alpha Female (Two Moons Book 1) Page 18