Hey guys! It took me awhile to write this chapter, I've been busy with birthdays and school, but here it is. Thanks for everyone that has voted and fanned and commented and read, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thanks again :)

(Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes)

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                                                                                Chapter 6

Evan’s POV:

                Driving up to Sutton’s house later that night, I grinned in anticipation. All afternoon all I could think about was her. She invaded every thought, her strawberry and vanilla scent filling my senses. I’d only seen her once a few hours ago, but I already missed her. Funny, this morning I could care less about finding a mate. I didn’t really even want one. How stupid I was! I don’t know how I ever lived without her. I felt like my whole life I’d been blind, and the moment I saw her it was like I opened my eyes. I felt all these things for a girl I’d never even talked to. Yet.

                Thinking back to this afternoon, I grinned once more as I parked my car. After Sutton had practically run out of the store, much to my disappointment, I’d reluctantly looked at my phone. By then it was silent, and the screen was flashing, alerting me to the fact I had a missed call. Sadie. Big surprise, I thought sarcastically. I’d dated Sadie on and off for a year and we’d been going strong for four months, our record for being on, when one day last week I woke up and I just didn’t feel it anymore. It was strange, like someone had flipped a switch and Sadie wasn’t as beautiful or smart or as amazing as before. Actually, no girl was as amazing as before. I felt like somehow I knew there was someone better out there for me and I wouldn’t settle for anything less. Thinking about it then, I realized that had been a couple days before Sutton had come. I wonder if subconsciously I knew what was about to come.

                I was a bit taken back with how my friend’s responded to Sutton being my mate. I didn’t have to tell them, they were there. They witnessed that little staring pow wow. Lisa was ecstatic to say the least, as was Ellie. They loved that they had a new girlfriend and shopping buddy.

                “Now when we vote on which movie we see, we’ll at least be tied. I’m sick of Ellie and I being outvoted and having to sit through gory horror films.” Lisa had told me.

                “Lisa, didn’t we just sit through a two hour movie on love?” Scott asked, incredulous. Lisa stuck her tongue out at him and he grinned. 

                “Congrats, Evan. She seems like a really nice girl.” Ellie said honestly. I felt sort of bad for her, she was now the only one left without a mate. Her brother had found Kat a year ago and few a months after that, Lisa discovered Spencer and Kevin met Lilah. Seeing both her brother and her best friend so happy had made her yearn for her mate. Up until right now, we’d both been without a mate, so it wasn’t all too bad. But now she was the only one without one, so that had to be hard for her. The one person who wanted a mate the most didn’t have one.

                “Thanks Ellie. And don’t worry. Some guy out there is going crazy looking for you. Just give him some time, he’ll find you.” I told her reassuringly. She smiled, grateful.

                “My man, no longer free. Welcome to being whipped.” Kevin told me, laughing.

                “It’s true. Everything revolves around her now. Get used to it.” Scott said lightheartedly. I knew they were both kidding; they loved their mates more than life itself. I had seen it in their eyes when Kat or Lilah walked away from them. It was like they couldn’t stand to see them walk more than a foot away from them. I could never imagine what it was like to love someone so much; they consumed your thoughts and just the thought of not seeing them for a minute hurt. I hadn’t been able to fathom loving someone that much. Now I know exactly what they felt like.

                “Are you happy Evan? I mean, with finding your mate?” Lisa asked, misreading my silence. I thought for a moment before a frown stretched across my face.

                “Evan, why are you frowning? She seems like a lovely mate.” Ellie said.

                “It’s just, I can’t find a way to describe how I feel. Happy isn’t good enough.” I told them honestly, looking up and smiling. They all returned my smile.

                I was pulled out of this afternoon as I heard everyone in the room take in a breath. I guess during my replay of this afternoon I’d and walked inside. I was now standing at the bottom of the stairs and Lisa and Spencer were standing beside me, looking up at something at the top of the stairs. Actually, everyone was. I turned, intrigued.

There, standing at the top of the stairs clutching Jason’s arm, was my beautiful, angelic mate. She had a worried and slightly embarrassed expression on her face as she paused and took in everyone’s gazes. A small smile flitted onto her face and as she glanced around and met my gaze, it widened. As we locked gazes, a part of me grew warm and melted at the sight of her. What a wuss I was turning into. But in that moment, as we looked at each other, I knew I’d never be able to leave this girl alone.

Sutton’s POV:

                I took a deep breath, steadying myself on the stairs. Why was everyone staring at me? Haven’t they ever seen a teenage girl? I’m pretty, but not that pretty. I looked around at the faces that were openly transfixed. Some held awe in them while other held curiosity. Much to my relief they also held kindness, and most importantly acceptance. I smiled slightly, relieved. I looked down to the bottom of the stairs and noticed a group of three people. Two guys and a very familiar blond. Lisa turned and looked at me, as did the guy standing next to her. They both smiled up at me, yet the third guy hadn’t turned around yet. His blond hair shined under the lights and my breath caught. I had a feeling I knew who that was. He finally turned around and looked up, meeting my gaze. Just like that, it was like we were back to that afternoon. We looked at each other a moment before we both smiled. I felt my wildly beating heart leap into my throat. I had the sudden impulse to run down the stairs and jump into his inviting arms. I restrained myself, how weird would that look? A perfect stranger jumping into your arms. Pretty weird. Although, I had an odd sensation that this guy wasn’t a perfect stranger, it was like I already knew him. Which I didn’t, because I’d never seen him before. I would certainly remember seeing him.

                Glancing up, I noticed people were looking back and forth between me and that guy, with knowing smiles on their faces. Ok, this is sort of awkward now. Jason, however, hadn’t noticed the little gawking contest between me and that guy. That guy. It seems like if I had such a strong connection, I should know his name.

Evan.

                Ok, that was weird. The name just popped into my head. I don’t know how it got there, but the name was repeatedly whispered into my ear. It was pretty certain that was his name, I just wasn’t sure how I knew. I looked over at Jason who was staring intently at someone and  wore a somewhat triumphant expression. I looked over to see who he was looking at and saw Taylor at the bottom of the stairs. She looked annoyed and as she met my gaze, I saw hurt buried deep in her eyes. It was gone just as sudden as I’d seen it, masked by a hard glare. What was going on with her?

                “Well, are we going to just stand here all night or shall we go downstairs?” Jason asked comically. He thought my fear was funny. I glared him.

                “Let’s go downstairs then.” I muttered. I looked down again and saw Lisa and the other guy were still there, but Evan wasn’t there anymore. I frowned. Had I scared him off by staring at him, not once but twice in a single day?

                Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I unwound my arm from Jason’s and turned to Lisa.

                “Hey, Sutton. You look great.” She said enthusiastically. Looking at her, I felt I paled in comparison. Her long blond hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail and her tanned skin looked great clothed in a short black dress. Black pumps finished off her simple, yet very cute outfit. I smiled enviously at her.

“Thanks, so do you.” I said, then turned to look at the guy beside her. He has on dark jeans and a black dress shirt. His dark hair stuck up messily and he had deep brown eyes. It wasn’t too hard to look at him. Lisa smiled at him happily and then turned to me.

                “Sorry, I forget to do introductions all the time. Sutton, Spencer. Spencer, Sutton.” She introduced us, pointing back and forth between us. “Spencer was supposed to come today, but he bailed.” She said, putting an emphasis on supposed to while playfully glaring at him. “ But, I guess I’ll have to forgive him, he’s my mate, so I don’t really have a choice.” She finished, smiling.   

                “Oh, you would have forgiven me even if I wasn’t your mate. No one can resist my charm.” Spencer spoke, smiling devilishly. Lisa shoved his arm slightly, laughing. Anyone could see they were in love. It was hard to miss the look in their eyes when they looked at each other. I felt a spark of jealously course through me. I wanted a mate. I wanted someone to look at me like that. I’d never really thought about having a mate before, but seeing Lisa and Spencer made me want one. I sighed softly. What were the chances of me finding one in this small town? Not high.

“So, are you going to introduce me to your friends?” Jason asked coming up behind me. I turned and grinned.

                “I don’t know if I should, I mean you were pretty annoying earlier. Laughing at my fear and everything. Did I laugh at you that whole summer you were scared of rabbits? No, I do not think so my friend.” I said, laughing. Lisa and Spencer laughed loudly and Jason looked mortified.

“I was eight! And I saw Bobby get bitten by one.” He exclaimed. I shook my head softly.

“Yeah, so did I. I was there. And yet I didn’t scream and run every time I so much as looked at a rabbit.” I laughed once more at his embarrassed face. He had that one coming to him for scaring me this afternoon and then mocking me about my fear.

“Hi, I’m Lisa and this is Spencer.” Lisa told him, still shaking slightly from laughter. “And who would you be?” she asked.

“I’m Sutton’s brother.” He replied smiling. He introduced himself as my brother to people because even though we weren’t blood related, we really were like brother and sister. “Ok, well not by blood but we should be.” He explained.

“Well, we don’t want to hog you Sutton, so we’ll see you later. You have guests to get to know. Including the alpha and his son.” She smiled with a strange glint in her eyes, like she knew something I didn’t. I nodded and walked away, flashing her and Spencer a smile.

                After an hour of walking around and mingling, I was tired. I love to meet new people, don’t get me wrong, but a person can only take so much small talk. Jason came up and saved me from the woman I was currently talking to. She was nice but I had sort of zoned out on her dialog.

                “So it’s time.” He told me, mysteriously.

                “For?”

                “It’s time to meet your new alpha. Come on, don’t worry. I have a feeling you’ll get in good with the family.” He said, dragging me with him through the hall towards the study.

                “And how do you know that?” I asked. He had a grin on his face and he was acting strange.

                “Do you remember how I said that my college roommate and my new best friend was moving back here because he had family matters? Alpha family matters.” He replied. Wait, so his best friend is the soon to be alpha?

                “Yep.” I guess my thought was clear on my face, as he responded to my unasked question. “Don’t worry, you’ll love him. He’s great. Trust me.” He said as he pulled open the door to the study. My parents were in there, as well as two older people. They all smiled warmly at me as Jason and I entered the room. Looking around, I didn’t see anyone that could be young enough to be Jason’s best friend. Actually, I didn’t see anyone else in the room. I was sort of relieved that I wasn’t surrounded by people I didn’t know well the first time I met the alpha and his family.

                “You must be Sutton. I’m Mark and this is my mate Christine.” The man smiled at me as he spoke.

                “Its nice to meet you.” I replied. He looked like a jovial old man with laugh lines teasing the corners of his eyes. His wife was a stunning middle age woman, with short blond  hair that curved towards her chin and bright blue eyes. She looked a lot like my mom, just with shorter hair and maybe a few years older.  She flashed me a dazzling smile, one that I responded to by smiling as well. They seemed nice. A lot nicer then my old alpha and his mate. They were young and beautiful, but cold and distant as well.

                “So sorry, our son was supposed to be here with us to meet you, but he’s probably lost track of time. Like always.” Christine said. She smiled fondly, probably thinking about her son. “Oh, here he is.” She said looking at the person behind me who had just entered the room. For some reason I didn’t turn around to see who it was.

                “Sorry, mom.” Came the quiet reply. His voice was rich and melodic. Very sexy. Oh jeez, I can’t be having thoughts like that about my future alpha.

                “My man, how goes it?” Jason greeted the guy. I still didn’t turn around. My body had tingles running through it, and my heartbeat increased slightly. I had a feeling about who was behind me. I don’t know how I know, but I’m pretty sure there’s a certain blond boy behind me.

                “Ev, it’s finally time. Here’s my not related by blood little sister. The girl I’m always talking about.” Jason said. I turned slowly. My thoughts were confirmed when I looked into slightly amused bright blue eyes.

                “Hello Sutton. It’s very nice to meet you.” The way he said it, it was like it was a joke and he had already met me before. My lips quirked up into a soft smile. “I’m Evan.” He spoke again. So I was right. His name was Evan.

                How did I know what his name was before I even talked to him? How did I know when he was around? Why did I get tingles whenever I see him? And why did I have such a strong attraction to him? There was no way any of those things would happen if he weren’t… If he weren’t… No, it couldn’t be. Could it?

                Could my brother’s best friend and my future alpha be my mate? Could this beautiful boy standing in front of me, with his lips pulled into a smile, be my mate?