Scented.

Aleisha

Envy is so fucking cool. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a total hard-ass to train with, and every muscle in my body feels like it’s crying for mercy, but as a person? She’s awesome. The girls around here pretend to be my friends, but they’re all fake. They want status, attention, a connection to my brothers, or a chance at being the next Luna. All they care about is their hair, their outfits, and who’s watching. Envy cares about none of that. I've learned she’s an orphan, raised by warriors, deadly with a sword, and she wants to go to medical school one day to help people. Oh, and she has zero friends. So when I said we should be best friends right away, she actually squealed, as if it was the best moment of her life. We exchanged numbers, and now we’re planning weekend hangouts when we’re not training.

“I should really get going, I’ve got a dinner shift,” she says, checking her watch.

“You don’t have omegas to do that?”

“We do, but I enjoy cooking. Plus, it puts extra money in my account.”

“I couldn’t cook a meal to save my life. You’ll have to teach me. Tommy would probably like that.” I grin. “Anyway, yeah, I should start getting ready too. We’re hosting dinner with visiting packs every few days. The whole ‘find our next Luna’ thing.”

She snorts. “Sounds exhausting.”

It is.

Haiden

I see Tiffany—or Stephanie? Maybe Julie?—out the front door after a long and much-needed romp. I never sleep with the same girl twice. That only leads to complications and fantasies of being chosen, which will not happen for any of them. Noah and Levi are idiots for letting their girls believe they’re endgame. I waited a few years after turning eighteen for my mate, but eventually I caved. I’m an Alpha male with needs. I shouldn’t have, I know that, but it’s too late now. The second her car pulls away and her suffocating perfume finally clears, something hits me. A scent of vanilla and blueberries. Sweet and soft and addictive. My head snaps up. My mate. That's my mate. I know it in every fibre of my being. It pulls at my heart, at my soul, at everything that I am to go to it and find her. I jog around the house quickly, inhaling and following the thread of it. It’s faint, carried by the wind and drifting across the yard, making it hard to track. She must have been nearby a moment ago, long enough that her scent clings to the afternoon breeze. But just as I catch the trail, a line of cars pulls into the driveway, full of she-wolves from another pack.

“Fuck!” I curse as I lose the scent completely.

Xavier’s bike pulls up behind them, and while Mom and Dad greet the guests, I grab him by the arm.

Xavier

I was at the border organising a shift change when I caught the scent of vanilla and blueberries. Sweet, warm, perfect and absolutely my mate. The one I have waited for, longed for, dreamed about almost every day. I tripped over my own damn feet trying to follow it. I jumped on my bike with my helmet off, nose in the air like an idiot, tracking the breeze. It drifted through the streets, faint but so real. It's her, I know it's her. Then the cars from the visiting pack arrived. I followed them home, hoping whoever she was came with them.

Haiden grabs me the moment I get off my bike.

“You smelt it too!?”

“You caught it!?” I ask back.

“Yes! Our mate was here! I scented it right here, but then it was gone.”

“I caught it at the border and all through town.”

He grips my shirt. “Fuck, she’s here. We need to find her. Link Noah and Levi. Now.”

Before I can respond, Mum appears behind us.

“Who’s here, boys?”

“Her,” Haiden blurts. “Mum, our mate. We scented her! She was here. We need to go look for her!”

Mum raises a brow and gestures toward the guests coming up the front steps. “Did it occur to either of you she might be here with the Crescent Pack?”

“We don’t know,” I admit.

“You two should greet the guests regardless. You are future Alphas. Where are the other two?”

We both shrug.

“Call them,” she says. “And tell them not to bring those she-wolves.”

Noah

Levi and I are sitting in a booth at the diner with the girls. Not where I want to be, honestly. Usually, we fuck them and move on, but every now and then, we do something like this just to keep the whining to a minimum.

Xavier links us both, “She’s here.”

“Who’s here?” I ask.

I watch as Levi’s eyes widen. “Mate!?”

Haiden joins the link. “Both of us scented her. It was strong and sweet. Then it was gone.”

“We’re coming,” I say aloud and through the link, already sliding out of the booth.

“HEY! Where are you two going!?” Lucy screeches, but I don’t turn around.

If my mate is here, nothing else matters.

Levi

Seven years. Seven long years of waiting. And now she’s here and gone in the same hour?

“FUCK!” I yell as I slam my foot into the sofa in our private wing. “How did she slip through our fingers!? What if we lost her!?”

“We won’t,” Xavier says, though I hear the uncertainty under it. “She had to be here for a reason.”

Haiden comes in with a stack of paper.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“Patrol logs. Maybe someone saw who came and went today.”

Xavier winces. “That’s the problem. The warriors on gate duty were knocked unconscious earlier by a rogue attack.”

“And we had deliveries, visiting packs, medical transports…” Noah adds.

We’re one of the biggest packs in the country. People come and go nonstop.

“Our mate could be anyone from anywhere,” Xavier mutters. “And she’s already out of scent range.”

“FUCK!”