“Don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same if your scent match suddenly appeared.”
Matilda stiffens next to me, her eyes wide.
“What did you just say?” she whispers, a streak of sour uncertainty tainting her lavender scent.
“He’s not gonna to press charges, if that’s what you’re worried about. Are you, Link?”
Link huffs but eventually sighs and nods. “No formal charges. You’re in here ’cause I needed to get you two off the streets. You were causing a bit of a ruckus.”
“See? No harm, no foul. Just a slap on the wrist and a reminder to knot you when no one else is around, or at least be more stealthy about it.”
“Not at all what I was saying, Murphy,” Link says and throws his hands up in resignation. “No sex in public. Do you hear me?”
I nod whilst crossing my fingers behind my back. Link narrows his eyes at me but hoists up his belt ladened with police gear and strides out of the police station.
I reach out to Matilda, driven by my need to soothe and protect her from whatever is upsetting her. It’s been a very long time since I wanted to take care of another person, but the feeling is natural and instinctive. She needs me and I’ll do whatever it takes to make her feel better.
“You said – You called me…”
I tilt her chin up, my eyes searching her delicate features.
“Scent match,” she breathes.
Eight
Matilda
Therughasbeenripped out from under my feet. I knew there was a cosmic attraction between us, but a scent match? I’ve never even gotten close to liking an Alpha, let alone scent matching with one.
In the Alpha and Omega community, scent matching is a rare and coveted bond. Most mate with someone who is compatible, who smells nice and makes them feel loved. A scent match is someone who is undeniably your perfect match. Fated to be.
Even though I want to deny it as wholly improbable, I know it’s true. Murphy smells like freshly buttered toast in the morning. Like waking up to find your favourite person is there with breakfast in bed. Like sunshine and happiness and jokes and love.
My dad used to bring me breakfast in bed for my birthday. He was my rock after my mum died, and I loved him more than anything else in the world. For an Alpha, he was rather soft-hearted, a truly generous person. He’d go out of his way to make sure others knew he cared about their wellbeing - it’s where my drive to protect the vulnerable comes from. He taught me to care. My dad was like sunshine. Whenever he walked into a room, you felt warm and comforted. He joked incessantly and always had this massive smile on his face. I miss him and his bright aura every day.
Overwhelmed by emotion, I stepped away from Murphy’s touch and pace around the cell, trying to get my thoughts in order.
Murphy watches me quietly, his expression unreadable. I want to scream and cry, but at the same time I feel like laughing – because it’s ridiculous such a thing could ever happen to me, of all people.
“Are you sure?” I hear myself asking, more to myself than to Murphy. “How can we know this is real?”
“Does it feel fake?”
“No.”
“Then why are you questioning it?”
“Because I never know what my emotions are, and what’s from my aura sickness. Are we just on some kind of sexual attraction feedback loop?” I say rapidly, my thoughts falling out of my mouth and I feel a familiar panic rising. “I can’t be sure what I’m feeling is real. How can I?”
Murphy pauses for a moment before asking gently, “Do you know why I ride bulls?”
“Because you’re an adrenaline junkie?”
He laughs and nods, “Yeah, but also because my aura sickness can make me question myself too.”
I stop pacing and look at the Alpha. He makes the cot he’s sitting on look comically small. Murphy comes across as unflappable with unshakable confidence, yet he’s looking at me with an earnest and open expression.
“You don’t act like your sickness bothers you.”
