His scent is somehow similar to the man’s I met earlier at the house. This one citrusy and floral. Nearly lavender.
Bergamot.
Identifying it somehow manages to calm my nerves.
“You’re freezing. We need to get you warmed up.” One of his arms is still wrapped tightly around me, squeezing me to him.
His words remind me that we are outside at night, in snow that is still steadily coming down. And I am most definitelynotdressed for this weather.
Pulling free from his chest, I try to determine where we are, how we are safe. But it’s too dark in our vicinity. Instead, I find a singular headlight towards the bottom of the hill, but it doesn’t do much to illuminate up where we are now.
“We are just on the edge of the road, that’s my bike down there, but I can’t drive it up. The snow is still coming down. Wren should be here soon, he will help. But we need to make it up this hill. Can I carry you?”
I don’t know who Wren is, but I can only hope it’s not the man from before. The one who threw me out like garbage. Except this alpha’s scent is familiar. It was mixed with the others in the house.
This must be his pack mate.
It doesn’t matter, I don’t have much of a choice. “Yes,” I agree.
The alpha leads us away from the edge before lifting me into his arms, cradling me against his chest. The scratchy leather of his jacket brushes against my bare arms, but I welcome it as it is warmer than the outside air.
My teeth crack as I shiver in his arms.
A loud purr starts up deep in his chest as he walks us slowly and carefully up the hill. After a few minutes, I can hear an approaching vehicle from the top.
“That will be Wren with the truck. We’ll get you in there and warm you up. Do you have someone I should call for you? An alpha?”
The questions are prying, but I don’t mind them. “No. There’s no one.” The only person I would call is Serena. But I can’t have her come get me from here.
Not in the middle of a snowstorm in Florida.
I don’t know what to do. My phone and wallet were in my car.
Hopelessness and depression eat into my gut as I remember that Tony’s clothes were in there too.
And now they’re gone.
Another slap to his memory. To our bond.
A betrayal.
“It’s okay, we’ll help you.” The alpha squeezes me closer to him as we approach the truck.
Turning to it, the lights blind me and I am temporarily unable to see as he opens a door and maneuvers into the front with me in his lap.
But then my vision returns and my eyes land on the alpha still holding me.
On his sharp jaw, his short cropped inked hair, his endlessly dark eyes decorated with crows feet and staring intensely into me.
But then the other scent hits me. The grapefruit and sandalwood fill this truck to the point where I am nearly suffocating. Mixed with the bergamot, it is all I can do to hold onto my wits.
“Where is her car?” the other alpha asks. There is clear anger in his tone, and I can see as his fingers tighten around the wheel.
“It went off the edge. Wren, take us back to the house.”
The angry alpha, the one who threw me from their house, is Wren.
“Pierce, we can’t do that. We need to take her somewhere else,” Wren spits back, still parked at the top of the hill.
