I couldn’t smell any of that. All I could detect was him.
And still, I couldn’t define it. People’s scents didn’t work like this. They might change during the day, become stronger or mingled with the smells of things they spent the most time with, but most people stayed steady. Errol always carried the sea with him, Louisa smelt like the cosmetics she spent her days perfecting, Bonnie carried the aroma of home and safety.
This guy’s scent was nothing like that. Even with it surrounding me from where he’d rubbed over my chest and neck, I couldn’t get a handle on it.
Giving into the temptation I’d been fighting since I’d found him, I pulled the collar of my shirt up to my nose and breathed deep.
The open expanse of mountains as I waited for the year’s first fall of snow. The crisp newness of a split log. The wild flower meadow on a summer evening.
Things that made me want to breathe and breathe until I absorbed the stillness and peace they held.
I shuddered and tugged my collar back into place. This wasn’t right: this feeling, this need. I didn’t know this person, yet all I wanted was to stride into my bathroom and press my face to the delicate juncture between his long neck and shoulder. I’d tried so hard to be respectful as I’d helped him undress, hadn’t looked anywhere that would cause the embarrassment emanating from him to bloom into shame, but I couldn’t help the snatches of skin my eyes alighted on. All pale, dotted with faint freckles I wanted to chase and trace.
Balling my hands, I let my claws extend. The pinch of pain at my palms grounded me.
This was an unusual reaction, most likely born from the strangeness of this man’s scent and the fact I’d not had anyone in my home for years. I just had to control myself and not do anything weird or unwelcome until I got used to him.
I flexed my hands and pulled one of the blankets off the sofa. It dislodged my phone, which I caught before it fell to the floor.
Bonnie picked up within seconds. ‘Callum? Is everything alright?’
My racing thoughts steadied. I might not want to live near my Alpha or have much of a relationship with her, but the demanding tenor of her voice was enough to centre me. I knew who I was. I knew where I belonged.
‘It’s fine. I found him.’
‘Yeah, but is everything okay?’ Her tone was unchanged from when she’d first answered.
I frowned. ‘Yes. He’s unharmed, just a little chilled.’
Bonnie huffed. ‘I don’t care about him. Well, I do. But purely from a not wanting to be blamed for his premature death standpoint. I care more about you. Since this is the first time you’ve voluntarily called me in who knows how long, that makes me think something is wrong.’
‘I thought you’d want to know he’s alright.’
‘You couldn’t have texted?’
I grimaced. That’s what I’d have done any other day. Any normal day.
I couldn’t explain I was so knocked off balance by this stranger’s scent that I’d needed to hear Bonnie’s voice to bring me fully back to myself. She would have opinions about that. Opinions I didn’t want to hear.
‘What’s his name?’ I asked, hoping to derail her from probing too deeply into why I’d called.
Bonnie let out a bark of laughter. ‘You rescued the guy from a snowstorm and you didn’t ask for his name?’
‘It’s not a snowstorm.’ I looked at the flakes pattering on the window. With any luck, they would stop falling within the hour. At least they weren’t settling.
‘Alright, Mr Pedantic.’
I resisted the urge to lecture her on how knowing the difference between a flurry and a storm wasimportant up here in the mountains. I’d tried before. She’d rolled her eyes then pushed me into the loch.
‘His name?’ I prompted.
‘Oh no. I’m not helping you out. You have to live together for three months. I’m not giving you any ammunition to avoid conversations with him.’
‘You’re an arsehole.’
I hung up before she could reply. The deep breath I took to calm myself after the trial of talking to my elder sister flooded my lungs with that strange new scent. The scent I wanted to bury myself in.
No. I gripped my phone. That wasn’t me. I didn’t thrust myself on people. I’d never do that. As intriguing as I found my visitor, I wasn’t going to do anything to make him feel uncomfortable.
