A second voice inside me seemed to think:No. That’s not true.
Great. Now my inner shark had opinions.
Instead of brushing it off, I tried to listen. To feel. I shut my eyes and let my enhanced sense of smell work its magic.
Immediately I scented blood. It was bright, strong, like a stroke of red in my vision. Beneath it, less potent, was water—flowing, not stale. It mingled with the scent of dog.
No, wait. It was richer and muskier, but not in an unpleasant way. It was wolf, not dog.
But above it all, even more potent than the scent of blood, was a smell I’d experienced before. Heat scent. It was only once, but it changed my life forever. I remembered it from the abandoned manor when I ran into a man named Sage, who was an omega. I hadn’t learned what that meant until later—that he was a man capable of giving birth, who could also transform into a wolf—but at the time, I still knew he had the most incredible scent.
But it was nothing,nothingcompared to this.
I froze, letting the wonderful scent linger in my nose. It was ripe, floral, sweet, and musky all at once. It was alluring. Unbearable. It sunk its claws into my soul and tried to haul it closer.
A shiver ran down my spine. What the hell? I’d never felt this way before. Was I going crazy from being alone for too long?
I shook my head and inhaled deeply, trying to clear my head, but it only made things worse. The more of that amazing scent that I inhaled, the wilder I felt. It was like my skin was electrified. The urge to go towards that scent was fierce. I didn’t know if it was my inner shark or whatever, or if it was because it just smelledthatgood, but I broke into a jog and ran towards the source.
As I sprinted ahead, I tried to remember what the shifters told me. Omegas in heat smelled amazing to alphas and being in heat meant they wanted—no,needed—to mate. Was that all true? I had no fucking idea. Hell, I still wasn’t even over the concept of transforming into a shark. But I couldn’t deny that whatever this scent was, it was intense. I couldn’t ignore it. It hijacked my brain, forcing me to think about it and nothing else.
There was a strange ache in my chest, too, like heartburn but less unpleasant. As if I didn’t have enough problems right now.
The river broadened and the sound of rushing water grew louder. There were alotof scents here. Never in my life was I so attuned to all the smells around me. Blood, wolf, water, and… something that made me wrinkle my nose. Was that human urine? Gross.
But the most powerful was the scent of an omega’s heat. It throbbed, a tangible pulse in my brain, my nose, my chest; it gripped my whole body like the beat of heavy bass on the dance floor. I couldn’t shake it off or ignore it, and I didn’t want to. Iwantedit.
The rushing river widened and transformed into a waterfall. I skidded to a halt at the edge of the cliff, my eyes widening at the sight below.
A dead deer. A big body of water. Two humans that smelled like wolves?
No. Shifters,I realized.
That wasn’t the only thing I noticed. The smaller human, the one with scruffy black hair and a young face—I recognized him. He was one of those wolf-people. What was his name again?
It came to me in a flash, like my inner shark was smacking me over the head with it: Remington.
I didn’t know the other guy, but I didn’t need to. I’d seen enough bad shit go down as a teenager to know something was wrong. The bigger dude was an alpha—the other wolf scent and the smell of piss must’ve belonged to him—and he was advancing on a Remington in a way that made my skin crawl.
I ground my teeth, which suddenly felt too flat and useless in my mouth. I would’ve preferred my shark’s rows of deadly fangs.
I crept low to the ground and watched the two men with narrowed eyes. Despite my urge to intervene, I didn’t jump in right away. I didn’t know exactly what was going on. I’d been the victim of someone’s rash behavior in the past, back when the alpha mountain lion shifter Xander misunderstood the situation and painted me as a villain without knowing the full story, so I didn’t want to do the same thing now.
But I had a bad feeling in my gut. I really,reallydidn’t like what I was seeing.
Neither of them noticed me. The alpha was too focused on Remington, and Remington stared back at him with fear. I heard their voices over the sound of the waterfall.
“Klimt, what the hell are you doing here?” Remington demanded.
“What amIdoing here?” The alpha called Klimt let out a barking laugh. “You have a lot of nerve asking me that. I live here.”
“I told you to leave my land!” Remington yelled. “I own the legal rights to this property, and I—”
My gut twisted as Klimt moved in closer. Too close. He towered over Remington, who shrank back with a scowl.
“Legal rights? You think I give a shit about that? I didn’t care back when I first came here, and I sure as hell don’t care now,” Klimt growled.
Remington paled. Even though he was doing his best to stand his ground, he looked small and vulnerable in front of Klimt.
