"Go. Do your job."
Andrea smirks and says, "Yes, Lune."
She turns and sways her narrow hips down the hall and out the door. I can still scent Stance on the other side, poor miserable fuck. He's never going to be what she needs.
Orion joins me a minute later, carrying the half-empty whiskey bottle with him before collapsing into his seat across from me. He's frowning.
"You disapprove," I sigh.
"Wholeheartedly."
I grunt in response and make my next move. Our game is over as predicted when he takes my king.
"Checkmate."
Chapter 10: Mona
The filing cabinet is on a track, and I do my best to close it gently, but before it can click shut, the long metal drawer sucks inward, resulting in a loud crack. I freeze, glancing around the room as if someone will pop out at any moment and catch me.
My heart pounds in my chest, doing nothing to ease my nerves. "What am I even doing here?"
Our destiny lies in Silent Peak. The answers to our questions are here.Her sentences are getting so much better. Even if she does sound like an extra in an epic fantasy.
"Thanks, Beep, real helpful. Who in the hell even uses filing cabinets anymore? I mean, I know most shifters still live like it's the early twentieth century, but still…"
There's nothing here. We finally headed north, following that weird tugging sensation in my gut—like an internal compass, yanking me north, then east—and we ended up here, in Silent Peak, Maine. The tugging sensation disappeared, but so far, all I've found is a filing cabinet full of useless financial and personnel records.
I snuck in after sunset, hoping to avoid the locals. I don't even know what I would have said had I come across any. Unlike the rogues we ran into on the road, this place has families. Pups. Elders. I've never been this close to werewolves who seem so... functional. And while that restlessness to get here is gone, so far, I've learned nothing.
Why Silent Peak specifically? What makes this place significant? Why am I being hunted? Why did that wolf on New Year's Eve do this to me? And now that I'm here and found nothing, where do I go next?
The questions mount, unanswered.
I creep to the other side of the small office toward a massive oak desk with a hand-carved ornate wolf howling against the full moon. A little on the nose, if you ask me. My fingers trace the worn detailing. I can almost feel the lives of those who sat behind it, weathered into the wood.
There's one particular scent pulling me closer. I drag out the office chair tucked behind the desk, squeaking when it rolls, and sink into it. Immediately, I'm enveloped in the most beautiful scent—cinnamon, like a gooey bun from the bakery near my old apartment, dripping in sweet cream, fresh baked, mixed with hints of firewood and smoke. Closing my eyes, I can almost feel the warmth of the fire, hear the crackling wood.
I inhale deeply, and the strangest sensation settles over me. I feel warm and safe. My skin tingles. I feel calm. It almost reminds me of…
No.
He gets my nightmares; he doesn't get my waking hours, too.
My head rolls to the side and I shamelessly rub my face against the buttery-soft material of the worn leather. I don't care how it looks, and Beep seems equally content, nuzzling right along with me.
My omega lets out a soft moan and something tingles along my spine, straight to my core. I squeeze my legs together in surprise, shivering, as the cinnamon scent spills over my skin, making my vision go hazy. After a moment, I realize how weird I'm behaving, and pull away.
My sense of smell is incredible now, but I wish I knew more about it in instances like these. With shifters being so secretive, I had nowhere to turn when I changed. Online forums were useless—all full of contradicting, delusional info dumps.
I find it strange that there aren't more records of wolf attacks like mine, because if there were, I'd think there'd be more information out there.
Sometimes I wish the guy who turned me picked someone else.
I feel Beep fidget inside me. "I wouldn't give you up for the world," I whisper to her. And I mean it.
I inhale one last hit of the wolf's intoxicating scent, but before I can roll myself away from the desk, Beep's ears perk up, and I freeze.
The problem with wolves is that they arefast.
