Scent sensitivity.
It’s the only explanation for what happened at the club.
After sitting on my living-room floor for hours once I got home, having nothing to do but think, I realized—belatedly—that the alpha from the club, the one now standing in my hospital doorway, can only be my mate. It’s the only thing that explains both of our sudden, visceral reactions to each other.
But… why can I scent Corbin through scent neutralizers too? Only mates can still scent each other through good scent neutralizers.
Corbin sees me putting the pieces together and sighs. “Because I used to be their alpha. Their pack’s dominant alpha,” he says, gesturing to the two other alphas in the room.
My mind feels blank. Hollow. Because if he’s part of my biters pack, then he’s my mate too. If I’m scent-sensitive to one member, I’m scent-sensitive to the whole pack.
He’s still saying something, but I can’t hear him over the ringing in my ears. He knew. He knew I was his mate the entire time. There’s no way he couldn’t. I never wore scent neutralizers. He would have realized right away. And he never said anything.
I turn my head toward the opposite wall.
“I want to be alone.” I barely whisper the words, but Corbin stops talking. Deputy whines.
Movement tells me the Sheriff’s gotten up. I hear him call to Deputy. Deputy waits a beat before I feel his weight lift away as he jumps down from the hospital bed. Dogs likely aren't even allowedin the hospital. He probably got Deputy through just by being the Sheriff. He has to take him home, and I almost stop him from leaving just for that… but I can't bring myself to move. I hear heated, low whispers before a door opens and closes.
When I look again, the room is empty except for a note that sits on the bedside table. I pick up the crumpled paper. It smells faintly of leather and citrus.
It reads:
I’m Zeke. I’m so sorry this all happened this way. I’ll be close if you need me.
It ends with a number.
I curl the note to my chest, tuck my knees up, and cry deep heavy sobs until sleep takes me back under..
Zeke
The hospital parking lot where our bikes are parked is nearly barren. Light rain mists around us, making everything damp, but not soaked. Rafe and Eli already got us a room at a hotel.
“What now?” I ask, genuinely flummoxed.
“Now we go to the hotel the others got and get comfortable. We can’t leave close proximity to the omega until the bond settles. If it even does.”
Because incomplete pack bonds, where a scent-sensitive omega bites one member of the pack but doesn’t finish biting the rest, are not common. I looked it up. The few cases I could find ended up resolving within a few weeks with a proper bond. But this omega doesn’t know us, and we don’t know her. That may not happen. The few cases of the bond remaining solitary without pack completion were extreme. Constant illness. Lots of psychological affects I didn't want to look to closely at.
I think of the note I left her and hope she got it.
“I think—” Corbin begins.
“I didn’t ask what you think,” Gage snaps.
I roll my eyes. We all knew this was how it would go.
Corbin growls low, and Gage meets the roll of dominance crashing off him head-on. The dog sitting at Corbin's feet whines.
“For fuck’s sake,” I say, cutting them both off. “Let’s just get back to the hotel. If she needs us, she’ll text. I just—” I pull at the ends of my hair. “I wish I hadn’t fucked this up so badly.”
Gage claps me on the shoulder. “It’s not like you don’t have a bite mark too,” he reminds me.
“If you need anything—” Corbin starts.
“We’ll rely on each other,” Gage snaps before mounting his bike.
I follow suit, and the roar of the engine fills the air as we peel out, leaving our former dominant alpha standing on the pavement.
