Chapter 10
Vee
The house smells like Arden immediately.
That rich scent that I've come to associate with his presence, his careful questions and careful silences. It's everywhere here. Soaked into the walls and the furniture and the air the way a scent gets when someone has lived somewhere long enough to become part of it.
Underneath that, fainter but unmistakable, is the burnt wood smell from the shirts. Lighter here than what I've been breathing in for days. Diffused through a whole house instead of concentrated in fabric pressed against my face.
I'm still taking it in when something else catches.
Smoke and dark spice. Familiar in a way that makes me stop walking.
"Chase has been here," I say.
Arden turns. Cocks his head slightly at my expression. "He lives here. He's my pack lead."
I stare at him.
"You're in his pack."
"Yes." His expression shifts, almost imperceptibly. Surprise, maybe, at my surprise. "I thought he mentioned it."
"He didn't."
"Vee, I'm sorry. It wasn't something we were intentionally keeping from you. I guess it just—didn't come up like it should have."
I stand in the entryway of Chase's house and let that sink in.
Chase. Who showed up at my gym with his easy confidence and my home with his registry badge. The alpha who has apparently been Arden's pack lead the entire time Arden was sitting across from me asking me careful questions about my mental health and documenting everything for the case Chase was building.
Anger is the obvious response.
But I find I don't have the energy.
"Is there anything else?" I ask. My voice comes out dry, almost amused. "Anyone else I know that's secretly in a pack with someone I also know?"
Arden pauses.
"Jasper," he says.
I look at him.
"Jasper is also our pack."
I open my mouth. Close it.
Jasper.
Also in Chase’s pack. Chase and Arden and Jasper. All three connected to me and each other at once. My head is spinning.
I can't smell him here, though. He’s probably been gone too long. I wouldn't have known he'd ever been here had Arden not said it.
"That's why I can't scent him," I say. “Because he’s been at Ragon’s for months.”
"Most likely."
I nod slowly.
