I couldn’t even tell him about the Bodie part. How did I explain that the new chef carried a trace of my dead twin's scent? Also a human would never understand how the most significant moment of my life had become a betrayal. Or that was how it seemed, though I didn’t understand the multiple emotions that were demanding my attention.
“I don't know. It’s the new chef. Do we know him from somewhere?” Perhaps the guy was a former hockey player and I’d encountered him on the ice.
Angelo furrowed his brow. “Thorne? I don't think so. Why?”
“There's something about him.” I dragged a hand over my face wanting to block the omega’s face from my memory. “I can't pinpoint anything in particular, but there’s something not right about him.”
Nothing I was saying made sense, especially not to a human. But I was being honest because I had no clue why the guy scented the way he did and conjured up these feelings.
“It’s as though I’ve met him before or he's connected to someone I know. I can't explain it.”
This was so not like me. I kept my head down, did my job, and stayed out of drama. But my wolf was pacing, and he was furious and confused. I was torn between going back to the kitchen and running as far from it as possible.
I shrugged. “Ignore me. I’m just a little off today.”
“All right. But if you figure out what's eating you, come talk to me.”
I left the cafeteria. The corridor was empty, thank gods, and I leaned against the wall and tried to breathe.My wolf was whining. He never used to do that, but it started the day my twin and his wolf died. When he was particularly sad, he would curl up and produce that mournful sound, grieving a loss we’d never recovered from.
He's our mate. You have to go back.
I can’t. There’s something wrong.
My wolf was as confused as I was, but he insisted the mating connection took priority over anything else.
But that was before the other scent had crept in and poisoned it for me. There’d been a fraction of a second where my entire being recognized Thorne as mine. It was the most alive I'd felt in seven years. And then Bodie's scent had slithered into it.
I needed answers, but I didn't know the questions. Why did the new chef carry my brother's scent? And how was I supposed to accept a mate who triggered the worst pain I'd ever known?
I pushed off the wall and headed for the rink. Ice was the only thing that had ever made sense to me, and right now, nothing else did.
