The Alpha's Surrogate [The Alpha's #1]

Chapter 2

ALPHA MARCELLUS STORM

Everything else became insignificant and faded into the background as he was overwhelmed by the honeysuckle scent, his wolf demanding him to track down his mate.

After ten years of nothing despite how hard he had looked for her, travelling from pack to pack, she was right here, under his nose the whole time. In his pack house. Waiting for him.

How could that be possible?

If Marcellus was thinking straight and his mind wasn't clouded with the idea of finally finding his mate, he would have realised that if she was a part of the pack then he would have realised the moment she turned eighteen; old enough to be granted a mate.

So, either she had been hidden away in his pack the whole time or today was her eighteenth birthday.

Either way, he didn't care as he had been eagerly anticipating having a mate of his own for the past ten years. Only the Moon Goddess knows how many nights he spent praying and pining over a woman he had never met before but today, in a moments time, this was all about to change.

He just hoped that his mate, whoever she was, wasn't afraid or too hesitant to embrace a ten-year age gap.

"Marcellus?" Dalton called out in surprise at the distant look on his Alpha's face. "Why do you look like that?"

If Marcellus was in the right mind, he would have laughed at the stupefied question but instead, he merely charged past his friend – careful not to run into him as Dalton was holding his sleeping son – and allowed the scent to guide him.

Once you find her, ask her where she's been hiding these past 10 years! His wolf growled in anticipation, just as eager as his human counterpart, if not more, to finally meet their mate.

Yes, because that's definitely going to make her want to run into our arms. He chuckled as he power walked behind the scent, first following it in and then out of the kitchen.

Only Marcellus and his wolf – with the exception of the Moon Goddess – knew just how much he desperately desired to have a mate of his own, to love and to hold just like everyone else. Having to run the pack and the business these past ten years all by himself, and then having to return to an empty bed had really taken a toll on Marcellus, to the point where he himself had began to fear the prospect of the Moon Goddess not giving him a mate or even worse, her dying before they had the chance to meet.

Hearing it from the Alphas today made the scary thought all the more real but now, he knew it couldn't be further from the truth.

Never before had he smelt such a beautiful scent before, one which could only belong to his mate so he knew that this wasn't a false alarm and he definitely wasn't just imagining things.

She smells like honey.

The sweetest honey I've ever smelt. Marcellus couldn't help but hum in agreeance, his lips twitching at the corners.

And the sweetest honey we'll ever taste, too.

We have plenty of time for that later, but let's find her first.

The scent then took him from the kitchen and into the living room, and then disappeared out of the living room and down the stairs which led to the den in the basement.

It was usually the teenagers and younger wolves that hung around in the den and the reality of today being his mate's eighteenth birthday started to become more plausible but he didn't care. Whatever apprehensions and concerns she had about the situation, he would be sure to resolve but for now, he needed to find her first.