Rejected

Chapter 17

Alex's POV

When Kole offered me the clothes that used to belong to his mate I felt slightly uncomfortable taking them. He didn't tell me exactly what happened to his mate, but I could fit the pieces together from what he did say. I was surprised that her clothes fit so well, I didn't think that I would ever meet another person my age that was as short as me, at least not in the Shifter community. The Shifter genes made things bigger and better, this included size and stature. Most of the wolves in Blue Moon were at least 5'8" a whole 5 inches taller than me. Kole was even taller than that, well past 6 foot, and if I had to guess I'd say Kathrine had been about two or three inches taller than me.

After putting the few clothes in the closet in my room I closed the plastic bin back up to keep the sweet smell of Lemongrass and Lavender on what was left. I didn't miss how much Kole had inhaled when he first opened the bin and I knew that the scent of one's mate could make them feel happy and at peace. I didn't want to take that away from him just because he let me have some of her clothes. When that was done I headed down to meet Kole in the kitchen just like he said. The twins were there too, and they didn't hear me come in. When I heard their concerns about my health I nearly fell over. I'd never had so many people care about my well being before, at least not since my mother died. When they learned about the rules the doctor gave me they seemed to calm down slightly. The apple Kole gave me was sweet and juicy, it filled me up but when he handed me half of a sandwich I took it as well and finished it. I knew I was small, too small for someone to be healthy, but I had been conditioned to eat very little if anything at all for the past five years.

"Alright, now that you have appropriate clothing and have some food in your stomach, let's go see what we're working with." Kole started walking out of the kitchen and I had to take quicker steps than I was used to in order to keep up with him. He took me down the hall and into a room that smelled horrid and looked like any other gym. Weights and punching bags lined one wall and a wrestling mat lined the other. My newly sensitive nose picked up and picked out each individual scent. I continued sniffing until I saw Kole looking at me. "What do you smell?" he cocked his head and lifted his brows. I took another deep sniff and let the scents linger in my nose for a moment before answering.

"Strong stench of sweat, but underlying scents of people, some with woodsy smells, others with scents that are commonly mistaken for spices. There is something else, but I don't know how to describe it. Something very subtle and almost impossible to pick out from the individual Shifter scents." I frowned, unable to make sense of it.

"That is called Chemo Signals. You picked up on the emotion someone left behind in this room. Not very many Shifters can do that, and those who can, have had years of training and practice." I turned to him with wide eyes as he explained to me what I had smelt, or rather felt.

"Can you feel it?" I asked him wondering if he understood what I experienced or if he just knew how other people described it. He simply nodded his answer.

"What is it telling you?" I took another deep sniff but couldn't focus on it. I shook my head and closed my eyes. My hand went up to the left side of my neck and I began to scratch it. My head started to hurt and I felt like I couldn't breathe.

"I can't focus on it, I can't get a clear read on it." I started getting frustrated and my head began to throb.

"That's okay. Remember it's an emotion left behind. You can't just smell it, you have to feel it too." Kole's voice slowed my frantic thoughts and helped me understand that trying to smell out the emotion was just the start. I calmed myself down and tried to feel what was left behind, what my nose picked up at first.

"Regret." My eyes opened and went straight to Kole. He simply nodded and started walking over to the dumbbells. I followed a few steps behind him and waited for instructions.