Tiger Lilies in the Snow

3 - A scent without a face (1)

The usual noise of a new year at school starting filled the schoolyard and the corridors of Bertrand Caillet Middle and High School. Even though the Middle School had its own building separating its students from the ones of the High School they all still had to enter the premises through the one big gate that allowed entrance to the school grounds. It was a beautifully wrought-iron gate that had stood for about a century now guarding the way in through the dressed stone wall that was surrounding the grounds.

Under the beautifully shining morning sun against a not less beautiful blue sky that promised another hot day of the soon ending summer the students from age eleven to nineteen came swarming in and then heading either to the left where the Bertrand Caillet Middle School was located. Or if they were old enough, they headed to the right to gather on the school grounds of the Bertrand Caillet High School.

Among the students that turned to the right for the first time was a young wolf that had just turned seventeen two days ago. He was sniffing the air excitedly as he had started taking in the scents of every wolf around him differently for the first time. His sense of smell had matured just like his wolf. Jungkook was all excited to take in the scents of everyone around him and he was still so hyped up that he already was able to do so. His friend Yugyeom next to him looked at him a little envious. It was not that he could not smell the others' scents just as well, but they still did not mean a lot to him while Jungkook decoded them the adult way.

"This is so unfair!" he muttered. "You can already smell it all and I have to wait for one more year before I can finally understand what you all will be talking about."

Jungkook looked at his friend and when he saw the pout Yugyeom had put on, he giggled. "Come on, Yugi! You know I am an early bloomer. I always have been. I will be the only one in our class to do so."

"Yes, but now I am the only member of the Lily Pack that cannot relate to the talk about omega scents and how tempting their full scent smells!" Yugyeom whined.

Jungkook put a consoling hand on his friend's shoulder. "You will feel them soon enough. And believe me, when mom found out I already matured that far she almost freaked out." He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I am pretty sure my ruts will be a little more intense then normal, but I am sure she is overreacting." In a perfect imitation he gave an impression of her: "Oh my! My baby already is that far! And I have not even started preparing for all that is to come!"

The boys giggled while walking amidst the crowd through the jammed gates until suddenly Jungkook came to an abrupt stop and the students behind him bumped into him. Yugyeom turned around to his friend already readying himself to cool down the real alpha that for uncountable times had proven to have a heated temper. But Jungkook was not bothered at all by it and neither did the moody remarks that he got for blocking the already tightly crowded way into school affect him at all. His irises had turned into bright purple rings showing that his wolf was fronting while he stood rooted to the ground, sniffing the air around him. Then all out of the blue he stormed forward not bothering whenever he bumped into someone. He only marched on sniffing the air from time to time before changing directions. Only one thought occupied his mind: Mate!

"Yo! Where are you going? The first years are supposed to be over there!" Yugyeom ran after him and grabbed him by the arm. To his surprise Jungkook did not respond to him. He only yanked his arm free and rushed on, straight across the school yard and towards a group of final graders as if in trance.

Suddenly a beta stepped out of a group belonging to those final graders to stand right in front of Jungkook grabbing him by the shoulders, his eyes were glowing in a bright white. "Easy there, Kookie," he said with a calming deep voice.

The real alpha looked at the wolf in front of him and his eyes narrowed with the rage that was starting to boil up inside him. His breath became shallow.

"Kookie, don't pull a scene here! You know that Jungkook wouldn't like it." The beta still kept the eye contact up even though the alpha's presence and his angered scent that started to fill his nostrils intimidated him noteworthily. But he had to stand his ground for his friend and negotiate between the humble human and the impulsive wolf. His nature as a beta came in handy here. Betas were known to be more reasonable and coolheaded when it came to critical situations. It was nothing an alpha or omega could not learn but it was easier for the more balanced betas and thus they often worked in positions that needed a lot of negotiations. They were the perfect mediators and ambassadors. Some would say they were the cold blooded amongst the secondary genders, but he preferred to call it a more reason-based approach to life while alphas were more the leaders that dominated others with strong minds and the mental energy to eradicate every obstacle in their way. Omegas on the other hand were perceived to be more the soft and caring creatures that needed a lot of protection and care themselves.

Finally, the beta saw the real alpha's eyes turn from a bright shining purple to black again. He held him by the shoulders for a little longer to make sure that the human was back in control. The shy boy lowered his head.

"Jungkook, man! You can't do that on your first day at school!" Yugyeom said next to him looking at his friend worriedly.

"Yo man! You know he is right," the other agreed. But when he saw guilt on the alpha's face he continued: "What happened? I guess Kookie had a reason to act up."

"I smelled my mate, Jackson." Jungkook looked his friend in the eye. He knew that this young man would understand. Jackson had found his mate early on, too. He was not really an early bloomer like Jungkook, but he and Layla had found each other anyway and shocked their parents when they announced that they were fated at the age of fifteen, an age way too early to mate. They were frowned upon their belief because it had not really been them responding to the scent like adults yet but more like a foreboding of what they had confirmed when they both turned eighteen. Even their immature wolves in their final puppy stage could sense the strong string of fate with which life had linked them.

"Your mate? Are you sure?" Jackson looked at Jungkook with curious eyes. He was one of Jungkook's few friends from the Lily Pack, so he knew how special this boy was. This was why he had mastered cooling down his wolf whenever Kookie became too impulsive, but that the boy would find his mate in school after barely entering the school grounds came unexpected even to him, especially because his wolf had matured only two days ago.

"Yes, I am," Jungkook confirmed. "I have never smelled something so heavenly. It's strawberries and vanilla and Kookie ... well you have seen how he reacts to it. He is still urging me to go after this trail." Jungkook looked down at his feet. It was his way to focus on himself and compose himself again.

"If it is the scent of your mate as you say, you will have no problem to tell me what secondary gender your mate has." Jackson did not ask him to provoke him and Jungkook knew. A wolf always knew by the undertone of the scent what secondary gender their mate would have. So, it was just a test to make sure that the unexperienced wolf did not accidentally react to some wolf entering their heat or rut for the first time. This sometimes happened among first- and second-year students and it always meant troubling the young wolves, especially alphas, because they still reacted to this by pure instinct. Thus, the wolves in their final year were assigned to keep an eye open and step in whenever a younger one got into trouble.

"I would say they are an omega. But somehow their scent is different from the regular omega scent. It is more aromatic and not so stickily sweet." Jungkook started smiling dreamily. "It is out of the ordinary and it is heavenly. I could smell it all day long and not once get tired of it." A dreamy sparkle appeared in his eyes. "It is fruity, creamy and rich. And it is so omega and not so omega at the same time. I would love to drown in it."

Both Jackson and Yugyeom could tell that both Jungkook and his wolf Kookie were falling hard for this scent and that it really must have been his mate's scent that he got a whiff of. "Congratulations, man. You are not only an early bloomer, but you also found your mate." Yugyeom patted his shoulder in appreciation throwing him out of his trance like state in the process.

Jungkook smiled at his friends. Yes, he had found his mate! Joy filled him up and he promised himself to find his mate within this day. When the bell rang announcing the first period and the sorting to their respective tutor groups Jungkook went to the assembly hall with a spring in his step. High School could not have started better he thought.