Stronger Together

Rose

After figuring out the origin of the smell I ran back inside immediately.

"Oh my god." I whispered to myself.

I'd learned about the mates of werewolves only 3 years ago at 15. I'd had a mentor my freshman year of high school. She wasn't a teacher. In stead she worked at a bakery she owned with her mate and their son.

She told me how their pack were mortal enemies and they'd found each other literally on the battle field. Drawn away from the fight by enchanting scents purely unable to keep away.

Sadly neither of them ranked high enough within their packs to inspire change and unification between them. So they left their packs behind. Together though. And that was all that mattered to them.

I was in love with the idea of a mate as a young teen. But I'd always been very limited when it came to meeting people. I was always told to stay invisible and so over the years that's what I became. Soon the idea of a mate became something less than even a possibility.

Now here I was running away from it all together.

To be truthful I felt afraid.

All these years I'd spent on my own. Taking car of myself. Looking out for myself. I'd even had people try to become friends with me but I refused let anyone in. And now I had a mate. And I'd just felt how strongly, how desperately, I wanted to be with him. Every inch of my skin still begged me to turn and find him as I walked away right now.

But there was something wrong. Something in the pit of my stomach was telling me something was about to go very wrong.

I ignored it all. I dismissed every single feeling I was having and I waited for the lunch bell to ring. Then I went to my last two classes and sat through them blankly.

When school was finally I bolted for my bike hoping not to catch that smell.. but also hoping to. Ugggh. I let an ugly sound escape my lips.

As a got closer to my bike I could hear a few people walking and talking behind me. No, not people. Other werewolves. Woah other werewolves? This was new. Every school I'd been to so far had been 100% human except for a few of my past teachers. And even then the majority were human. What is going on?

I slowed just slightly and quieted my steps to focus in on their words.

"That's her guys. Definitely her. It's hard to tell but it's just the faintest sent. You really gotta focus in on it" a girl said.

"Are you su- oh wait yeah! Yeah guys she's right it's barely there but it's there" One of the guys said.

"But.. but how does she? Why is it so faint like that? That's so.. um weird. Wait but can't she smell us? Or like hear us? Actually guys we should probably shut up" a different guy said this possibly noticing my slower pace so I walked a bit faster towards my bike.

I looked over my shoulder to see a whole group of them. Four. Three guys and one girl. All staring at me. Now I really hurried to my bike. Finally getting there I hopped in and sped off as fast as I could. All I wanted was to be home and by myself.

I wasn't exactly sure how I made it home one piece. The whole ride my head was flushing with thoughts and concerns. I had no clue what I was supposed to do from here.

If there were other weres at school that meant there could be a whole pack somewhere out here. Wolves are known for living that way. There was strength in number making it dangerous to be a loner like me.

And what did the mean by "faint scent"? what the hell do I smell like? I hoped it wasn't bad.. As I thought about it they did have a strong smell. I couldn't put my finger on what it was exactly but it radiated from all four of them as if they were somehow linked together. Maybe that was a pack thing?

While I'd had plenty of mentors growing up the strange way I did. None of them had belonged to packs while they taught me. And so I didn't know much about how they worked. Most of my lessons were aimed at my survival on my own.

This was all new territory for me and the biggest question I had was

"Why?" I let a confused groan escape my lips. "Why is this happening?" I was ready to cry. I had a gut feeling that things were going to change and I'm just not sure if I can handle that.

But before I could really jump into my own pity party. My biggest fear and hope hit me in the face.

More specifically my nose. Citrus and salty air. It was him...