Page 92 of Written in Scent

This new version of my life feels surprisingly right.

The lecture hall for Research Methods is massive, the same tiered room that once felt overwhelming with its four hundred seats and echoing voice of Dr. Strauss. This is only the second seminar of the semester. The class meets so infrequently that most students treat it like an optional chore, but I’ve looked forward to it all week.

I step through the heavy doors and pause just inside, scanning the rows the way I never used to. Back in the very first class, weeks ago, I sat alone in the front row, completely absorbed in my notes, oblivious to everything around me. Adrian has told me since that he watched me from a few rows back, mesmerized by how focused I was while everyone else looked half asleep. I had no idea he was even there.

Today is different. My eyes find him almost instantly. He’s saved me a seat near the front, just off to the side where the light from the high windows falls softly. When our gazes meet, his whole face brightens behind his glasses. He lifts a hand in a small wave, and my stomach does that familiar happy flutter.

I make my way down the aisle and slide into the seat beside him. Our thighs press close under the narrow desk, the heat of him seeping through my jeans. Adrian doesn’t say anything dramatic. He simply shares a smile just for me, and slides a ruler across the desk toward me when Dr. Strauss starts talking about drawing proper axes for our data graphs.

“Thank you,” I whisper, leaning into his shoulder for just a moment during one of the drier stretches of the lecture. He smells like rain on stone and bergamot and paper, crisp and comforting. His arm shifts slightly so I can rest against him more comfortably, and we stay like that while the professor drones on about confidence intervals and statistical significance.

The contrast from that first seminar feels beautiful and serene all at once. Then I was a girl lost in her own world, hyperfocused and alone in a sea of students.

Now I’m choosing to sit beside Adrian in public, letting our shoulders touch while we share a ruler and the occasional knowing glance when the lecture gets particularly tedious.

I catch myself smiling down at my notes more than once. This is what progress feels like. Not some grand declaration, but the simple, everyday choice to sit together. To let our thighs press close. To lean into each other during the boring parts and know that the other person is right there, choosing you too.

When Dr. Strauss finally dismisses us, Adrian and I gather our things and walk out of the lecture hall together. The hallway is busy with students rushing to their next classes, but I don’t feel the urge to slip away like I once would have.

Just outside the doors, I turn to Adrian, cup his face with both hands, and kiss him goodbye. It’s deliberate, full of pride. A few students notice and whisper, but I don’t care. Adrian melts into it for a heartbeat, smiling against my mouth before we pull apart.

“See you soon,” I murmur.

His green eyes are out of focus and a little dazed. “Definitely soon.”

I head off to meet Sophie in the cafeteria, feeling weightless and giddy, the taste of Adrian’s smile still lingering on my lips.

The gloomy sky hasn’t lifted, but the air feels lighter somehow. Students stream around me in the usual lunch rush, and I weave through them with a smile I can’t quite hide.

Sophie’s already waiting at the end of the line, two trays in front of her. The moment she spots me she waves both hands like she has been waiting hours instead of minutes. I sidle up next to her and she leans in immediately, eyes sparkling with gossip level excitement.

“OK, spill. The entire campus is buzzing about you kissing Adrian right outside the lecture hall. Like, full on, cupped his face and went for it kissing. You are officially that girl now. How does it feel to be so gone for your pack that you don’t even care who sees?”

I laugh and wonder about how quickly gossip truly travels on this campus. “It felt… right. I didn’t plan it. I just didn’t want to hide it anymore. And honestly? It felt good.”

We follow the crowd together and move our trays along the line, picking out salads and soup and the good chocolate chip cookies they only put out on certain days. Sophie keeps glancing at me sideways, her grin growing wider with every step.

“So tell me everything. How was the rest of the date with Chase?”

“The date was…” I bite my lip, not quite sure how to put it into words. “It was different from the others in the best way. Adrian’s date felt like coming home to my brain. Jamie’s felt like pure joy. Chase’s felt like seeing a whole new side of someone I thought I had figured out. He’s this big protective alpha on the outside, but inside he’s the softest person with the animals. It made me realize how much I want to understand every version of them.”

Sophie bumps my shoulder gently as we carry our trays back to the table. “You sound really happy. Like, settled.”

I sit down and stir my soup, thinking about how true that feels. “I’m not fighting it, not anymore. The pull doesn’t scare me the way it used to. It feels like something I’m choosing, not something that is choosing me. The more I get to know them all… they all fit with who I am. It’s starting to feel natural. Like this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

Sophie’s expression eases into something warm and proud. “Look at you. My shy roommate who swore she didn’t want a pack is now kissing one of them in public and talking about how natural it feels. I am so happy for you, Elodie. You deserve this kind of happiness.”

She steals one of my cookies and grins at me across the table. “So… any guesses for what Alex has planned for his date? Because I have a feeling you are about to be very publicly Pack Whitmore’s omega, and I can’t wait to watch it happen.”

I laugh and take a bite of a cookie, the chocolate melting on my tongue. My mind races with the possibilities of Alex’s date, and I realize that I have no idea what to expect.

Late afternoon light pours through the tall windows of the archives in the Natural Sciences building, turning the dust motes into lazy golden sparks that drift across the specimen drawers.

I sit at my desk with the antique field guide open in front of me, fingertips resting on the embossed cover Alex gave me weeks ago. Even now the pages carry the faintest trace of him, that tantalizing blend of dark cedarwood and heat-warmed skin that makes something inside my chest loosen every time I notice it. I close the book gently and slip it back into my bag, already aware that tonight is the evening he chose for our date. He asked at the end of last week and I said yes without hesitation.

I gather my notes, power down the small lamp, and leave the hush of the archives behind.

Back in my dorm room I change out of my usual cardigan and skirt into the periwinkle sweater that feels just right against my skin, paired with tight black leggings and the sneakers I wear for fieldwork. Over it all I pull on the lightweight field coat Chase gave me, remembering how Alex texted earlier to say the night might turn cool and that I should wrap up warm. The coat still smells faintly of pine forest and clean musk, and the combination of both alphas’ scents wrapping around me sends a thrill through my veins.