Page 47 of Knot Your Pawn

I glance around, my body starting to feel weird.

No.

This isn’t right.

Something is very wrong. This place is wrong.

I grab one of the blankets as Caleb is sitting down on it, making him move awkwardly and rolling to the side. But he’s still on top of it, so I pull harder.

“Get off.” I force my voice out, it’s too quiet. “Get off.”

“What’s going on?” Jorge comes closer and as he’s about to touch my arm, I let out a soft growl.

I want my blanket, but Caleb is sitting on it. I can’t have it if he’s sitting on it.

I tug on it again, only lightly aware of the way Caleb is staring at me, surprised, worried, but he quickly gets off and I finally pull it free.

In one movement, I wrap it around myself, like a big cape, and cross the bedroom to the other walk-in-closet, the one we used as a temporary nest when we went into heat but now use as a walk-in-closet again.

When I open the door, no scent greets me.

This one has also been cleaned.

Fuck.

No.

I turn around again and walk straight into Riley, who wraps her arms around me.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s not right.” I pull back, looking around the room, trying to find a place where I’ll feel safe. “Everything is wrong.”

“I know there are no scents, but we’ll put them back. We’ll put our scents back where they belong.” I’m aware that she’s sending out soothing pheromones, but it only makes me bristle and a soft growl breaks from my chest.

“Whoa! What the hell?!” Jorge’s surprised shout pulls Riley’s attention away from me and I slip from her embrace, wildly looking around me, before I go into the hallway. I’m trying to find a room that hasn’t been fully emptied of all scents.

I need my mates, I need their scents, but they’re not anywhere, in none of the rooms.

Every door I open, I’m greeted by nothing.

No scents.

No pheromones.

They all feel so lifeless, so devoid of any living thing.

Empty.

Blank.

“What are you looking for?” Luca’s soft voice comes from somewhere nearby and I stop.

“Home.” I don’t know how else to explain it. That’s the only word that comes to mind, I’m looking for home.

These rooms, devoid of any scent, no longer feel like home, they feel...

They feel wrong.