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“This is probably how that bastard got up here,” I muttered as I mixed the potion. “Some witch helped him hide his scent so he could get into my room. What exactly was his end game? Mark me so that it would force me to marry him? Ha, kiss my ass. I know my rights. The law forbids keeping fated mates apart.”
My mutters helped calm my anger to a simmer. I took the potion with me into the shower to wash my body of the stench of the mark. As soon as I found the wolf who did this to me, I would make them remove the mark. If he thought that this was his way to the top, he had another thing coming.
I focused on the spell, picturing only the mark’s scent to be covered. In my mind’s eye. I molded my scent back into the scent I have always had. It would not cause alarm in my family the moment I joined them at the breakfast table.
When I finished, I quickly dried my body and got dressed, throwing my hair into a ponytail instead of taking the time to style it as I normally would. I was already late for breakfast and running on only two hours of sleep. My patience was so thin now that I felt myself snapping at any moment.
My parents and brother were already at the table, their heads turning at the sound of my entry. Mom’s bright green eyes brightened when she saw me walk in. Dad nodded, a small smile touching his lips, while my brother scoffed at my entrance.
“About time you joined us,” Brady said. “I thought we would need to send a search party for you.”
“The only one in this room who has ever required a search party to find them is you,” I replied, taking my seat beside him.
“No, no,” Brady said, turning to look at me and wagging his finger in my face. “I wasn’t the one who needed to be searched for. It was the kids.”
“And whose fault was it that they needed a search and rescue?”
Clearing his throat loudly, our father promptly cut off Brady’s attempt to argue again.
“There has been an increase in activity along the border with the rogues. I’ve had reports of a strange scent found just along the forest edge out back. I’d like for you both to investigate it. That is, if you two can stop your bickering enough to do it.”
“We aren’t bickering,” Brady said, taking a big bite of his toast. “We are debating.”
“Whatever you call it, do it after you’ve swallowed your food, please.” Mom laughed as she handed over a napkin to my brother.
“How many scents did you notice?” I asked, redirecting the conversation to the important matter.
“They said only one. Seems to be male. Stranger yet, it appeared out of nowhere and seemed to lead away.”
“The scent appeared out of nowhere?” I asked, flashes of the man in my room coming into my mind. He hadn’t had a scent.
“Yes,” Dad continued. “Your mother and I have already gone over the information; it’s likely a witch is involved. That’s why I would like both of you to investigate it together.”
Brady and I both nodded. It made sense that Dad wanted us to work together if a witch was involved. While we both were hybrids: I was more wolf than witch, while Brady was more witch than wolf. That is why they chose us to take over the different parts of our family, Brady taking over the Crete Coven while I was taking over the Rigel Pack. Together, we would keep the unity our parents had brought about, making us the strongest pack in the country. Dare I even say the world?
While I may not be an Alpha King, I was confident that between my pack and coven, we could hold our own against any enemy, so long as we worked together.
“We will go right after breakfast,” I stated. Brady nodded his agreement.
“Good,” Dad said. “Eat fast. I don’t want the scent trail to fade. I don’t like how bold the rogues are getting. If they just want to return to the pack, that’s one thing, but their behavior isn’t quite matching that of the ones who have asked to return in the past. They’re up to something.”
Again, my thoughts went to the man from last night. He had come to my room with some sort of plan. Maybe he wasn’t just looking to rank hop by forcing a mark on me. Maybe there had been a more sinister motive behind his appearance in my room.
Breakfast conversation fell more into beat with the everyday conversations. Mom informed Dad that witches in Montana were dealing with some issues with a native shifter pack, while Dad told her about some mysterious issues happening within the packs of the San Diego area. He and I were planning a trip soon to meet with them and discuss the issue. For now, they were keeping the issue private, only reaching out to Father for possible sighting of new wolves in our territory.
When we finished breakfast, Brady and I excused ourselves from the table to go investigate the mysterious rogue scent. Mom and Dad would remain for another thirty minutes or so, as they did every morning after my brother and I had left them. It was one of the few times they could be alone and just be mates. The weight of the pack and coven was off their shoulders for a few precious minutes.
I could only hope that my future mate would show the same level of dedication to me as my parents showed to each other – all thewhile never neglecting their duties but understanding that they had to make sure they had time together. Their bond was special due to the near end of it before it had even begun.
Brady and I left through the back door, waving to the pups as their nanny walked them to the school the pack had acquired when I was a pup myself. From the outside, it looked like your everyday stuffy private school, all for the benefit of the humans who yearned to be accepted.
However, the curriculum was based on pack and coven laws. The children learned magic, even the wolf pups who came from two wolf parents. Mom had discovered some dormant magical genes in some of the wolves and insisted that even if they couldn’t use magic, they should at least know its history and basics…just in case they ever found themselves in a magical situation.
“So,” Brady said as soon as we passed the gate of the backyard. “What’s with the mark?”
I jerked my head up to look at him, trying my best to control my eyes from widening. “What?”
“The one you have covered up with that scent blocker spell. You forgot to hide the buzz of magic, by the way. I doubt Mom didn’t notice it either.”
