Chapter 2: Scent of Mate

I stopped my tracks as I smelt something so strong, so desiring to me that made my nose twitch. The scent had such an amazing smell… It was like a combination of citrus and yet a rainforest scent. 

Oh no..oh no no.. I don't have a mate! I'm not destined to have one!

My wolf whimpered, begging to go close. I was confused by her statement. I shook my head. My wolf barked at me in order to hurry up. I walked through the hall, sniffing everyone that passed through me. 

A female nurse with strawberry hair walked past me. She seems like one of those types of nurses that are extremely exhausted seeing her darkening eye bags. 

She looked like she'd collapse anytime. I shrugged. In reality I didn't give a shit. This isn't my world. Human world doesn't exist in my eyes. I can't have feelings for them or interact with them. It's a part of werewolves, especially Higanbanas’.

The fresh scent drove me insane. I couldn't pay attention to Charlotte anymore because my knees were shaking.

“Damn it. We can’t be like this,” I told my wolf. 

“We have mate! We need to find him. Hurry!”

“Wait! This is the human world. We can’t act like a she-wolf in heat!”

It was uncontrollable and uncomfortable. Damn it!

This can't be right? Can this be my mate? My everlasting partner? How can he be here? Werewolf's can not cross the border line if you have an excuse like me. I couldn't care less. My wolf is going crazy for this scent, a scent that has the greatest scent of the fresh rainforest. How I love the rainforest.

It kept getting stronger as if he was running around me. I wonder what he will look like. Will he have yellow eyes? Those handsome yellow eyes that shimmer gold in them. All werewolves have that ability when they transfer, but I heard people that didn't have them are very rare. I have that rare ability. Mine were bloodshot red. I inherited it from Fenrir himself. 

As I walked the hallway, my nose led me to a closed room. It has a sign saying “staff only”. The scent there was too thick and almost drowned me to destroy the door that hindered me and my mate. 

Damn it.

I was about to grab the doorknob and twist it open but then the door finally opened and the scent brutally attacked me, sending me waves of pleasure, arousing me in the process. I even felt myself wet down there. 

The man before me has light brown eyes with thick eyebrows. He has this prominent cheekbone. He licked his lips wetting it in the process making his red lips more redder than before. 

I swallowed hard. My wolf wanted him. She wanted to pounce on him and lock the door with just me and him doing naughty stuff. My wolf started to send some sexy pictures in my mind. 

“Damn it, Athena!” I roared at her which she only answered with a smirk. 

“Miss, are you okay? You seem like you’re sick?” The man's sexy voice rang in my head and before I could even utter a word, I passed out. 

Damn it. Our mate is human!

When I woke up, I saw Charlotte who was talking to my mate. My wolf immediately saw red but I stopped her. I told her we were in the human’s territory and we shouldn’t be obvious. When the man noticed that I already woke up, he smiled at me and said something to Charlotte before leaving. 

I wanted to protest and my wolf whined about leaving us. 

“Hey, Artemis. What was that? I thought I was the one who you rushed to the hospital. What happened? You passed out. That’s a rare occurrence,” Charlotte said. 

“He’s my mate,” I said. 

“What? What did you say?” 

“I said the one that you talked to. The doctor,” I said. 

Charlotte gasped. 

“No way. You’re supposed to be mateless!”

“I know. I know. That’s why I’m confused. And to humans?”

“I don’t even know,” Charlotte said, concerned. She knew humans weren’t allowed in the Higanbana pack, especially mated with me. “What will happen? Uncle will surely go against this,” she added. 

“I’ll find a way. Keep this only to us. Please, Charlotte,” I begged.

“Of course I will! Don’t worry.”

Suddenly there was a knock. We both looked at the door and saw the doctor, my mate smiling at us. 

“Good morning ladies,” he greeted. His baritone voice made my wolf purr. Like seriously? She was one of the ruthless wolves in Higanbana, maybe the feared one but there she goes, purring like a cat that needed some attention. 

“Good morning, doc. How is my friend?” Charlotte asked him.

“She’s fine, Miss. But I want to talk to the patient privately. Will that be okay?” 

“Of course, Doctor. Sure you can,” she said and stood up before giving me a secret wink that made me blushed. 

The man took his glasses off and sat on the chair beside me. He then leaned on my hospital bed that almost made my heart jump due to his sudden gesture.

“Artemis, it has been so long,” he said with a wide smile. A friendly smile.

I furrowed my brows. Why did this human know me? Have we met before?

“Ah, you don’t know me anymore? I’m Eliot. The kid you called weak when a wolf tried to eat me in the Jura forest. Remember?” 

Eliot. Eliot…

I tried to remember something. And I did remember helping a kid back then. It was when I was walking to my hunting ground of feral wolves den. I didn’t know I would stumble on a kid that was desperately crying as a malnourished rogue circled him and was ready to pounce. I also didn’t know that he was a human back then. I just realised it when he didn’t fight that small and weak rogue cub who was probably hungry and wishing to eat him. I saved his ass, kicked the rogue and sent it flying to nowhere.  

Since that day, we have become best friends and we hit it off. I attended the same school with him until highschool. He was outgoing despite being weak. and I was the “get out of my way or you’ll die” girl. Everyone was afraid of me in high school. Even those werewolves who were also attending the school from another pack were also afraid of me. I was his silent protector whenever someone wanted to bully him. 

Well, he vanished during our second year. One day he stopped coming to school. I didn’t bother looking for him since meddling with humans was prohibited to my pack. I didn’t have any news about him and so I moved on and forgot I was associated with humans back then.

And then this…unexpected. Damn it. 

“Do you remember me?” he asked again.

“Yeah, of course. You’re still the same lame kid I met before,” I said, placing my arms on my forehead and closing my eyes. My wolf became so excited and chanting that she wanted to mate with him. 

“How did you know I was Artemis by the way?”

“How can I forget you? You have these very expressive blue eyes and moles under each,” he said smiling. “You don’t have any idea how long I was searching for you. I even went to the same highschool we’ve been through and tried to get your address but for some reason the registrar told me you were not a student there.”

Oh I remembered threatening the poor human registrar to erase my credentials after the day Eliot was gone for good. 

“So why did you come back and tried to find me. You were the one who left without a word.” I said and then looked at his eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry. My grandmother passed away and my mom took me with her. I’m sorry I didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye,” Eliot said and held my hand.  

Suddenly, a strong current of tingles attacked my body, hitting me to the right spots. I cursed under my breath and wanted to take my hand back but my wolf has her own idea of keeping our hands together. She was smirking at me and there was a smug on face like she was trying to say “try to do that, if you can.”

I didn’t know if Eliot could feel it too so I secretly looked at him and saw he was smiling normally. 

I gritted my teeth and cursed all the fate for what it did to me. 

“Dammit it Artemis, Your paired mate has been waiting for you the whole night. What the hell is wrong with you?” My dad scolded me in the office. He went on about my paired mate’s parents storming away because I was nowhere to be found and saying they felt betrayed. 

“Dad,” I said, heaving a sigh. “I don’t want him. I’ll just end up killing him if you force me,” I said. 

“Artemis, you can’t just kill a male wolf. You needed one in order to have kids! Are you out of your mind? Or would you like to have the King’s second son? Look, I’ve been trying hard to find a suitable pair for you, especially since you’re not just a normal wolf. You’re not helping me, daughter.”

“I know, dad. And I’m sorry. I don’t want anyone because I have a mate,” I said. I don’t want to lie to Dad. I knew he would understand.

Dad stopped talking and looked at me. I knew he wouldn’t believe me since Higanbana wolves were never blessed with mates. Fate condemned them in exchange for their ability in war. 

“Stop making nonsense Artemis. You will marry the King’s second child whether you-”

“I said I found my mate!” I growled. 

Father was shocked and my mom who was cooking downstairs broke the door and saw me and Dad about to attack each other. I could see my bloodshot red eyes from my father’s eyes. 

“Jonathan, Artemis, what is happening here?” My mom broke our eye fight. 

“Your daughter. Not only she wanted to kill the one I chose to pair with her, she also told that she found her mate,” my dad replied, giving up. “Talk a sense to your daughter please,” he added. “I’m fed up.”

Mom looked at him. 

“Or you could have listened to her,” my mom replied to him, fed up with manipulating my life. 

“Tell me Artemis, what’s wrong?” Mom said and led me to one of the chairs located beside dad’s desk. 

“I found my mate last night, mom,” I said. 

Mom stared at me in disbelief.

“We, Higanbanas, have no mate, sweetie. You should have-”

“Mom, I smell him. The scent that allured me and my wolf. I…he even touched my hand and there was spark, tingles Mom. All that I read in a book, it all happened yo me. I’m already twenty years old and I never tell lies,” I said. 

Mom looked at Dad. Both of them nodded. There were shock in their faces but there was also a hope. 

“Okay, calm down, Artemis. Okay. So who is this mate of yours? What pack?” Mom asked me. 

I swallowed hard. 

“He doesn’t belong to any pack, Mom,” I said. 

“Okay. Is he a rogue?” 

I looked at Dad and then looked at my lap as if it was the most interesting thing inside my Dad’s office.

“H-he’s a human.”

“What!?” My parents asked in unison.