Chapter Nine
Mandy
When I ran from this locker room after realizing Axel was my scent match, I never expected I would be in the position where I wanted to do the same thing a second time.
Then again, a ghost reappearing in my life definitely hadn’t been on my bingo card.
Maybe this wouldn’t be such a surprise if I’d researched the rest of the Scented Scorpions.
Or hell, even just researched Chase given I knew he was Axel’s packmate.
But I hadn’t felt the need to. I’d wanted this experience to be organic.
Less research, more real life. Or maybe more romance novels.
As I stare into those familiar brown eyes—eyes that once held my heart captive—it feels like my brain is short-circuiting and my emotions are running rampant. The scent of the forest after a light rain mixes with that of soap from his shower—weak, but more than enough for me to know.
Axel isn’t my only scent match.
“Austin,” I whisper, my throat feeling as dry as sandpaper. “Is that you?”
“Yeah. It’s me. Mandy, I—” He takes a step toward me and I step back instinctively, holding up my hand in a gesture for him to stop.
I can’t let him get too close. My pulse is racing, and my breaths are coming in quick, shallow gasps as I try to fight the urge to go to him.
To run into his arms and let him pull me into his chest. To press my ear to his heart and listen to the beat I once thought would be mine forever.
He doesn’t deserve that. And I deserve better, no matter how badly I might want to sink into him and forget the past. My forgiveness won’t be free. I’m known for making my characters fall to their knees and grovel when they fuck up, and this is no different.
At least I try to tell myself that. Staying strong is harder than I would have expected.
Austin or Chase or whoever the fuck he is now might be my scent match, but there’s no fucking way he gets a free pass.
He hurt me. He broke my goddamn heart and ruined my high school prom the same night. And all without a single word. Then he disappeared off the face of the earth.
“Mandy,” he tries again, but I interrupt him.
“No, Chase. I don’t want to hear it. Not now. Maybe not ever.”
Keeping my back straight, I spin on my heel and storm out of the locker room and down the hall.
I’m so agitated by this discovery that my skin feels like it’s on fire and I can’t catch my breath. I’m trying to ignore the fact that, despite my mind feeling nothing but hurt and anger, my body reacted with lust and need.
There’s an uncomfortable wet patch in my panties, and an ache I’m finding more and more difficult to ignore as I find my way out of the stadium and out into the cool night air.
The arena and stands emptied quickly after the game, leaving us alone out here.
“Mandy, wait,” Axel barks as he bursts through the doors behind me. I stop dead in my tracks, unable to resist his dominance. In fact, it sends a little thrill through me. A pulsing I can feel at my very core.
Shit. I’m feeling needy. A whine escapes me as Axel reaches me, grabbing both my hands in his and bringing them up so my palms are on his chest.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bark at you. But you’re an obedient little omega, aren’t you?”
A pathetic whimper escapes me as I nod, biting my lip. I like to submit. My perfume explodes into the night air as I think about how I’d like to submit to Axel.
“Fuck, Mandy,” he growls as he scents me. It’s strong. My need is unmistakable. “What’s going on?”
His question makes me realize he must have chased me right away, rather than asked Austin—or Chase, rather—any questions. It brings me back to my senses, if only slightly.
“Go back to Chase. He’s your pack. Your family. He can explain.”
“No. I want to hear it from you.” There’s an edge to his voice I haven’t heard before. Anger, maybe? Frustration? “He had his chance to explain. You guys clearly have a history. I’ve done nothing but talk about you since we met. He’s not this stupid.”
Tears well in my eyes, threatening to spill down my cheeks. I’m not even sure why I’m crying. Maybe it’s for the boy I once loved, who is now a man I don’t know.
Gods, I’m a mess. My body is reacting to meeting my scent matches, and my hormones are going absolutely haywire.
I can’t even process the emotions I’m feeling when Axel is standing so close; his voice is so growly it vibrates in my core.
Another whine escapes me and Axel wraps his arm around my waist, leading me back toward the stadium.
“How about we walk and talk? You can tell me about your history with Chase while I get you somewhere private and maybe help take the edge off. What do you think?” He inhales deeply as he pulls me into him, tucking me under his arm and surrounding me with his warming campfire scent as we walk.
“Okay,” I whisper, my voice shaking as we enter the stadium and Axel leads me through.
My heat isn’t due. Not for about a month. But the itchy feeling creeping over me is all too reminiscent of a heat spike. My mind focuses on Axel’s offer to take the edge off, my omega instincts all too eager to take full advantage of the offer.
“Come on,” he encourages as we pass by a pair of his teammates. He stiffens slightly as their heads swivel in our direction and one of them takes a big sniff.
“Great taste, Warner.”
“Can I have a taste when you’re done? She smells like such a sweet treat.”
In a flash, he spins around, pulling me behind him as he bares his teeth at the pair, a possessive growl rumbling up his chest, louder than I’ve heard before.
“Mine,” he hisses through his teeth, his voice low and threatening.
“Doesn’t look like it,” the bigger of the pair remarks, puffing up his chest. “Can’t see a mark on her. She looks unclaimed to me.”
Axel launches himself at the mocking alpha but is stopped in his tracks as Chase steps between them, placing his hands on Axel’s chest.
“Get her out of here, mate,” he snaps, glancing at me over Axel’s shoulder, his dark brown eyes so full of longing it makes my chest ache. “I’ll deal with this buffoon.”
“Who the fuck are you calling a buffoon?” the other alpha growls. I don’t catch the rest of their conversation as Axel ushers me away, through a couple of doors until we reach the car park.
He quickly bundles me into his car—a sensible Subaru Forester—even going so far as buckling my belt over me before closing the door and circling to the driver’s side.
“You’re going to have to tell me your story now, Mally. Keep me distracted so I don’t turn around and knock some sense into that asshole.”
The way my core clenches and slick coats my panties at his words is almost comical.
He groans loudly. “You’ve got to distract me from that, too. I’m so close to losing it, and I just want to get you home safely.”
“Okay,” I say, crossing my legs and trying to ignore the pulsating ache as I begin. “I knew Chase in high school, when his name was Austin Hampton.”