Chapter 20 Riven
TWENTY
Riven
Reading people’s emotions isn’t something I’m very good at.
I listen to their words and what they’re saying, often taking it very literally, but Kady’s erratic actions completely confuse me.
I wish someone would write a manual to understand women.
Quadratic equations are easy to understand, but the workings of her mind are a complete mystery.
Hale slumps back in his chair, releasing a heavy sigh.
“Well, that went well,” Calder mutters.
I can’t tell whether he’s being sarcastic or how he feels about the situation. On one hand, he and Kady seem to hate each other, but there’s a tension between the two of them that doesn’t feel like hate at all. Why are emotions so complex?
As the silence stretches out, I’m hit by a tugging in my chest. Now that she’s gone, something feels missing. Hale and I believe Kady is our scent match, but where does that leave us if she doesn’t want a pack? What do we do next?
“I told you so,” Ezra eventually declares, looking smug. “She’s not interested in a pack.”
“She doesn’t understand what having a true pack is like,” Hale corrects him before his lip curls, and Ezra rolls his eyes. “Rolling your eyes won’t change how you feel.”
Ezra scoffs, getting up from the table and busying himself with clearing plates.
“Why didn’t you tell her about your,” Calder makes quotation marks with his fingers, “scent-match theory?”
“She’s not ready to hear it yet,” Hale replies then points at Calder and Ezra. “And apparently, neither are you two. She’s our scent match. I can feel it.”
“So do I,” I pipe up.
Well, at least I think that’s how I feel. There’s no other logical reason for the strange sensations my body feels when she’s around.
Their eyes swivel in my direction. I’m the quietest of our pack, so when I speak, they listen.
“I’ve been doing research.” I have an almost photographic memory, which is very handy.
My thoughts are organized in a mental filing cabinet, and I can sort through reams of information quickly.
Right now, snippets of previously read articles are swimming before my vision.
“When she’s around…” I close my eyes, recalling the magical sensation I experience in her presence.
“It’s like a magnetic pull. When I was in the library, I could smell her from across the room, even though she was wearing scent blockers.
It’s as if my body was being pulled toward her, like a hidden force. ”
“That’s all mumbo jumbo.” Calder snickers flippantly.
“Sure, I can’t deny that she smells good.
” Hale raises his eyebrows. “Fine, she smells great.” Calder moves a cushion over his lap.
“But that doesn’t prove that this whole scent match theory is correct.
Isn’t it plausible we just like how she smells?
Some things just smell better than others. ”
“Have you experienced a reaction like that around anyone before?” I recount the questions to a “Are they your scent match?” quiz. “Do you feel like her scent is only for you? Do your emotions heighten when she’s around? What about your arousal—”
“Okay, enough.” Calder raises his hands. “You need to stop taking quizzes online. My sexual habits are not up for discussion right now.”
“Surely, you should believe in scent matches more than anyone?” Hale probes him. “After all, your parents are a scent match.”
“And look where following their instincts got them.” Calder shakes his head. “A lifetime of hardship.”
“They’re happy now, though,” I remind him.
Whenever I’ve been around Calder’s family, they’ve seemed content, his parents’ love for one another obvious.
Watching them make their morning coffee felt like some kind of dance, where Calder’s dads revolved around his mom like a planet orbiting the sun.
Although I don’t know everything they went through when Calder was younger—Calder prefers not to talk about it—I do know that Calder’s mom was almost forced by her parents into an arranged bond with another pack.
She ran away with Calder’s dads and bonded with them in secret, which caused a huge scandal.
And because she was from an influential family, they suffered the consequences for years.
“That’s not the point.” Calder raises his chin indignantly. “It took them years to claw their way back to where they are now.” He harrumphs. “Scent matches cause nothing but trouble.”
“Isn’t what Kady’s father’s doing to her the same as what your grandparents did to your mom?” Hale raises a good point. “Only Kady doesn’t have a pack.”
“It’s not the same,” Calder mutters before stomping off to the kitchen, quickly returning with a half-eaten candy bar. He tends to stress-eat when he knows he’s in the wrong and doesn’t want to admit it.
“She doesn’t want anyone to be there for her, Hale.” Ezra, now finished cleaning up, returns. “The sooner you accept it, the better.” He heads for the door. “I’m going out.” He flicks his wrist. “I need fresh air.”
He slams the door behind him. With an omega as stubborn as Kady and two alphas who are afraid to even recognize her as their scent match, this doesn’t look good.
“Look.” My heart lifts, spotting the scarf Kady left behind. Although it didn’t match her otherwise coordinated outfit, the look of joy on her face when she explained that her friend made it was priceless.
“I can take it to her.” Calder grabs it, his nostrils flaring the moment he touches it.
He may not want to accept that Kady is our scent match, but considering his physical response to her, his body obviously disagrees.
“She may be coming to The Valley Voice office tomorrow, so I can give it to her then.”
“Be nice to her, Calder,” Hale urges. “She’s an omega who’s hurting right now, even if she doesn’t want to show it.”
“I can be nice, you know.” Calder glares at Hale. “She’s the one who doesn’t play nice.” He turns to leave. “Anyway, I have to finish proofreading the next TVV issue.” He trudges away, Kady’s scarf in hand, leaving a trail of her scent behind.
Hale turns to me. “You really believe she’s our scent match, don’t you?”
I nod. “Everything lines up. It’s statistically unlikely to be anything else.”
Beyond the statistics, I can feel it. The way I’m drawn to Kady is as strong as the gravitational pull towards the Earth, which makes our connection impossible to ignore.
“Let’s hope we don’t blow this before it even has a chance to get started.” He sighs. “She’s ours, Riven. And somehow, we have to make her and the other guys see that.”