Chapter 14
BEN
It’s been two days since I caught Thea’s scent and I have barely been functioning, trying to figure out what this means.
She nearly ran into me the other day while getting supplies and I caught her full scent, no descenter masking it.
It suddenly felt like a missing piece clicked inside me and I was whole.
It feels so much more significant than being scent compatible, I ended up down a rabbit hole and discovered scent matches.
I didn’t know those were even real. But that has to be what this is.
I haven’t said anything to my pack. I’m pretty sure Eli has already scented her based on our conversation a couple weeks ago.
He’s finally back home after his work trip and I intend to confront him on what he knows.
If he’s known this whole time she’s our scent match I’m going to be pissed.
Especially after what we’ve all dealt with last year.
I took today off, deciding to stay home and wait for him.
Everyone is where they typically are, work, or in Jake’s case, sleeping after a double shift.
Suddenly the front door opens to a loud, “Honey, I’m home.
” It breaks me out of my thoughts. I hear Eli greeting Duke as I get up and move towards the entryway.
Eli doesn’t look tired from his trip, which is surprising since he extended it.
He normally hates being gone for big chunks of time.
His dark skin is glowing as he smiles at me.
“Hey man.” He gives me a one-armed hug. “Surprised to see you here. But a welcome committee of one is better than none, right,” he says jokingly.
Duke gives a sharp bark, as if angry he didn’t count as Eli’s welcome committee.
I return his hug but don’t say anything. Instead, I grab his arm and pull him into his home office. Since he travels for our real estate company, he needed an office and didn’t want one at the lodge like me and Micah. His brows scrunch together as I close the door. “How long have you known?”
An ‘aha’ moment seems to happen as he sits back on the edge of his desk. “Since I helped her move in. When did you scent her?”
If I was an alpha I would be growling right now. That was over two weeks ago. “Two days ago,” I bite out, glaring at him. He laughs. This asshole is laughing.
“I’m sorry—” He breaks off, laughing. “Sorry. But you’re mad and you only found out two days ago. Try finding this out and then having to leave town for weeks. I’ve been going a lot crazier than you can imagine, even for me.”
“You should have said something to us.”
He sighs, now looking more serious. “That would’ve been the wrong call and you know that deep down.
After last year.” He pauses, taking a breath.
“After Amber, I couldn’t drop this on the pack.
It has to happen as organically as possible.
We can’t force any of this.” I’m shocked by his need for patience, that is not usually his style.
Him and Parker are the same in that respect.
“Who else knows?” I ask.
“From what I know, just Liam. She went to see him a couple days ago. All he did was text me and confirm she’s his scent match but nothing else.
The stingy bastard.” He mutters the last part under his breath.
That’s nearly half the pack. I doubt she’s met Jake or Parker yet.
Micah is the one who will be hit the hardest with this news.
“I see the gears turning, don’t overthink this.”
I scoff, “How can I not overthink this? We have a fucking scent match! We should tell everyone at dinner tonight and figure out what to do.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” a voice says from behind me.
Parker. What the hell is he doing here. A chagrined look comes across his face as he rubs the back of his neck.
“Yeah sorry for eavesdropping, you looked kind of sketchy dragging Eli in here and I was curious.” He shrugs his shoulders.
Parker’s office is right across from Eli’s, I should’ve been more careful.
Wait—why does he think it isn’t a good idea?
“Parker, have you met Thea?”
A blush ghosts across his face. Holy shit he has.
Eli bursts out laughing, this time in earnest. “See, she’s already met more of the pack than we thought without us even doing anything,” he points out.
“Keelan too. I don’t know about anyone else,” Parker tacks on. I take a seat in the small armchair opposite Eli’s desk.
Eli lets out a whistle. “This is better than I could’ve hoped for. Though I’m calling dibs on the first date. I scented her first it’s only fair.”
“She’s not a toy,” Parker says sharply, surprising both me and Eli.
He may need things a certain way to function but in general he is the most laidback of the entire pack.
“Besides, I scented her first.” He adds on to the shocking news.
He tells us of the day they met and how he wasn’t sure exactly what her scent meant.
“So you and Keelan have known, or at least suspected this basically since her first day in town?” I confirm and he nods in agreement.
“So much for being more honest with each other as a pack,” I mutter.
That was our promise after the Amber disaster and the months in group and individual therapy sessions.
Eli claps me on the shoulder. “I think this is an extenuating circumstance. And it sounds like we all wanted to be careful because of what happened last year.” As I think that over, Keelan comes in. Parker must have texted him.
“We can’t rush this. There’s something more going on with her,” he says cryptically.
That gets everyone’s attention. “What do you mean? Is she okay?” Eli rushes out.
“She was crying two days ago.” He raises a hand when I go to say something. “I don’t know why, I just tried to give her a distraction. It seemed to help calm her down.”
She did look upset the other day, but I was so thrown off by her scent I didn’t pay enough attention.
Suddenly there’s a ringing sounding through the room.
I look over and Eli has his phone out, the speaker on as Liam’s voice comes through, sounding exasperated.
“What is it, Eli? I’m in between patients. ”
“What happened at her appointment with you two days ago?” he asks, a hardness to his voice we don’t often hear from him.
“I can’t tell you—doctor patient confidentiality.”
“Bullshit. She’s our scent match and apparently Keelan found her crying by herself the same day as your meeting with her.”
A loud sigh is heard through the phone. “I’m going to fix it. That’s all you guys need to know.”
“Fix what?” Keelan questions, a slight growl slipping out.
“Before you all go crazy it’s nothing I did.
It’s a health issue that I am looking into and will find a way to fix for her.
That’s all I’m going to say on it, she deserves her privacy,” he says sternly as if he’s chastising us.
Which I guess he is but now my mind is going everywhere all at once.
It must be serious for her to be so upset.
The room is suddenly silent, everyone taking in the implications.
It’s Parker who breaks it. “She’s not dying or anything is she?” Leave it to him to voice what we’re all thinking of the worst outcome.
“No,” Liam responds in a cautious tone that sounds an awful lot like it’s not a definite.
He wouldn’t lie to us, not about something so serious.
I relax a bit at this. “Guys, I have to go, but please do not bombard her right now. I’m planning to meet with her tonight to go over what I found so far. ” Then Liam hangs up.
We all look around at each other, the mood noticeably more somber.
“Fuck it, I’m still planning a date night with her.
It’s been the only thing helping me get through being away the last couple weeks,” Eli says as he goes to leave, side stepping Keelan who’s taking up most of the doorway.
Before he’s gone, he turns around and says, “We all agree to let things happen as they will for the short term? No telling Jake or Micah?” He looks pointedly at me, causing me to glare at him.
“Fine,” I huff out. Parker and Keelan nod in agreement.