Andy

My head pounded from the loud music and all the giggling of the women around me. They pushed against me but I had little interest. There was really only one in this crowd that could draw my attention. She was in the center of the group and currently ignoring me as she tended to all the males clustered around her like she was the queen bee.

Quinn Lotzel

The most beautiful woman in the school and since I had stepped foot back, the only one I couldn't get my mind off of. I retreated to the balcony to watch her. She ran a hand through her flawless golden hair and laughed at something Jahmal said to her. Her voice was like twinkling bells.

Ugh. How could a woman have me thinking such sappy things? I turned my back on the crowd and leaned against the bannister. She was pretty and sexy as fuck. I didn't need to be some weak sap. I was an Alpha for God's sake. If I wanted her, all I had to do was take her.

"Andy," Zed jerked to attention. "Do you smell that?"

I wasn't close enough to Quinn to get a good whiff of her. "No."

"Not her," Zed snorted. "No, from our room. It's faint, but you have to smell it."

I groaned. I didn't want to leave my place. I wanted to go down there and corner Quinn. But I knew Zed. If I didn't go check this out, he'd never leave me alone about it. I met Jahmal's eyes and glared at him. I needed him to keep his paws off the woman I'd decided was going to be mine. The perfectly sweet and innocent woman that had saved herself for me for years. Jahmal scowled at me, but he nodded in acknowledgement.

Now I'd go inspect what had Zed so worked up.

I walked to my room and sniffed. My window was cracked open to let a breeze in. I froze in place. Zed was right. It was faint, but there was an intense sweetness calling to me. It was a mix of vanilla and peony.

"Mate!" Zed screamed.

My mate? But the scent was fading. I whirled. I had to find who it was.

The stairs were packed with the party-goers going up and down. If I tried to go down that way, I'd lose precious time. I vaulted over the balcony and landed in a clearing not too far off from Quinn and her throng of followers. For once, though, my attention wasn't on her. I wanted to find my mate. I needed to see her.

I let my nose guide me and I turned this way and that until I detected the faint scent leading me into one of the little-used rooms on the first floor. My gym. Her scent was stronger here, but she was missing. My fist clenched and my stomach tightened. Whoever she was, she couldn't have gotten too far from me. I had to know who she was, and she had run.

"Andy?"

I looked up as the door to the gym closed and it clicked as it was locked. Quinn tossed her hair and smiled at me. She leaned her head back and exposed her long slim throat to me. The familiar urge to grab her and kiss her washed over me, but Zed's calls for us to hurry overrode the usual hormones. "Sorry, Quinn, I can't stay."

I reached to set her aside so I could reach the door, but she grabbed my forearms and leaned against my chest. Her perfume that I had always thought was the sweetest scent out there stung my nose. She rubbed against me. "Please, Andy, I've got something I want to tell you. Something I've wanted to tell you for years."

I looked at the top of her head as she snuggled against my chest, then back to the door. The scent was so faint now. Would I even be able to find her? "Quinn," I resisted her advances. "This is important."

Quinn slipped her hand up my shirt and traced her fingers upward. Our skin made contact, and I groaned. With the scent of my mate so faint, it was easy to focus on this sensation. She chuckled and leaned close, nuzzling beneath my chin. "Andy, I want to be with you. I saved myself for you. While all those other sluts were giving their bodies away, I waited. I didn't want to be like that whore Chloe and throw my body at the entire pack of warriors. I've only wanted you."

I groaned. I was losing any will to follow after my mate. Maybe I could run into her again or maybe I'd never cross her again. Quinn, the woman I'd longed for and had so many wet dreams about was in my arms. "Quinn," I whispered. "Are you telling me the truth?"

She glanced up at me through her full eyelashes and reached into my pants and squeezed my semi-hard erection. "You'll find out when you take me, Andy. I've never let anyone touch me, or even see this." She pulled away to shimmy her expensive blouse up and her pale creamy skin and rosy nipples were exposed to me. "Touch them," she whispered to me.

"Andy!" Zed complained. "Our mate!"

I couldn't help myself and I grabbed both of Quinn's breasts in my hands and squeezed them. Her soft voice filled my ears as she moaned my name and writhed against me. "Andy," she panted.

"Andy!" Zed snapped again. "Now!" Reluctantly, I helped Quinn lower her shirt. "Quinn, don't take this as a rejection. But I have to go find someone before I can spend time with you." I grabbed her hands, and she looked up at me with tears brimming in her eyes. "Wait for me," I begged her.

I would give Zed his hunt. We'd follow that bewitching scent and try to find who it belonged to, but if we couldn't find her. I'd made my choice. I'd wanted Quinn for far too long to just turn this opportunity down.

Chloe

I stared at the toast on my plate. Was there any way to make this breakfast take longer? I'd stretched it into an hour already, but it wasn't nearly long enough. I was running out of excuses to stay at the table. My entire day had been a slow one. When I'd gotten home the night before I hadn't been able to sleep. I had just tossed and turned in bed and was haunted by the knowledge that I'd almost met my mate. The one person that the Moon Goddess had chosen especially for me.

Even when I'd finally gotten my sleep though, Jade had been bounding through my dreams. My wolf was ecstatic. I couldn't blame her. I understood the importance of it all.

I'd found my mate. No, we'd found our mate. Jade had almost gotten the chance to meet the wolf that she'd be forever linked to. The one that we'd likely ran into today.

Chances were since he'd been at the party yesterday, he went to the same school too. I could run into him today. I could be less than an hour away from coming face to face with my mate. Our entire life was about to change in the course of one day.

Nothing would ever be the same for me again.

I forced down another bite of the dry toast. Everyone else had already finished their breakfast and carried on with their lives. I had no need to tell them that mine had changed. Nothing would ever be the same for me before.

"Chloe, will you stop acting like you're being sentenced to death? We found our mate! We're going to talk to him today. We're going to be together just like the Goddess always meant for us. This is a happy day. You should be telling everyone, not hiding it all like this."

I ignored her and finished the last of the toast. My juice glass was empty, and the clock ticked on. I had run out of time to lag behind. If I didn't get going now, my mom would drag me to school by the ear.

Why couldn't I have gotten some sort of sickness from the party yesterday?

A knock on the door tore me out of my struggles and, sighing, I went to go answer it.

"It's about time," Kale complained. "You never called me last night, so I didn't know if you made it home okay. What happened, Chloe? You just ran off. I tried to follow you, but I lost track."

I hadn't wanted anyone to follow me. "Sorry. Is it school time already?"

"Yes, and if you don't leave in the next five seconds, you really are going to be late this time. Come on!"

I sighed and nodded. It was time for me to go face my destiny. I wasn't completely against meeting my mate. I did want to know who that delicious scent belonged to. Who had the Goddess picked out for me? But I still couldn't squash the doubts that plagued me. No matter how many assurances Jade whispered to me.

I was not mate material.

"Why are you so quiet, Chloe? What's going on?" Kale looked down at me and frowned. His normal smile was nowhere to be seen.

"I smelled my mate yesterday."

His eyebrows jumped. "Your mate?" he whispered. "Damn, Chloe. I didn't think you'd ever find that. Congratulations! Who is the lucky bastard?"

I shook my head. "I don't know."

Kale tipped his head to the side. His eyes scrutinized me. "Let me get this straight. You smelled your mate, but you didn't meet them? How did that happen? They run away from you?"

I swallowed. This was the part that was hard to admit. "No. Actually, I ran from them."

"Oh, that's why you were acting so weird yesterday." Kale dragged me after him, picking up our pace so we were jogging more than walking. "Sorry, we don't have time to be slow, Chloe. We really are going to be late today."

I couldn't care less if I ended up late. Still, I didn't want to cause any problems for Kale so I picked up my speed and we pushed ourselves to the level we did in our training and we raced into the school even earlier than we had the day before.

Kale bent over, gasping for breath. "Damn it, Chloe. If you have that in you, why are we always almost late every single day? Don't you think you could show me that kind of speed any other time?"

I chuckled at him. He looked funny, doubled over like that. I wasn't even winded. "You need to work out more if that's enough to exhaust you, Kale. I didn't train you to be that weak."

"Ha," he spat. "Well, now that we're here on time, you can get in class and go get prepared for that chemistry test of yours."

I groaned. I had almost forgotten about that test. I'd rather have a combat or fitness test than mess with chemistry. The last time I'd had one of those tests, I'd created some sort of thick slime that had gotten in stuck in Kale's hair. I'd had to shave him bald, and he'd complained for a month straight about it.

"Don't create anything weird this time," Kale scolded me.

I rolled my eyes at his back as we strolled down the hallway.

Wait.

There it was again. The strong scent of cinnamon tickled my nose, and I sniffed the air, enjoying the spice and the subtle undertone of watermelon.

"Mate!" Jade screamed again, her voice rebounding in my head.

The scent was coming from directly behind me. Kale turned to check what was behind us and his body straightened.

Who was it?

I slowly turned on my heel like someone else was controlling my body. I came face to face with the future leader of my pack.

The soon to be Alpha.

Andy Cain.

Andy

I had followed that tantalizing scent through the hallways and abandoned the group of friends I was. I had to know who it belonged to. She turned to confront me, pressed close to her current boy toy. Her lips formed my name, though no sound came from her.

Out of all the people in the school, I never ever expected my mate to be Chloe Gabriella. I was at a loss, staring at her. Her friend watched us, his eyes bouncing back and forth. At least he was smart enough to not interfere with this.

Zed moved before I did. He surged to the front of our mind and took control. "Why did you run?" he growled at her. He stepped forward, and she backed away until she backed into the lockers. He put an arm above her head, trapping her against our body, and stared into her eyes. She didn't allow her wolf to answer or to even come forward.

"I-" she whispered, then stopped with a shake of her head. "Sorry," she apologized instead, with her head bent toward us. "I didn't know it was you," she replied lamely.

I wrested control back from my wolf. This was my problem to handle. He could wait in the sidelines. "Does it matter who it was? When you smell your mate, you don't run."

The eyes of the warrior at her side widened, and he stared between us. "Mate?" he whispered. "What's going on, Alpha? What happened?"

Why did he think it was any of his business? I repressed the urge to grab him by the throat and throw him to the other side. Her vanilla and peony aroma clung to him. How many times had they fucked for it to be part of his scent? I forced my mind to stop going down on that track. It didn't remember.

Instead, I turned my attention to the man. Who was this again? I racked my brain trying to remember, but he'd been such a background warrior. It was all fuzzy. Besides, it had been two years since I'd been with my warriors. This guy had never stood out aside from some of the women in the pack after him.

Still. I was an Alpha, and my brain finally gave me the information I needed. "Kale, isn't it?" I questioned after several moments.

"Yes, Alpha," he answered with the proper bowed head. At least he still knew his place.

"Can you give me a moment to speak to her alone?" I glanced back and forth down the long hallway. Due to classes about to start, they were nearly abandoned. It's just what I needed. I didn't want the whole school to witness this. No one needed to know that my mate was this woman.

"I'll see you in classes, Chloe," Kale offered to her with a weak smile and a final curious glance my way. He wasted no time in slipping into the chemistry room and closing the door behind him, leaving us alone.

Chloe swallowed and looked up at me. She crossed her arms over her chest. "What do you want, Alpha?" she whispered the words. Her body trembled.

She was going to pretend she couldn't sense what was between us? What did I want? I wanted to growl in her face.

Fine. That would just make this whole job easier.

"Andy, what are you doing?" Zed sensed my intentions. "You can't be serious. She's the one chosen for us. We have to give her a chance to explain herself fully."

"Zed, she ran from us. What kind of mate flees from the one they're destined to be with? Besides, we both know she'll never be good enough for us or the pack."

I kept the control away from my wolf. He'd no doubt do something stupid and try to claim her by force to cement the bond. I wouldn't let that happen. She'd had her chance to explain herself and she had failed. I knew what had to be done for the good of the pack. The Moon Goddess had made a mistake this time around, and I'd just have to fix it myself. "We'll talk later, Zed," I told him.

Didn't she understand it didn't matter what she said? I'd made up my mind the moment I'd understood the tantalizing scent that had tempted me so much was hers. I reached down and nudged her chin up with my index finger, so she stared into my eyes. I didn't want her to misunderstand any of this.

"Chloe Gabriella of the Crescent Blood Pack," I started in a steady voice.

"Andy!" Zed screamed at me. He would get over this. I knew better.

Her head jerked, and she stared at me wide-eyed. She didn't object, but horror entered her features and big tears glistened in her eyes. I told myself those weren't because of any feelings she had, but because I was taking away her chance to rule this pack one day. This type of woman didn't deserve power, ever.

"I Andy Cain, the future Alpha of the Crescent Blood Pack, reject you as my mate and the future Luna of this pack. What the Goddess has brought together, I hereby dissolve."

"No!" Zed's scream echoed in my head. He threw himself against the prison I had built around him, but it was too late.

I stared into her eyes and the bond and her sweet scent crumbled away. It was like a knife plunged into my gut and reached inside of me, pulling out my insides and crushing them. She crumpled to the ground crying, and I used an elbow to lean against the locker so I didn't fall down.

It didn't matter what Zed or Chloe thought anymore. I had done it and this woman no longer meant anything to us.

I was free to go after who I really wanted.

The Moon Goddess had gotten my mate wrong, but I knew exactly who I wanted at my side and once this unbearable pain stopped, I was going to go to Quinn and tell her everything.