Scent of a Mate

17

“I have an idea.” Excitement lit Emma’s hazel eyes.

“Uh-oh.” Nicole dropped on to a wooden desk chair in Jordan’s classroom. She ran a hand over her drooping ponytail. Her usually pretty curly brown hair was frizzing on the sides. Nic’s first grade class was one of the most active. It was clear she was exhausted and it was only the middle of the day.

“The last time you said I have an idea, we almost got kicked out of the school.” Jordan shuffled graded papers together and put them in a manila envelope.

Emma rolled her eyes. “Stop being such wusses.”

“Wusses?” Jordan turned wide eyes to Nic. “Did she just call us wusses?”

Nic nodded with a grin and threw a board eraser at Emma. “I believe she did.”

“Emma, we’re lucky to have jobs thanks to Karla’s brother being the dean at this school.” Jordan reminded her. “Your last idea was to take the kids to clean up the park in a bad neighborhood.”

“Hey, it was a great idea. They got to do some community service.”

True. “But we had no permission to go and paint a private park. You didn’t tell us the place belonged to a church. We’re lucky they didn’t press charges.”

Emma pursed her lips and dodged the eraser Jordan threw her way. “They should be ashamed to have a park looking that way with so many volunteers. We should have gotten a thank you instead of the police called on us.”

Jordan watched Emma search for something on her smart phone before glancing up at her. Emma’s hazel eyes had gone a deep green, which Jordan knew meant high emotion.

“Okay, what’s the idea?”

They were going to find out anyway, so it might as well be now.

“I’ve been thinking of those two wolves you mentioned.”

She’d told her friends the previous day about the white wolves at the clearing. Her new and strange relationship with Aric was not discussed much. It was still in the what-the-hell-is-this phase and really weird for her to think of being involved with him.

“So what about it?”

“Remember how you said the smaller white wolf had distinctive eyes you’d never forget?”

She nodded. Of course she remembered. It was what kept her ass on that branch. The cold hate she’d seen fill the wolf’s eyes had made her reconsider coming down from the tree.

“Mason owns a paranormal club we should check out. I heard that after the Wolfe’s asked everyone to leave, a bunch of them stayed near there and are now visiting his club at night.”

“A paranormal club?” Nic perked up.

Yeah. They were going to get in trouble.

“Not all paranormals. From what I understand, vamps aren’t welcome. But think about it,” she said. Enthusiasm coated her voice. “What if those white wolves are there? We all know that wolves may go back and forth from human to beast, but the one thing that doesn’t change is their eyes.”

“That’s true.” Nic no longer sounded worried about getting into trouble. “What do you say, Jordan?”

“How do you even know about this place?” Jordan watched Emma with interest. She was too familiar with paranormals and shifters. If she didn’t know better, she’d say Emma had been spying on Mason. Not that it would surprise her, since Emma was the nosiest of the bunch.

“Does it matter?” Emma shrugged. “I happen to know that tonight is one of the nights Mason isn’t at the club. He’s off doing something else. Best time to go check it out would be today.”

What could Jordan say? “What time do you want to meet up?”

Later that evening, they decided to keep Ellie out of the plans. With Jordan and Aric in a brand-new relationship, the last thing she wanted was for Ellie to feel conflicted over taking sides. Jordan was curious to know why the wolf had wanted to hurt her. It could just be something as simple as hating humans, but instinct told her there was more going on.

They sat in Emma’s car. Groups of people entered the non-descript building. Her stomach churned. She turned to her friends.

“Horny Wolfe?”

Emma shrugged and bit her lip attempting to hide her laughter. “I didn’t come up with the name, I just found the place.”

“There’s probably an orgy going on in there. And since I am the one looking for the white wolf, I think I should go inside first and make sure it’s safe before you two come in.”

“What?”

“No”

Nic and Emma replied at the same time.

“If there’s an orgy going on, I want to watch.” Nic stared at the entrance with a frown.

Emma laughed. “Perv.”

“Shut up, you know you wanna watch too.”

“Listen to me. If we all go in there and something goes wrong, who’s going to get help?” Jordan highly doubted that the single wolf, if it were there, would attack her in a place filled with Mason’s guards. Not when the Wolfes’ were known for protecting humans.

“Fine, Nic stays, and I go with you.” Emma pulled out her Taser.

“Emma, no. I am the only one that knows what I’m looking for. One human may be strange in there, but two of us will surely call attention.” Possibly the wrong, growly type.

Something about Jordan had turned that wolf aggressive. She needed to know what.

“Here,” Emma slapped an earpiece into her hand. “Try not to lose this one.”

“We’ll stay in constant communication and if anything happens we’ll come in to get you and get back-up.” Nic held on to her cell phone. “But if there’s no danger and there’s an orgy happening, let a woman know.”

After putting on the earpiece and opening communication with Emma, Jordan stepped out of the car. Her short dress fluttered around mid-thigh, caressing her overheated skin. She wiped her sweaty palms on the sides of her clingy dress. Her heels clicked on the pavement, bringing her closer to the entrance and a club filled with paranormals. Nerves on edge, she smiled at the doorman. The giant bulky man frowned. He lowered to her height and sniffed by her neck.