Luna’s Soul

The Most Intoxicating Scent

“Pull over.”

Gabriel leaned forward towards his driver, intensely grabbing his shoulder, the command of an Alpha strong in his tone. “I mean it, Remy— pull over.”

Remy submitted with a confused look on his face. He gently merged the car into a parallel parking spot outside of a tiny little restaurant called The Bighorn Mountain Eatery.

Gabriel hadn’t expected it— to be driving through the small town of Choteau, Montana, on the way back to his pack land in the forest near Bozeman, when the most intoxicating smell of honeysuckle and lavender fluttered in through the cracked window of his blacked out SUV. It immediately caught his nose and clouded his thoughts.

Mate.

The thought rang in his head like a bell— crystal clear amongst the shroud of attraction the beautiful floral scent brought with it. His inner wolf was screaming at him, letting him know that this beautiful scent was the one that belonged to his mate, gifted to him by the Moon Goddess.

Mate, mate, mate. Find her.

Before Gabriel knew what was happening, he was out of the car and half running into the restaurant, his nose tilted toward to follow the scent. He left Remy staring, confused, standing by the driver door of the car.

He didn’t care. He had to find her.

Gabriel walked through the double doors with a purpose, glancing around the main room.

There was no hostess at the stand. Everyone appeared to be very busy— it was close to closing time and they were handling the last of the bustling dinner rush. Her scent was everywhere— but he was able to follow it back down a little hallway beside the kitchen, where he stood outside of a door labeled employees only.

Gabriel opened it to find that it was a meal and rest area for the staff— and it took him only a moment to find a locker that seemed to ooze of the honeysuckle and lavender aroma.

It wasn’t locked. Before he could stop himself, he was opening it and looking for a wallet— something to identify the girl behind the smell.

He found himself with a tattered purse in his hands, and he carefully pulled out the worn brown wallet from inside of it and flipped it open.

Oh.

The driver’s license inside of it had a photo of the most beautiful girl Gabriel had ever seen.

She had very long, white-blonde hair— it hung around her face in a halo. Her beautiful blue eyes captured his attention. They were the lightest blue he had ever seen— so light they were almost white. Crystal blue. Was she moon-blessed? She had to be. Her eyes belonged to the moon. They were nestled in the center of a face that surely belonged to a porcelain doll— high cheek bones, full peach-colored lips, the tiniest, slightly upturned nose.

Lily Mae Dawson. 18 years old. Five feet, two inches. One hundred and seven pounds. 211 West Main Street, Choteau, Montana.

Gabriel quickly pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of the license, but his brown eyes furrowed in confusion.

What pack did she belong to? The nearest pack to here was his own— he supposed she could belong to the Blue Moon pack, but that even seemed unlikely. They were four hours from Choteau, and it was rare for wolves to work or even live off pack land, especially she-wolves. Was she a rogue?

Gabriel carefully placed her belongings back in her locker. He would find her, no matter where she was. He decided she must not be working— her scent was strongest at her locker— and turned on his heel to leave before he got caught.

When he rounded the corner by the restrooms, he was overwhelmed with the same scent again— and this time, for good reason.

A tiny little blonde collided into his chest in the hallway.

His inner wolf was screaming. Mate! Mate! Mate! It’s her!

Gabriel was speechless as the girl pulled back to look at him in embarrassment.

Her photo did not do her justice.

Surely she was more Angel than werewolf. The pale golden waves on her head hung around her face like a messy halo— and they gently cradled the most beautiful face that Gabriel had ever seen.

The eyes— the photo did them no justice. The palest shade of blue, they were almost so unusual they were slightly unsettling— he’d seen photos of similar eyes in history books for his species, and he knew what they meant. If you believed the old texts, the crystal blue eyes meant that she was blessed by the Moon Goddess— chosen for a special feat. He stared at her white-blue irises for a long moment before she broke eye contact.

Her face was flushed bright red.

Gabriel looked at her, confused as to why she wasn’t acknowledging him as her mate. Could she not smell him? Was she weak, or sick?

“Oh, I’m s-sorry. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” Her voice was high pitched and beautiful in his ears.

That was when Gabriel noticed it. The slightly musky scent that most wolves had— the undertone to every scent that smelled slightly of moss and pine trees— wasn’t there.

Gabriel couldn’t stop himself. His inner wolf was screaming at him. He leaned forward slowly— he didn’t want to spook her— and placed his nose directly next to the hollow beneath her ear, the spot that would bear his mark one day.

He inhaled, and the sweet smell of flowers and honey blew through his senses once again— but the smell of wolf was not on this tiny human.

Confused, Gabriel leaned back to look at her. He couldn’t stop it when he uttered the word as a question, willing her to make sense of this.

“Mate?”

She gave him an awkward grin that told him that she clearly thought he was crazy before ducking under his arm and into the bathroom, muttering something that Gabriel was too frozen in shock to hear.

She was human.

His mate was human.

No wonder she couldn’t smell him. No wonder she had no idea he was her mate. She didn’t have wolf senses. She couldn’t feel the mate bond.

Could this even happen? Was it possible? And what about her eyes?

Gabriel made his feet move forward as he ducked out the side door. His body ached moving away from her, and his wolf side was angry at him and begged him to go back to his mate. We just found her! His inner wolf screamed. What are you doing? Go back!

But he knew better. He’d already drawn to much attention to himself. To a human, he was a creep who just sniffed her hair. He’d have to come back for her somewhere more isolated.

Gabriel was already typing away on his phone as he climbed into the backseat of his car and urgently tapped on Remy, signaling for him to start driving.

Remy put the car in gear, driving off in the direction of Bozeman.

“No, Remy— drive to the Bed and Breakfast on Fourth Street. We are not leaving Choteau tonight. I’m reserving a room for you, and one for myself.”

Remy glanced at him in the rear view mirror, his face confused and anxious. “Is everything alright, Alpha Gabriel? You seem spooked.”

Gabriel— despite the confusion of the fact that Lily was human, despite her not having a clue about wolves or how their world works— beamed at Remy in the rear view mirror, a smile of pride and exultation.

“Quite the opposite, Remy,” he told him. “I have found your Luna.”