We rode in the car Finnian had ordered in silence—a request I’d made of the Children because the combination of their syrupy voices and the subservient smell was simply too much all at once. Maybe handling the weirdness of the odor was part of proper Alpha training, but in my experience, Lucian’s five pups showed me less submission when I used to play with them.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only smell. My wolf kept twitching beneath my skin, not as if she sensed danger, but as if she wanted to sneeze, and I didn’t blame her. The Children seemed to carry their own cloud of patchouli and sage wherever they went. I wasn’t so sure it hadn’t just melded onto their pheromones.
I shifted in my seat, the discomfort stemming more from my companions than the plush leather. I wished Finnian had b
