THE UNATTAINABLE ALPHA

CHAPTER 7 - HER SCENT

-PHOEBE’S POV-

“Why the f**k should I extend your time there?” Gamma Pete from MoonBlood snapped over the phone. “We have a batch of fifty new warriors to train and you want to stay in FireBrick? It seems like you are having too much fun over there.”

I was trying to wrap up the conversation because I was in the back seat of Chad's white Chrysler 300 car. Joana was in the passenger’s seat and we were on our way to a cottage party. For my sake, the radio was off since I was on a call.

“Uh, well.” I was determined to persuade Pete to let me stay here while Hudson and I discussed how we should proceed with our mate bond. “It’s Joanna. She’s ……..” I quickly searched my mischievous brain for a conceivable lie. I should have put more thought into this.

“Joanna’s a big girl. It’s her mate’s responsibility to take care of her. Not you, Pheebs.” He paused and hit me with dead-on words that caught me off guard. His voice was laced with mockery, “Is this about some guy? Knowing you, it’s probably a hunk that you think you like.”

Busted.

“Hey!” I drawled with an act of innocence, then said sweetly, “As the hardest working warrior that you have, don’t you think you could cut me some slack?”

He sighed with a level of understanding, “I’ll ask Wendy to take up your duties and you know that she’s going to hate you for this.”

“Thanks, Gamma Pete,” I smiled triumphantly. He would inform Alpha Tyrrel so that settled it. The call terminated and I put away my phone. I’ll show Hudson what he’s missing out on. f**k! The thought of him sent bolts of pleasure down my spine. This was not the right time to be aroused.

Joana turned to glance at me with a smile. “Thanks cuz.”

I returned a fake smile because extending my stay had nothing to do with her. “Anything for you.”

Chad made a left turn after bypassing the stop light. He’s lucky that the cops won’t interfere with the high-ranking wolves of the territory. He held Joana’s hand throughout the journey and drove with one hand on the wheel. These two were joined to the hip.

Jealousy encompassed me. The little green monster was trying to ruin my positive vibes. My mental daggers sent it to sudden death and I was good again. Tonight, the silvery maiden's quarter orb in the night sky gleamed exceptionally bright, expressing to me that I don't need to be whole to shine.

My cousin landed an awesome mate. Chad's an eye-catcher with a square-shaped face that stops hearts. He's roughly 6'4 in height of unapologetic muscles with faux-hawk neutral brown hair and light brown eyes and prominent facial features. He was smart, strategic, tough, and the overprotective kind. Additionally, he was a former football star and did not take crap from anyone. Now his admirers can only look but don’t touch.

Joanna actually blended in seamlessly with everyone. Her new status commanded respect from the pack members. She made a new friend whose name was Merle who sat beside me. She was dressed in a cream sweater dress with shoulder cutouts and a turtleneck, ribbed sleeves, and matching spool-heeled boots.

Merle was also stunning, with medium-length curly black hair, baby blue eyes, and the most lovely almond-colored complexion. She was into cosmetics and aspired to create her own line.

My small black dress had a drawstring design on the left side that slanted it to sit just below the hip, revealing legs and curves. It had a lace-up back and was open down to the belly at the front. The aim tonight was to turn heads and have men talking about me. Because I’m certain that being in high demand would rile Hudson up with a similar jealousy that plagued me every time I saw mates together.

A smug smile twisted my lips.

The car turned downhill on a narrow winding road where we could spot three lighted cottages on the plain. On arrival at the green and white, southern classic cottage, I received a ton of whistles and stares. I was here to flaunt and flirt as I weaved through the gyrating crowd like I was on a runway.

Making our way to the kitchen for drinks, beer and liquor lined the counters. Joana pulled me to her side with a warning, “No getting drunk.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” I gritted and blinked at her furiously. She responded with a warning glare.

Chad introduced us to some friends. Most of the guys gawked at me lustfully. I was fresh meat to their preying eyes, yearning to be devoured.

“Don’t overdo it, Phoebe.” Joana annoyingly mothers me.

I scratched my right eye with my middle finger. She scoffed. The last time I checked, I was a grown-ass adult.

“It’s official. You are going to the mating ceremony next year.” Joana rolled her eyes at me.

There was a time when she used to be cool. It sounded like she wanted me to get mated because she had found her soul mate. If I hadn’t met Hudson, I’d be like, what’s the rush? The depths of shame cannot convey how terrible it was to be cast aside.

Sadly, werewolves rejected each other all the time and my heart panged with pain when I thought that I might share a similar fate.

Fishing for my strong resolve, I internally chanted that this would be a fun night. My eyes bounced around the room to be entertained. The guy by the staircase was adorable, tall and lean-built with spiky toffee hair, ice-coffee eyes, and a nice patch of freckles across his cheeks. Our eyes met and he smirked. I bit my lips flirtatiously.

I left the small group to go outdoors and find a nice area for myself. Guys normally sought me out. It would be a matter of time before at least five guys approached me. It always worked.

As I leaned on the oak tree in the yard, bobbing my head to the music. My cup emptied of its contents and I threw it away. The guy from the staircase found me and handed me a beer. Taking it, I took a gulp from the bottle.

“I’m Gulliver, what’s your name cutie?” He leaned his back on the same tree beside me in his navy blue skinny jeans and matching shirt.

“Phoebe,” I answered, noticing the air of confidence that he portrayed.

“What’s a pretty unmated girl like you doing by yourself?” He swigged his beer three times before looking at me.

“I was waiting to see who would be bold enough to approach me.” I was positive that he would be the first of many.

“Well, then,” he says, giving me a subtle wink and a dashing smile of white teeth. “Since I’m the first, what’s my prize?”

Ignoring his question, I coquettishly added, “You looked like you weren’t enjoying the party. I’m sure that my company is an escape for you.”

“That’s because my friends forced me to come and I growled at every girl who vied for my attention.” He muttered and skimmed around the yard for his men. “Just like you, I’m not from this pack.”

“How did you know?” My tongue wetted my lips. It was a habit and not meant to turn him on.

“Alphas have heightened senses to detect these things.”

“Alpha?” s**t! I hadn’t realized it. He must be concealing his aura.

“Hmm,” he nodded.

“Let me guess, you have a girlfriend so you’re not interested in anyone.” I tried to analyze him. “She’s your mate, right?”

“Correction, I had a girlfriend who found her mate two days ago and dumped me.” Lifting the bottle to his mouth, he took another sip.

“Aww, I’m so sorry.” I felt sympathy for him. He must have genuinely loved her to be sulking. “But what made me the lucky girl to have you all to myself?”

He paused, taking a long breath, and ran a fast inspection over my body. “There’s something about you that I find intriguing. You have a certain glow that the others don’t possess.”

Just then, Merle approached us and stopped midway. Her eyes intently gazed at Gulliver. From the side view, Gulliver sniffed the air and stiffened and his eyes immediately went pitch black, emitting a growl. They walked up to each other, staring like the rest of the world did not exist.

Please, don’t tell me…….

“Mate.” They both uttered in unison. The bond snapped into place.

Of course, I drawled.

Everyone around me seemed to be finding their mates. “Congratulations!” I shouted as though they would hear me. I was losing my vibes and I needed it back.

Quite frankly, I was happy for them, but too bad that they prompted the bad memory of the fact that my mate was avoiding me. My mate bond was a toxic, chaotic mess. I could cry tonight, which is not fair because this was supposed to be my fun night. In frustration, I went to the drinking station and had as much liquor as I could and I swayed on the dance floor all night.

-

-

While Joana and Chad went to their rooms to mate. I needed fresh air. After going behind a pine tree to strip, I tied my dress to my ankle and shifted into my white wolf. Once I was on all fours, Keke across the meadow, relishing in the wind against our fur, leaping over logs, and enjoying the soft dirt beneath my paws.

“I wonder what his alpha wolf looks like,” Keke cooed in remembrance of Hudson’s perfectly well-sculpted body and the manner in which his muscles flexed the night that he touched me. Our first kiss was spectacular and he felt it too. Nonetheless, he was being a jerk.

“Most Alphas’ are either grey or black,” I told her. “Can we stop thinking about him for one second?”

“Okay,” she consented. Phew!

My nostrils widened as I took a long whiff of the night’s crisp air. We weren’t heading anywhere in particular. The objective was to dash around the forest in a blur until we were too tired to think.

“He’s not cheating on us since we don’t feel any heartache.” Keke thought of him as we stopped abruptly at a stream. She hoped it would serve as evidence that he cared about our feelings.

“You promised that we wouldn’t think about him.” I scolded. My face fell and a frown formed. Hudson did not want us and he had to tell me why.

“You said not to think of him for a second and that’s long gone.” She laughed, trotting to the edge of the water and looking at the mirrored version of ourselves.

After three hours, the run pretty much did naught to get Hudson off my mind. Then I went back to the pack house to masturbate. My arousal had been getting too out of control since I met Hudson. A release was well overdue. He did not reject me, so I thought that it would be cheating if I hooked up with someone else.

When I got to my bedroom, my eyes pulped. “What the f**k?!”

My voice echoed in the room as I stood in the doorway. Puzzled, I walked into an empty room. I meant it was completely empty! Scurrying over to the walk-in closet, my pieces of luggage were gone.

No furniture, no curtains, or décor was there. It was all cleared out. Absolutely bare! Someone is going to explain this and if this was some sick joke, they will pay. Fuming, I was ready to beat the s**t out of someone.

Consumed with rage, I stormed upstairs to Joana’s room and pounded on the door. A disheveled Joana, wrapped up in a silk green sheet, opened the door, clinging tightly to the coil of the material over her bosom. Her black tendrils unruly flopped all over her face and down her shoulders.

“What the hell is your problem?!” She retorted.

Chad sat up in the bed tugging a towel over his very aroused naked body. This was a damn emergency and she was going to help me sort my s**t out.

“My room is empty and all my stuff is gone!” The anger that coursed in my blood made it difficult to control the high pitch of my voice.

“Oh,” Her face morphed into a sympathetic expression. She brushed disordered hair from her face and scratched behind the ear. “Honey, I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry does not fix my f*****g problem so you are going to help me right now.” I jabbed my finger at her, being very determined and adamant to get what I wanted.

“Hold up,” Chad slid to the side of the bed with his feet on the floor, but he was sure to cover his middle section. “Phoebe, there’s an explanation.”

Now he had my full attention. I pushed Joana aside, “Heyyy!” She protested.

I boldly ignored her and marched into their bedroom. “What happened?”

“Hudson called when we were at the party and told us to have the room renovated. He wanted everything thrown out.” Chad explained as his shoulders sagged. “The Alpha did not explain why. He mentioned something about the room needing a fresh scent. It was an immediate command, so I instructed the Omegas to work on it right away.”

“What?” My knuckles turned white with the lack of blood flow because of how tightly I clenched my fist.

This hit a nerve. Hudson was removing my scent from the area since the omegas cleansed all the rooms daily to provide a refreshing fragrance. A mate’s scent calms the soul of the other. We revel in it because it’s the sweetest aroma on the planet. Just by smelling his lovely, chocolate-infused morning dew, I got aroused and my cunt pulsed.

“Phoebe, what on earth did you do to the Alpha?” Joana came to my side and sternly demanded, arching her brows in a hard and judgmental way.

I put up my index finger to hush her, “Wait,” and questioned Chad, “Where is my stuff?”

He tilted his head a little to the side, “They are in the room next to us. It’s the first door on the right.”

Despite the circumstances, a smile formed on my face with a mischievous twist. Being next to them signified that I had moved to the Gamma floor, which was a level closer to the Hudson. I guess I could live with that. Excitement washed over me.

“I forgot to tell you but I was…..” He glanced at Joana, raking his lustful light brown orbs appreciatively over her, and licked his lips, “Distracted.”

“Again, I’ll ask you,” Joana meandered over to Chad, straddling him right before my eyes as her hands went around his neck. She looked at me and queried, “What’s going on between you and the Alpha? What did you do to piss him off?”

A nervous chuckle escaped me, “Eh-heh-heh.” There was no need to tell them about us yet. “I’ll fix it when he comes back.” I turned to leave and then swung around to inquire, “Did you, by chance, tell him that I was here?”

“Nope.” Chad gave a muffled reply and he buried his mouth on his mated mark on Joana’s neck.

“Good, let’s keep it that way.” I was thankful that he kept me out of their conversation.

“Phoebe, I warned you about Hudson……. Oh!” Joana reminded me, moaning in between her sentences. “He refuses to take a Luna………..Uh!.......... Do you really think that you can tame him?............. Ngh………..Did you stay here because you have the hots for him?... Mmm.”

“It’s not like that.” I pouted and crossed my arms on my chest. He was mine and I was his. We were mates and that made the situation different. I zoned out thinking about him. I needed a course of action to woo my Alpha.

“The door is open and the key is on the night table,” Chad mumbled with his focus on his woman to resume what I had interrupted earlier.

“Bye cuz, and close the f*****g door on your way out,” Joana’s words took me out of my reverie. Chad was lying on his back with Joana on top, kissing him down his chest. I was the third wheel in the room.

Expelling a wistful breath, I bolted. My eyes could take no more of their open display of s****l relations.

“f**k, baby,” Chad groaned just as I closed the door.

I wished my ears would stop working and prayed that I would not have to endure hearing them from my new room.

Cool, I stood in the middle of the new space. This room was bigger than the first one. It had a charming airy layout with a calming blue wall accent and trendy painted colors of dreamy white and gray undertones. My red jewelry armoire and cosmetics were on the grey double dresser.

The shiny key was on the metallic table lamp which had its pair on the other side of the polka-dotted bedding and fish-pattern pillows with a tufted upholstered headboard and two large woven trunks at the base. The geometric rug of white, gray and black on the floor gave a cohesive feel.

My focus shifted to the quaint alcove beside the bay window, which had two glass vases with lavender flowers on the windowsill. In one corner was a built-in workstation with two white shelves above. Sweet, I loved it.

After rummaging through the luggage in the closet, a satisfied grin colored my face, since nothing was missing. I showered and slipped into my orange satin night dress and walked into the room and flopped down on the bed, staring at the white vaulted ceiling.

Hudson was repelled by my scent. Why? He was trashing anything in a room that contained my stench since he was so desperate to get rid of me. We could have our happy ending if he would stop being obnoxious and despicable. Moon goddess, in what lifetime did I scorn a man to deserve this? Will I be torn by the time Hudson is through with me?

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I rolled on my tummy and picked up my phone from the night table. It was Jerald. I chuckled, knowing that he would make my night better. Unlocking the screen, I opened the message from him.

-Jerald: Pheebs, you need to come home.