Gypsy Moon

Chapter Six: Aiden

. . . . . . (late June)

Rhys was flipping his shït, I was trying to pay attention to Bryce, and the split in my focus was giving me a headache. He couldn't help it, he didn't know what his problem was either. He said he felt like he was drunk, and it was freaking him out.

I spotted Bryce's signal and pushed myself off the pole, all but stalking across the stage to him. I swear the bridesmaid he chose was ACTUALLY drooling. Then I spotted his second signal. The one he used when he smelled something out of the ordinary.

I leaned close to her while I danced, feeling her breath hitch as I let mine caress her shoulder. I growled as softly as I could when her scent was just a normal human wearing way too much perfume, burning my nose. Why the hell would Bryce signal a human out for me? I signed that she was a no when I got the chance, and he looked confused.

My head was killing me, and I signaled I needed us to cut our routine short. It took a few more minutes before we could get the message to the stage manager, it's hard to get a 'kill me now' face to her while we were on stage. She relayed to the DJ, and he got us off as soon as he could.

As soon as we were backstage, I collapsed.

"Shït man, I could have sworn I smelled wolf on her."

"Her perfume was horrendous."

"Yeah, sorry..." He looked genuinely contrite, and I gave him a weak smile. "Maybe it's someone in her group, I'll tour the rest of the VIPs while you get some air out back." He butted his head against mine and helped me to my feet before heading to the floor. My head felt like it was going to split open. I opened the back door and leaned against the cinderblock wall.

/:Not here!:/ I opened my eyes at Rhys's bark. If he had control of us, we'd be running in circles by now.

/:What's not here?:/

/:It's... it's just not here! I don't know!:/ His frantic tone was starting to worry me. I pulled out my ear plugs and focused on my hearing. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I sighed and spat my gum out, taking a few shallow breaths to clear out the cinnamon smell before pulling in a slow inhale, trying to filter the mass of scents assaulting my nose. Nothing weird... No, wait...

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to catch the odd scent again. I could almost feel Rhys vibrating in my mind as I stepped around the corner, slowly walking towards the front of the building. It was teasing me, the whisper of something sweet, I couldn't figure it out.

"What IS that?" I muttered, scanning the street. A handful of taxis idled at the curb, waiting for the easy fare. I glanced at my watch. Shït, I had to get back on stage for the finale in a few minutes.

"Aiden!" I turned back towards Bryce's voice, raising an eyebrow as he bounced on his toes. I jogged towards him, his behavior making me grin, he must have found something interesting.

"It was someone in her group!" Huh? Oh yeah, killer perfume lady.

"A wolf?" He fanned his hands rapidly, his excitement almost palpable.

"That's just it, I swear she smells like a wolf, but she doesn't smell like a wolf. I'm confused. I'm almost positive she's a shifter, come check her out." He practically dragged me through the dressing room and out to the floor so he could get me to look over the VIP section. My headache came back in full force as I scanned the two dozen screaming bridesmaids.

"Oh, that's a lot of noise. Who am I supposed to be looking at?"

"The Betty in the wheelchair, dumbass." What?

My gaze landed on a pixie; I swear. Her hair was almost the same color as mine, but was shorter and pulled up into a pair of fluffy pigtails. Her skin looked like fresh milk, she brushed a strand of hair out of her face and her tiny hands and elegant coral nails were almost hypnotic. Her perfect pink lips were curled around a straw, the corners pulled up in a smile while her attention was on one of the other girls. Bryce's hand waved in front of my face, and I sucked a breath in through my nose in surprise.

Pretty sure I stopped breathing then. Rhys froze in my mind as we processed the warm, sugary scent. It smelled like Gigi's cookies, white chocolate macadamia. My favorite, hot out of the oven. My mouth watered instinctively, and an appreciative growl escaped me. Bryce was going nuts, he was practically climbing on me, trying to get me to move towards her. My brain couldn't function. I was frozen in place, but my body felt like it was on fire.

He finally managed to push me hard enough to get me moving and practically threw me at the VIP section. The pixie winced and my pace increased, I needed to know what was wrong, needed to make it better. I felt like my heart would beat out of my chest when she took a deep breath and her face started to turn up towards mine.

I had waited five years for this moment as I gazed into my mate's violet eyes, Rhys was almost screaming in my mind that we had found her at last.

Her eyes met mine, I'm pretty sure Bryce was squealing. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

And then she fainted.

. . . . . .