All Her Secrets

The Chase - Tyler (redone)

A/N: I am horribly horribly sorry and very very stupid. I skipped an entire chapter when I was transcribing these, so... By the stars, just read this one and skip ahead to the new chapters because nothing will change in the next three.

    The bug preventing me from doing tabs before the first sentences of paragraphs has been corrected, so I also went through all the chapters and added those.

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    Jackson wasn’t thinking. He was chasing her scent, and I knew he sure as Hell wasn’t paying attention to my revelation. He pushed our body to the limit, running faster than we’ve ever run, thinking solely about our mate and what she might look like, sound like, and hoping she’s been trained as a proper Luna. While I was thinking about those things too, the whole ‘we’re a wolf’ matter was slightly more pressing.

Jax?

What?

Are you sure-

Tyler, I’m certain. It’s her.

    I sighed before continuing, annoyance spiking my words. Jackson jumped to conclusions a lot, but then turned around and swore he was nothing like Thomas and Beau...

You are very irritating when you do that, you know.

I do know. I also do not care.

That’s not what I was asking, by the way.

Well, by all means, continue then.

You... Never mind. Anyway, as I was trying to say earlier, are you sure you want to meet her? Like this?

Like what?

    Jackson growled and I rolled our eyes. He knew what I meant, he was just being dense. Goddess, I needed to figure out a way to let him run more, he turns into a snippy asshole when I finally do let him out. Grumbling, I snapped back at him and began to slow us down against his will.

Like this, Jackson! In your body! Might I remind you that there are people in the world who are allergic to dogs? And more who are afraid of them, particularly wolves.

Tyler, stop being stupid! The Moon Goddess would not give us a mate who is allergic or afraid of dogs! She’s f*****g perfect for us, that’s why we are mates!

Okay, how about the fact that we can’t speak to her?

We’ll Change.

Our clothes are in the truck, Jax.

She's a wolf! And our Mate! Don't act like she either hasn't seen things she shouldn't have before. Besides, she'll see it all soon anyway.

You are disgusting.

I'm right. 

Okay, how about this: what if she's with a non-wolf?

Fuck.

Finally, you understand.

     Jackson fell silent for a while, trying to come up with a rebuttal to my valid point. Most of the students at Montana Tech would walk through the woods when the weather permitted, and several classes were also taught about and occasionally within, these woods. 

    The trail took a sharp turn to the west and I chuckled. Feeling a disconnected rumble in our chest, I grinned. Our lips pulling back, Jackson released a barking laugh as he connected what I was so happy about to the scent he was chasing.

Funny how she’s at the lake. It’s-

Your favorite spot. I told you, she’s perfect.

    Another half mile and a few minutes of silence later, I noticed something off about her scent. It was getting stronger with each step, as was the scent of the lake, but I was focused on why her scent seemed… off. Like there was a piece missing, or something was blocking some of it.

Jax? Did you notice anything… off about her scent?

No.

    His terse reply came quickly, but there was a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me something wasn’t right. I thought about everything she smelled like. Pine needles, night jasmine, dried sage leaves, lavender fields, oak trees in the summer, fresh-cut apples, cinnamon sticks, ripe strawberries, and baking thyme swirled with other scents I couldn’t identify to form her unique perfume.

    She smelled like the woods back home during a thunderstorm. Like the kitchen after Mom baked with Taylor. Like summertime and freedom. Like the wildflowers down by the waterfall.

    But she didn’t smell like Mom, or my sister Taylor, or my cousin Izabel, or any of the female pack members. She was missing something. A wildness in her blood.

Pine. Jasmine. Sage. Lavender. Oak. Apples. Cinnamon. Strawberries. Thyme.

Yes, that is what she smells like. Look at the big brain on Tyler, able to identify scents like an Omega!

Would you please shut the f**k up for a minute?

Fine, fine... 

Pine, jasmine, sage, lavender, oak, apples, cinnamon, strawberries, thyme.

    I repeated the list slower. My brain seemed to turn over like a car engine and the missing piece clicked into place. Our eyes widened, and our next breath hissed in, a wolf version of a gasp as everything fell into place.

And are we going to progress to Alpha level thinking at some point?

Goddess, that's it... Jackson… There’s no wolf.

    His sarcasm was beginning to wear on me, and I was surprised he couldn’t hear the thought already. He rolled our eyes and heaved a breath, displaying his own annoyance. 

Tyler, what are you talking about?

    He was getting anxious, I could tell from the way he stressed his words. Figuring bluntness was the best option, I took a steeling breath before asking him simply:

Jax… Is our mate human?

    All the while, the only other thought going through my head was:

FUCK.