7 – The First Scent
957 Words
The palace medical wing was quieter than the rest of the capital.
Stone corridors stretched long and wide, lined with tall windows that allowed pale afternoon light to spill across polished floors. Shelves of herbs and glass bottles filled the rooms, their scents mixing into a strange but comforting blend of medicine and earth.
For most healers, the place felt peaceful.
For Elara, it felt suffocating.
She stood beside a wooden table while another healer explained where supplies were kept, but she barely heard the words. Her mind was still trapped in the palace courtyard.
In those golden eyes.
In the moment the world had shifted.
In the feeling that had exploded through her chest the instant she saw him.
King Alaric.
Her fingers tightened slightly against the table.
Mate.
The word echoed inside her mind even though no one had spoken it aloud.
But something inside her knew.
Knew with terrifying certainty.
The bond had recognized him immediately.
And yet…
Elara closed her eyes briefly.
He had stepped away from her.
Not slowly.
Not uncertainly.
But deliberately.
Like someone rejecting a blade before it could cut them.
A small ache spread through her chest again.
She pressed her hand there instinctively.
“Are you injured?” one of the healers asked.
Elara quickly shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”
But the pain wasn’t physical.
It was deeper than that.
It felt like something had been pulled tight inside her chest—like a thread connecting her to someone far away.
And the more that thread stretched…
The more it hurt.
⸻
High above the palace, King Alaric slammed the doors of his private chamber shut.
The sound echoed like thunder.
Marcus followed him inside cautiously, already knowing the storm that was coming.
Alaric paced across the room like a wolf trapped in a cage.
His control was cracking.
“This is impossible,” he muttered.
Marcus remained silent.
Because he already knew what the king had felt.
Every wolf in the courtyard had sensed it.
That explosive moment when the bond awakened.
But none of them dared say the word aloud.
Mate.
Alaric stopped suddenly and gripped the edge of his desk.
His knuckles turned white.
“I buried that fate once already,” he said coldly. “I will not repeat the same mistake.”
Marcus finally spoke carefully.
“My king… the bond cannot be ignored forever.”
Alaric’s eyes flashed dangerously.
“I ignored it today.”
Marcus sighed quietly.
“For now.”
The king didn’t answer.
Because deep inside, he knew the truth.
Ignoring the bond had not weakened it.
If anything…
It had made it worse.
⸻
Suddenly Alaric’s head lifted slightly.
His wolf stirred.
A scent drifted through the open window.
Soft.
Warm.
Alive.
His chest tightened instantly.
Elara.
The scent hit him like lightning.
Cedar.
Rain.
Wild earth.
And beneath it—
Something uniquely hers.
The bond reacted violently.
His wolf surged forward again.
Mate.
Alaric exhaled sharply, gripping the desk harder.
“Enough,” he growled under his breath.
But his body had already reacted.
His senses sharpened.
His breathing deepened.
Every instinct inside him pointed toward one direction.
Toward the medical wing.
Marcus noticed immediately.
“You feel her.”
It wasn’t a question.
Alaric’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“And?”
Alaric’s voice dropped into something darker.
“Every part of me wants to go to her.”
The room went quiet.
Marcus studied him carefully.
“Then why are you standing here?”
The king’s eyes hardened instantly.
“Because the last time I followed that instinct…” he said slowly, “it destroyed everything.”
The memory hit him like a blade.
His first mate.
Her betrayal.
The blood.
The war.
The loneliness afterward.
He had rebuilt himself from those ashes piece by piece.
And he would not let fate burn him again.
Even if the Moon Goddess herself demanded it.
⸻
Meanwhile, Elara stepped outside the medical wing into a small herb garden.
The sun was beginning to sink, painting the sky in soft gold and amber.
But her attention wasn’t on the sky.
It was on the strange pull inside her chest.
It had grown stronger.
Almost unbearable.
She placed her hand over her heart again.
“Why does it hurt like this…?”
Her breath trembled slightly.
Because she knew the answer.
The bond was stretching between them.
And every step he took away from her…
Every moment he refused it…
The pain grew sharper.
A soft wind moved through the garden.
And suddenly—
His scent reached her again.
Stronger this time.
Elara froze.
Her heart skipped.
Without realizing it, she turned slowly toward the palace.
Toward the highest tower.
And far above…
King Alaric stood at the balcony.
Watching the city.
Watching the horizon.
Trying desperately not to look in the direction where he knew she was.
But something inside him refused to obey.
Slowly…
Against his will…
His gaze drifted downward.
Toward the palace gardens.
And there she was.
Standing alone beneath the fading sunlight.
Even from that distance, the bond reacted instantly.
Elara lifted her head.
Their eyes met again.
Across half the palace.
Across stone walls.
Across every barrier he had tried to build.
The connection ignited.
Sharp.
Immediate.
Dangerous.
Elara felt her breath catch.
Alaric felt his control slip another inch.
And for a brief moment…
Neither of them moved.
Neither of them spoke.
But the bond between them pulsed like a living thing.
Growing stronger.
Stronger.
And impossible to deny.
Alaric turned away first.
But this time…
It took everything he had.
Because deep down…
His wolf had already made its decision.
And wolves did not reject their mates forever.
- Writer
