His Missing Luna

CHAPTER 3

WHOSE SCENT IS IT?

NATHAN

That can’t be Saul’s scent. This scent I perceive isn’t strong enough to be his. Unknowingly I flare my nostrils and sniff Saul’s arm.

“Anything the matter, Alpha?” Saul asks me, halting his outstretched hand.

I also notice that all eyes on the table are on me.

“Is the boy your mate?” Alex chuckles in the link. “You’re staring at him and...”

“Nothing. I was just thinking of something,” I lie, and we continue eating.

Yet, I can’t get that lavender and strawberry scent off my mind throughout lunch. Neither can my wolf, Declan. He hasn’t stopped prancing around my head, urging me to investigate the scent. I know he isn’t going to let me off.

“Nathan?” A high-pitched female voice calls my name, shattering the silence at the table.

I groan and inhale deeply as the voice registers in my brain. Sasha Dummont. Daughter of the alpha of the Moonstone Pack. One of my occasional flings that has refused to remain just that. She is at the top of the she-wolves who desire to be both a mate and Luna to me.

Alex and Tyler give me pitiful looks.

“When I heard you were around, I just had to come,” Swinging her short blond hair as she sits beside me and touches my thigh.

“Hi, Sasha,” I mumble, trying to shake her hand off my thigh.

“Hello, baby,” She drops a peck on my cheek and giggles. “The Goddess sure does answer prayers.”

Declan releases a low growl. “I hate her scent. Get away from her.”

I don’t know why, but suddenly I agree with him. Her scent irritates me, and I find myself somehow yearning for that lavender and strawberry scent.

“I’m guessing she had one specific prayer,” Alex huffs in the link.

“How have you been, Sasha?” I ask as I continue eating.

“Maybe happier if a certain somebody has been answering my requests for a visit,” she answers.

She’s been pestering me for a visit, which I’ve been refusing because I don’t want to give her the impression that she can be more than a fling. “I am a busy man, Sasha. I have a pack to run and businesses to oversee.”

“The more reason why you need a Luna beside you to shoulder the work with you.”

“Thanks, but no thanks, Sasha. I don’t need a Luna.”

“Of course you do. Your pack is growing daily, numerically and otherwise. You can’t run it all on your own.” She darts her eyes between Tyler and Alex. “No offense to your Beta and Gamma, but you need a Luna,” she states.

Now I’m more convinced that she can never be my Luna.

“I’ll let you know when I throw open a vacancy for the position of Luna for my pack. Until then, I don’t need a Luna.”

“You really don’t mean that?” she asks in bewilderment, her mouth wide open.

“I do, and if you’ll excuse me,” I say as I rise from the table, losing whatever appetite I had before.

I send a message to my men, telling them I’ll be in my room resting. Which I really need. Declan wants to go for a run, but I know it’s because of the scent.

“Thanks for the meal,” I say to Saul before leaving the table. “Bye, Sasha.”

Refusing to let Declan out for a run was going to affect my rest. He kept growling in my head as I made my way upstairs to my room.

“Cut it out. I need to rest.”

“We need to search for the scent,” he growls out like a petulant child.

“Where? How?”

“Stay with that male-wolf.”

“You think he may be my mate?”

“We could ask him whose scent that was. It’s an interesting one.”

“Seriously?”

“Or we could follow him around,” Declan suggests.

“No!” I huff as I throw myself on the bed. “Now, go away. I want to rest.”

He huffs as well and retreats away.

My much-needed rest turns into a full night’s sleep, which unfortunately for me was plagued with my wolf assaulting my consciousness with a desperate plea to search for the scent.

When all else failed, he resorted to hitting my walls with his paws, growling, snarling, and howling, giving me a terrible pounding headache.

When I complained, he said he would heal me from the pain and not to worry.

He can be a problem when he wants something. After a stiff battle between us, I finally agreed to let him out for a run in the morning when I wake up. Only then was I able to get some hours of sleep before the sun broke out from the sky.

The second the sun came up in the sky, Declan was up as well, reminding me of my promise.

Groaning, I get out of bed, mumbling curses at him as I put on my jogging gear and head downstairs. The place was bustling with activities, with the Luna passing out orders. She gave me a smile as I pass by, which I return with my own.

Outside, the crispy smell of the early morning engulfs me. Closing my eyes, I take deep breaths to prepare for my run.

Declan snaps. "Can we move now?"

"We are moving."

I huff out at my grumpy wolf and break into a slow run down to my left, where I can see a patch of tall trees that look like they continue to a forest. All packs have forest areas for members to shift and run. I was almost past the row of windows, about to get to the end of the building, when the same lavender and strawberry scent from yesterday stops me dead in my tracks.

Declan freezes in my head too, nostrils flaring. His paws thudding softly in my head as he comes forward.

“It’s the same scent.”

"I know."

We sniffed the air, allowing our senses to guide us to where it’s coming from. I raise my head up towards the rows of windows at the back of the house. All are opened except for one. The last one with soft pink curtains drawn apart, showing a pink wall. And the scent is coming from there.

“It’s coming from there. Climb up and see who is in there,” Declan urges me.

“I won’t! Do you want us to be labelled a peeping Tom?” I groan at him.

“I want to see! I want to see!” My love-struck wolf chants. “Please, Nathan.”

“No!”

“That’s our mate!”

“Do you think he has a sister?” I ask.

From what I know about Kizziah, he only has a son. Who could this person be?

“Maybe. Now climb up and see her.”

“No!”

I shut him off and continue on to the forest. All the while he grumbles nonstop. I also couldn’t get the scent away from my head. The soothing smell of lavender and strawberry follows me on my run, like vines coiling round me.

On my way back, I still perceive the scent. Declan begs me again to stop and climb up.

“No. After the wedding I will find her,” I finally agree.

“Yes!” He howls in joy, rolling on his back.