Page 4 of Alpha’s Hated Mate (Shifters of Clarion)

I can smell her all over campus. It’s starting to drive me insane.

Sometimes, it’s far off, well on the other side of campus. But most of the time, it’s strong. Like she’s following me or something. Over these last few weeks, I could tell if we were sharing a class as soon as I stepped into the hallway. And whenever I walked into a room she’d been in, I could still smell her long after she’d left.

It’s crazy. I’ve never been able to pick up any wolf’s scent like this before. Maybe it’s because she’s a Scarlet. I’ve never heard of Scarlets being particularly scent-heavy. It also doesn’t appear to bother anyone else. While I’ve noticed other Scarlets around campus, I don’t seem to pick up their scent as strongly.

It must be a perfume. Something cheap that she likes to wear. That has to be a violation of some kind. Aren’t there rules about people wearing heavy perfumes? There has to be. Wolves have very acute senses, after all.

It’s already time for midterms, and I can’t afford this kind of distraction. As soon as I got up this morning, I decided to talk to Professor Robertson about it. I had half a mind to go to the dean, but that just seemed like an overreaction. The subject of a female wolf’s scent should be handled with tact, and, well, I just don’t think it would be right for me to be discussing this with a male wolf.

Professor Robertson’s office door is open, but I knock on it anyway as I peek my head in. Her office looks more like an apothecary than anything else. Shelves and shelves of books and bottles with strange liquids in them. Clusters of talismans carved out of wood and bone. Papers, folders, and books clutter her desk, and a tea-stained cup rests in the center.

She’s sitting there with her messy hair and glasses hanging on the tip of her nose, reading an open book on her desk.

“Professor?”

She looks up at me and smiles. “Mr. Vaultmore. Hello.”

“Hello. I hope I’m not interrupting you.”

“No, no. Come in, please. What can I do for you?”

I step all the way into the room, stopping just a few feet from her desk. “I just wanted to ask a question about any policies that the school might have about heavy perfumes.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Heavy . . . perfumes?”

He nods. “Being that it’s midterms and we’re not supposed to be distracted from our studies, I’m sure you would agree that students walking around drenched in heavy perfumes are a distraction.”

A slow smile creeps onto her face, and she closes her book. “You’re concerned about being distracted from your grades. Interesting.”

I don’t know what that means, but I don’t think I like it. I take a breath and start again. “The thing is that as wolves, we’re sensitive to certain smells—”

“Do you have a Luna yet, Mr. Vaultmore?”

The question throws me off. “I’m . . . I’m sorry?”

“A Luna. With the sudden death of your father, I realize that you’ve been thrust into your role as Alpha, but many families like to get the whole Luna thing settled well beforehand.”

“Professor . . . I’m sorry. What does that have to do with anything?”

She gets up and walks around her desk, leaning on the corner. “I’m just trying to discern the source of this complaint of yours.”

She really isn’t making any sense. I shake my head at her. “It’s not a complaint, per se. I am just concerned that heavy scents on female students—”

“Mr. Vaultmore, as you can imagine, I’ve been at this school a very long time,” she says with a little laugh. “And usually when a male starts complaining about the scent of a female, it’s got nothing to do with the perfume she’s wearing.”

Ah. Okay. I see where she’s going now. Great. Now I’m having a spiritual conversation. “You’re referring to fated mates, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

I sigh. “Even if I believed in that sort of thing, that isn’t the problem here.”

“Oh? Okay, well, I find it interesting that we’re several weeks into the school year and you are the first complaint about heavy perfumes on female students.”

I think about all the stories I’ve heard about fated mates. Legends and fairy tales about wolves going wild for mates that they are “destined” to be with. It’s all bullshit, of course. Just old wives tales to make the whole mating thing sound more appealing to young wolves.

And clearly, I’m talking to the wrong person about all this. I sigh again. “You know, nevermind.”

“No, wait, wait. This is a very serious thing you’re talking about. Especially since you don’t exactly have the best grades right now. I’d hate for you to get even more distracted.”

“Professor,” I say, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice, “this isn’t a joke or a game. This is a real problem. If you could just speak to the dean about making an announcement reminding everyone of the school’s policies—”

“There are no policies on heavy scents, Mr. Vaultmore. It’s a Lycan academy. Scents are a part of our anatomy.”

I clench my jaw to keep from talking back to her. Well, then there should be , I almost say. Instead, I take a breath and reply, “All right, well . . . sorry to have bothered you.”

As I turn to leave, she says, “You shouldn’t be afraid of whoever is chosen for you. You never know what good they may bring into your life.”

I just leave. I should have known better than to bring this subject up.

Midterms were difficult. My studies have all surrounded history and languages and Lycan etiquette and diplomacy. These are all things that I grew up with and I just don’t need. The longer I stay in this school, the less reason I see to be here. Father was a well-respected Alpha, and I watched him lead my entire life. I don’t need any of this formality to lead my pack.

Around lunchtime, I decide to go see Nadia. The bio labs at midday are the one place that doesn’t seem to be drenched in the smell of that Scarlet. Nadia’s pursuit of becoming a scientist usually puts her there around this time.

The second I walk through the large stone doors, there is blessed silence. I stand in the crisp white hallway for a moment and take a deep breath. A million soft sounds of absolutely nothing crash into each other. I make my way to the main lab where I find her, standing at a counter with several beakers of different colored liquids. She’s wearing goggles and a lab coat, her long hair tied back from her face.

As soon as I open the door, she looks up at me and smiles. “Hey,” she says. “What are you doing all the way on this side of campus?”

“I needed to get away.” I walk up to the table and sit down on the stool opposite her. “What are you doing?”

“Extra credit,” she says as she picks up a tube of blue liquid. “Want to see something cool?”

“Sure.”

She pulls over an empty beaker and pours the liquid in. The blue fluid sloshes into the glass unceremoniously. I raise an eyebrow at her, then clap. “Brilliant.”

She hisses in frustration. “It’s supposed to disappear. Dammit. I thought I got the gases right.”

“Science. It’s a bitch to work with, I guess.”

She laughs. “As if you would know. How do you think you did on your midterms?”

“Shitty. But it’s not my fault. I’m distracted. You know that Scarlet that I have a few classes with? The one that hangs out with Yarra Robertson?”

She pauses, then looks over at her notebook and starts writing an equation. “Mm-hmm.”

“She reeks. Some rose perfume that she probably bathes in. I smell it all over campus. It’s driving me insane.”

She sighs and finishes her equation. “I haven’t noticed. But then, I usually don’t pay much attention to trash.”

“I’m serious. It’s a problem, Nadia. And you know the worst thing? I tried to tell Professor Robertson about it, and she suggested that I was picking up my ‘fated mate.’ Fated mate? Like this is a fairy tale or something.”

Nadia laughs, and it feels good. At least somebody acknowledges my pain.

“And if that were a thing,” I go on, “how could a Scarlet be fated to be my Luna? Me? I’m a Vaultmore. Every Alpha before me would roll over in their graves.”

She glances up at me and moves back over to her beakers. “Well,” she says as she starts mixing the fluids again, “as much as we both agree that Scarlets are a stain on wolf existence, believe it or not, they are necessary for our ecology.”

I frown at her. “What?”

“Scientifically speaking,” she says, “the existence of aberrations like Scarlets are important to wolf evolution. Every so often, a normal wolf is born with some Scarlet benefits like their ability to be stealthy and their tolerance for pain—”

“So what? I’m supposed to be glad to be attracted to a Scarlet?” Nadia tilts her head and looks at me, and I realize my slip. I clear my throat. “You know what I mean.”

“No,” she says. “I’m saying that they’re a little like houseflies. They’re annoying and disgusting, but without them, we’d have to deal with much worse things in the world, in Clarion, and walking around Moonhelm. So maybe you should figure out a way to ignore her instead of obsessing like this. It’s really unbecoming, big brother.”

That stings. I scowl at her. “I’m not obsessing.”

“You know how many times I’ve thought about that particular Scarlet this week? Twice. And that’s only because I happen to share two classes with her. Trust me when I say that Saffron Kamaria is not worth thinking about. She’s not even worth this long of a conversation.”

I glare at her. The very suggestion that I’m obsessing. I’m not obsessing. How could I be obsessing?

“On a better topic,” she said with a soft smile, “the Midterm Bash is this evening. You said you would come.”

“I said I would make an appearance.”

“Good enough for me. Sounds like you need to let loose for a little while. You’re all wound up like a top.”

That really pisses me off. I’m not wound up. I’m just . . .

Nadia’s looking at me over her goggles, a smart-ass smirk on her face. “All right,” I concede. “Maybe I do need to unwind a little.”

“That’s the spirit.” She pushes the goggles back up and goes back to arranging her beakers. “Party starts at eight. Shatterstone Hall.”

With that, I take my leave. After this last round of midterms, I’m going to go to the party, have a drink as requested by my sister, then I’m going back to my dorm room and staying there for the rest of the night.