Page 7 of Hidden in Plain Sight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #3)

~Felix~

Several hours later, with theories and questions simmering in the back of my mind, I sank into the guest bed in the Vermillion pack house. My body begged for rest even if my brain wouldn’t stop spinning. At least the mattress wasn’t straw; it seemed the Alpha did allow for some modern luxuries.

The quiet didn’t last long, however. Before I could even start to drift off, a sharp knock sounded at my door.

“Beta Felix?” came a muffled voice from the other side. “The border alert has been triggered again.”

Excitement and frustration spurred me back out of bed and I threw a t-shirt on to go with the flannel pants I wore to bed. After shoving my feet into some sneakers, I followed the pack member downstairs. “I’m heading to the weapons store. Bring me some salt.”

“Salt?” the man repeated, as if he couldn’t be sure he heard me correctly.

“Or sugar,” I added. “Either will do.”

I dashed out the door before he could ask any further questions.

The Alpha had beaten me to the weapons store, his silhouette stiff under the pale moonlight. The earthy scent of fallen leaves hung in the air, and though his grim expression shifted as I approached, the tension in his shoulders and the clench of his jaw betrayed his frustration.

“My men have been here the whole time,” he told me as I came to a stop in front of him. “No one has been in or out, they swear to it.”

“Have you been inside to check if anything else has been taken?”

“Not yet. I came over as soon as I got the alert, and it would take even the fastest creatures longer than that to get from the border to the weapons store. If they’re coming back here, they haven’t arrived yet.”

Unless one of the pack members was behind it and they’d been there all along, I added in my head. Although, if that were the case, he or she would be aware of the extra security the Alpha had ordered around the building. How did they plan to get past it?

Too many things still didn’t make sense.

The man from earlier came running up behind me, holding out a small bag. “Here’s the salt you asked for, Beta.”

I turned to thank him, the words on the tip of my tongue, when my nose twitched and every other thought fled my mind.

Crisp apple with a hint of caramel drifted over to me from somewhere out of sight, rich and tantalizing. My mouth watered, and I had to swallow down the extra saliva as I inhaled more deeply.

What the hell is that? I asked my wolf, knowing his sense of smell was even more refined than mine. Kai and I were opposites in many ways, him being introverted and stoic, speaking only when necessary, whereas people often said they couldn’t get me to shut up.

Kai growled low in my head before saying the last word I expected him to say: Mate.

The word rang in my head, disbelief warring with a burst of excitement. What?

I spun around, searching the shadows for any sign of her. Moonlight filtered through the trees, blending with the cold beams of the guards’ flashlights. My wolf-enhanced eyes scanned every flicker of movement, every rustle in the dark. If there were anyone lurking in the shadows, I should have been able to see them.

I didn’t see anything.

“Beta?” the man who brought me the salt asked in confusion, still holding onto the bag that I hadn’t taken from him.

“Do you see something?” the Alpha asked, also scanning our surroundings.

“No, but I… I smelled something,” I forced out. “Do you smell it?”

Noses all around me wrinkled, each of the men inhaling deeply.

“I don’t smell anything out of the ordinary,” the Alpha replied, and all the others murmured in agreement.

They don’t smell her because she’s not their mate, Kai pointed out.

You’re sure about this? I pressed him. Where is she?

I don’t know where she is, but I’m sure. Go find her.

The need to do so nearly overwhelmed me. I’d heard about the strength of the mate bond, watched Vaughan and Savannah both struggle against it, and even so, I never imagined it would consume me the way it did. I could barely think straight.

“I’m going to check the area,” I offered to the Vermillion pack members. “Keep watching the door.”

“The salt?” the man asked from behind me again, but I ignored him. At that moment, finding my mate trumped all my other concerns.

Why is she hiding? I asked Kai as we headed into the trees, sniffing the air to try to follow the scent. It seemed fainter that way, so I turned around and headed in the other direction instead.

Maybe she’s shy? She doesn’t know us. She might even be afraid.

The idea of my mate being afraid to meet me brought out a protective instinct I’d never experienced with such intensity before. She never needs to be afraid of me.

I know that but she might not, he answered wryly.

The scent grew stronger as I headed deeper into the trees, wrapping around me like an invisible tether. Each breath filled my lungs with its richness. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, until it felt as though she were standing right on top of me

“Hello?” I called out into the night, hoping to draw her out since I couldn’t seem to find her.

No answer came. Tiny animals scurried along the forest floor, the wind rustled through the trees, and in the distance, a coyote howled. But from my mate, from the woman who must have been close enough to hear me if not see me? Not a single sound.

I tried again, doing my best to cajole her even though I still didn’t know where to look.

“My name is Felix. I’m a visitor to this pack. What’s your name?”

Again, I heard nothing, but the fine hair on the back of my neck seemed to tingle, as though someone stood right behind me. Watching me. I spun around, hoping to spot her at last, but I only found empty air. Why wouldn’t she answer?

“Don’t be afraid. I only want to talk to you.”

That might have been a white lie, but I would settle for talking, at least to start. Her silence unnerved me like nothing else ever had. Bushes rustled to my left, and my head snapped toward the sound. Branches rippled like a wave, and my heart leapt. Someone had been there. Sprinting after the movement, I pushed through the undergrowth, hope and desperation pounding in my chest.

“Stop. Wait. Please.”

I called out the words in short bursts, desperation starting to claw at me as I emerged on the other side of the tangle of bushes and found myself in an empty clearing. The scent began to fade. Rather than heading in another direction that I could follow, it dissipated completely.

“No. No!”

The word tore from my throat as I spun in frantic circles, sniffing in vain for a trace of her scent.

Where did she go? I asked Kai even though I didn’t really expect an answer.

I don’t know. His helpless reply made me feel even worse. There must be a tunnel or something here.

A tunnel in the middle of the forest? Unlikely, but I didn’t have any other ideas. Had it all been some kind of trick to distract me? Were there supernatural creatures that could mimic the mate bond?

I’ll come back and investigate in the daylight, I offered to appease my wolf. You want to mark the spot so we can find it again?

After stripping off my clothes, I shifted into my wolf form and let Kai mark the bushes, the scent making it distinct enough that we could locate it in the morning. When I had dressed again, I took one last look around the empty space. There was no one there, and an ache settled deep in my chest. Had she ever really been there at all?