Ruairi

Once again, I could not find her. Her scent was the strongest near the edge of the neighborhood closest to the pond where many of us fished at. However, I could never find her exact location. I knew she had to live somewhere around there, but she was hiding from me. Why I was not sure, but I knew there was a reason. Her scent was a mix of cedarwood, amber, lilies and an ocean breeze. It confused and excited my wolf, Locke, and I. It was a strange but alluring mix of light and dark. Locke had finally been able to track the scent to a house. We had sniffed around the front of the house, but we had to be extremely careful. We had noticed that every fucking plant there was poisonous to us and every other supernatural species. The other strange thing about her scent was that we could not distinguish the species of supernatural she was. I had even spoken with my father and described her scent to him, but he was stumped as I was.

“Why are we here again?” Peadar asked.

“Because we need shit for my mother's upcoming birthday.” I replied.

My mother’s birthday was coming up. Father was throwing her a party which I am fairly sure she already knew about, and I do not think she wanted. She, however, would not say anything about knowing. She was aware how important this party was to him, so she played along. We had just stepped out of a store when her scent hit me. Locke came forward enough to look through my eyes as I began looking around for the source of that intoxicating scent. I was coming from a small cafe across the street. As fast as I was able, I crossed the street. I tracked the scent to a table outside the cafe. However, by the time I got there she was gone. I let out a growl of frustration that had the guys looking at me. I walked away following the scent to a nearby parking lot. 

“Fuck!” I growled.

“Was it her again?” Niven asked.

“Yes, I swear she is playing with me.” I said.

“What does her scent smell like?” Uilleam asked.

I was not able to explain what her special scent that I can only smell was like. I did however try to explain what her scent, which I was guessing was related to her species, smelt like. I saw a look of recognition filter across Niven's face as I described the scent.

“Hold the fuck on! Does it smell like the fresh air and spicy dark rum?” Niven asked.

“No, but there are traces of both light and dark in it. It is confusing the shit out of Locke and I.” I admit.

“Fuck, I think I know she is.” Niven replied.

He stuck his hand in his pocket pulling out his phone. He told me about the new head chef at one of our restaurants. I vaguely remember him telling me about hiring her. I do remember seeing her resume and I was fucking impressed. I, however, did not pay attention to the name on the resume. He unlocks his phone and starts searching through his pictures. He turns his phone around and there on the screen is the most stunning woman I have ever seen. Her long wavy black hair with purple strands within and light mocha complexion make her uniquely mesmerizing deep purple eyes pop. Looking closer I can see flecks of lavender floating within the deep purple. She appears to be tall, but it is hard to tell in the picture. 

“I have never seen her there when I have stopped by.” I said.

“Her name is Aerian, and she only works the weekend. I know she has her own business, but I am not sure what it is. I do know that she has a small store that she runs her business out of but again I have no idea where in the city it is. I can tell you that she does have some sort of magic. Gideon was in the other day, and he could sense a type of magic from her, but not like what a witch/warlock or fey would have. He was not able to figure out what species she is. The few of the pack members that have been around her have never smelt a supernatural species like her before.” Niven explained.

Shit, that means I would not have a chance to run into her until this weekend. Fuck, I am not sure I can wait that long. Well at least now I know where she works, and I am fairly sure I know where she lives. Aerian, such a unique and beautiful name. Now I need her to stop hiding from me. Mother and father sat there listening to everything we told them about Aerian. They were thrilled that I had found my mate, but they were as confused as I was as to why she was hiding from me. I do not think it was specifically me she was hiding from, but I could be wrong.

“I will ask a few of the other alphas about that scent. I have never smelt any supernatural with that scent.” father admitted.

“If I had to take a guess, I would have to say she could be an angel or demon. I guess it could be an elf. I have a cousin I could call and see if he can come. I know he works with fey and demons. I am not sure about angels.” mother added.

“Yes, please call him.” I told her.

“Son, will it make that much difference what she is? I mean unless you are thinking of rejecting because she not a wolf.” dad asked.

“Rejection is completely off the table. She is mine. I am more curious than anything. Locke and I want her and only her.” I growled.

Father nodded at me as I stood up. I was pissed that he even thought that I would reject her because she was not a wolf. They had raised me to believe in the mate bond and our family had never been one of those purists' families. 

[How dare he even think shit like that. Locke]

[I know, but I do see his point. The way I made it sound did make even me question myself after I said it. Me]

[Fine, but rejection is not an option. Locke]

[I know. She is ours. Now we must figure out how to find her. Me]

[We will go to the restaurant this weekend. Locke]

[That we will. Me]

I headed to my office to discuss the recent disappearances of people within our state. They were not just taking women; they were kidnapping everyone. This has been the longest fucking week of my life. I had been itching to walk into the restaurant and find her, but I had waited until the weekend. Niven was supposed to call me when Aerian showed up for work, but he had not called me yet. We had a few leads on the missing people, but we had not been able to find them. I was starting to get pissed when my phone rang. It was not Niven. Peadar walked into my office at that moment. Uilleam was on the other end of the line, but the call had dropped.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked.

“We found where they are keeping the missing people. Uilleam and a few others went ahead to do some recon since the area is very remote. I was coming to get you. I am guessing that the call that dropped was him.” Peadar said.

“It was. Let's go and find these missing ones. Do we know if they are human or supernatural?” I asked.

“It is mostly humans. I think they took the supernatural's by accident. Most of the missing have been humans.” he replied. 

As we walked out the front door Niven jumped out of his car. He looked frantic and it looked like all the color had drained from his face. I could tell he was pissed and concerned about something. This was not like him. I knew right away that something was very wrong, and I had a bad feeling that it had to do with Aerian.

“Aerian never showed up for work. I tried calling her several times, but it goes straight to voicemail each time. I asked a few people at work if they had seen or talked with her. The last time anyone saw her was Thursday. No one has seen her or talked to her since. Sofyia is also missing and has been missing for two days. Dad went to check on her and her roommate at college had not seen her.” Niven told me. 

“Shit you think they took Sofyia and your mate?” Peadar asked.

“If they have touched her then they are dead. They had better hope that she is not hurt.” I growled.

We climbed into my car. I linked father to let him know what was going on. He told us he would send someone to the restaurant to see if that is where she disappeared from. I told him about the house I suspected was hers and said he would check there as well. My guess is she was at this store she ran and disappeared from there. As we headed for the remote house that Peadar had told us about Niven’s phone went off. Our IT guys had sent him the security footage for the last four days from the restaurant. I let out a growl as it showed Aerian stopping by there for who knows what reason and then as she went to leave someone grabbing her and covering her face with something. These assholes have no idea who they just pissed off. They touched what is mine and they will find out the hard way that when you touch what is mine that it means death. Peadar was not fucking around when he said that this place was remote.

“Do we know how many they are holding?” I asked.

“No, there are only about a dozen guys guarding the place. This should be an easy and fast in and out.” Uilleam told me. 

I told him what we suspected, and I saw anger cross his face. We shifted and then began to make our way closer to the house. If I find one bruise or worse on Aerian I will burn this damn place to the ground.