Keenan POV

Once Shane, Alan, and I arrived at the decoy house, we saw multiple people arriving at the same time. It was a good dozen werewolves, damn I didn’t realize there were this many werewolves attending the human school with Daniel, albeit they were more than likely rank climbers, stumbling over each other to try and win his favor. Little did they know that they didn’t have to do that.

Daniel would never be alpha.

Speaking of which, I did not see Daniel amongst them.

“Where’s Daniel?” I asked them, they were all sifting into different cars, ready to leave.

“Probably with his girlfriend,” someone answered, “either that or early morning tutoring.”

“Daniel has a girlfriend?” I asked, perplexed. “He met another mateless wolf?”

“No, she’s human.”

“Interesting…” was all I said, that would explain why he’s been so… happy lately.

“Yea we couldn’t believe it either at first but she seems pretty chill.”

“Come ride with us, Keenan, I saved you a spot!” The redhead, Lacey, asked me.

As Shane, Alan, and I shuffle into the car, right away the redhead won’t stop shooting question after question at me.

“You should definitely sit with us at lunch Keenan-.”

After a minute or so of this, I just tuned them all out entirely.

The closer we got to school, the more I began to feel my anticipation rise.

I know I’m probably overreacting, there’s less than a 10 percent chance she’s even here but a strong part of me couldn’t help but grasp any remnants of hope.

Getting out of the car, I’m overwhelmed by all the stimuli hitting me all at once.

I wasn’t used to this place so it was harder to tune everything out and focus on what I needed to find.

I see Daniel’s Camry parked nearby.

I take a deep inhale, trying to sift through the abundance of smells hitting my nostrils until I find the one I’m looking for.

Except I don’t find it.

I didn’t find anything.

Nothing to indicate her scent was here, or even her presence.

Fuck! Was I wrong all along?

Did I just waste all this time, plotting and scheming for absolutely no reason!?

I should have been able to spot her scent right away, she is my mate.

But I don’t feel anything, no pull, no bond, no scent. Nothing.

How could I have been so wrong?! I was so fucking sure, why else would Daniel smell like that?!

Why the hell didn’t I just verify before even coming down here, like I originally wanted to.

Fuck!

I really fucked myself on this one.

Well, I have no choice but to stick it out now, at least for the meantime.

Immediately I see everyone within a ten-foot radius of me begin to shrink away as they sense my mood darken.

Their wary glances shift towards each other as they try to figure out what abruptly changed my mood.

Fucking pathetic.

This was not how this was supposed to go.

Granted, the bond between us was nearly nonexistent, it would explain why there was no pull, but I should at least be able to smell some semblance of her scent.

But I smell nothing.

Unless of course, the memory of her scent was slipping from me too, just as my sanity was slipping from me.

I never thought it possible.

I need to see Daniel, I need to smell him again, ask him where he’s been, who he’s seen. I need to know everything.

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Once the humans took note of me, the not so subtle stares and whispering began.

It’s like they’ve never seen a real alpha before.

Oh right, they haven’t, Daniel hardly counts.

Speaking of which, where the fuck was he? I see his car, but no Daniel.

He was definitely here though, my sense of smell told me that much at least, he actually wasn’t too far either.

Following his scent, it leads me to the entrance of the main lobby, everyone else following close behind me.

I finally spot him, he’s talking to some blond chick, he’s smiling as they’re talking and she’s giving him the do me eyes.

Just from her stature, I can tell she’s human.

So this must be the human girl he was dating.

I honestly don’t know why he even bothered, she’ll never accept him for what he is. Humans are scared of what they don’t understand, they’ve always been.

I’d just hit it and quit it as I’ve always done.

The closer we got to them, the clearer their conversation became.

They were talking about some math formulas and tutoring?

Leave it to Daniel to have the lamest relationship and the lamest conversations, I’d expect nothing else honestly.

Once Daniel spotted us, he gave us a slight nod of acknowledgment, one I returned.

“Sorry I missed you this morning Keenan, I had some things I had to take care of.”

“No problem, “ was all I said, staring at the human girl beside him, watching as she got all flustered and shy, knowing how easy it’d be for me to steal her from him with just a couple of whispers. If I really wanted to.

There was nothing special about this girl, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures, and my cousin is taking what he can get now. Deluding himself into thinking it’ll work in the long run.

Deluding himself into thinking that she could ever replace his mate.

“Isn’t there two more of you?” Daniel asked, eyeing both Shane and Alan.

“They decided to attend… another school,” I replied tersely, glancing at the blond girl behind him. She quickly reverted her eyes at having been caught staring at me.

“Ah… I see.” Daniel said slowly, “I’m surprised you’re attending Redmond, I would’ve for sure thought that you’d have preferred Southsable High. I didn’t think you liked… public schools all that much.”

“Of course I do, my last school was a public school, it was my first choice.”

“Yea I know that, just that you used to say how much you liked my father’s private school, and how much you wish you had one in your own town, I just find it interesting you chose to attend a public school after all.”

I narrowed my eyes, “like I said, it was my first choice.”

“Yea I get that,” there was an awkward pause, “anyways I have to get going, but welcome to Redmond. If you have any questions, you can ask Trey or Lacey, or you can tag along with me, but I’m sure you’d rather shadow Lacey, her schedules more conducive to yours and-”

“No, I’ll shadow you.”

Daniel raised his brows in surprise, “uh... alright then, I guess I have some time to show you around.”

Turning to face his human girlfriend, he gave her a small dismissive nod. “I’ll see you in tutoring.”

The poor girl looked like a fish staring after him.

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Following Daniel around was so much more boring and uneventful than I expected, and trust me, my expectations were already low. He actually paid attention in class and showed us around the school grounds. I don’t know exactly what I was waiting for anyway.

An ah-ha moment maybe, for her to appear out of nowhere.

I don’t know.

But nothing happened and slowly but certainly, I began to doubt everything. Maybe I didn’t really smell her scent at the meeting. Maybe it was a hallucination, a mere figment of my imagination. Maybe my brain conjured it up completely, another sure sign of going feral.

Because other than that one glimpse, I had no other evidence to suggest that she was even here.

None at all besides a very obviously misplaced hunch. I was clearly overreaching here, and wasting my fucking time.

I don’t know if I can sustain three months of this shit.

I’ll just make some bullshit reasons for why I need to come home early.

I’ll go back to my original plan of breaking into the police precinct.

Predictably, a small crowd followed us everywhere we went, I could see the staring, hear the gossip, the girls passing by laughing unnecessarily loud. All the dumb shit that used to pump my ego.

By lunchtime I had reached my limit, I needed a shift, and badly.

After lunch, I was skipping the rest of the day and leaving this stupid school.

There was nothing there to find anyway.

I turn to Shane who’s standing right beside me. A lot of Daniel’s human friends are approaching him, their glances letting me know they were just curious about us.

A lot of them were introducing themselves to me like I’m supposed to care. The girl's volleyball team, the guys on the football team, a whole bunch of other people I don’t give a fuck about.

“Shane, I’m gonna take off now, if anyone asks, I went for a shift.”

“Yes alpha.” She gives a stiff nod.

Just as I turn around to head towards the exit, I immediately do a double-take.

All the way at the end of the hall I see Lacey, and she’s talking to a girl.

I freeze in my tracks.

The most beautiful girl I think I’ve ever seen.

A feeling, a sensation, I thought I’d never feel again.

The bond.

Hitting me full force in that one split second, pulling at me as it did that first time I ever laid eyes on her.

What?

There’s no way.

What?

But there was no mistaking it, I’d recognize that face anywhere.

It was Angeline, it was really her, but it also wasn’t.

This wasn’t the Angeline I knew.

My breath was caught up in my throat and it was getting harder to think coherently.

She spoke to Lacey, oblivious to everyone around her.

A million of my hectic thoughts were drowned out by the feelings of my wolf, who was now howling in my head with madness.

Nothing’s holding him back this time, not even me.

He won’t allow it.

I just blatantly stared, amazed, I could not believe what I was seeing, who I was seeing.

I was starting to believe this day would never come.

Her once wild hair was now tamed and fell in loose dark curls to her waist. She wasn’t wearing her baggy oversized clothes anymore either, instead, she wore a fitted white shirt that hugged her tiny torso and dipped to show a bit of her cleavage. The black leggings she wore emphasizing every curve, and she was filled to the brim with them.

I had no idea.

I felt a rumble start deep in my chest, drinking in the sight of her, still not fully believing that this was really her. I knew that if I could see me right now, my pupils would be dilated, and my fangs about to extend.

I finally found her, I finally found my mate.

She was drawing closer and closer to me.

My fingers twitched with the ich to snatch her.

The primal part of me was so close to taking over.

I just might end up marking her in front of everyone.

I was taken aback when I saw her face break into a large warm grin, one that made her eyes crinkle and two dimples appear that I never even knew she had.

And I realized, I had never seen her smile.

I was too busy making her cry.

But her smile wasn’t for me, no, it was for-

I watch as she basically falls into Daniel’s arms, and… plants a kiss on his lips.

As if watching through a tunnel, my vision began to fill with nothing but red. I could no longer contain my visible shaking, or the fact that my claws and teeth had completely extended.

I shut my mouth to keep the humans from seeing.

But I had a feeling I’d do more than just shift in the next few minutes.

I was ready for a blood bath.

I could hear nothing but the snarls and snapping of my own wolf.

She giggled at something he whispered in her ear, and just as I imagined, her laugh was as beautifully melodious as her singing voice.

But it did nothing to calm me in the moment.

“Angeline, this is my cousin Keenan and these are his friends Alan and Shane.”

I watched as any and all color drained from her face once she made eye contact with me.

We stared at each other for I don’t know how long, my face filled with seething anger, hers with horror and dread, going completely pale white.

But with my heightened hearing, I could hear her breathing getting weaker and shallower, and she began to sway even as Daniel held her.

And for a second my anger gave way, it was replaced with an emotion I hadn’t felt since the last time I saw her.

Fear.

Not for anyone, never for anyone, just for her.

My instinct kicked in and I took a step closer.

“Angeline? Angeline are you okay? Angeline?!”

Daniel asked frantically.

Just as she looked on the cusp of fainting, she abruptly pushed Daniel away from her instead and then booked it down the hall.

Daniel follows close behind her.

I prepare to run after him, tear him limb from limb.

How. Fucking, Dare. He.

I’ll show him and everyone once and for all who the real alpha is.

But I felt the hands of both Shane and Alan holding me back.

“Alpha not here, there’s humans staring. Let’s go, we need to go outside.”

I was not so gone that I couldn’t recover in the knick of time.

Some of the stupid humans were staring at me, and some were staring at the direction Daniel and Angeline just disappeared into.

Without another word, I slipped out of the crowded hall and out the cool outside air instead.

This was far from over.