"What the fuck is that smell?"

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"Hey." Mani says as he opens the door to his and Tyler's room.

"Hey, where did you go so early?" Tyler questions as he looks up from his phone as he laid on the bed, still in last night's clothes.

"Just went out for some breakfast." Mani says as he sits on his bed adjacent to Tylers.

"Ah you should have said. I'd have come with you." Tyler whines as he sits up a little more and crosses his legs as he turns to face Mani.

Mani just snorts out a laugh. "I don't think so, you were totally out of it. I don't think anything would have woken you."

"Hey, I wake up for food. Just remember that." Tyler huffs as he drags himself from the bed and stretches his limbs. He then stops himself and turns to look at Mani with concern. "Sorry, I forgot to ask. Last night, what was that?"

Mani sits up a bit more on the edge of the bed. He grips tightly to the bed frame under the mattress. There was no way he was telling Tyler exactly what that was. The pulsating yearn to seek out his mate and let fate do the rest. He finds he doesn't even have a plan A of excuses. There shouldn't have been any wolf kind this far into human territory anyway. Mani thought he had done his research well. Obviously not well enough.

"I....ummm…"

"Is it that thing people get in enclosed spaces?" Tyler interrupts. "What is it? Agoraphobia? Or that other one where people don't like people?"

"I'm not a hermit Tyler." Mani laughs. "I just felt a little sick, that's all. Like you said. Maybe it was something I drunk or ate. I'm totally fine now." Mani ends the sentence with a reassuring smile, to which Tyler copies.

"That's ok then." Tyler replies, breathing out a sigh as he resumes the remains of his stretch. "Well, I'm hitting the shower." He says as he disappears out of sight, grabbing what he needed on the way and leaving Mani alone. Maybe he would tell Tyler his secret...one day, but not yet.

***

Teddy finishes his final round with the punchbag at the gym. Always a stress relief to him when he felt pent up. The campus gym wasn't all too shabby, but even time away at one of his favourite places couldn't rid his mind of the frustrations within him. He was close. So close to finding the person he had been wanting to find for over 2 years, but somehow they had managed to slip through his fingers.

Teddy hadn't ventured this far out into the human wilderness before to find his mate. Having made the decision to transfer to take his final year of his course at a human centred college. It was a risk. Teddy had so much to learn about human traits. That's why he had decided to share. Maybe it would help him to blend… and at least they still used gyms!

He slings his towel over his shoulder and decides to head back to his dorm, with it only being a five minute walk, but is greeted by complaints as soon as he enters his shared room.

"What the fuck is that smell?" Comes the complaint from his roommate, who was sitting at his desk, swatting up over a text book before the first run of lectures.

"What smell? I can't smell anything?" Teddy says, sniffing the air around him. And he would have detected something for sure with his heightened senses.

"It's you! What? You can't smell your own stink?" He complains again, pulling the neck of his shirt over his mouth and nose.

Teddy lifts up an arm to smell his own armpit. "What's wrong with it? Good old pheromones. It's natural, I don't believe in deodorant."

"Well you should start believing." The complaints continue on.

"Ok, ok. I'll go shower." Teddy sighs. He didn't understand what the fuss was about. How would his fate mate find him if he washed his scent away?

The shower block wasn't overrun when Teddy entered it. The smell of steam and soap filled his nostrils. This was one thing he didn't understand about humans. The need to mask themselves.

He makes his way to the changing room, but something is off. Amongst the smell of deodorant and cologne, was an enticing smell…an alluring smell so familiar to him, that he could feel his heart rate quicken.

Teddy drops his bag on the bench and follows his nose. The smell seemed to be coming from one of the lockers. He tries it and it is open. There inside, sat a bunch of screwed up clothes. Teddy reaches in and pulls out a shirt. He takes it to his nose and inhales deeply. There! He could smell it...his mate, but the smell seemed faint. Maybe it was all the sensory interference surrounding him, but the smell was definitely there.

"Hey, what are you doing in my locker?"

Teddy looks up to see a male with short mid brown hair staring at him. He drops the shirt on the ground and walks at a pace towards the guy, making the guy take a step back. "Hey, what are you doing?" The male says nervously as Teddy pushes him back against the lockers, his towel nearly falling from around his waist.

"Ssshhh." Teddy whispers in his ear, as he begins to nestle his nose into the nape of the guy's neck. But the scent seemed to be absent from him. The moment of unclarity allows the other guy to push Teddy off of him.

"Get the fuck off me!" He huffs, trying not to sound unnerved and a little bit scared at the unwelcome intrusion into his personal space.

Teddy looks at the male in the face, before realising his mistake. He was not his mate. "I'm sorry...I thought you were someone else." He says now backing away and causing the other male to move far away from him.

"I could report you y'know... for assault." The guy utters just loud enough for Teddy to hear. The last thing Teddy wanted was to be taken in by police. Not with a full moon only days away.

"Look I said I'm sorry, it's just your shirt…" he begins.

"What about my shirt?" The man questions.

"Did you wear that shirt last night?" Teddy wonders, daring to take the smallest step forward.

"So what if I did?" The guy huffs. "It's a popular shirt, lots of people wear them."

Teddy doesn't say any more. This man, whoever he was, had definitely come into contact with his mate. He could be a potential threat. Especially if he had gotten to his mate first.