Looking To Belong (A Runt's Story)

Chapter 31

Will inquired, "Are you ready? Do you need any help setting something up?"

I replied, "I got everything done this morning, and it is all waiting in that meadow."

Will looked intrigued. "I am looking forward to this. I was quite surprised at the amount of people who were interested. We actually had to turn people away to keep the class small enough. You could be doing this a few times."

I shrugged. "I have no problems with that. It will be easier with a maximum fifteen people. More than that will just create a chaos of scents as they try things out."

We walked towards the meadow where I was going to show people how to mask their scent. I had set the limit at fifteen people, but offered to do this class as often as they liked. A couple of pack members had helped me set everything up early this morning since Tiffany had taken off as fast as possible yesterday.

Tiffany was currently running with two other pack members, heading to the circled area on her map. I preferred that knowledge of my strong sensing abilities not be known if possible and had mentioned it to them. She and the two who were helping Tiffany had agreed to keep it quiet.

I didn't like being the center of attention. The Omegas from yesterday had already mentioned that they would keep my abilities quiet. Any Omega with a really powerful sensing ability should be able to do it in theory, but I had tested my ability in the past and it hadn't been strong enough to pull it off. I kind of suspected that my bond with Will had strengthened it somewhat. For all we knew, Tiffany was on a wild goose chase. She was aware of that little detail too.

We were early, but there were already half a dozen people along the edges looking at the various bags and piles scattered in the roped off areas. I recognized a few people from watching Will's training on occasion. I blinked in surprise as I noticed Ruby leaning against a tree, staring intently at the stuff in the meadow. I knew that the intense black haired fighter would never harm me, but she was still creepy in my mind.

~

       Eventually, everyone had arrived. I took a deep breath and steeled myself to start to try and train these people. I had never done anything like this before and was flying blind. I was used to avoiding attention for my own safety, not trying to tell a bunch of fighters what to do.

"Good morning," I called, feeling odd for speaking so loudly when I was used to being quiet. "Thank you for joining me. I am going to attempt to show you how to mask your scent, and then we are going to try and pick out such scents."

They were all watching me intently. I had them gather around me as I showed them a large variety of plants I had gathered from the area. I continued my lesson, "In the forest next to us, which of these plants are most common and which ones are not found at all?"

A guy spoke up, "Mostly oak trees with some pine; lots of that sage grass and clover. I don't think I have ever seen dogwood shrubs in there though."

I nodded. "When you go running, start watching for those kinds of details and keep them in mind as you scent the air. Take a deep breath, what does my scent smell like at the moment?"

Ruby watched with piercing eyes as she took a deep breath, but didn't comment. Another lady replied, "Mostly like Will, although I am picking up a hint of fern if I try. I actually can't pick up your personal scent though."

I replied, "I asked that just to point out that my scent will not behave quite like yours. As a runt, my scent is much weaker and is easily overpowered. Now watch and smell carefully as I do this."

I picked up handfuls of various leaves and plants to rub them one by one onto my skin and clothing. I used a lot of the common plants, and avoided using the ones that weren't found naturally around the clearing. I tilted my head at the lady and asked, "What does my scent smell like now?"

They had been keeping tabs on my scent through the stages. Most looked somewhat shocked. The lady replied, "I can't pick up your scent at all; it is like you aren't even there..."

I went to a long, narrow roped-off section. "I am going to run down this, and you are each going to take a section of it. Cross your section in wolf form and see if you can pick up the things in my scent that don't match the normal smells."

I jogged down it slowly and let them investigate the grass. After a while, they gathered around me again. It had taken a few of them a bit, but in the end, each of them had realized that some of my cover up scents simply didn't match the meadow grass.

I confirmed their consensus, "Exactly, no matter how hard one tries, no one can ever get the exact ratio of plants perfect. The smallest of plants can faintly influence something. You are simply watching for any inconsistency. Technically, you are not trying to scent a person, you are watching for odd plant scents. Now, let's see how well you can cover up your own scent."

The morning pretty much flew by since everyone was eager to learn. Their attempts to mask their own scent was humorous as they quickly realized that it looked much easier than it was to balance the variety of plants so that one didn't stand out. They had helped one another, and at the moment, all I could smell was plants.

"Okay," I said. "You have the basics down pat, all you really need at this point is practice. I have one last test before I send you all out for more practice. Go over to those two stumps, take a sniff, and decide which one had someone stand on it this morning. Keep your decision a secret until I give the answer."

It wasn't an easy puzzle. Both stumps were pine and had been cut this spring. Their pungent scent was still quite strong, and I had spent a lot of time carefully masking the scent of a volunteer so that her scent was as close to this meadow as possible. Even I had to concentrate to detect it, and I knew that it was there. But some things would give it away...

They shifted to their wolf forms and quickly circled the two stumps that had previously been roped off. The swirl of bewilderment and confusion that touched my senses made me suppress a chuckle. A flash of success made me glance over. Ruby's intense scrutiny had found something amiss, although I wouldn't be able to tell from her focused appearance.

Before too long, all wolves sat around the stumps waiting for the answer. I slowly walked up, explaining, "That was actually a trick question. Two people actually walked across this stump, and no one touched the other one." Surprise crossed the minds of all wolves present, including Ruby's. Her focus intensified on me even more as I once more caught her off guard.

I gestured to the forest. "You know what you are looking for, so all you need now is practice. After lunch, I want you all to go into the forest between here and the river. Mask your scent and try to pick up the other's scents. Keep in mind that you will likely have to alter your scent as you go into different areas. You know that all of you will be in there somewhere, so try to find everyone at least once by scent alone. I will be out there too, so please keep an eye out and alert me if you see any big predators."

They all went to the sidelines while talking and discussing various points from the lesson. We had all brought our lunch with us. Will sat beside me as we ate. He said, "I suppose that you are going to say that I can't run beside you the whole time, huh?"

I grinned at him. "I can't have you giving me away."

He grinned back at me while a few others chuckled.