It Started With a Scent

Six Guests

Riding in Silver's car wasn't as bad or awkward as Rachael thought it would be. 

Thankfully for her, he knew how to create conversation without it feeling forced. The journey was so short that he had only begun to tell her about when he had joined the pack- when he was a teenager- and why he was having a party- because he felt like it- before they were pulling up to his house and jumping out of his jeep.

"Smells like more people have arrived," Silver commented absentmindedly, opening his front door and letting her past. 

She couldn't even respond to his comment because as soon as the warm air of his living room cocooned her, she was blasted with spikenard and coconut- her instincts torn between recognising her bonded, or her best friend who was looking at her in delight.

Her baser instincts won and her eyes first flitted over Jason, who was frowning at the figure behind her, then to Tina and Graham, who waved her over.

Her attempts to stay away from Jason were unfortunately failing and she berated herself for not considering the likelihood that he would be at Silver's gathering.

"Hi guys," she greeted her friends, thankful that they were already at the house.

"Hi, Rach." Tina greeted her back and then turned to smile at the man behind Rachael. 

She hadn't even noticed that he had followed her. 

"Thanks for bringing her, Silver." Tina continued.

Rachael turned around in time to see Silver nodding his head before her heart started to thrash in her chest as her bonded approached. She heard Tina take in a deep breath behind her and Graham mumble something in his mate's ear. Something too low for her to pick up.

Jason walked up to Silver, a low growl rumbling in his throat.

"Silver." He said, voice deep and clipped.

Rachael thought that Silver would take Jason somewhere else to continue their conversation but was shocked when he put one hand on his hip and cocked his head instead, asking: "what's up?" As if he couldn't smell the aggravation rushing off his friend in waves.

He must have though, she told herself. That would be the reason why he had slightly angled his body towards Rachael as if ready to step in and shield her.

"Can I speak to you outside?" Jason gritted out, staring at Silver meaningfully.

"Sure." He agreed, pausing before speaking his next words. "This is Rachael, by the way."

Rachael tried not to let the surprise show on her face. This was what she didn't want. 

The party had barely begun and she was already regretting the fact that she had come. She was meant to be avoiding Jason, having him acknowledge her would make things worse. 

She was going to have to fight a million times harder to break the bond if her wolf was convinced that the other party was interested. There was no way to get around it. All she could hope to do was leave the party afterwards and hope that the bond hadn't strengthened too much to undo her progress. 

She looked at Tina, who stood up, obviously having the same line of thought. Her bottom lip was trembling as if she wanted to say something.

Jason's left foot started tapping on the ground, a pregnant moment of hesitation filling the area.

In that moment, Rachael wondered if the situation was as awkward for him as it was for her. Technically, the only contact they had had was him growling at her, and her serving him food. Despite the apologies of his packmates, he hadn't really done anything wrong per say. He was an alpha and she was an omega who had inadvertently challenged him by holding weird eye contact for too long so he had growled at her until she submitted. The way she was supposed to. He had thrown a chair at the wall, yet she wasn't sure how she was meant to feel about that.