The Scars You Left Behind [on hold]

The Scent of The Other Woman

CHAPTER SEVEN

   After the slow dance, Emily felt as if the ball dragged on from there. She had spoken with her parents which seemed to go better than she had expected. They were happy for her, but her mother was a little weary about her finding her mate at such a young age. Emily herself felt the same way.

   Carlos had excused himself to go speak with the other Alphas to inform them that he had found his mate. Emily was confused about it since it wasn't their business if he had found his mate or not. She just assumed it was the jealousy coming through... of other Alphas spending time with her mate. It sounded weird in her head, but Emily just shook off the feelings.

The ball was nearing its end, and Emily was getting close to falling asleep at the table she was currently sitting at. Her eyes were almost all the way shut when Carlos' eyes came into her view, instantly waking her back up and making her smile.

   "Ready to get some sleep, Angel?" Carlos' smooth yet attractively rough voice came through Emily's ears, making her sigh in relief. She was more than ready to sleep. The heels she had been wearing the entire night were killing her feet.

   Emily nodded at Carlos as she stood up and connected her arms with his after he stuck out his arm for her to grab a hold of. "I'm more than ready." Emily lightly chuckled.

   Carlos began to lead the way out of the ballroom after laughing at Emily's response. On the way out, Emily passed her parents, smiling and waving at them a moment before she continued walking with Carlos back up to her room.

   When they kept going to the floor above Emily's, she got confused. She hadn't even realized that there was a fifth floor. But, she could tell why seeing as the door that led to the staircase which led to the fifth floor was hidden, and you had to be looking very good in order to see it.

"Where are we going?" Emily asked as she slowed Carlos down from walking up the stairs.

Carlos turned to her, smiling, "To my room — which is where you will be staying from now on." Emily furrowed her eyebrows. From now on? Did he mean forever? Emily thought. Did that mean that I could never go back to my actual room?

"Uh — your room?" Emily questioned, nervousness and confusion laced in her voice. Carlos sensed it, and he thought it was quite cute.

Carlos chuckled lowly, "Yes, you will be staying in my room from now on. That is what mates do, they sleep in the same bed. I will have someone transfer all of your belongings into our room tomorrow morning." Emily took notice to how Carlos called the room theirs, meaning it now belonged to Emily, too. And she wasn't exactly sure that she was okay with it. It all felt a little too fast for her, even if they were mates.

Emily just absentmindedly nodded and continued to let Carlos drag her into the room they both now shared. The first thing that Carlos did as he entered the room was undo his tie and pull it off before throwing it on the floor. Emily hadn't noticed as she was looking around his room. It seemed plain to her. She had expected more from such a high ranking Alpha. Or maybe she should be expecting less because he is a high ranking Alpha.

   Emily spun and took in the scent of the room. It smelled no particular smell, most likely meaning that Carlos didn't spend much time in here. And she saw it reasonable. He was an Alpha, and he had to travel to all sorts of places to do his job. But, the room did have a faint smell to it. One that was hard to sniff out, but thanks for the Beta genes from her father, she could sniff it out as she stood completely still.

   Female wolf. That's the smell Emily could distinctly sniff out. It was barely there, but it was still there. All female wolves had a special scent to them which smelled the same as all female wolves. It was no specific scent, and it could not be described in words, but when a wolf smelt it, they could immediately tell it belonged to a she-wolf. The same goes for male wolves.

   But, then again, Emily could be wrong about the female scent. It could just be the scents that followed them as they entered the room. But, it could also mean different things. It could've just been Carlos' sister who had walked in his room a few days ago. It could've been a maid who came inside to clean Carlos' room also. But, it also could've been another she-wolf in Carlos' bed. After all, the smell was strongest there.

   Emily was drawn out of her thoughts by the shower water turning on from inside the bathroom which was connected to her and Carlos' bedroom. It felt strange saying that in her head. She apparently had to get used to it now, though.

   Carlos' head popped out from the doorway of the bathroom, "Would you like to join me for a shower, Emily?" There was slight mockery in Carlos' voice, making Emily even more nervous being around him. She could tell that he was definitely shirtless, most likely completely naked. That didn't help her situation either. Emily just pursed her lips and began to remove her heels and set them down at the end of the bed on the floor.

   "No, I'm fine. I'm just going to wait. Maybe another time, though?" Emily tried to sound positive. Carlos just smirked and nodded, understanding that she was still a young sixteen — almost seventeen — year old and probably didn't want to jump immediately into bed with him. And that was okay with him. He'd wait for her, but he didn't plan on waiting too long. Carlos told himself that she was still most likely a virgin.

   Little did he know, she was not.

   "Another time," Carlos said quietly, more to himself than to Emily. He vanished behind the bathroom door before Emily sat her mask down on the bedside table and began to unzip her dress. She turned and made sure that Carlos wasn't there watching her before she slid the dress off, it falling to the floor in a beautiful mess.

   Emily then went to what she assumed was Carlos' closet and walked inside. There wasn't much in his closet, to Emily's surprise. She expected it to be filled to top with designer clothes and expensive shoes and suits. Carlos had the money to buy all of those things. Maybe he wasn't that kind of man, Emily thought. Maybe she had perceived him completely wrong.

   Emily quickly grabbed a random shirt from the rack and slipped it on before walking out of Carlos' fairly large yet empty walk-in closet. She then walked over to the side of the bed which she assumed was hers seeing as it didn't have a bedside table. She slipped herself under the covers before lying down on her left shoulder, her back towards the bathroom door.

   The she-wolf smell was now very strong, meaning that another woman had laid in his bed before her. Emily felt a little sting inside her chest, but she couldn't blame Carlos for that. He didn't even know that Emily was his mate before tonight. She understood that he was a man with needs and she, by no means, wanted him to wait for her. After all, she didn't wait for him.

   Emily was nearly asleep when she felt a muscular arm drape itself around her slim waist, pulling her backwards and into a hard, bare chest. She didn't try to stop Carlos. She actually felt safe in his arms. She felt warm. She held back a smile as Carlos whispered in her ear, thinking she was asleep.

   "Sleep well, angel. Tomorrow is a big day." Carlos' smooth voice calmed Emily to where she immediately fell into a deep sleep after hearing his words.

   Maybe now Emily wouldn't have those nightmares about Carlos anymore. Maybe those dreams were just the Mood Goddess telling her — in a very strange way — that she was about to meet her mate. Maybe all of those nightmares of him glaring her down into nothing but a fragile she-wolf who was broken was just that — nightmares. They weren't real. It was just her imagination.

   But little did Emily know, those horrible nightmares would soon become a bloody and mind crippling reality that she had no escape from.