81. The House That Holds The Alpha Smell.

Adrian’s POV

I didn’t plan to appear in her house.

It just… happened.

One moment, I was somewhere else, my thoughts tangled and restless, my chest tight for reasons I didn’t fully want to face. The next moment, the world shifted, bent, and snapped into place.

I was standing in Rose’s living room.... again.

The first thing that hit me was the silence.

Not the calm kind.

The wrong kind.

The kind that presses into your ears and makes your instincts scream even before your mind catches up.

I didn’t move immediately.

I stood there, letting my body adjust, letting my senses stretch out slowly, carefully.

Her scent was there.

But it was weak.

Fading.... like she hasn't been here for days.

Like a memory that had already begun to slip away.

My brows drew together.

That wasn’t right.

When Rose was around, her presence was always clear to me. Soft, warm, steady. Even when she wasn’t in the same room, I could feel her nearby.

Now?

It felt like she had been erased in a hurry.

“Rose?” I called, my voice low.

The house didn’t answer.

I took a step forward.

The floor didn’t creak.

Nothing moved.

I walked further inside.

The couch was neat. The small table beside it was untouched. Nothing was overturned. Nothing was broken. No signs of panic.

That made it worse.

If there had been chaos, I would have understood it.

But this?

This felt like she had vanished quietly.

I moved toward the hallway.

Every step made my chest tighten more.

I didn’t rush.

I couldn’t.

Something in me needed to absorb every detail.

The walls still held her scent, faint but present. Like she had brushed past them days ago. Like she had existed here… and then simply stopped.

I checked the kitchen.

Nothing.

The bathroom.

Nothing.

Then I reached her bedroom.

I paused at the doorway.

The bed was neatly arranged.

Too neat.

The kind of neat that meant someone hadn’t slept there.

Her scent lingered strongest here, but it wasn’t fresh.

My jaw clenched.

How long?

How long have you been gone?

I stepped inside, scanning slowly. The window was closed. The curtains slightly drawn, letting in thin lines of morning light.

Everything looked normal... Too normal.

And that terrified me.

Her things doesn't looked packed .... Like she traveled.

A dull ache spread through my chest.

That familiar pain.

The one that had returned lately.

The one that never made sense.

I pressed a hand against my sternum briefly, breathing out slowly.

You’re not here.

And I don’t know where you are.

I stepped back into the living room and stood there again, letting the weight of it settle.

Her scent was fading.

That meant time was against me.

Whatever had taken her—or wherever she had gone—was already moving ahead while I stood still.

I closed my eyes.

Just for a second.

Then I vanished.

**Damien enters immediately he vanished.

Damien’s POV

I entered her house with control.

Not urgency.

Not emotion.

Control.

I had come here for answers.

Rose was a problem.

A quiet one.

The most dangerous kind.

She didn’t react the way humans should.

She didn’t break the way humans always do.

And more importantly—

I couldn’t feed on her.

That alone made her impossible to ignore.

The door was unlocked.

I stepped inside and stopped immediately.

The air was wrong.

I didn’t need time to understand why.

The scent hit me hard.

Wolf.

Strong.

Heavy.

Dominant.

I inhaled slowly.

Alpha!.

My lips pressed into a thin line.

So this is what you are tangled with.

I stood still, letting the scent speak. It wasn’t old. It wasn’t faint. It hadn’t settled yet.

This Alpha had been here recently.

Very recently.. Seconds ago?.

I moved further inside, my steps measured, my senses alert.

The scent clung to everything.

The walls.

The furniture.

Even the air felt marked.

It was intrusive.

Almost territorial.

That annoyed me.

I walked toward the center of the living room, my eyes narrowing slightly.

Rose wasn’t here... She's at my house..held captive.

Was the alpha looking for her?.... Or the alpha is curious to know who she is... How did the alpha get to know about her.

That much was clear.

Her scent was present, but disrupted. Broken apart by something stronger.

By someone stronger.

I followed the Alpha scent toward the bedroom.

It thickened there.

I stopped just inside the doorway.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

A human connected to a wolf Alpha.

Living alone.

Untouched.

Unclaimed.

Yet protected.

My fingers flexed slowly.

Before I could move further, I sensed another presence behind me.

Damien’s POV

Kate entered the house and froze.

She didn’t speak at first.

She didn’t understand it immediately the way I did.

But then she inhaled.

Once.

Twice.

Her expression changed.

Her eyes sharpened.

“A wolf,” she said quietly.

I turned to face her.

“An Alpha,” she added after a moment.

“Yes,” I said.

She walked further inside, cautious now, her gaze sweeping the room.

“This scent is strong,” she said. “Too strong to ignore.”

Her lips curled slightly—not in disgust, but in concern.

“This girl,” she continued slowly, “is not normal.”

I watched her carefully.

“Or she is pretending not to be,” Kate added.

I turned my gaze back toward the bedroom.

“I was already suspicious,” I said. “Now I’m certain.”

Kate crossed her arms lightly.

“A human tied to an Alpha,” she murmured. “That doesn’t happen without reason.”

I let the silence stretch.

Then I said, “I will enter her mind.”

Kate’s head snapped toward me.

“Mind walking?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s risky...for her.”

“So is letting her remain a mystery,” I replied calmly.

Kate studied me for a long moment.

Then she nodded once.

“If she is hiding something,” she said, “you will find it there.”

I looked around the house one more time.

This place had been quiet before.

Now it felt watched.

Observed.

Claimed.

And I didn’t like that.

Whatever Rose was—

Whatever she was connected to—

I would uncover it.

No matter what it took.