That Scent

Derek’s POV

“Honey, I need you to go to the pack and see what evidence you can collect.” Mom's voice came through the phone. I knew she was going to ask me to do this. No one else wanted to go and see that a**hole. He was good at hiding all evidence, well I just felt that he had his pack too scared to come forward. My beast was stirring for the first time in a while.

“Mom, seriously, there must be someone else that can do it. You know I will kill him if it comes down to it. But you know I don’t want to kill anyone else after what happened.” I sighed, blocking out the memories of that horrible night. I could never take back what happened, but I knew I would not do it again unless there was enough evidence.

“Derek, no one blames you for what happened. But you had reason to do it. They killed your mate and your father.” I could feel the sadness from Mom without her even having to say anything.

“Ok Mom, I will do it for you. But it still doesn’t mean that I am ready to come back. I will keep you informed about what happens. Mom, please be careful. You know I love you, right?” I asked her, not sure if she even knew it anymore.

“Of course Derek. I love you too, honey. Be careful that Alpha Cyrus is a sneak and I wouldn’t put it past him to try to kill you to hide something.” I heard someone knocking on her office door.

"Talk to you later, Mom.” I said to her, then hung up the phone. Well, I guess I was going to go and see Alpha Cyrus. There was nothing good about him at all. He had inherited The Firewalker Pack from his dad as any heir does. It was in the deep south so it would take a while to get there. The bike was going to be the best way to get there, unless we run.

“Not today Derek, I can sense something bad is going to go down. We need our strength.” Jarek says in my mind. So that is why he was stirring before. Not even feeling the slightest bit worried, I went to pack my bag. I got that same feeling again, like something was about to happen that was going to change the course of my life. See, being a Lycan royal, we had an uncanny way of knowing when something big was going to happen to us, but we couldn’t tell if it would be for the better or not.

Being on the bike was the closest thing that we could get to running in our beast form. I was close to the pack because I could smell their scents all around me. Each pack had a distinct smell to us. Within fifteen minutes, I was outside the gates of the pack grounds. There was that feeling again. Something was going to happen.

“Who are you?” I heard a voice coming from a man in front of me. Without even getting off the bike, I took my helmet off and stared down at him.

“I am here to see Alpha Cyrus.”

“He is busy today. He doesn’t want to see anyone.” The man said to me. He must be stupid because he didn’t know who I was yet.

“I will be entering whether he likes it or not.” I said, trying to stop myself from being a smartass.

“And what makes you think you can do that?” The man said, questioning me, taking a few steps closer towards me.

“Well, being the Lycan Prince gives me the right to come and speak to your Alpha.” I said slowly so that he would understand what I was saying.

“Oh sh*t.” Was all he said, then went back to his post. There was a knocking in my head. Someone was trying to link me.

“Derek, man, is it really you at the gate? Or is Ben being an idiot again?”

“Yeah, Jarrod, it’s me. The queen got the message and I am here to come and see what is going on?”

“Ok, bring your bike around to my place.” He said and then cut off the link. Jarrod and Adeline lived on the far side, away from everyone. The guard let me pass, and I took off towards his house. The atmosphere in the pack was thick. It was like it was hard to breathe here. How the hell could anyone live here? Jarrod was waiting outside his house.

“Hey man, come in.” He says to me in a serious tone. When Mom had got the word about the abuse of a pack member that was so bad, it nearly killed her. I knew he would have been the one to report it. Stepping towards his house, I froze. There was a heavenly. Scent, it was so faint, but I wanted to follow it.

“Derek.” Jarrod said, watching me, waiting for me to come inside. I pushed the thought to the back of the head. Inside, Jarrod’s house was empty. So he was going to leave like he had asked us if he could. Mom had someone that was going to take in Jarrod’s family at a pack down the coast.

“So you decided to leave?” I asked him.

“Not before I make sure Sophia is cared for.” He sighed as he mentioned this girl again. He must really care for her.

“What has happened to this girl that is so bad?” I asked him, but his eyes were glazed over.

“F**k Derek, I have to go and sort something out before it gets bad. Go to the prison and Sophia will be in the back cell when you see her know that Angus and Cyrus were the ones that did this to her.” He said as he ran out the door. It seemed weird, but I didn’t want to get involved in the pack sh*t, this scent intrigued me, so I could look around as well. Adeline walked into the room.

“Derek, you came. Did Jarrod tell you to go and see Sophia?” She had the sweetest tone to her voice, that would be able to calm even the most upset child.

“He did. Can you tell me about her?” I asked her, but she shook her head as tears fell from her eyes. Who was this girl?

“I am sorry, Derek, but it is too painful. But know that she has never done anything wrong.” She left the room, so I decided to go and take a look at the cells. I would see this girl before I dealt with Cyrus. Stepping outside, the same scent hit me. I followed it, not even taking any notice of where I was going. After a few minutes, I stopped outside the cells. The scent was so strong. There was a pull towards this scent. I entered the cells, but there were no guards here, which didn’t sit right with me.

“Something weird is going on in this pack?” Jarek said to me.

“It is, but can you smell that scent?” I asked him.

“Focus.” He ordered me. He said nothing else about the scent. He knew what that scent was, but he was choosing to push it away instead of accepting it. I followed the scent to the back of the cells where the girl was meant to be. This Sophia, but she wasn’t there. Then that feeling of dread hit me. We needed to find her and find her now. I walked into the cell. The sight before would make any normal person want to run. There were bloodstains all over the floor and a blanket on the floor in the corner. I walked over to the blanket. It was her. She had been here. She was the one that had nearly died. My blood was boiling. I would kill anyone that had harmed her.

Running towards the direction her scent was, it led to a building. I ran through the doors, but no one was around. I was getting a bad feeling. Then I heard screaming. Running as fast as I could, I slammed the doors open.

There was she, the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. She was so small, but my goddess was she fast. I needed to get to her and help, but I was frozen to the spot. I couldn’t take my eyes off her or even move towards. This girl was powerful. She was saying something, but I couldn’t hear her. Then she snapped his neck. I needed to move, but I knew Jarek was stopping me. By the time I came too, she was gone.

“I will f**cking kill you.” I screamed at him.