Scent of Danger
Arabel
The forest was quiet, the kind of quiet that warned you something was nearby.
I moved fast, keeping to the shadows. My boots sank into the soft ground. The air was cold and sharp, carrying the smell of pine and something else, something that didn’t belong.
Hunters.
They’d been getting closer to our borders lately. My father told me to stay away, but orders and I never mixed well. Being the Alpha’s daughter meant everyone expected me to obey. I didn’t.
Lyra, my wolf, pushed under my skin. Left, she whispered inside my head. Follow the scent.
I did…and then everything stopped.
A new scent hit me. Strong. Male. Warm. It crawled over my senses and locked me in place. My pulse jumped. My chest tightened. My body reacted before I could think.
Lyra’s voice broke through the noise in my head. Mate.
My heart kicked hard. “No,” I muttered. “That can’t be right.”
But the pull in my chest said otherwise. The scent wasn’t wolf. It was human.
And he was close.
Branches cracked ahead. I ducked low, moving quietly through the trees until I saw him step into the moonlight.
He was tall, built solid, and carried himself like someone who knew how to fight. A bow hung from his shoulder. His jacket was worn. His eyes scanned the trees before stopping on me.
For a second, neither of us moved.
The connection slammed through me, hot and hard. Lyra growled in my head, wild with need. My throat went dry. He stared at me like he felt it too.
“Don’t run,” he said. His voice was calm, but the edge in it told me he was ready to chase.
I let out a short laugh. “If I wanted to, you wouldn’t catch me.”
He almost smiled. “You sure about that?”
We circled each other, both testing. He was human, but the way he watched me was predatory. My skin tingled. Every inch of me was alert.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Dixon.” He hesitated. “Dixon Reed.”
The name made my stomach turn. The Reed clan was known for killing wolves. My father told stories about them to remind us why we stayed hidden.
He stepped closer, careful but steady. “And you?”
“Arabel.” I didn’t give him my last name. If he had any sense, he’d know who I was.
The air between us thickened. My body reacted again, heat curling low in my belly. I hated it. I wanted to move, to shift, to do anything but stand here feeling like this.
Then I heard it, footsteps behind him. A woman’s voice called out. “Dix? You good?”
I grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the ravine behind me. We pressed into the rock wall, his body covering mine.
He was warm, his breath brushing my cheek. I could feel his heart pounding against my chest.
“Shh,” I whispered.
He nodded. We stayed still while the voices and flashlights moved past above us. His scent wrapped around me again, wood, smoke, and something I couldn’t name but wanted to taste.
“You’re insane,” he whispered against my ear.
“Quiet,” I said, but my voice came out unsteady.
He leaned a little closer. His chest brushed mine. I didn’t mean to look at his mouth, but I did. His lips were parted, breath heavy. My body leaned toward him before I could stop it.
When I finally kissed him, it wasn’t planned. It was instinct.
He froze for half a second, then kissed me back. His hand gripped the wall beside my head, the other landing on my hip. His mouth was rough, urgent, like he was fighting himself.
My fingers dug into his jacket. The taste of him made my head spin. His breath mixed with mine. Every sound in the forest faded. There was only this.
He pulled back, breathing hard. “I shouldn’t…”
“You already did,” I said.
He kissed me again. This time slower. Deeper. His hand slid up my side, fingers tracing the edge of my ribs. I shivered. He stopped just below my breast, holding still like he didn’t trust himself to move further.
“You’ve got a girlfriend,” I said, because I needed to hear him say it.
His jaw tightened. “Not anymore.”
“Convenient.”
“Not because of you,” he said quietly. “Not only because of you.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t. I just looked at him, the hunter who shouldn’t exist for me but did. His eyes weren’t cold anymore. They were full of something raw.
He brushed his thumb over my chin, tilting my face toward him. “Tell me to stop.”
“Why would I?”
“Because if I keep going, I won’t want to stop at all.”
He was right. And I didn’t want him to stop either.
I pressed my lips to his again, slow and sure. His hand found the small of my back, pulling me against him. The heat between us was too strong to ignore. Every breath I took felt heavy. My body knew him already.
A sharp whistle echoed from above, the other hunters regrouping. I pushed him back.
“You need to go,” I said. “They’ll sweep this area soon.”
He hesitated. “You know our signals.”
“I know enough.”
His hand dropped to his side, fingers flexing. “I’ll find you again.”
“You think I’ll make it that easy?”
He gave a short, dark smile. “You won’t have to.”
Then he was gone, moving through the trees without a sound.
I stayed there for a moment, catching my breath. Lyra prowled under my skin, restless and pleased.
Mine, she whispered.
“Shut up,” I muttered, even though part of me agreed.
When I finally headed home, the air still carried his scent. It clung to my clothes, my skin, my thoughts.
I knew what I’d just done. I’d kissed a hunter. And I wanted to do it again.
