Aurelia
The annual ball hosted by Tarek Likaris was a spectacle of power and pretence. As I stepped into the grand marble hall, a sea of designer gowns and expertly tailored suits met my eyes, alongside the gleaming nearby faces of the elite. My senses heightened in the opulence, every sound, scent, and sight amplified as my she-wolf prowled beneath my skin. The night was young, the evening nacreous with glittering lies.
Tarek, clad in a tailored black suit, approached me with a sly smile. He was-politics incarnate, alpha sharks circling in the dark. His eyes scanned me from head to toe, dauntless in their appreciative appraisal. "Knox" he said, his voice low and smooth like dark whiskey. "You grow more exquisite every year. A King in her court." "The competition grow wilted" I retorted, my gaze locking onto his.
His lips curled into a smirk. An invitation, a provocation. He leaned in, his voice barely above a whisper, "The night is young, Aurelia. Wouldn't you like to cause a scandal worthy of talk for years to come? You know every eye is upon us." His fingers brushed my arm, tracing a path that felt like an electric shock. "Or perhaps you prefer the safety of your icy walls?"
I narrowed my eyes, the heat of his touch playing havoc with my senses. With an elegant step backward, I broke our connection, my voice cool and measured. "When I want to defile a wolf, I don't look to one I could crush in my jaws, Tarek. Take your flattery and use it on someone who'll believe it." My lips curled into a smirk, "Besides, you know as well as I, the scent of another wolf stirs nothing in me."
Tarek's growl resonated in my ears, a warning left unyielding in the face of his retreat. As I watched him stalk away, the press of bodies and the din of voices closed around me. The moonlight outside beckoned, and I followed its call. Behind me, the walls sighed with the turning of hours. Cellaria stirred, her voice echoing in my mind, "I hate him."
My laughter died on my tongue as the scent hit me. It wrapped around my throat, choking, drowning, pulling me under. A shock of recognition, of need, rendered me immobile. I gasped for air, for control, but it eluded me. It was like stepping off a cliff, falling uncontrollably, surrendering to a tide I didn't know existed... until now. My she-wolf howled within me, impaling my heart with her name, Cellaria. Omega. Gone.
The scent galvanised me into action. My heart pounded against my ribs, my breath ragged, every fiber of my being clamoring for release, for something primal and wild. On the dance floor, the alphas sniffed the air, eyes sharpening, wolves baring teeth, teeth gleaming fangs. A gust of fear spiked beneath the wolves' hunger, those who could not control their natures catching the scent.
Penelope seized my arm, her grip canny as her eyes blazed with worry. "Aurelia, what is it? What's happening?" As her fragrance, light and floral, collided with the storm within me, I whimpered and buried my face in her shoulder to hide my eyes. I was losing control, my she-wolf battling with me, the scent abrading my resistance, a battle I was losing by the second.
"Elena!" Penelope barked into her phone, "Get here now!" Disconnecting the call, she squeezed my shoulder, eyes sharp as sapphires. "Hang on, love. I'm not losing you today." Bodies shifted around us, the dance floor clearing as wolves took priority over pleasantries. I felt it in my veins like fire, a scream threatening to combust.
Elena swept in like the northerly wind, dressing in a coma of soft mossy green. She carved through the throng, her beta status ensuring her passage. Her gaze flicked from me to Penelope, then to the frenzied wolves. "A storm on the tides" she murmured. She touched my forehead, her cool hand affecting my heated brow. "What's the scent?" Her voice was calm.
"It's... an Omega's scent." The admission felt like cry of war, tasting of blood and fire. "It shouldn't be possible. They should be extinct." I gripped their hands tight, the vice of uncertainty and confusion around my heart. Penelope's gaze widened, her grip tightening. "That's the scent of a dead wolf race, Aurelia. Whatever this is, your alpha's reacting. You're losing control. We've to find its source before..."
"We need to find its source" Penelope echoed. "But with so many wolves here, we risk triggering a pack's instinct. If they scent it, it'll be a chaos. And you're losing control, we can't afford that." Elena chimed in, "My scent would only mask it briefly. We need an omega barrier, but- but they're gone, lost to time." I whirled around, Cellaria my voice, "Not gone."
I jolted from their grasp, the scent a clarion call. My feet moved with certainty, tracking the scent through the ballroom. I weaved, stepped over and under my fallen competitors. But with each stride, the scent wavered, dispersed into the clamor around me. Panic surged, I thrust open a door. Glass shattered, spilling into the cool night.
Elena and Penelope snapped on my heels, their footfalls echoing mine. We hit the courtyard, quiet but for the distant thrum of evening activity. The air was thick with the scent, saturating my senses, leading me to the mafalla tree, beloved and ancient. He's gone. The room emptied, the scent had been an illusion, like a prism refracting light. "He's gone" Elena repeat.
I growled, a guttural rumble of frustration and lust. "He's not gone" I said, snatching the fickle air. My eyes raked over the city, the raw depth within me clawing to the surface. A long pause, a question hanging in my mind. "What will you do?" Elena asked, voice soft, her hand resting lightly on my arm. However faint the fragrance had been, it had fanned flames of desire within me, roaring and unapologetic.
"I'll find him" I declared, voice resonating through me. "This scent, this call - I won't let it go, no matter how far he flees." I turned to them, eyes incandescent. "And when I do, I want to know what he thinks he's doing in my city, playing with my senses."
"I won't give him up" I growled, eyes blazing, "not to Tarek, not to anyone. He's mine to catch, mine to command, if he's shown his face in my city." My voice rang with a primal promise, echoing off the stone walls. "And when I find him, I'll make sure everyone knows how an alpha takes an omega." Cellaria trembled at the thought, her voice in my mind a primal battle cry.