Rejected and Pregnant I Fled The Pack (Evelyn and Damon) novel Chapter 211

Ethan pov

I was mid-conversation with Priya, one of the visiting warriors from a neighboring pack, laying on my usual easy charm about her apparent skill during this morning's training exercises, when the scent hit me.

I stopped talking mid-sentence.

It rolled through me like nothing I'd ever actually experienced before—something warm and impossibly specific, layered with notes I couldn't fully identify but somehow already recognized on some instinctive, bone-deep level. My wolf, usually content to simply exist as background presence during my daily interactions, suddenly surged forward with an intensity that nearly knocked me off balance.

*Mate.*

The word arrived in my mind with absolute, undeniable certainty, and I felt my whole body go rigid, my wolf pacing frantically beneath my skin, desperate to actually locate the source of that scent.

"Ethan?" Priya's voice carried genuine confusion, watching my sudden, obvious distraction. "Are you alright?"

"I need to go," I said, already turning, my nose working overtime to actually track the source of that overwhelming, impossible scent.

I left her standing there, confused and probably somewhat offended, though I couldn't spare proper attention for that concern given the sheer, consuming urgency currently driving me forward.

*This can't be happening,* I thought, even as my wolf continued pressing hard against my restraint, every instinct screaming toward whoever was creating that scent. *Not yet. I'm not ready for this yet.*

I'd spent years genuinely enjoying my freedom, the easy thrill of pursuit and attraction without the weight of permanent commitment, and some selfish, reluctant part of me immediately began calculating exactly how thoroughly this discovery would upend everything I'd grown comfortable with.

But my wolf didn't care about my careful, reluctant hesitation. He simply wanted to find her, immediately, completely overriding whatever internal protest I attempted to raise.

I followed the scent through the compound, past the training grounds, past the main pack house, toward the visitor's quarters where several delegations from allied packs had been staying for the past several days regarding upcoming trade negotiations.

The scent grew stronger, more overwhelming, and I found myself standing outside one of the guest apartments, my heart pounding with anticipation and genuine, reluctant dread in equal measure.

I knocked before I'd fully decided to, some instinctive urgency driving the action despite my continued internal resistance.

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