The Stained Omega by Elle T Jefferson novel Chapter 103

Lost scents.
James)
“How can her scent just be gone?’ I hear Patrick ask me over the mindlink, not long after Anna raced after Faye I called Fraction to let him know what happened. I didn’t need the call to be finished to know he is currently racing towards us as we search the forest. While I was speaking to Fraction. Patrick had already shifted and started after them. I followed soon after. Once I picked up Patricks trail I went. slightly left and started searching for Anna’s scent. We have been looking for hours now but after she hit the border her scent just vanished.
‘We can’t go back with nothing.” I tell Patrick. ‘We have to keep looking I’m straining every sense I have to locate Anna.
Have you tried Faye? Patrick asks me. I can hear his distaste at the suggestion.
‘Yeah, she’s blocked me. I assume she’s with Anna, there is no way she out ran Winter. She’s a fast wolf when she wants to be. I tell Patrick as I sniff along the edge of a river bed.
‘If she shifted we would smell her even more.’ Patrick tells me, I know he’s right, which means Anna chased her in human form. Just as I’m about to answer Patrick I smell the one thing I never thought I’d smell this far from the Pack.
‘Patrick, get over here.’ I tell him sticking my nose into the pile of
leaves.
‘Anna?’ He asks, I can tell he’s put on a burst of speed to get to me.
Leon ‘I say as I draw in Leon’s musky scent. I’d know his scent well I would know it anywhere but what I don’t know is why he’s so far past the border
I sense the moment Patrick gets close. I don’t have to turn to know he’s on two legs rather than four so I quickly pull my wolf back into myself Kneeling on the wet ground I hold the leaves up and bring them to my nose, although the scent is dulled I can still tell it’s Leon.
“What’s he doing this far outside of the Pack land?” Patrick asks me coming to kneel beside me.
“I don’t know, he’s meant to be at the medical clinic with Doctor Lee but this smells fresh. like a few hours old fresh. See?” I hold the leaves out to him and he sticks his nose into the leaves.
“Faye “Patrick growls as he pulls his nose away. I look at him confused. “It’s faint but Faye’s scent is in there too.” Bringing the leaves back to my nose I try to smell what Patrick can but I only smell Leon. “Is there chance…”
“No” I say quickly and dropping the leaves back to the floor before standing and brushing my hand against my n*ked thigh.
“Then why else is he out here? Think James, you’re not this stu pid.” Patrick says to me while moving some of the leaves around, he must be looking for tracks. He’s completely oblivious to my inner turmoil.
“No.” I say again in a whisper, “he wouldn’t.” If Leon is in league with Faye it means he’s not only fooled me but the whole Pack for years. I can’t help but take it personally, I went to him for guidance, I let him in where I’ve kept others at arm’s length.
“There is no other explanation.” I spin on Patrick as he says this. clenching my hands at my side. I have to remind myself that Patrick isn’t trying to be callous, he’s being the cold logical Head Warrior he’s
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trained his whole life to be
“Until we know, you won’t tell anyone about this ” I say with my jaw clenched
“I won’t? Fraction deserves to know of every possible link to finding Anna and Faye” Patrick stands and stares at me with a confused look on his face. I see the moment he realises what Leon means to me. His face relaxes and I see pity in his eyes, “your right. We don’t know for sure what his scent is doing out here but we do have to tell Fraction.
“We should head back. Fraction will be home soon. Maybe he knows. where Faye would go out here.” I look around at the trees towering over us and the forest that lays ahead. “There’s too much ground to cover on our own. Unless you want to call in the warriors?” Patrick shakes his head at me as he sets off back the way I came
“We keep them in the dark until Fraction says. We can’t let anyone. know we did not help Luna in an outright attack.” I know he’s right but I can’t help but feel a little proud of Anna.
I’ve never seen that side of Anna before and I’ve known her for a long time I’ve seen her at many stages of her life but never like that. I think at that moment she would have killed Faye if she was given half the chance. When Anna was beating on Faye I honestly wanted to cheer with pride. Eliza stepped in to stop her but I think it was more for Anna’s sake than Faye’s.
“We should have let her kill Faye, then none of this would be happening. Who knows who or what is out here.” I say as I follow James back to the Pack border.
“We have had rogue scents along this border for weeks now but we haven’t seen any, I just hope she’s ok.” Patrick says glancing around us, “Faye is one thing, a full blown rogue is another all together.” I can’t
Lost scents
* 288 Winchers
help but notice he doesn’t comment about letting Anna kill Faye.
Walking in silence we finally make it back to the Pack border when we hear angry yelling coming from the direction of the Pack house.
“Why did you bring him?” Fraction roars in rage.
“He needs to put this right!” Alpha Darryl shouts just as loudly, looking at Patrick we both start running towards the Pack house as quickly as we can. As we approach we see Fraction has a Mac pinned to the floor and Darryl is trying to pull Fraction off him. I know myself it’s a losing battle, when Fraction is pis sed there isn’t a force in the world who can move him. I see Eliza on the porch and when she sees. us she nods before heading back into the house, I presume to grab us both some clothes. Putting on a burst of speed I get to the group on the lawn.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask Darryl when I get close enough.
“Darryl thought it was a good idea to bring the idiot who let A nn al leave in the first place.” I watch as Fraction drags Mac up a little by his shirt before slamming him back into the ground. “He should be rotting in a cell, he let her go!” Each word Fraction says is punctured with a slamming of Mac into the hard ground.
“More noses and eyes would be better, we couldn’t smell anything out there.” Patrick says as he accepts some shorts from Eliza, I didn’t even see her reappear. I smile at Eliza as I accept the shorts she holds out to
me.
“Nothing?” Fraction asks as he lifts himself off Mac, I don’t miss the look he gives him. It’s a stay where I put you kind of look, luckily Mac is a smart man and seems to take the warning. He stays laid on the ground as we all stand around him.
“We smelled something but not Anna or Faye,” Patrick says as he
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brings a hand to the back of his neck. He looks over at me, he’s giving me the chance to come clean about what I smelled.
“We smelled Leon, maybe three miles past the Pack border. There is no reason for him to be that far out…” I say slowly but clearly, I don’t want. to hide anything from my Alpha but I also don’t want Leon held as guilty before we know the full story.
“Unless he’s helping Faye.” With those few words my hope for Leon withers and dies. I can only pray to the Goddess that once we find Leon it turns out to be a coincidence and that he’s not actually helping Faye and her family.