Chapter 28 Trust Me
“Your scent,” the woman said, and there was urgency in her voice now. “You smell like a homing device for every male wolf within miles. How old are you?”
“Eighteen,” Grace said automatically, still trying to process the question. “I just turned eighteen. What do you mean, in heat? I don’t understand what that means.”
The woman’s eyes widened further, and she muttered something that sounded like a prayer or a curse. “You’re unmated? And you’re going through your first heat out here in the open?”
Grace’s confusion was rapidly turning into fear. The woman’s reaction, the panic in her voice, it was scaring her more than anything else that had happened tonight.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Grace said, and she hated how small her voice sounded. “I don’t know what heat means. I didn’t even know werewolves were real until a few hours ago.”
The woman and the little girl exchanged a look that Grace couldn’t interpret.
“You poor thing,” the woman said, her tone softening slightly despite the alarm still evident in her expression. “You really don’t know anything, do you?”
Grace shook her head, tears of frustration burning in her eyes. She was so tired of not understanding, of being thrust into situations she couldn’t comprehend, of her own body doing things she couldn’t control.
The woman seemed to come to a decision, “Alright Aylin, we are getting close to home.”
“But I want to stay, Grandma.”
“No dear, I need to help the pretty lady first, alright?”
The woman floored it and came to a stop in front of a house, it was a neighborhood, and Grace could see some people milling about. “Alright Lin, go home now.”
Grace watched the girl get out of the car and rush towards the house. Suddenly, a man popped up in front of Grace, eyes wild and he almost grabbed at her causing her to scream and the old woman flooring the car once more.
“You see what I mean,” the woman said, and her voice had taken on a tone of absolute authority.
Grace felt her stomach drop. “What was that? Why was he acting like that?” She asked, panting.
The woman turned back to her, and her expression was grave. “It means, child, that right now your body is broadcasting to every male werewolf in the vicinity that you’re available and fertile. Your scent is like a beacon, calling to them, driving their instincts wild. And trust me when I say that is not a situation you want to be in and out in the open like this.”
Grace felt the colour drain from her face. “But I don’t want that. I’m not trying to do that. I don’t even know how to stop it.”
“Your body doesn’t care what you want,” the woman said bluntly. “You’re in heat. It’s a biological imperative, driven by hormones and instinct. It was probably triggered by recent sexual activity combined with the extreme stress you’ve been under.”
Grace’s face flushed hot, and not just from whatever was happening to her body. “How did you know about that?”
“I can smell it on you,” the woman said matter-of-factly. “The scent of your first time is still clinging to your skin, mixed with the heat. You smell like sex and need and an unmated female ready to breed. It’s intoxicating to male wolves, especially young ones who haven’t learned to control their base instincts yet.”
Young ones huh? But a grown ass man had just attempted to grope her! And out in the open nonetheless!
The casual way she said it made Grace want to curl up and die from embarrassment.
“What do I do?” Grace asked, and she couldn’t keep the desperation out of her voice. “How do I make it stop?”
The woman’s expression softened with something like pity. “You can’t make it stop, child. Heat has to run its course. But we can get you somewhere safe, somewhere enclosed where your scent won’t travel as far. My home isn’t far from here. You can stay with me until this passes. Do you have a mate you can call?”
Grace’s first thoughts were of Enzo, then of Maddox. But after losing her phone, calling either one of them was out of the question. Especially given how they’d parted ways.
Grace wanted to refuse. Wanted to insist she could handle this on her own, that she didn’t need help from strangers, that she could figure this out herself.
But she knew that would be stupid. She had no idea what she was doing, no understanding of what was happening to her body. And if what this woman was saying was true, if her scent really was calling to male werewolves like some kind of biological siren song, then being out in the open was dangerous.
She had no choice but to trust this woman.
“Okay,” Grace whispered, her voice barely audible over the rumble of the car’s engine. “Okay. Thank you. And no, I have no one to call.”
The woman nodded and kept driving, though she kept her hand firmly over her nose and mouth.
Mate.
The word that the old woman said had sent an unexpected jolt through Grace’s body. Mate. Like what Enzo had whispered in her ear that night, though she’d thought he was just being weird or romantic or saying things people said during sex.
Had he known? Had he known what she was when he’d slept with her? Had he known this would happen?
Grace’s hands clenched into fists, her nails digging into her palms hard enough to hurt. There were too many questions and not enough answers. Too many things she didn’t understand, too many revelations that kept piling on top of each other until she felt like she was drowning.
And through it all, her body kept burning, kept aching, kept demanding attention she didn’t know how to give it.
The car finally pulled up in front of a small house past the quiet neighborhood and hidden somewhere between the trees. It looked like they were on the outskirts of town. It looked weathered, unremarkable, the kind of place you’d pass a hundred times without ever really noticing.
The woman helped Grace come out of the car, though she was careful to maintain distance between them. Like she was afraid of getting too close, of being contaminated by whatever Grace was putting out into the air.
“Come on,” the woman said, ushering Grace toward the front door with urgent gestures.
“Let’s get you inside before someone catches your scent and decides to investigate.”
Grace stumbled up the path, her legs weak and unsteady. The heat was getting worse with every passing minute, the ache becoming almost unbearable. She didn’t know how much longer she could stand this, how much longer before she did something desperate and stupid just to make it stop.
Again, she had no choice but to trust this woman.