Chapter 305 Book 2 ~ Chapter 70

Chapter 305 Book 2 ~ Chapter 70
Bastian’s POV

The scent hits me again, and I barely avoid taking a fist to the face. The punch breezes past my jaw as I twist away at the last second.

“Getting slow?” someone taunts.

I ignore him because it isn’t the spar that’s distracting me. It’s her. The scent has been lingering around the training grounds since this morning. Faint enough that nobody else seems to have noticed it, but my wolf catches it every time the wind shifts.

Mate.

Now that I’m back in human form, it’s not so much of a scent; it’s more of a feeling. A pull. The same pull I felt every time Leo got too close during the meeting. The same pull I felt when he sat beside me. When he laughed. When he carried her scent all over his skin.

My opponent shifts his weight, preparing another attack. I block automatically. My eyes drift toward the cabin that overlooks us. I swear I’d seen the curtain move earlier. I go completely still as I look for any sign of her in there. Then I see it: a glimpse of movement. Gone again so quickly that I almost convince myself I imagined it. I need to get closer to that cabin before I lose my mind.

“Focus,” Alaric snaps through the mind link. “Keep staring like that and they’ll start to suspect something.”

My eyes flick towards him. He already knows that I saw something. We’ve spent too long together for him to miss it.

I wait until my sparring partner backs away to grab a bottle of water before looking at my brother.

“I need five minutes.”

Alaric doesn’t even blink.

“Bathroom?”

“Bathroom.”

His mouth twitches, and he gives me one sharp nod. Understood.

Ten seconds later, Alaric grimaces. “I think the drive finally got to him.”

One of the Phoenix enforcers frowns. “Who?”

“Bastian.”

Alaric points at me, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes as I clutch my stomach. 

“He spent hours trapped in a vehicle last night with Ryder driving like a maniac and Callen consuming enough beef jerky to kill a horse.”

“Ryder’s not that bad a driver,” the enforcer snorts.

“Sure,” Alaric says. “Tell that to Bastian’s digestive system, he's not used to vehicles.”

A few wolves nearby laugh.

One of the enforcers looks towards the accommodation cabins. “I should probably escort him.”

“No need,” Alaric says quickly. “Trust me. Being anywhere near that cabin after Bastian uses the toilet would be a health hazard.”

The enforcer groans and looks horrified.

Perfect.

“I’ll be right back,” I nod and turn to leave. 

I walk calmly toward our cabin behind the training field. Keeping my pace slow and controlled, but the second the door closes behind me, I move.

The back window slides open without a sound. I hold my breath as I listen. The sparring resumes outside. Voices cheer and shout, laughter echoes off the trees, and no footsteps approach. Good, Alaric is putting on a show. I climb out, shifting before my feet even touch the ground, and land lightly on the damp grass. The world sharpens instantly; scents exploding around me. Pine, dirt, wolf, human, mate.

My wolf surges forward purposefully. Tracking and hunting stealthily. The trail leads deeper into the trees bordering the training grounds. Far enough to avoid attention, but close enough that I can still hear distant shouting from the sparring field. I slow as voices drift through the undergrowth. Three of them. Carefully, I move between the trees. Then I see her and my breath catches.

Mine.

The thought isn’t mine, not entirely. My wolf presses closer to the surface, watching and waiting. The female stands in a small clearing. Red hair, bright eyes and a smile. The expression transforms her face completely. She’s beautiful. More beautiful than I remember. More beautiful than she has any right to be.

She kneels in the grass, and the wolf standing in front of her immediately shatters every expectation I had. Small, lean and brown. A gentle Omega, but he has power; he’s likely a healer.

“Jake,” she breathes, reaching forward slowly.

The wolf immediately lowers himself onto the grass. Submitting trust. Her laughter drifts through the clearing. Soft, warm, and real. I feel it somewhere beneath my ribs. Then she buries both hands in his fur, and my wolf relaxes instantly.

Mate.

Safe.

Happy.

The feeling is so strong it nearly steals the breath from my lungs. I should leave. Instead, I stay. A second later, movement catches my attention.

Leo.

He steps into the clearing, still human and still carrying her scent all over his skin. Poppy stands with a smile, and that smile alone tells me everything. She walks straight to him, and there’s no hesitation or shyness. She’s comfortable. Leo wraps an arm around her waist, and she rises onto her toes to kiss him.

My wolf growls softly. He’s not angry, just confused.

Mine.

Leo shouldn’t smell like her, he shouldn’t touch her, and he shouldn’t have the same claim my wolf feels. Yet he does.

The mark I glimpse on her neck confirms it. They’re bonded. She’s already mated and claimed. She’s mine, and his. Then she turns, returning to Jake the moment he shifts back and takes his hand. The omega’s entire face softens, and he leans in to kiss her neck, right where she carries a second mate mark. 

Another bond, another claim, another mate. I freeze. Because now I understand. Our mate already has two mates, bringing her total to four, just like her sister.

For a long moment, I watch. Waiting for jealousy, or rage, or possessiveness, but none of it comes. Instead, I find myself studying her: the way she laughs, the way she touches them, the way they touch her. Everything feels genuine.

She isn’t trapped or being controlled; and she doesn’t need rescuing. She’s… happy. The realisation settles heavily inside me, and my wolf lowers his head in acceptance. 

The return trip feels shorter. Not because I can’t make the distance in minutes, but because Phoenix territory is crawling with wolves.

Two enforcers cut across the path ahead of me, running patrol. I melt into the shadows beneath a fallen tree before either of them can catch my scent. They pass within a few feet of me, completely oblivious.

My wolf waits patiently, still, silent and practically invisible. It wasn’t always a skill I appreciated, but it earned me my nickname, Shadow, years ago. Whilst Alaric charged headfirst into every problem, I learned to become part of the darkness around me.

The enforcers disappear deeper into the forest, and only then do I move. Another hundred metres brings me dangerously close to the training grounds.

A group of wolves are running drills nearby, so I circle downwind. One shifts his head in my direction, but he’s too slow. By the time he looks, I’m already gone. Retracing my path before slipping through the window. I shift and pull on my shirt, followed by my shorts. Then I stand in the cabin's doorway, making sure at least one enforcer notices me before I go back in to sit on the bed and wait.

Three minutes later, the cabin door opens and Alaric steps inside. One look at my face and his grin disappears. The door clicks shut behind him.

“Well?”

I don’t answer immediately.

“That bad?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

I stare at him. Trying to figure out how to explain this, trying to decide whether I should, and trying to prepare for the inevitable explosion.

Finally, I sigh. “She already has two mates.”

Silence. Complete silence for what feels like an eternity. 

“…what?”