The pain shot through me. It was excruciating. I screamed. My bones lengthened and rearranged themselves. Sandy-coloured fur enveloped my form. My eyesight and hearing became so sharp. I stood on all fours. I howled. I was a wolf. I ran through the night, white snow beneath me and black sky above me. I practically flew. When I had tired of running. They would probably so cold after lying in the snow. I focused on what I looked like human and my bones started breaking again. It was painful but not nearly as bad as the first time. The triplets had gone out to ring in the first few minutes of their twenty-first birthday with some of their friends at a bar.
I passed by their rooms. The house had three floors. The Alpha and Luna slept on the top floor. The Triplets and I slept on the middle floor. I had a tiny converted storage room and each triplet had a master bedroom and bathroom. There was the most delicious smell coming from Calix’s room. I snuck in. He was the least scary of the triplets so I did not mind if he caught my scent when he came home and realised I had been in his home. His room literally smelled like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I looked around. Maybe he had pot cookies or something. I did not find anything. Ugh. I had put my scent all over some of his stuff for nothing.
I walked out and caught another scrumptious scent. This one was coming from the middle master bedroom that belonged to Felix. I dared not go in there but I sniffed the doorway. The smell reminded me of sweet coconut shavings. There was a tropical edge to it. I breathed it in, wondering why I had never picked it up before. My heart started to race. I was afraid to go near Alex’s room but I had to know. If all three rooms suddenly smelled great to me then…
I refused to think about it. I walked over to Alex’s door. I picked up the scent. The strong smell of coffee and cocoa hit me. My mouth watered a little. Did Alex smell that good? The window blew open suddenly and all three scents wafted down the hallway. Their combined scents hit me. I was in big trouble. I went to my tiny room and locked the door. I tried to fall asleep but I kept tossing and turning. Those scents were plaguing me. Would they smell me when they returned home? Would I suddenly smell different now to them? I did not want to analyse it too much. Maybe my enhanced sense of smell was just picking up a lot that I had not noticed before. Maybe everyone smelled this good.
Third Person
Calix, Felix and Alex sauntered in the house at around three in the morning. It was Saturday. Later tonight, they had their official birthday party and alpha ceremony. Celebrating with their girlfriends and their “bros” from the town had left them exhausted and a little tipsy. It was difficult for werewolves to get drunk no matter how much alcohol they had but the triplets had really done their best. They said good night and happy birthday to each other and parted ways.
Calix stumbled into his room. A familiar scent greeted him but there was some unmistakable new element to it like a new ingredient enhancing an old favourite recipe of his. Someone had been in his room. A girl. She smelled like roses and honeysuckle. He shivered. That scent was driving him crazy. He could not sleep. It was all over everything. He felt as if he recognised the smell but he could not say exactly who it was. Surely he would have noticed and remembered someone who smelled this good.
He could not take it anymore when the sun came up. He banged on his brothers’ doors. They greeted him still half-asleep.
“What’s wrong, little bro?” Asked Alex, concern evident on his face.
“It better be good. It’s six o’ clock in the morning. We partied last night and we’re partying tonight,” said Felix, doing a little dance and yawning.
“Smell my room,” said Calix.
His brothers laughed. He walked away from them. They followed him.
“Enough!” Said Felix storming into Calix’s room. Felix stopped in his tracks. Alex entered and his eyes widened.
“Oh my God,” said Felix. “What is that?” The Alpha started sniffing about his brother’s room.
“Little Bro, who was in your room?” Asked Alex sharply.
“You’ve been with our mate!” Said Felix, growling. “You’re keeping her all to yourself.”
“No, I don’t know whose scent it is and it’s driving me crazy,” said Calix with tired eyes.
“Our mate’s been in this room,” said Felix gleefully. “She found us! Oh I can’t wait to get on her.” Felix growled again.
“What about Sandra, Tonya and Avery?” Asked Calix, mentioning their current girlfriends.
“We’ve only been dating them like a couple weeks! They know they’re not our mates so it was a temporary thing! I’m gonna end it with Tonya over the phone,” said Felix dismissively.
“Yeah,” agreed Alex. “If we can find our mate in time for the party we don’t want the girls showing up and harassing her.”
“Yeah, they’d be jealous,” said Calix. “And there’s one of her and three of them so we better tell them before tonight.”
The brothers were in agreement, all sitting on Calix’s bed.
“Who would be in my room?” Calix wondered.
“There’s something familiar about the smell,” said Alex, smiling. “It kinda smells a little like…” Alex paused, frowning. He got up and ran down the hallway. He stood in front of the door to Chasity’s little makeshift room. The same smell hit him. It made him shiver. Honeysuckle and Roses. He sighed. He found her door unlocked and opened it eagerly to reveal an empty room with the cot in the corner made. His face fell.
It suddenly dawned on him just how small Chasity’s room was compared to the other bedrooms in the house. There were empty guest bedrooms bigger than this room. Why didn’t his parents give her one of those?
His brothers came up behind him. Felix looked dumbfounded. Calix walked into Chasity’s room and lay in her cot, deeply inhaling her scent.
“I’m gonna wait for her to come back, right here,” he said, curling up on her tiny cot. It was comically small for the six-foot-four Alpha.
“I wanna go get her right now,” said Felix, his eyes worried. “We have a lot of talking to do.”
“Relax, Felix,” said Alex. “Our mate already lives with us so we’re good,” said the eldest Alpha grinning.
“No, we’re not good!” Said Felix staring at them. “Our mate is Charity. Charity!”
“Don’t call her that!” Snarled Calix, his blue eyes turning black.
“Sorry! Sorry! It’s a bad habit. Chasity,” Felix said. Her real name felt good to say out loud.
“What’s your problem?” Asked Alex. He was looking through Chasity’s things, thinking of all the stuff he was going to buy her. She hardly had anything so she would be easy to surprise. It was her birthday too after all.
“We have to go to the mall as soon as it opens at ten,” he told his younger brothers. “It’s Chasity’s birthday too and I’m sure Mom and Dad didn’t get her anything.”
“Are you hearing yourself?” Asked Felix.
“Again! What is your problem?” Alex asked Felix. Calix opened his eyes to glare at Felix.
“Chasity is our mate! We had no idea because she was not of age until today!” Felix said, waving his arms around like a mad man.
Calix and Alex were not following.
“We’ve treated Chasity bad! When she realises she’s our mate, she’s going to reject us!” Said Felix.
Calix shot up into a sitting position. “No, she’s not,” the youngest said. “No, she can’t. We’ve been waiting three years for our mate.”
“Chasity said she didn’t want a mate, remember?” Said Felix, spelling it out for them.
“Yeah,” said Alex. “But when the mate bond actually hits her, she’ll be putty in our hands.”
Calix beamed, grinning at Alex. “Yep,” Calix agreed.
Felix rolled his eyes. “Do you remember why Chasity did not want a mate? She said because he’d be mean to her like we were. Her mate is literally us.”
Calix and Alex were starting to look worried.
“She’s going to freak out!” Said Felix. “She’s going to try to leave. Remember, she’s been talking about turning eighteen, finishing high school and leaving!”
Alex smirked. “She has seven more months of high school. It’s November. We have until June or July with her to convince her otherwise.”
Felix calmed down a little, thinking it over.
Calix grinned wickedly, his dimples showing, mischief in his baby blue eyes, “Chasity might hate us now but by next summer we’ll be making her submit.”
His elder brothers burst into laughter.