"These are the last words he ever said to me," Zade says, remembering every single detail from that battlefield except the identity of that masked soldier who killed Irene.

"I will never be that me again," Zade said in self-loathing, "I will never hear Hunter's voice again."

"We are the only ones who can save ourselves, Zade," Damon reaches out for his hand to comfort him, "You know I never blamed you for anything. It was just destiny."

"Yes, but you could have healed a lot faster if Irene was here. Omegas are the only ones who can cure their Alpha and I took that away from you," Zade has gotten up. He doesn't want to show his big brother his tears.

"Zade, look at me," His voice croaks which makes him look at him, "Love doesn't go away when the person does. She is here," he places his hand on his chest, "In my heart, with me and Lobo (Damon's wolf)."

"And if you are worried about healing, it was given when we started this war. Odin had already predicted that my loved ones may die but I still chose to go through with it," Damon continues in a calm tone, "What we can do now is," he holds Zade's hand, "Is to protect our pack from further destruction."

Zade sighs. This whole burden of protecting the pack was never his dream. He was happy being the side-kick to his Alpha brother. But situations always have the worst in store for you.

"I know she isn't your Omega," Damon speaks, looking at a dejected Zade, "I am sorry for not being a good pack leader. You don't even love her."

"No Damon, don't say that," He clutches Damon's hand. He couldn't give more misery to a dying man. "I don't have time for all this. My pack will always come first. And I know if you were in my place, you would have done the same thing."

"And as Odin said, love and trust will develop over time. We are just looking out for ourselves," He says with another sigh.

"That's like a pack leader!" Damon chuckles, "But...why were you asking about the mating mark?"

"Aah, no. Just curious!" Zade gets up to leave. He closes the door behind him after glancing at his brother one last time.

"I can't possibly tell him about how we felt today, right Hunter?" Zade mumbles to himself, hoping for some answer but nothing. His wolf makes no sound at all.

"Aah, well. I guess it was really just a good perfume," He shrugs the thought off of his mind.

───── ❝ A week before ❞ ─────

Zade was very nervous about his first day at the office. To his luck, he could finally find a job as an Assistant Editor in the Inspired Roots Publishing House after coming back from his 'exile'. He was introduced to the CEO of the publishing house, Brent Cargill.

"So, champ, first day huh?" he surprises Zade from behind.

"Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you. I am..."

"Zade Carter. I know already. I recruited you!" Brent says with a beaming smile and his hand stretched forward. Zade shakes his hand hesitantly. He was never good with over-friendly people.

Another brown-haired boy came strolling over to both of them and introduces himself.

"Hi, I am Abir Walton, Creative Editing Department. And you must be Zade?" he stretches his hand towards him.

Zade shakes his hand willingly as he could smell him being a wolf.

"You will be working in our department," Abir turns to Brent, "May I take him for the further briefing?"

"Yeah sure. He is all yours," Brent gives one last look to Zade, "See you around, mate," And walks away.

"I am sorry. He is always a bit clingy. Humans, right?" Abir says and before Zade could say anything he could sense a very strange smell.

Being a wolf, their eyesight and sense of smell heighten the most. They could sense another wolf from miles away. Humans tend to have a similar and typical smell and they try to hide it with perfumes. But wolves all have different smells according to their families and packs. Other wolves can identify from which pack they are just from their scent.

But what Zade was smelling was something very very different. It was like a wolf smell but not a wolf.

"Oh, Inara is here!" Abir leaves Zade's side to walk to the corridor to this 'Inara' person.

Zade's heart was beating fast. He could not understand why he had such a reaction to an odd scent. Maybe it is a new, exotic perfume? But to him, it was more of a natural scent. He could feel the scent coming closer and small whimpers from within him.

Was Hunter trying to speak?

He turns his head to get some relief from the smell and thankfully, it was out of his range pretty soon. Just when he turns, he sees a faint outline of a figure around the turn in the corridor. The figure was gone and so was the scent.

But Zade couldn't think clearly.

"What was that scent?"