15| Picking Up Future Employees

"I get the feeling you are leaving something out," Zak pointed out dryly. I gulped. How in the world did I not notice before? I just thought Jared like picking on because I beat him up.

"He sends me these notes daily. They… well, they have some pretty graphic descriptions of what he would do to me when claims to me. I didn't take them seriously. I just thought it was some weird way of bullying."

"Do you have those notes with you?" He asked.

"Yes." I nodded. He immediately grabbed my wrist and started to drag me to the door. I facepalmed as I simply got dragged by him. Did my mate have no concept of respecting other people's wishes?

"I would be more cooperative if you tell me where we're going, you know. No need to drag me around." Zak turned around to face me, blinked, then let go of my wrist.

"We are going to your home, which must be where you have the notes that he sent you," He said and started walking again, obviously expecting me to follow. So I did.

"Yeah, but what's the point? Threatening and harassing an omega is not really considered a serious offense. You can't stop a war with that." I stated. He shook his head at me.

"You don't understand. Jared Liandre has a very clean record. We haven't been able to pin down anything on him. The notes he sent you are a solid proof to indicate his, well, psychotic tendencies. And harassment is a serious offence. If you were in my pack…" Zak gritted his teeth.

My heart fluttered a bit at his words.

"Just because the authorities here don't prioritize, it doesn't make it any less serious. They might not take it seriously if you reported it, but they have no choice if I do." What he said was right.

And it was nice of him to do that for me. Even if he was not doing it out of the goodness of his most probably frozen heart. I thought frozen because, seriously. The mate bond should be in works even if he hadn't caught my scent yet. But this guy didn't make a single move on me!

I gritted my teeth in anger. It was my decision to leave him, yes, but my mate not reacting to me even a little made me very angry. I still felt grateful, though.

"Thank you," I said sincerely. He squinted at me before his eyes widened imperceptibly as he realized I was not being sarcastic. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it and gave me a hesitant nod. Zak started walking faster in front of me.

I snickered. I guess he didn't know how to handle me when I was decent. Zak stopped short before me and I ran smack into him. He turned around fully, and I was forced to take a step back. He took a step closer to me and leaned in. My eyebrows shot up.

Did my scent masking potion stop working?

ZAK'S POV

I mindlinked Daniel, since he was the only one lounging around with no responsibilities. I tried to test it again, but I really couldn't smell her scent any more.

Every year on the first day of winter, the unique scent of every shifter multiplies tenfold. We also give off a sweet, seductive lure scent on this day. That's why the Choosing Ceremony was a must for all. It could only be held once a year and ended in a single day.

This was the only time of the year when shifters could choose a suitable mate for themselves, depending on the compatibility based on the lure scent.

At twenty-two, I had participated in four Choosing Ceremonies before, and hers was the only lure that caught my attention. Now I couldn't even catch a whiff of it! Scent masking potions were indeed common and could be used to mask their unique scent for a short period.

But it couldn't mask the lure scent. Those things weren't available on the market.

It was already weird that I couldn't smell anything but her lure scent. Now I couldn't even smell that.

What did this lupine shifter do to herself?

"You called, Alpha?" Daniel asked, his eyes took in the two of us.

'Two of us?'

I immediately let go of Ash and stepped back. She scowled at me and brushed off her shoulders, which barely reached my chest. She was pretty short for a shifter.

"Alpha, are you finally taking a mate?" Daniel asked through the mindlink. That was enough to wake me out of whatever trance I was in. I said nothing and glared at him.

"Well, I've never seen you so close to a female be-" I cut off his mindlink, not wanting to hear anymore. His lips formed a pout, and I noticed that they were slightly swollen. I held back an eye roll.

'Disgusting.'

"And here I thought you were an innocent ball of fluff," Ash said, snickering. Daniel blushed furiously and looked at me, ignoring her.

"Answer my questions properly if your mind is still not addled in whatever you just came back from," I ordered.

"Yes, Alpha!"

"Does this female smell weird to you?" Daniel stared at me blankly.

"You said it was an emergency…"

"I did, now answer me."

He looked like he wanted to say something, but decided against it. Wise choice. He turned around, leaned towards Ash, and sniffed her hair. I held back the urge to ask what was wrong with him.

"What the hell, man?" She yelled and jumped away from him.

"Alpha, I can't smell anything! Her unique scent, lure scent, pack scent, nothing."

I nodded at him, gesturing to him to keep quiet. I looked at Ash, who looked very peeved by us. Her stance showed that she was ready to run away. Truth be told, I was also very peeved by her. She was definitely not normal.

"How did you make the scent masking potion?" I asked Ash.

"How did you know I made it?" She asked back, startled.

"So you did make it."

"I just tweaked a recipe I found," She admitted.

To make a scent masking potion that could even hide the lure scent. It was pure genius, considering the fact she made it on her own.

"Daniel, what do you think of adding Miss Diamante to the Sovereign Spies Division?"