THE SCENT OF BETRAYAL

we meet again

DAMON’S POV

The most important and distinguished guests for the night were already here. The elders had arrived earlier than anyone, and they were ready for the announcement that I wanted to make. They didn’t know what this was about because I wanted to announce it in front of everyone. I just couldn't want to see the elders' faces when I made the announcement to them. I knew that they were planning to use this mate thing as a way to keep me from taking the throne, but they had obviously underestimated me.

I was sure that no one was excited for the night more than Arianna was. This was the moment that she had been waiting for and the moment that was going to mark a great beginning for her. I just wanted us to get this over and done with so that I could be crowned the king and move on to greater things.

So far, nothing out of the ordinary had happened, but I suddenly felt a feeling of dread coming over me. I felt like something big was about to happen, but I just couldn’t figure out what it was. I looked around the room, unsure of what it was that I was expecting to see or who, but I knew there was someone here who was about to ruin my day.

"What is going on?" Noah asked me, catching me off guard.

"What do you mean?" I asked him."Is something wrong?" I asked, and he shook his head and returned to studying the crowd

"You look like you just saw a ghost," he pointed out, and I shook my head and tried to wave him off, but even I couldn't deny that something made the air heavy.

“A ghost...” I scoffed. “dont tell me you believe in such crazy stuff” I sneered and he sighed

“I thought this was a night that youbere looking forward to” he kicked “and yet you look like you d9nt want to be here” he said

“Why wouldn’t iwant to be ehre” I scoffed “this is the niht ghat all the kings before me looked forward to. It is the night that i am finally recognized as the new oing” i said

“did you already speak to the elders?” he asked me and I shook my head

“i djsnt see a need to, i dont want then to thjnk iplanned this” I said

“Are you planning to make Arianna pose as your mate?” he asked me andni shrugged.

“I will just go with the flow and let things happen naturally” I saia and he sighed. I kept looking around the rokm as if I was looking for someone but I was still not sire if who or what I qas looking for.

“why do you look so nervous?” Ihe asked me

“I am not...it’s just” I scratched my nose

“It’s just what?”he asked me trying to get my attention

"Can you pick any unfamiliar scent?" I asked him, and he looked around and slowly shook his head.

"It's hard for me to tell, I mean, there are so many wolves here I will only be able to differentiate a scent if I was close to that particular wolf," he said

“most wolves here are wolves that I have never even be close to or even had a conversationwith”he said

"Can you smell someone who is not supposed to be here?" I asked him

“you mean like a foreign wolf?” he asked me “whk woild have the guts toninvadr us on such an event?” Noah asked me and I shrugged

Arianna came and pulled me into a tight hug and placed a kiss on my cheek. She was the most excited about this night and probably couldn’t pick anything wrong here. Asking hR If she could pick a foreign scent would not only be a waste of time hut it would also make her panic and probably cause a scene.

"Can you give me a moment, my love?" I said, kissing her on her cheeks, and she nodded and stepped away.

"Did you check everyone before they came in?" I asked Noah, and he nodded.

“how did you check them?” I was getting more and more paranoid because this mysterious scent that was lurking in the wall.

“We did body weather and stuff like that” he said

“were you around when this was done?’I asked hkm and he s8hhes.

“Come on I had a million other things to do, if anyone who is not supposed to be heresneaked I the worst ghag cokld happen is that they dostrupt the party. The guards understand how important it is for this place to be safe. So no weapon was came in here” he assured me

"Noah, you better be sure of what you are saying because I don't want any surprises. this night better go smooth or I will hold you responsible' I threatened and he sighed

"Maybe it would help if you told me what or who was making you so jumpy," he said

"I don't even know what to tell you. All I know for now is that someone who isn't supposed to be here is here," I said, and he nodded as if he could understand what I was saying, but I knew he didn't. Arianna came back and threw herself in my arms again. I wanted to send her away again, but I chose not to; I didn't want her to panic. I wasn't even sure if there was anything worth panicking about.

"I am ready," she said, pulling me for a deep kiss. I tried to refocus and be present in the moment, but that proved to be hard.

My eyes flew open, and I started scanning the room as I could now clearly feel who was there and i could almost feel her eyes on me. This spelled disaster because soon Arianna would soon realize that my mate was here.

"she is here," I whispered, pushing Ariana off me and turning around. I was fully expecting to see her right in front of my face, but she was still a few steps away from me.

"What! Who is here?" she demanded, getting in my face and blocking my view.

I moved her aside only to be met by the most beautiful girl that I had seen in this pack. She was just a plain Jane, with no personality but beautiful nonetheless. The only thing impressive about her was her beauty, and her scent made her drew me to her in an uncontrollable way. I folded my arms and watched her as she made her way to me. I coild already see myself obsessed with her and her safety. I could see myself losing my mind everytime I coildnt figure out where she was or who she was with. I coild see myself and feel my wolf growl at the thought of another wolf touching her. This only cemented the fact that I couldn’t keep her for me. She qas too dangerous to keep

I really didn't want to disappoint anyone today, but I guess the moon goddess had other plans for me. I was already thinking of ways that I could let her down gently when I noticed something in her facial expression. She didn't look like she was about to come over here to beg me to claim her. She looked mad.

I looked behind me to check if maybe she was heading for someone else, but there was no one but me and Arianna. Noah had left me with Arianna, so I was the only one that this foolish girl could have been headinglooked jad almost forgotten that Arianna was right next to me and that was another rude awakening for me.

id she really not realize who I was to her.

However, when she got closer to me, her facial expression seemed to soften, anD then tears welled up in her eyes as if she had just come to a tragic realization. Tiiw as definitely not how I would have ever expected my mate to react when she first met me. I jad always thought that she woild be the happiest female wolf the day she met me because I xoildnt see why anyone would feel like being with me was such a bad thing.

And yet, here was this beautiful creature who I almost instantly loved looking at me as if I was a curse to her life. She looked like she wanted to kill me with her bare jansa and I just couldn’t understand why she aas acting this way. I tried to think back, maybe I jad met her before and she had had a very bad experience with me but I coildnt remember myself having such an encounter with her. Maybe someone she knew had had an unpleasant encounter with me but I still couldn’t figure out who ciuld have had a bad encounter with me snd road her about it.

I didn’t even know who this girl was and I didn’t tank I knew anyone who knew her.