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Chapter 5: The scent

The weekend flew by, but the memories were still fresh.

The feeling of shifting for the first time was scary and painful, but as my whole family and my family flock were there to help me get through it, guiding me and supporting me, it turned out to be exhilarating and felt out of this world once I let go and gave into it.

As soon as the Moon shone upon the stars that filled the sky and touched my skin, I felt a current of power surge up inside of my body and filled me with warmth.

That was the first time I heard the soft feminine voice.

“Hi Olivia, I am Aurora.”

Hearing my Siren's voice and being able to talk finally after years of feeling her was like a long-lost part of myself had finally returned.

Right after that was when the pain erupted and the shifting process began.

My father was instructing me, trying to get me to calm down, and soon as I did, I shifted.

I heard gasps and cheers all around me as the next moment was a bonding ceremonial swim with all the shifters from my family flock.

When one of us shifts, it’s important to us Sirens that the entire flock strengthens the connection with each other during a swim together.

The memories of that day played inside my mind so vividly that without notice I had a huge smile plastered on my face.

I didn’t find my mate that day, and as it turned out, Tyson wasn’t mine.

That was a little disappointing, but it didn’t stop me from having a crush on him.

We spent the whole night together, and I even got to meet his Siren, and I couldn’t help but admire how powerful and beautiful he was, but Aurora kept her distance.

So here we are today, back in the reality of another week of school.

Waking up this morning, I felt annoyed that it was just the beginning of the week, and I dragged my feet into my bathroom to prepare myself for the next eight hours of torture.

Yes, I hate Mondays!

Aurora was excited for some weird reason as she was restless trying to get me to move faster.

“Come on, Ollie, we need to hurry up!” Aurora spoke loudly in my head.

Groaning, I cringed at her shouting inside my head, and I thought of how wonderful it was when I could only hear my own thoughts and not someone else shouting inside my head, making my head hurt.

“Stop being so grouchy. You love me. Now hurry up!” she said to me.

Sighing, I took off my clothes and went inside the shower.

After I finished getting ready for school, I went downstairs to eat breakfast and saw James already sitting at the counter, eating some cereal.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” He was cheery this morning as he sang his greeting.

What is it with everyone this morning?

“Morning.”

I slumped down on the stool next to him and grabbed a bowl that was on the counter, already ready for me so I could pour my cereal and milk in it.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re not in a good mood today,” he said with a mouthful of his cereal, making me cringe at the sight.

“At least swallow before you speak with your mouth full.”

He rolled his eyes at me.

“Soooo… have you found anyone worthy of me yet?” I raised my eyebrow at him in question as I continued to eat my breakfast.

“Your mate is silly. Have you found him this weekend?”

Choking on my cereal when I heard his question, he patted my back as he was chuckling at my reaction.

“I guess that answers my question.”

Taking a glass of my juice, I drank all of it, calming myself down.

“So is it Tyson?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows and poking my side.

Snapping my head in his direction, my cheeks flared with embarrassment at his teasing and I slapped his hand away. “Stop poking me and stop putting your nose in my business…”

The front door opened as two pairs of feet rushed inside, making me stop talking.

“Like hell you can,” Max spoke.

And in the next moment, Tyler and Max were in our kitchen grinning like fools.

“Hey, bro,” Tyler said to James as they bro hugged.

“What’s up?” Next was Max doing the same with James.

Tyler turned to me and was grinning. “Morning, princess. Miss me?”

Rolling my eyes at him, I snorted.

“Aww, I knew you couldn’t stay away from me for long.”

Tilting my head to the side, I raised my eyebrow at him, making him burst out in laughter.

He put a hand on my hair as he started to mess it up, petting me as if I’m some pet to him.

“Hey! Stop that! You’re going to mess up my hair! Asshole!”

“Tyler, leave her alone or we will be late for school,” James said to him.

When we finished eating, I took our bowls and placed them in a dishwasher, and we headed off to school.

When we parked, James, Tyler, and Max went to their other friends on the side of the parking lot while I looked around trying to find Mandy and Annie.

“Looking for someone?”

Hearing his gruff voice near my ear made me jump.

Turning around, I saw him smirking at me.

“Tyson! You scared me.”

“Sorry, that was not my intention.”

He gave me a sweet smile and I couldn’t help but forgive him for the fright he gave me.

“You seem like you’re on edge. What’s wrong?”

He looked worried, so I smiled at him to try to reassure him.

“Nothing, I’m fine.”

He narrowed his eyes and nodded his head.

“Ollie!”

Who else would be shouting my name for the entire world to hear other than my dear friend Mandy?

Smiling, I turned around and saw Mandy, Annie, and Lizzy coming our way.

“I see you have company. Maybe we didn’t need to rush, but we didn’t want you to be lonely waiting for us.”

Mandy winked at me and I felt a heat slowly rising up in my cheeks.

Tyson chuckled behind me, making the whole situation even more embarrassing for me knowing he heard her say that.

“Well, ladies, I will leave you now as I am off to my class. See you at lunch?” he asked, looking at me.

Still blushing, I couldn’t look him in the eyes, so I just nodded my head.

Chuckling at my reaction, he took a step back. “See you later, beautiful.” And then he ran off inside.

“Someone has a crush,” Mandy teased.

“It is not like that…” I protested.

“Oh… then what is it?” It was Annie’s turn to tease me now.

Groaning, I looked at her and said, “We are just friends.”

Snorting, Lizzy added, “Just friends… at least admit you like him because it’s obvious he likes you.”

“You think so?” I asked, not being able to hide the joy in my voice.

They all just smirked at me.

“Let’s go inside, class will start soon.” I said, trying to hide the embarrassment I was feeling.

Walking through the hallways, I found a hardly-noticeable whiff of cinnamon and… taking another breath… vanilla.

Aurora was trying to push me to follow the smell, so I excused myself from my friends and walked towards it.

The scent led me to an open locker, and I tried not to look awkward as I followed it. As I got closer, I noticed another scent mingling with the one I was following. It was some sort of citrus scent.

Aurora was growling in my head for some reason, but I kept going.

Someone was standing in front of the locker, and as I got closer, my heart started pounding. I couldn’t wait to see if it was my mate I was smelling. Shifters always find their mates through smell, and I was excited that maybe that’s why I was so drawn to this scent.

The locker closed, and I came face to face with a blond-haired beauty with brown eyes.

“Do you need anything?” she asked.

I was speechless. I was sure that I smelled the intoxicating smell that would lead me to my mate, and yet here I was standing in front of this girl, feeling surprised.

“I-umm… sorry… you just have a lovely perfume.”

She looked at me like I was crazy and laughed. “Oh, thanks.” And then she left for her group of friends.

I felt so confused.

“What was that all about?” Lizzy asked behind me.

“I swear I smelled something, and I had to follow the scent and…”

“Oh my God, don’t tell me she is your mate!”

My head snapped up to look at her and I saw that her mouth was gaping.

“Dear God, Lizzy! Of course not! She just had that scent that I can’t understand…”

Pressing her palm on her chest, she took a deep breath and said, “Come on, scent girl, we will be late for our class.”

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