Chapter 9: Open Seat

Luci’s POV:

The vanilla and almond tones were lighter, more than they had been before, but the commissary was massive. I didn’t have to turn around to know that Gavin must have just come inside the building.

My heart screamed at me to glance around and look for him, but I was still replaying the words Carlos had just said.

“My mate?” I whispered the words in disbelief.

“Yeah. I mean, whoever it was that you came in contact with, if they smell that wonderful to you, it could be that you met your fated mate,” Carlos said as he took another sip of coffee.

I hadn’t even considered the idea of a mate, let alone someone I was supposedly destined to be with.

So many wolves in our pack married for resources and necessity rather than a mate. I could maybe count on both hands the couples I knew of that had managed to find their mate.

Traveling in large groups between packs was frowned upon as that left members as targets to attack while traveling on the roads.

All of the shifter packs, at the behest of my father, agreed to only gather with other packs for a few holidays, solstice events, or weddings.

The locations rotate so if a hunter were ever to catch on to where shifters gathered odds were the hunter would be less likely to track packs back to their territories.

The odds of finding one’s mate were slim at best, but to have a human for a mate, that didn’t even seem possible.

I’d never met a couple that was comprised of a human and a shifter. Even when I had gone to gatherings, all of the attendees had been wolves.

Could such a thing even happen?

“I don’t know,” I continued. “I’ve never heard of a human and a wolf mated together. Have you?”

My back straightened up as I could tell Gavin was walking over to the food stands. Even though he was on the other side of the building, his scent weaved between the student-filled tables to reach me.

Carlos leaned back in his chair and pondered for a minute as I fought the urge to glance to see where Gavin was.

“I’ve never heard of it, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible right?” Carlos took another swig of coffee as his words hung in the air. “That’s the only thing I could think of with you describing a scent like that. It’s supposed to be the strongest scent you’ve ever breathed in. Are you sure the source was a human?”

“Very.” I was getting distracted again as Gavin’s scent pulled around me via the air conditioner.

Carlos leaned forward and waved a hand in front of my face.

“You good?”

I nodded not able to speak as my head began to spin. I folded my arms and put my head down on the table in an attempt to ground myself.

“Wait,” Carlos’s voice said from above. “Are they here right now?”

I couldn’t even lift my head, so I nodded while I was still tucked into my crossed arms.

“Oh! Who is it? What do they look like?” Carlos said excitedly.

I didn’t have to lift my head to know he was eagerly scanning the entrance of the dining hall.

“Can you sound a little less excited?” I mumbled against my arms as I tried to get used to the scent in a confined space once again.

“Luci, I know you think I’m exaggerating, but if this is your mate, I want to check their vibe out alright?”

“He can’t be. He’s human.”

“Oh, it’s a ‘he’! Who is it? Is he sitting by us?”

“I think he’s getting food,” I said as I did my best to breathe through my mouth.

I could hear Carlos move in his chair to get a better look at the food stalls.

“Can you smell anything?” I asked, hoping Carlos might also be able to pick up the sweet smell that was lingering around us.

Carlos sniffed in the direction of the food court while I peeked up from my hiding place.

“Not a thing. I told you, Luci, this guy might be your mate.”

I groaned at the thought. Even if he was my mate—and that was a big if— it’s not like I could do anything about it anyway. At least, not while my father was running around behind my back trying to marry me off to the first person he came across.

Carlos nudged me out of my stupor.

“Just glance over and see where he is. You know you want to.”

As annoyed as I was, Carlos was completely right. I did want to look over at Gavin.

I lifted my head a little and turned, just for a peek.

It was like my eyes knew exactly where to search as I saw Gavin waiting for an order at the bubble tea stand.

He was scrolling on his phone. It must have been a relief for him to be inside the air conditioning with his long-sleeved shirt and jeans.

I was tempted to go over and talk to him, but that would be even weirder than earlier, especially after I brushed him off.

“So, who is it?” Carlos asked while not so sneakily looking in the same direction as me.

“Could you be a little more subtle? I already acted sus chasing him around campus. The least you could do is not make it so obvious.”

I tucked myself back into my little cocoon on the table. Gavin probably wouldn’t even notice us. Maybe he’d go up to the lounge instead of the tables.

It’d be for the best if he didn’t notice us. He didn’t need to get mixed up with my overly complicated life. He needed to live in the blissful awareness of a world without shifters, just like all the other humans here.

“If you don’t tell me what he looks like, I’ll just go ask every male student over there what they are studying until I find him,” Carlos said matter-of-factly before his voice lowered to a whisper. “Wait, it’s not a professor is it?”

Without lifting my head I raised one hand and felt the air till I found his arm on the table and smacked it.

“Ouch,” Carlos hissed. “What was that for?”

“Would you seriously not ask that? He’s a student. Carlos, there’s a lot of names I wanna call you right now, but I’m keeping them in my head.”

I could hear Carlos rubbing his arm.

“At least you didn’t pinch my ear like your Abuela used to,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe I’m reading too many books online.”

“There’s no such thing. Just get your head out of the gutter.”

I looked up to see Carlos still scanning the food stalls.

“If you must know, he’s by the tea stand.”

I saw Carlos immediately zoom his eyes to the location as he tried to pick the faces out of the long line that was forming once again.

“He’s waiting for his drink.”

“Is he the guy with the dark curtain bangs?”

I nodded while simultaneously wishing for this exchange to be over already.

“He’s so handsome! I don’t know why you were so shy about pointing him out!” Carlos whispered excitedly from somewhere above my head.

“You can’t even see his face.”

“Oh, Luci, you don’t have to see his eyes to know he’s handsome. He’s got that curtain-haired K-Pop vibe going on and I’m here for it.”

“Huh?” I asked as I looked up at him.

“You know, the curtain hair? One of the gen four singers is bringing it back and it’s adorable. I wonder if that was his inspiration for the style?”

I shook my head before I laid back down on the table.

“You’d have to ask him. I literally don’t know what you’re talking about right now.”

“Well, if you’re giving me permission.”

Before I could protest, I looked up in horror to see Carlos standing and waving wildly in Gavin’s direction.

“Yeah, you,” Carlos mouthed while pointing to our table like a maniac. He waved his hand for someone to come over and join us.

Carlos smiled and sat back down clearly pleased with himself.

I stared at him in bewilderment. “You didn’t.”

“Oh, I did,” Carlos smirked. “You can thank me later because he’s coming this way.”