9. On the run

James´ P.O.V.

I see Luke looking up at me like I´ve lost my mind. Then I turn towards Noah and Wilder who have turned as serious as me. "You need to smell this", I say through the mind link, giving them space to take turns smelling the sheets. "But that´s impossible" Noah looks between Wilder and I.

"... No, we never even knew how many we would have, we just knew that Luke was one of them... What if we just didn´t know?", Wilder tells us. It makes sense. The feeling I´ve been feeling these last few days is the craving for my last mate. "Have you felt it too then the last weeks?" I look at Wilder and Noah. They both nod, knowing exactly what I mean.

"Could someone please tell me what the hell´s going on?" Luke interrupts our racing thoughts as he looks at us confused.

"How could we be so stupid?" is all Noah says as he suddenly starts running, following the faint scent.

"What?", Luke asks, now more confused than before.

"We have another mate" Wilder tells him, also setting off. Luke stares at me wide eyed.

"I´ll stay with Luke", I say through the mind and we both make our way out of the store, going towards the car. "What? How is that even possible? Another one? Is it an Alpha? Because I can not deal with any more posessiveness. Can you smell who they are?" Luke bombards me with questions as we sit in the car and close the doors.

"Well, first of all, yes, ther´s another one and we didn´t know and that explains Noah´s comment in there. And no, he´s not an Alpha... he´s an Omega." I smile at the last part.

I´ve always dreamed of having an Omega as a mate, not that I don´t adore the mates I have but there was always somthing about Omegas that just got to me.

"You mean the lowest rank of werewolves, right?", Luke asks, genuinely interested. "Well, yes, but that doesn´t mean that Omegas are less important in the pack. The opposite in fact, Omegas are extremely valued for their beauty, kindness and caring nature. They must be protected because their scent alone can lure Alphas and Betas in. The only thing Omegas are bad at is caring for themselves." I only realize that my knuckles have turned white while holding the steering wheel, when Luke softly puts his hand over mine. I sigh and take his hand and kiss it, while looking at him.

After we stared in each others eyes for a while, Luke eases my tension as he says: "Great! Another werewolf. Now I´m the only one who is normal." He sighs dramatically with a humorous smile on his face and looks straight ahead again. I smirk at him as I lean in and kiss him passionately. "You are not normal, you are just as special as our other mate is. Nothing will change that, understand?", I say, knowing that he is slightly afraid that he doesn´t have a place in our weird werewolf realtionship.

"I love you", Luke blurts out and quickly turns red and avoids my gaze. My heart skips a beat and I kiss him again, this time even more passionately. "I love you too", I say after I let go of him and start the engine of the car. "Now let´s find our other mate!" I am so excited to finally meet him, is what I think as I set off into the direction Wilder and Noah have gone to.

Wilder´s P.O.V.

Fuck, we lost him. We were following the scent as best as we could but it is turning too faint, with all these other people´s scents mixing at all times.

I curse under my breath. I f we could change into wolf forms, it would be easier to smell for him but we can´t do that in a crowded city. Humans don´t know about werewolves and things should stay that way. That´s what all the packs have agreed upon.

I look at Noah who looks just as distressed as I am. We should be better Alphas. Not only did we almost forget that we even have another mate but now, we can´t even track his scent? We should be the protectors of our weaker mates and now that we have found out that our last mate is an Omega, our protective wolves are going crazy. He could be in constant danger.

"Let´s go back", I tell Noah. He curses under his breath but starts following me back. We find the Jeep not far away from the store, driving towards us. As James spots us, he stops and lets us in the backseat.

"Nothing?", he says agter we have closed the doors. "We lost his scent in the crowd", Noah says looking out the window, trying to contain his anger and frustration.

We need to make a plan. "Let´s go home and think about how we are going to do this. I´m not letting him slip through my fingers next time." I say, determined to find him. The car is silent but I know that everyone agrees with me.

We´re coming for you, mate.

.

.

.

Aiden´s P.O.V.

It´s been a day since I´ve barely escaped them. Jax has talked to me again. It has been unsettling for him that we needed to run from out mate/mates. I don´t even know what to think anymore. I should be happy that I´m safe now but I´m not. I couldn´t sleep well the whole night even though I now have the new blanket to keep me slightly warmer. I can´t help but think that I shouldn´t have run from them. I must have a deathwish, I think to myself.

I still need to find another job to make more money. I should look for something after work today.

With that in mind, I get up, ready to start my day. As I wash my face, I look over the wounds on me. The black eye has almost faded now but it is still visible. The bridge of my nose looks its normal colour again and the graze on my forehead from the night at the club seemed to be closing up well but it was reopened yesterday when I hit my head at what I´m assuming was the sink.

When Jonathan had come back and I was still there he got really worried when he saw my forehead. He actually wanted to call an ambulance but I refused over and over again, saying I was fine and that I just pass out a lot and that it´s completely normal for me to have these kinds of wounds. Well, I didn´t really lie about that when I think back...

I can´t help but wish that I had some kind of healing cream to soothe my wounds but that is too expensive.

I brush it off and I start to get dressed. I put away the clothes from the dumpster that I wore last night and quickly take my work clothes that fit me perfectly thanks to Jonathan guessing my size. It includes a white shirt with long sleeves which is hard to keep clean with cold water but I try my best. I realize that I tried washing my jumper yesterday and it´s still not dry. I´m gonna have to go without it because the wetness will make me even more cold.

I put everything on, trying to be quick because of the cold and then I brush my teeth and hair. I sigh. Time to go.

As I step outside, it is still dark. I walk fast towards work because it not only warms me up but it helps me be less afraid of potential Alphas coming my way. Not that I would have a chance against them.

The yellow bakery comes into view ad I´m glad I made it. As I enter with my key, I´m hit with warmth and sigh in relief. The door closes behind me and I lock it again. After that, I make my way towards the back to start doing what I believe is the only thing that will keep me sane these days. I work.