Chapter Twenty : Scent Marking:
After dressing myself appropriately, I fixed my hair in the mirror before stepping out of the bathroom.
As I walked out, Eros stood several steps away from the door, waiting for me.
I stepped over to him and made a move towards the door when he grabbed a hold of my hand and pulled me directly in front of him.
Being this close, I could definitely see how much he towered over my form by over a head. I feel like a midget compared to all of these werewolves.
Immediately, my heart started to beat rapidly again and my palms became sweaty because of how close he was.
Just his scent and the electric tingles from his touch made me remember certain events this morning that shouldn’t be roaming around in my mind.
From what I have observed recently, I realized that Eros liked to keep skin to skin contact with me at every chance that he gets. For what reason? I have no idea.
I cleared my throat and just barely flinched to the side when he hunched downwards.
His handsome face suddenly enlarged in my vision and, for a minute, all that I could see was him.
The barest of tingles formed against my neck when his head dipped, cold nose rubbing against the column of my throat intimately.
My breath became stuck in my throat and tiny goosebumps started forming all over in response to the strain sensations.
“Um, Eros? What are you doing?” I asked, willing my limbs to quit shaking enough to talk.
“Scent marking you.” Eros’ rather short and blunt reply managed to jolt a memory of mine.
Werewolves scent mark most of their property, things, and, of course, people.
The more powerful the Alpha, the stronger the mark.
Most Alphas have a higher instinct to scent mark their property and the people close to them in order to keep their pack members safe from harm’s way.
Their scent marking can deter other werewolves from attacking their pack members and family, along with aiding them in finding those they scent mark.
Considering the fact that he was scent marking me, he was probably trying to protect me along with creating a way to make tracking me easier.
Great.
I don’t know if I should be grateful or not.
Because, if I think about it, wouldn’t that be a disadvantage for me if I try to escape?
From analyzing scent marks, I knew that werewolf scent marking is a little harder to remove since it is actually their energy that is being exerted and soaked into the flesh of the person being marked.
Sometimes, even after death can their scent still be scented at the burial ground.
It was like a mark that could never be erased.
I’ve tried before.
The one thing that manages to erase new scent marks is consistent baths in bleach, acid, ammonia and a variety of other harmful chemicals that tend to degrade the skin.
I’m not too interested in becoming a skeleton.
Also, note how I said new scent marks.
Scent marks that are regularly reinforced are almost like a tattoo.
Unless there is a pronounced period of time where the person is not marked again, the scent mark will fade.
For instance, if the Alpha dies, the mark will fade with time.
If the pack member moves from one pack to another, the scent mark will be replaced with a new scent mark, but not completely removed.
Basically, you are trading one for the other.
Other than that, werewolves tend to have several types of marks.
For instance, mating marks, Beta marks, Gamma marks, tracking marks, etc.
Out of all those markings, mating marks are the only permanent marking that is irreversible once done properly.
“It will keep you safe,” he murmured, warm breath pillowing against the sensitive skin of my neck and collarbone as his voice draws me from my mulling.
I refrained from shoving him away and instead forced down the intense need to shiver.
My neck was really starting to tingle and burn in a rather ticklish way.
I, unconsciously, shrug my shoulders as if to get rid of the awry feelings.
Eros smiled warmly and pressed a soft butterfly kiss against the base of my neck before backing away as if he knew that I was going to punch him again.
When I thought he was going to start walking, he reached out a hand and tangled his fingers with my own.
The action stopped me in my tracks.
I tried to remove my hand from his, yet any attempt to dislodge him was worthless.
Since his body temperature was a lot higher than the average human, just holding his hand was alike to holding a hand warmer. And it was making my palms sweaty.
After another minute of struggling to take my hand back, I finally stopped my squirming and sighed.
When we finally left his room, the halls were deadly quiet to the point where you could probably hear a pin drop. Some girls, whom I recognized from the ‘council ruling’, were staring at me as if I had two heads and several menacing tentacles.
Which isn’t true.
I didn’t feel as if their gaze was of mockery, superiority or disgust like it was yesterday.
Instead of foaming from the mouth or calling me rude names, they looked rather shocked and jealous...maybe? A couple of them had dropped their phones, ran into an open door or bumped into each other, creating a colliding mess in the previously clean hall.
What is up with their overexaggerated expressions?
They were acting as if I transformed from an extremely ugly caterpillar into a multi-colored butterfly.
Strangely enough, I felt oddly satisfied that I could make them dazed with just one look my way. Instead of fainting in disgust, they seemed to be in awe, which was a lot different from the type of looks I usually get from people.
Before, no one ever looked at me twice.
Now instead of staring me down, they stare at me.
It was nerve-wracking, to say the least.
Since I’m not used to being stared at by a group of people like this, I started to get nervous. It felt like speech class all over again and God knows how much I hated that class.
I glanced upwards at Eros to notice his eyes had changed colors, beautiful blue eyes were glowing eerily in the light.
Everyone in the hall had frozen in place, eyes glowing brightly just like Eros’ did.
I believe that they were being mind-linked by Eros. From what I know, werewolves use mind-linking as a way to communicate with each other mentally, kind of like a phone call inside of their head.
When Eros’ eyes went back to normal, everyone in the hall cleaned up their mess at an astounding speed.
No one dared to look at me again.
After that, Eros continued dragging me along. Wherever we went, people greeted him with their heads bent down and tucked under.
Toran, Eros’ Beta, came strutting down the halls straight towards us and proceeded to stop just a couple feet away. His eyes never strayed from Eros.
From what I can gather, everyone was afraid to directly look at me now. What Eros mind-linked them was probably scary enough for them to all be acting like I am some sort of terrible disease transferred from just one look at my face.
“Alpha. Alpha Female,” Toran greeted rather slowly, gauging Eros expression by the looks of it before continuing, “Alpha Xavier Thaeos has just arrived and is awaiting you.”