Chapter 8

Leo's pov

"Okay, that's enough."

Glen snatches the glass away from my hands, making my irritation spike. Why is everything being taken away from me. I reach for another glass on the counter before emptying it in one gulp. The alcohol burns my throat, matching the sensation in my heart. On the side way I can sense Glen's disappointed looks.

I stare at the now empty glass in my hands,the familiar weight of the the glass. Alcohol,the old friend. It started in my first year of the academy, the time I didn't knew which direction I was going in,so I ended up turning to alcohol and it soon turned into addiction from habit.

There's a very thin line between a habit and an addiction. You attain a habit of something to live and an addiction is when you can't live without it.

Wolves have high tolerance for these things among other beings, so it was rare for us to develop addictions. It wasn't that I couldn't quit, I had no reason to, until I became an alpha. Everything changed with that and I got a reason to quit alcohol.

I don't do well with strong smells, they make me nauseous.

My grip on the glass grows tightens in an attempt to stop me from throwing it,as I curse my own mind for bringing up the particular memory.

I don't know how my life has come to this. Sighing in frustration I slide another glass from the corner without contemplating before gulping it down as it becomes the routine for following hour.

I try to open my eyes but they close on their own volition engulfing me in darkness again. I don't know how much time have passed but I can tell we're still in the same bar by the muffled sounds coming from the main bar and the thumping of feet making my headache worse. Glen is sitting on the same stool across me but he has gone quieter in the past hour not attempting to stop me anymore.

Taking my leftover consciousness as a chance, my mind takes me back to the memories of this morning. We should break our bond. The exact words replays themselves in the same morbid horror. Every nerve in my body tenses up, as forcing myself to fall into sleep becomes only escape.

This time I fall back into it with him as the last thing on my mind.

_____________________

"Sir! Alpha said he'll be leaving first and he expects you to be there after you are done with your work." One of my father's assistants said, with his tone polite.

I give him a small nod even though I am not sure if I should agree to it or not. It's only been a week since I got back from the academy so I guess I can rarely avoid these meetings. Though the fact that it's gonna be a private gathering put me at little ease.

I finish the pending work in less than an hour, it's just studying some files about the pack lands and coming up with a clear map. Glen has offered to help but I want to do it myself. Putting back everything into their places, I head out of the building.

Journey to the supposed address takes only a few minutes since it's only the neighbouring pack. Upon reaching the place I find a mansion which looked identical to our own. I park my car to the side and make my way into the house.

The door opens, the person that opened the door guides me to the dining room where everyone else were seated. The large man sitting at the head of the table is the first one to get up and walk upto me. So I'm guessing he is my dad's friend, the alpha. He puts out his hand giving me a firm handshake, I take it as I introduce myself. He leads me to my seat that is conveniently beside dad. Few introductions follow as I am seated. I don't recognise most of the people even with the claims that I've met them as a child.

I only recognise one guy from the lot, he's the alpha's son. He's a senior from the academy.

The meal continues with the same sort of conversations accompanied with laughs. I just offer some polite smiles as my part mostly concentrating on the food on my plate. The old friends beside me falling again into their conversation.

"Leonard! Is this guy still as stuck up as he used to be?" Luke asks me loudly patting dad's shoulder, teasing my father in the middle of their conversation.

I just smile in return not knowing what exactly is the supposed answer for it, not that he is waiting for an actual answer to the question as he seems pleased with my response.They go back to teasing eachother.

"Rose, I guess it's time for some desserts." Luke tells his wife as we are nearing the end of the meal. Luna Rose gives a quiet nod to one of their servants and several people enter the hall holding large trays. The sweet smell of them readily filling the room.

But there's one peculiar scent that wafts through the air dominating every other scent. It fills the whole room engulfing from every side as it becomes overwhelming.

It also makes me nervous for some reason.

My body reacts on it's own coaxing me to get up and run towards the source of the smell coupling with the urges of my wolf to take me there,while my mind opposes to it.

I can immediately hear the surprised gasps and questions of the people at the table at my sudden movement but I move past them. I can see my father's confused expression in hind sight so I tell him that it's an emergency through our link,I exit the room,not waiting for his reaction.

It hits me once I exit the door, the scent comes off so strong that I can almost taste it, it is something of a blend of citrus and musky scent that has a unique sort of appeal to it. The scent now too overwhelming as there are no barriers. So this is it! I frown at the thought as it stirs up many

contradicting emotions within. I look around to find people staring at me, the corridors rustling with whispers.

I move immediately, feeling very self conscious. I make my way to the main door as I try to get away from the stares of the people.The door closes behind me once I'm out and the fresh air surrounds me. I breathe in to settle myself.

Leo!! get back inside. The scent is fading. - Rex shouts disrupting me from the process. His tone, commanding and pleading at the same time.

I know I should do it, go back inside and search for the owner of the scent. The excitement in my heart rushes me but my mind asks me to do the opposite.To run away pretending it's probably nothing. Even though it's not Nothing.

Every part of me screams when I start walking away, to make everything right, like I always did. But it did nothing to die down the fears neither to stop my feet. Soon I found myself in a open field as my legs came to a halt. Looking back, the house I just left seemed very distant, so was the scent.

A deep uncomfortable feeling in my stomach raises. Something that resembled guilt. Sighing, I run my hands through my disheveled as the result of the journey.

I direct my gaze to the surroundings, to divert my thoughts to something, anything. Following the que, everything around becomes much more clearer. The grass underneath, the sky, the sound of the lake nearby, I indulge in the serene silence until..

There's someone approaching us- Rex warns breaking it.

I look around,now with my senses on high alert. Looks like dad asked someone to follow me.Ofcourse it was a very bad idea to leave as it is. I sigh in frustration as  their foot steps grow louder. Their scent stronger.

Fuck

The scent!

The same scent fills the air in a rush and the foot steps come to a halt. Something like dread fills my gut with the guilt of getting caught red handed. To think about what kind of impression I must have made, as the fact that I have pretty much ran away from my mate as soon as I found out. Certainly not a good one.

And the first meeting is certainly not going to be a ideal one. Let's just face it.

I was met with a timid pair of eyes. Very beautiful pair of eyes,which belonged to a guy.

A guy. Goddess!

My mind shuts in bewilderment, all the thoughts in my head freezing as I just stare at him, not moving an inch.

Mate! - Rex roars in happiness oblivious to my state.

Even in the impassive state I am in, my heart fills with warmth at the declaration.Our mate. He starts moving towards me with hesitant steps and all the fears get shoved into the background as I do the same until we are only inches apart.

He beams,looking up at me. His freckles bundling up on his crinkled face,making him look mystical. And It's no exaggeration. His joy spreads through our bond,quickly the same emotion fills my body. I want to touch him. The thought makes it's way to the top of all the things going through my mind, surprising me a little.

As if reading my thoughts, he stretches his arms not without the same hesitance from earlier, now paired with new found bashfullness and slowly lifts them to wrap them around me. His touch feather soft,making me lightheaded.

There's a considerable height difference between us, making him look so dainty in my arms. His hold on me is so delicate,so much so that one would miss it if it wasn't for the warmth of his body. Would I break him if I held him too tight?

With the cautious thought, I bring my hands up to wrap around him. The bond glows with the completeness as the jolting waves of pleasure flare up everywhere as we revel in it worthwhile.

After some futile attempts,we finally manage to separate from our embrace.

He keeps his eyes down unable to meet mine as I do the same. It feels like eternity before he speaks for the first time.

"I'm- I'm Sebastian."

"Sebastian?" I repeat subconsciously testing out how his name sounds on my tongue making him look up at me in surprise. For a brief moment, he just looks at me in awe, before he nods his head and looks down again with more pink gracing his cheeks as the sight makes my pulse quicken.

"That's the most amazing name." Rex states in adorable excitement and I can't deny.

The silence stretches with me staring at him as he stares at the ground. He starts fiddling with his fingers shifting from one feet to another awkwardly. As if he's waiting for me to say something.

Your name - Rex says gritting teeth in annoyance.

My name? What about it?

He's waiting for you tell him your name.You idiot!

Shit. Yeah I didn't tell him my name.

" I'm Leonard, Leo." I tell him rather awkwardly.

He smiles at me before saying my name, making it sound sweeter than anyone has ever did.

"Leo."

"Leo." A familiar voice calls me, jolting me from my drunken stupor.

"Goddess! He's completely wasted." The same voice states with clear concern in their voice.

"I told you! He's been drinking non stop all day." Another gruff voice replies, probably about me.

"Here! Can you stand? " They offers me their shoulder before taking off my weight from the chair. As soon as I am in their arms, the intoxicating citrus scent hits my nose along with the contact that makes the same electrifying pleasure wave back in and I lose my balance falling into the chair.

"Sebastian!" I wave my hand in the air, in desperate attempts of finding him and having him close.

"I'm here." He offers me his hand almost instantly and I cling on to it like it's my lifeline. Basking in his scent and hugging him are the only things I needed right now.

Still not feeling close enough to him, I yank him closer and bury my head in the curve of his neck as a surprised yelp leaves his mouth.

This is nice.

"Okay! We need to take him home." Seb says as he tries to remove himself from my grip which ends up making me grip tighter.

"Don't go! Don't go."

"He's not going anywhere Leonard, We're just trying to get your drunk ass  home." The other gruff voice from earlier says sounding annoyed.

Home?

I can't picture where that is exactly but I know my mate will be there with me, so I let them happily take me there.

We're going home.