When Maya recovered from the Alpha Voice and regained her consciousness, she was almost frightened to death by the domineering presence of the three werewolves around her.
The Alpha and Beta personally had come to pick her up. The poor young woman retreated to the corner of the bed while clutching the quilt in distress.
Jake tried to talk to Maya, but the young woman started to scream in distress. They were starting to attract unwanted attention.
Three grown men and an eighteen-year-old young woman in a hotel room already invited a lot of suspicious glances at the reception desk.
Hearing the young woman let out a blood-curdling scream was not going to improve their standing.
Jake turned to look at Ronan and spoke to him via mind link.
'Ronan, let's take her back as soon as possible. It is best to let her heal slowly in the Pack House and then we can slowly ask her what is going on.'
'Hmm. Alright.'
Ronan took a step toward Maya who immediately started to shiver in fear again. She did not dare to scream but tears kept streaming down her face like rivulets.
For some reason, Lucien's words kept haunting Ronan. It might be his ego that yearned to prove Lucien wrong and demanded him to properly apologize to him.
Or maybe because he discovered something amiss. Ronan just knew that there was something else that was hidden beneath the surface.
"No," Ronan decided, startling both Jake and Robin. "We are not going back yet. Get me a Healer to stay with her during the night."
Upon hearing that they were not going back to the Pack House yet, Maya stopped crying and her expression became more tranquil.
This did not escape Ronan's observation, but it did not make the matter any clearer than before. Why would Maya not want to go back to the Pack House? Why did she choose to stay with Lucien instead?
Jake hated to question Ronan's decision, but as a good Beta, he still had to ask via mind link.
'Alpha, I know it is late, but we can still make it back home before midnight.'
'I am sorry that you need to stay away from your mate tonight. Please relay my apologies to Cassie.'
Cassie, short for Cassandra, was Jake's mate. She was currently pregnant with the couple's first child, which explained Jake's reluctance to be apart from her.
Jake pursed his lips, trying hard to suppress his annoyance. Unlike Ronan who enjoyed bedding random men and women and switched partners every week, Jake was a traditional-minded werewolf who cared to spend his spare time with only one woman who was no one other than his mate.
Of course he wanted to go back home to spend time with Cassie, but it did not mean that he would neglect his responsibilities as a Beta.
'That is not it. I am worried that the man might come back for Maya. I don't know what his deal is, but he is not a normal human being. I smelled his scent on Maya.'
Ronan's face turned sour as soon as he heard that Lucien's scent stuck to Maya. He marched to the bed, grabbed the shrieking young woman, and took a whiff.
'No,' Ronan denied with furrowed brows. 'This is not his scent.'
'Huh? It's not?'
Granted, Lucien did not release any pheromones during their short encounter today so Jake could not be sure about the scent that stuck to Maya, but then whose scent was it?
There was also another interesting question...
Jake stole surreptitious glances at the Alpha. Ronan, how did you know what the man smelled like? Just what did you do with him behind a closed door after we left...?
Jake decided to take the questions with him to the grave. He must not interfere in Ronan's private life.
'Well then, I will uh, get a Healer first.'
'Hmm.'
'Robin, come with me...'
'Sure, Beta.'
Jake and Robin left, and Ronan was left alone with Maya in the room.
'Maya, look at me,' Ronan commanded using the Alpha voice. Maya unwittingly turned to look at Ronan.
'Go rest.'
Maya's eyes fluttered shut and she fell to the side like a rigid corpse. Ronan exhaled and went to tuck the young woman inside the quilt properly. When he caught a whiff of the scent that stuck to Maya again, Ronan furrowed his brows.
For some reason, somewhere sometime, he smelled this scent before. But who, where, and when?
Ronan thought hard about it but he still could not figure it out. It did not help that Beowulf kept wanting to go back to talk some more with Lucien.
'B, Landon is gone. I doubt that he excused himself and told Lucien where he was going,' Ronan told his wolf.
'I know but Landon must have his reason to leave Lucien. They are supposed to stay together for a lifetime, just like you and I are going to be together until you die.'
'... How romantic.'
'So let's go and ask Lucien for more details.'
Ronan groaned in his heart. Beowulf was clearly smitten with Landon. Ronan was not sure if he should be happy or miserable when facing the fact that the wolves were getting along better than him and Lucien.
Jake returned alone to the room with cards for two other rooms.
"Ronan, you must be tired. Go get some rest. The Healer is coming in a bit."
"Ok," Ronan said. "Come to my room to report Maya's latest condition before you retire for the night."
"Yes, Alpha."
Ronan took a shower and ordered a cup of wine for the night. Jake dutifully came to report that the Healer had arrived and checked on Maya. She was going to stay with her until they were ready to go back home.
"Ok," Ronan said. "Go to sleep, Jake."
Jake did not move from his spot.
"Is something the matter?"
"It's just... I just realized that I smelled the scent on Maya somewhere before, but I cannot remember."
Ronan narrowed his eyes at Jake.
"... You too?"
"Yeah!" Jake said. "But when? Where? And who?"
The Alpha and Beta were deep in thoughts. At night, the surrounding area was very quiet. The tranquility of the night was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass, followed by a muffled cry.
Ronan and Jake stormed out of the room as fast as lightning.