Sacred Flame: His Enemy, His Mate (BL)-Chapter 43: Scented

Kain Locke

"Do you think you can walk?" I asked, my hand holding her shoulder as I helped her out of the bed,

"Geez, I’m not a kid, and it’s not like my legs aren’t walking. I’m just poisoned, not crippled." Bella retorted, as she rolled her eyes.

I nodded with a faint smile, "I know." I had come here to get her, regarding we’re going back to the island today, according to the information I got from their announcement yesterday.

I crouched , helping her into her slipper, before going to hold her shoulder again, preparing to lead her out of the sick bed, but she suddenly draw closer making me flinched as she sniffed the air, followed by her face twisting into something between confusion and curiosity as she sniffed again, then she looked up at me.

"What the hell.." Her voice dropped. "Did you..." She stopped, staring at me, like she was putting the pieces together.

"What?" I frowned.

She wrinkled her nose and took a step back. She undoubtedly would’ve done more than that if I didn’t have my hands around her shoulders.

"You reek," she said, inching closer again, "Geez, did you like, shower with pheromones or something?"

I gulped hard, her words hitting me like a slap, but I maintained my composure, "What? Is your nose broken or something?" I almost pushed her away, but I remember she wasn’t fully recovered.

"Yeah it must be broken because you’re literally smelling of an Alpha’s pheromone!"

I clenched my jaw. Of course, I know.

And it was all that bastard’s fault!

I huffed, recollecting what happened yesterday after I walked into the room, I was still standing at the door, staring.

I knew I shouldn’t be looking, but damn it, my body wasn’t listening. Every inch of Kael’s skin seemed to catch the light just right, his abs, the sharp lines of his collarbones, the way his arms flexed even when he was just lying there like he owned the place.

I swallowed hard, my fingers tightening around the suppressant in my pocket. I needed to move. I needed to stop looking.

But before I could react, he suddenly sat up.

My body tensed, maybe my brain was too dead to catch up or I grew so dense at that moment, but all I remember was I couldn’t move.

And then, in one smooth motion, he got off the bed.

Before I could even hide what I was holding in my pocket, his hand shot out.

I barely saw it happen. One second, the suppressant was in my pocket. The next, it was in his palm, twirling between his fingers as he looked at it with lazy amusement.

"Hmm..." He hummed, tilting his head as he read the label. "A suppressant?"

My stomach dropped instantly.

I clenched my fists, forcing myself to look pissed instead of flustered. "Give it back."

"Since you want it so bad." Kael didn’t even glance at me. He just smirked, twirling the vial again before tossing it onto the bed like it was nothing. "Go get it."

My teeth clenched.

"You’re such a piece of shit," I spat, shoving past him.

But the second my hand reached for the suppressant, a heavy weight crashed down on me.

I barely had time to react before I was pressed into the mattress, his body pinning mine down effortlessly. My breath caught. My pulse spiked.

"What the hell—?!"

The rest of the words were cut short by the warmth which ghosted over my neck.

Followed by,

A sharp inhale.

And a slow, satisfied exhale.

"This is better," Kael murmured, his voice incredibly lower than before.

A shiver ran down my spine when realization dawned on me. What the fuck...

He just scented me!!!

For half a second, my body froze, too shocked to react. But when my prodigal brain returned, rage surged through me like fire.

I thrashed, shoving at him with everything I had. "Get off me!"

He let me go just as fast as he pinned me down. He wasn’t even trying. He knew he was stronger, and that fact only pissed me off more because that’s true.

I shot up from the bed, fists clenched, face burning. "You’re fucking insane!"

He just gave me that same lazy smirk, completely unbothered.

Even thinking about it now made my blood boil.

That bastard. My fist clenched around Bella’s shoulder as I shook the memory off.

After that ordeal, I had spent hours in the bathroom, scrubbing my skin raw like I could erase the scent he got on me, But no matter how hard I scrubbed with the foamy sponge and rinse with water, it wouldn’t go away. It clung to me like a second skin, sinking into my pores, refusing to let go.

To make it worse I have no concealer here, given that I never consider an Alpha scenting me.

So now that Bella was asking why I smelled like an Alpha, I could only gulp inwardly, considering the facts that I hadn’t expected her to catch on this quickly and knowing she wouldn’t let this slide unless she got an answer I said,

"We’re... ummm... we’re out on the hills last night,"

"Doing what?" She asked, taking a step forward.

"Treasure hunting." I repeated the exact words the instructor shoved up our asses last night, I don’t even know whether anyone later returned with a crystal.

After all I left too early, and seeing no one coming for me yet, seems like none were found after all. I knew it, it was all bullshit. If crystals could be lying somewhere up on the hills, then gold should be falling from the sky.

"So you somehow got Alpha pheromones on the supposed treasure hunting? On the hill? Hmmm." She hummed, demonstrating with her finger tips.

I shot her a glare, but she only smirked, tilting her head like she was enjoying this a little too much.

"Bella!"

She grinned, "What? I’m just saying, if you’re going to make an excuse next time, at least make it believable."

I let out a slow breath, forcing myself to calm down. "It’s just that...I kinda Bumped into some Alpha, you know?"

She scoffed. "Of course, I could tell by just how much it’s clinging to you like secondhand embarrassment. What kind of Alpha would even—" She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes narrowing. Then, suddenly, they widened. "Wait. Don’t tell me..."

I was tense. "Don’t tell you what?"

She pointed at me accusingly. "It was Kael, wasn’t it?"

I nearly choked, surprised by how she mentioned him easily, but looking on the other side, it’s not really hard to guess, besides, he’s the only Alpha here so... "What... no! Why the hell would you even—"

"Oh my god. It really was Kael."

I turned away, "I’m not talking about this." I breathed through clenched jaws.

She gasped, slapping my arm. "Oh my god, how the hell did that even happen?!"

"Nothing!" I barked. "He’s just a goddamn lunatic, that’s what happened!"

"Uh-huh. And did this lunatic pin you down.. ’bumped’ I mean sorry, and scent you against your will?"

She knows.

"Shut up," I snapped, the heat crawling up my neck as I released my hold on her, straining my head to see if no one was around to hear her talk.

She laughed, shaking her head. "No wonder you’re acting weird! But he actually scented you? I mean, isn’t scenting couples or mates thingy?"

I didn’t answer because the question also bothers me. It just doesn’t make any sense, and to be sincere I can’t come up with a theory of what he was thinking when he did that.

She let out a low whistle. "Damn. That’s bold, even for him."

"Can we just stop talking about this already?" I muttered with a sigh

It was only then that she waved a hand. "Fine, fine. But seriously, you need to get a concealer before someone else notices. If I caught it this fast, you think the others won’t?"

I sighed heavily, running a hand through my hair. She was right. I needed to do something before this got around, and I’m not very much welcome here, so I definitely can’t make the situation worse for myself.

But first, we needed to get the hell out of here before they left us behind.

"Come on," I muttered, grabbing her arm. "Let’s get going, we can’t miss the chopper."

"Yeah..." she didn’t argue with me this time as I led her out.

***

This place hasn’t changed like I thought it would, after all, the instructor said the whole place has been fixed, reconstructed, thus, I was expecting it to be in the position it was when arrived here, even more better than it, however, I was so wrong of this one because the first floor was just as it is, although the stone debris, and the rest of the damaged walls has been cleaned up and it looks like the whole place is being patched up.

We got back here a few minutes ago, and you might’ve guessed right, we’re not staying on the first floor, but on the floor we got moved into after the night beast attack happened.

I helped Bella and her baggage to her ’windowed’ room which turned out to have no window like I’d guessed the other day.

It was only after then that I returned to my own room.

Good news, the elevators are still working, and the electricity has been fully restored. Furthermore, a thorough cleaning has been done on the walls and most of the rooms, including mine.

I opened the door to someone unboxing his things and stuffing them in one side of the wardrobe provided in the room.

"Hi." He greeted me, flashing a little smile.It’s my roommate from the other day. And he was unexpectedly being friendly, wasn’t he there when I was being accused? Because I’ve noticed everyone except Bella and Alex seemed to have one or two things against me,

"Hi." I answered, dragging in my box and placed it by the side of the bed, "Kain? Right? I mean the name, your name." He laughed awkwardly.

"Yes... and if I remember it’s Sam right?" I asked and he scratched his head.

"Yeah...how’d you know it’s Sam?"

"Your friend. The day we’re going to the hotel for our annual holiday... I think your friend called you that."

"Oh." He smacked his lips, "You must have a good memory then."

"I guess," I answered, sitting on the bed with a sigh of relief. But then it hit me, I was supposed to meet Alec today. And I had completely forgotten.