Chapter 94 - A Scent That Shifted

"Rei?" Tilting her head to the side, Clement seemed to test the water when she mentioned the name. 

The ash brown-haired Omega immediately perked up at that. "Yes, that's me! Did my brother mention about me before?" Rei was feeling giddy all of sudden. Looks like Jian Yu ever mentioned him before! 

"Wow, Clement. I never knew you care about stuff like this!" Mika bounded up beside the female Alpha, who grumbled about something close to "birds of a feather" before turning towards Rei, giving the Omega his full attention. 

"Sooo," Mika dragged the words out, a playful smirk stretched across his lips. "This," He put his face so close to Rei that the ash brown haired Omega had to take a step back to maintain a distance. "This handsome Omega is the brother of my brother-in-law?" 

"B-- Brother-in-law?" Rei spluttered, before squinting his eyes. "What do you mean by brother-in-law? Who--" 

"Get moving, the third round is about to start." Clement stomped, her boots made low thuds against the ground. She continued while walking without looking back at all. "Didn't you want to see your brother?" 

"Ah, y-- yes…!" Rei wanted to hurry after Clement but the sudden heavy weight across his shoulder hindered his movement from sprinting. 

"Hey, Omega." 

The hot breath coming from the blond Alpha made Rei shudder. Mika had slung his arm over his shoulder in a friendly manner but the words he was about to speak weren't friendly at all. 

"I don't want to offend you or anything…" He trailed off at first and Rei knew the moment those words were uttered, he was about to get seriously offended. 

"You really need to do something about this scent of yours. It's really making my nose itch." 

A vein popped at Rei's forehead and he felt a sudden rise of irritation bubbling up inside him. This man, this stupid Alpha here, had done nothing but insult him the moment they met. 

He gnashed his teeth, gritting them as he shrugged his shoulder to throw off the heavy arm resting on him. Giving the deadliest glare he could muster and with a tone dipped in venom, he spat. "Then don't breathe." 

With that, Rei turned away and jogged right behind Clement, leaving a few paces in between. 

Stunned, Mika blinked and gaped, unbelieving of what had just happened before a chuckle left his mouth. A chuckle then turned into a full-blown laugh that the blond Alpha was doubling over, clutching his stomach as he chortled. 

"What the hell…?" Mika gasped out in disbelief, rubbing the corner of his eyes to get rid of the tears. "What's next? Don't step on the ground?" He muttered to himself. The corner of his lips slowly curled up until a grin stretched across his face. 

Looking at the back of the Omega that was slowly getting further away, his cerulean blue eyes glinted maniacally. He raised a hand to cover the crazy grin on his face, hiding it from the world as he recalled how the kitten acting like a tiger bristled. 

"Fuck, why is that so cute?"

***

It was awkward. 

Really, really awkward. 

Well, in Rei's opinion, it was awkward. 

The only sound heard was the sound of their breath and footsteps. 

Clement wasn't saying anything at all as she walked, head held high like the noble she was, meanwhile, Rei walked a few paces behind her, fidgeting every second. He felt like he should speak up, to lighten the mood. 

The guy who was supposed to be the chatterbox wasn't running his mouth at all. Mika was just whistling away with both his hands behind his head. 

Even though he looked like he was someone who didn't care about the world, a carefree guy, Rei could feel the stare aimed his way a few times, making him tense his shoulder and that would result with the Alpha smirking for unknown reason. 

Rei was about to point it out to him when a doctor came passing by. 

Wavy dark brown hair that was tied in a low ponytail. He was humming casually as he passed by, giving a friendly smile to them. 

"Dr. Liam." Clement greeted. "You are here." 

The doctor didn't pause in his step, but if Rei was paying more attention, he looked more like he was in a rush. "Of course I'm here, I'm the school physician, after all." He gave them something that could pass off as a friendly smile but it looked strained somehow. 

Something about this man set all the alarms off in Rei's mind. There was just something that didn't sit right with the doctor and the way the doctor's eyes trailed all of them before landing on him. 

Those eyes bore into him like they knew him but Rei had no recollection of ever meeting an Alpha like him, besides, the doctor resembled someone that would never leave an impression for long. 

He was just too ordinary. 

However, the uneasy feeling he had felt this morning only intensified tenfold as the Omega clenched and unclenched his clammy hand.

"Dr. Liam seems really busy." Mika commented idly, talking for the first time in a while. 

Clement couldn't help but agree before watching the physician leaving in a hurry. "Guess there are more casualties this year." 

"Lucky us then." 

"Hey, did you smell that?" Clement frowned, her nose high as she sniffed the air before immediately pinching her nose. "It smells like bur--…"

Before Clement could finish her sentence, a sudden flare of burning pheromones filled the air that even Rei almost choked on. 

Cinnamon and burnt wood, coated with sickly fear. 

It made the hairs on the back of Rei's neck on end and there was something else too-- something familiar. 

Something he used to drown himself in. 

It was a scent that he knew well, a scent that had long gone, disappeared and evaporated, that belonged to a certain silverette. 

That one Beta. 

Who used to carry this scent with him everywhere before it shifted into something else but Rei liked it no matter how it was. 

This burning wood that smelt like forest fire. 

Had disappeared along with his memories a long time ago.