“Where the hell is it?”
“Where is what?”
“Her scent? It’s gone.”
My wolf remained annoyingly quiet, completely unaffected by the fact I’d just lost our mate’s scent.
“What do you mean?”
“Ollie, it’s gone. I can’t smell her anymore. She had a specific scent that I loved and now it’s just gone. How is that possible?”
“I don’t know. What’s your wolf telling you?”
I growled. “Absolutely nothing.” I searched for some sort of direction from within, but it was crickets. “My stupid wolf has gone silent on this issue.”
“So she’s not your true mate?” he asked.
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” I asked, throwing my arms up into the air.
He chuckled. “Is it possible your mate is around here somewhere and maybe her scent was on this horse?”
“Can that happen? Wait, no. Wyatt’s fat ass is who’s been assigned to Clementine. He for sure is not my mate. I was so certain the horse was. And now I don’t know what to think.”
“You’ve had a rough few days, Brady. Why don’t we head into town and grab a drink, then get you home for a nice hot shower, because you stink like horse, dude.”
I groaned but begrudgingly agreed. I certainly didn’t want to sleep in a barn again if I didn’t have to.
“Why am I not more disappointed by this? Why isn’t my wolf pissed? She’s supposed to be our goddam mate.”
“Maybe the wolf knows it’s not really the horse.”
He shrugged like it was no big deal, but it was a very big deal to me. Still, I followed him back to the car and got in.
“How about that drink?” Ollie asked.
“If you have a cold one at home, then fine.”
“Nope. I think you need stronger. Let’s go to the tavern.”
“So I can be the laughing stock of Collier? Everyone knows.”
“Not everyone.”
My jaw locked and I glared at him.
“Since when do we give a shit with others think? I didn’t raise you to care about stuff like that.”
I chuckled. “Well, that’s true.”
He found a rare parking spot right on the street in front of the tavern. That never happened.
“See, meant to be.”
I groaned. “You better keep those drinks coming.”
“Promise. Just remember to hold your head up high and stare down anyone who dares to say a word about it.”
“That’s the dumbest advice you ever gave us. You are aware of that, right?”