find my mate, but… it wasn't.
No, my mate hadn't gone anywhere. He was right here, waiting. I staggered and barely kept my balance when that heady fragrance came rushing at me from the right. Turning my head, I saw Darius standing there with his mate and two other men.
I recognized the source of that amazing scent at once. He was a gorgeous red-haired omega with whiskey-brown eyes. My mate was dressed smartly and carried himself with more panache than I could ever dream of having. As we made eye contact, I noted two things.
One, he was as surprised as I was judging by the appalled look on his face. And two, my pretty little ginger looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack. Either that, or he was going to throw up.
Before I could rush to him and introduce myself, Darius stepped in front of me and took my hands as if to say hello. Although I wanted to shove him aside and go to my mate, I forced myself to be hospitable. It wouldn't be right to ignore my friend and it could also get me in a lot of trouble if anyone watching thought I was disrespecting a member of the royal family.
Darius didn't bother with protocol or small talk. Instead, he leaned in as if to hug me and murmured softly in my ear. "Clarence, we need to talk. Immediately."
I forced a smile and nodded. "Yes, of course. After you introduce me to your red-haired friend."
2
Dearil
As I sat there with my family in the back of the overfilled chapel, I couldn't believe my luck. I'd scented him the moment Darius had discreetly flipped a switch and turned on the apparently useless ceiling fans.
Mostly useless, anyway. While they weren't doing much to cool things off in here, they did a fine job of pulling the best-smelling fragrance I'd ever scented directly my way. It took me a second to realize it was coming from the priest himself. Huh. Probably because the big guy had to be sweaty as hell underneath those fancy robes he was wearing.
Wait… I probably shouldn't even think of a word like hell inside a church, right? Huh. Maybe it was okay. I mean, wasn't the whole point of being at church to keep from going to hell? Or to hedge your bets if such a place actually existed?
I glanced up at the ceiling and decided it was probably okay since there were no signs of lightning and the roof hadn't caved in.
My nostrils flared as I discreetly inhaled that precious scent again. It reminded me of the mulled wine my mother served at Christmas, except with an extra shot of cinnamon. I sniffed again. Yeah, that was definitely cinnamon.
Dammit, now I want to eat a cinnamon roll. I winced and looked at the ceiling again. Whew. Still safe. I should probably get a handle on swearing in church, especially if my true mate was a freaking priest.
I stifled the urge to giggle as I considered that. Seriously, what the hell were the fates thinking when they thought it was a good idea to match an assassin with a priest? Not only was my mate religious, he was literally married to the big man upstairs.
How would that even work? I’m not sharing my mate, even with God.
My mind was still trying to make sense of that when we finally came face-to-face out front when the service was over. Any other omega would probably be overjoyed right now and most people would think I was weird for quietly freaking out instead.
But shit. Oops, there I go with the cursing again. I glanced up at the sky but still didn't see any sign of lightning. Okay, good to know. I can cuss. So far, I'd been distracting myself and ignoring the pacing of my puma just under the surface of my skin.
My beast was ready to burst out and claim our mate but I felt like I could be forgiven for being more pragmatic. At least for now. Did I want a true mate? Hell, yeah. But the fact that my mate could be murdered at any moment had me ready to puke in terror for him.
Just because my brother had accepted the contract so we could protect the man didn't mean that nobody else had gotten word and would try to take him out, thinking they would beat us to the payout.
Dear God. Hi, it’s me, Dearil Moreno. I know I've never been