"I may be your second chance, Wade, but I will not be your second choice."
Reeling from the death of his mate, Alpha Wade tried everything in his power to bring her back to life. So consumed with raising her from the dead, he almost missed his secon...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
WITH the ceremony officially coming to a close, everyone who had received their placement results was once again ushered backstage by the same furious-looking volunteers. Clipboards at the ready, the volunteers guided each row to the comfort of the concrete waiting area. However, unlike the orderly lines we formed earlier in the day, a cluster of both excited and disappointed pack members dispersed.
By this time, I could not be certain that my mate's scent still lingered. My nose did pick up on the dull scent, but I could not decipher if I merely wished the scent into existence or if it was truly still in the air. Nevertheless, the dwindling fragrance filled me with a twinge of hope.
There was still a faint possibility my mate was here.
However, if I had thought trying to suppress my natural desire to find my mate during the ceremony was hard, I was not prepared for the obstacle that was the labyrinth of people swarming my general vicinity in search of their friends and family. I wasn't able to take even one step without elbowing someone or bumping into a different person's sweaty body.
Frustrated, I almost had enough sense to bulldoze my way through the crowd, but I quickly bit my tongue and began the delicate process of steering myself toward freedom. After a few minutes of struggling to weasel my way to a less densely packed spot, I made sure not to drop my envelope in the process as I failed to make any headway on escaping the crowd.
My mate's scent was fleeting. A headache erupted in the back of my head while I gripped the envelope with all my strength. I took a deep breath in and began weaving in and out of people. With the pain pulsating in my head, I no longer cared to politely climb my way out of the huge cluster of pack members.
With so many people surrounding every side of me, it was near impossible to locate the vague scent I had once been trying to locate.
Deciding not to abandon all hope, I stuck close to the outer walls in a hopeless attempt to not get swept in the swarm of excited pack members. But, by the looks and smell of it, I was the only one of us in search of the other.
Maybe my mate had not smelled me? I tried to reason. Or maybe, they got scared?
Whatever the reason for my mate's absence, I would have to mull it over later as my brother called after me. "Violet."
Turning on my heel, I smiled at Henry. His dark brown hair had been neatly styled with Dad's hair gel, and the charcoal color of his suit made his hazel eyes pop. His hands were placed in his pockets, his shoulders scrunched upward as he exhaled through his nostrils.
"Henry."
He tipped his head forward and said, "Congratulations. I didn't think you had it in you."
"Thank you?" My statement was more of a question than an extension of my gratitude.
"Of course, we all knew you had it in you," Dad came up behind Henry and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "You're a Campbell."
Henry's striking resemblance to Dad was always highlighted when they stood so close to one another. They shared the same unruly hair with similar shades of hazel eyes—Dad had long lost the glimmer in his eyes, though. They were similarly built with stocky shoulders and slim torsos, but the eeriest part of their similarities was their smile.
