I Would Rather Be a Rogue [BL]-Chapter 31: Something’s Fishy!

Felix’s nostrils flared as he sniffed around, sneaking from shadow to shadow in his wolf form. After over a week of searching through the outskirts, and a lot of leads that led nowhere, it was now time to move deeper into the town. The search there was much more challenging - the population density was much higher there, and therefore there were plenty more scents, and on top of that, Felix had to avoid getting spotted! While there were a good few rogue werewolves living in Silverfall, none of them had a habit of wandering around in the town’s center, not in their wolf form. Who knew how residents would react? If Felix were unlucky, he could end up getting shot.

Thus, caution was necessary. Even when it significantly slowed him down.

Clang!

Felix’s ears perked up, and his head momentarily snapped to the side, his head scanning the empty street.

But there was no movement. Perhaps it was just the wind, knocking down a can or something. In the quietness of the late night, every sound seemed louder and more unsettling than it should. Especially for Felix, who was already on edge.

Having confirmed there was no danger around, Felix shook his head, and quickly returned to his search. He was tired - unfortunately, his state remained the same regardless of which form he took - but he still wanted to stick to his plan. The next day he had the afternoon shift, so he could sleep in a bit... The problem was just to maintain his focus while he was on the ’hunt’.

There was also a good thing about going out so late, though - all the smells from evening meals started slowly dissipating, therefore leaving behind less misleading ’leads’ for Felix to follow! So far, there had been only one house that had recently eaten some smoked tuna (A LOT of smoked tuna. They really liked their fish, huh?), and another with an ocean breeze air freshener, which sounded so harsh and synthetic that Felix couldn’t help but scrunch his nose. Both of them would be later marked on the map as ’points of interest’, naturally - there was a chance those odors covered up other, much fainter scents, so they needed to be re-investigated later - but for now, they could be left behind.

He moved past houses smelling of paint, whisky, grilled cheese, then wine... Until all of a sudden, his nose picked up on a strong fishy smell.

A salty fishy smell.

Abandoning his search plan, Felix immediately started following it, skulking in the shadows, as he crept forward, like a predator ready to attack. All of the cloudiness caused by his exhaustion vanished in a blink, replaced by a moment of clarity and excitement with the rush of adrenaline. He tracked it for a good few minutes, even going so far as to cross the boundary of the area he had been avoiding - that is, the area surrounding the hotel, where Kade was staying...

And there it was, the source of the smell.

Silverfall’s fish shop. Receiving a freaking saltwater fish delivery!

He should have expected it. It was odd from the start. If the mermaid’s scent were to be so strong, Kade would have already found her hundreds of times.

Still, Felix couldn’t help but feel disappointed. He stared at the workers for a while, observing as they unloaded the boxes and tanks, circling energetically between the shop and the truck. It wasn’t as if his staring would cause them to transform into a mermaid though, so eventually, Felix turned away.

With his lead having led him not where he wanted once again, and his spine tingling due to Kade’s presence not too far away, Felix took it as his cue to retreat. Since he had some time left, instead of going straight home, he made his way to the outskirts first, and then returned by taking a roundabout way, and sniffing around some more on his way, checking out places he remembered were marked as ’points of interest’ before.

He walked through the empty streets filled with dark houses. The streetlights were off - the town wouldn’t waste money to keep them on all night - and the moon was hidden behind thick clouds, leaving the world shrouded in darkness. Felix could still move around just fine, he was a wolf, after all, but he couldn’t help but feel an unease gnawing on his insides. As if he was...

Crunch.

Felix’s paws faltered, and he paused, listening.

Crunch, crunch.

There it was again. Thirty or so feet behind him, a crunching sound. Like steps... no, paws on the snow.

But it wasn’t Kade. Felix would know if it was.

All of his muscles tensed up, as he quickly assessed the situation, coming up with a decision. Escape might not be the best idea, since he could potentially lead his pursuer back to his house, and make his address known. It would have been better if he had noticed it later, but he was too tired, too distracted, and now there was no way out.

Then, confrontation it was.

He turned around, and watched as the wolf, the werewolf, stepped out of the shadows. He was fairly large, at least larger than Felix, but luckily he seemed to be a male Beta, not an Alpha. It was one stroke of luck in this whole ordeal - at least he couldn’t use his pheromones against Felix.

The wolf approached slowly, showing no signs of wanting to attack. Still, Felix bared his teeth, and let out a low, guttural growl in a warning.

"Awoo?" the wolf tilted his head, stopping in his tracks. He observed Felix for a moment, and once he saw that Felix did not attack, despite his tense pose, he made another step forward.

Only for Felix to take a step back, and growl some more.

He didn’t recognize this wolf. The only wolves Felix knew in Silverfall were Eden, Kade, and his guards. Crossroad’s owner was of mixed blood, but he couldn’t shift as far as Felix knew. And that wolf didn’t smell like him, like any of them, anyway. The wolf’s right ear was ragged, missing a chunk from some old injury, but it provided Felix no clue, and there were no other distinguishing traits.

Just as Felix considered what move to make to end this impasse, the sound of the car engine came from a distance, quickly getting closer.

And a minute or so later, a black sports car pulled over, parking just on the other side of the street from them.

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