Finally,finally, I had tangible proof of the existence of the things. And now I could try and research the liquid and find out more about it ...
After I quickly put all the groceries away in their rightful places, I took out the bottle. The shadow mark liquid inside it had the color of a dull grayish brown. The curious part of my brain wondered what would happen if I touched it. Something told me, however, it wouldn’t be wise to do that. I didn’t know what the shadow mark actually inflicted, or if it inflicted anything at all. I only knew it appeared at murder crime scenes, which was ominous enough as it was.
But still, it was tempting. Perhaps just a little drop?
I pulled my dark-brown hair into a ponytail, pushed back the sleeve of my right arm, and uncapped the bottle on top of the kitchen counter. Then, slowly, and very cautiously, I pushed my index finger into the bottle, reaching for the liquid—
“Stop!”
The sudden growl from behind made me jump. Unfortunately, my finger was still in the bottle, and before I could stop, it caused the bottle to topple off the counter.
I watched as it fell, almost in slow motion, and was about to instinctively reach out to catch it ... until a pair of muscular arms wrapped around me from behind, caging me and my arms and pulling me back as the bottle hit the floor and the liquid splashed out of it everywhere.
My heart was like a drumbeat in my chest. Cold sweat dripped down my face. My body was shaking, as if I was cold, despite the heat blasting against my back, where I pressed against a hard something I later realized was an extremely muscular—and bare—chest.
Once the shock dissipated, I struggled against the arms, and they immediately fell back, letting me go. Once I was free, I whirled around to see who had just dared not only to trespass into my home, but also to both lay hands on meandget rid of crucial evidence.
What I saw made my jaw hit the floor alongside the shadow mark and the bottle.
Because in front of me stood an actual honest-to-God Greek god. An Adonis with a halo of auburn curls and a square-jawed face with a red, faint five-o’clock shadow that made his outrageously light-blue eyes even more prominent on his absurdly gorgeous face.
But then my eyes roamed down to the bare chest sporting pecs that made my mouth dry, along with the toned, corded arms I had just felt around me. My gaze dipped even lower, though, to the trail of dusty hair leading down to a symmetrically cut V, then to his ...
My eyes locked on the atrociously attractive man’s bare member before I forced them away, down to his muscular thighs, attached to his long, lick-worthy legs.
Feeling like an absolute pervert, I blinked, stepped back, felt the counter digging into my spine, and held on to it for support because I suddenly felt weak in the knees. I raised my eyes back to the man’s face. He seemed full of worry and anger, which made me think he must be a combination of Adonis and Ares, the god of war.
Instead of kicking the nudist Greek god out of my home, all I could do was blurt, “What the hell?”
The man’s brilliant arctic-blue eyes caught mine and held. “Where did you find this portal?” he asked in a voice as rich as dark chocolate, with a faint accent.
I opened and closed my mouth like a fish. My brain was seriously malfunctioning. I didn’t know what to say, or how to act, or ...
He strode closer to me, and I tensed for a moment, thinking he might be attacking me because I was standing there, stupidly frozen, but then his large, warm, golden palms cupped my face as he searched my eyes. “Hey,” he said quietly. “Please answer me. Where did you find a portal?”
Instead of answering that, I mumbled, “Who the fuck are you?”
He stared at me for a few long moments, before he let his hands fall from my face. “Lucien,” he said, voice low. “I’m ... Lucien.”
My brain seemed to catch something my consciousness still didn’t, because I found myself spluttering, “You’re the wolf.”
Why are you so surprised, Drew?I reprimanded myself as I stared at the man, shocked.You already knew the wolf was of supernatural origin!
Yet thinking something and witnessing it firsthand were two very different things.
And seemingly reading my mind, the man, Lucien, gave me half a smile that turned him from an already drop-dead-gorgeous man to an absolutely, devastatingly panty-dropping one, and said, “Yes. I’m your wolf.”
Chapter 6
Dumbstruck
Since I didn’t have clothes for him, I handed the man a bathrobe so he could cover his far-too-distracting nakedness and sat him down on the couch while I faced him from the sofa.
“Lucien,” I murmured now, staring at him, tasting his name, mimicking the way he said it, which wasn’tLu-shen, but ratherLu-see-en. A French name, said in a barely there French accent. “You are a werewolf.”
He leaned back, putting his arm on the armrest and spreading his legs, which gave me a peek at his strong inner thighs, covered by that golden skin. “Yes,” he confirmed, watching me with those brilliant eyes, similar to the wolf’s but far more lethal than the animal ever could be.
“Prove it,” I said now, folding my arms and feeling my cheeks heat up under his piercing scrutiny. “Change shapes in front of me.”
