Page 87 of Unravel Me

It doesn't seem particularly interesting, so I head back to my room and step into the small bathroom attached to it to wash up.

I take a long, thorough shower, letting the cool water run over my head as it slowly clears my mind and helps my half-hard dick settle back into its sleepy state. There's still that familiar post-heat heaviness lingering inside me, a strange brain fog pressing down on my thoughts. I know it's just the recovery process, but that doesn't make it any easier to bear.

In the meantime, I hear voices in the hallway. It sounds like the sparring session is over, and the people in the house are heading back to their rooms.

I dry my hair with a towel, then wander back to the window, only to find the scene outside has completely changed.

The logs that had been piled on the truck are now stacked on the driveway, while the pickup is pulling away, disappearing through the estate gates into the gray sheets of rain.

Renato is left alone with the pile of timber. I wonder why he didn't have the men unload it somewhere more practical instead of leaving it right in the middle of the driveway. A second later, however, something happens that not only explains it, but also makes me freeze on the spot.

Renato's body begins to glow.

His skin changes color, lighting up in a way I recognize quite well, shimmering with a green-and-gold radiance while glitter rises around him like a swarm of glowing fireflies.

"Fuck that!" I curse, my breath hitching.

Calmly, Renato bends down, effortlessly scoops up half the pile of timber, which must weigh close to half a ton, and carries it toward the utility building tucked into the shadows of the grove to the left of the house.

I stand there completely frozen, staring in shock, while something slowly begins falling into place inside my head, although I'm still not sure whether my conclusion is actually correct.

Was the man I spent my heat with in the forest… Renato?

Goddammit!

Was this what Mauro had been trying to tell me earlier?

Suddenly I remember Davos's words, those cryptic, mysterious hints about Renato being someone unusual and powerful in this town. Well… damn. That certainly fits. His physical strength is obviously beyond anything human.

A moment later, Renato returns for the rest of the timber, lifts it just as effortlessly, and disappears into the utility building.

I stay rooted to the spot, rubbing my eyes while staring at the empty driveway, still completely stunned.

None of this makes sense!

It's hard to believe Renato could have been the one with me in the forest and then simply gone on acting as though nothing had happened, while Mauro openly courted me and touched me in front of him.

I need answers, but I'm not sure I'll actually get them from the people living in this house. After all, there has to be a reason no one told me who the fae in the forest really was.

Although… they clearly knew?

If it had been one of them, then the moment I stepped into this house someone should have said, Hey, we've already met. Let me introduce myself properly this time in my human form.

But nobody did.

That leaves only two possibilities.

Alternatively, for reasons of their own, they don't want to reveal that secret to me, which would be understandable in today's world, where magical ABOs aren't exactly treated kindly. The military and all kinds of laboratories experiment on mutants like them.

Or there's another explanation.

There are many more beings like that living around here, and it was neither of them.

Feeling flustered, I reach for my phone, but fuck, it's dead.

Veyron dried it out, but the battery was already at the same low level it had been at before I arrived here.

My hair is still damp when I leave my room and follow the sounds through the hallway toward the room where I thought Gianni had gone earlier.