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She walked back to the Den with a skip in her step. It wasn’t a long-term solution, but it was a plan. And maybe the time had come to get a place of her own. She must be able to find some shady landlord somewhere who would accept cash for rent and not ask too many questions.
Sophia could get back to doing what she was best at: hiding and not causing any fuss.
The entrance to the Den which she used was down a back alley half a block from the actual street it was on. She checked and then double checked that no-one was around, just like she always did. The alley was wedged between imposing, multistory buildings, and no-one ever really came down here, except for municipal workers who occasionally needed to access the sewer from a rusty old manhole.
The small, unimposing entrance to her kingdom was a tattered blue door covered with sheets of corrugated iron — sheets she’d slowly dragged there over the years. She moved the iron away and took out her prized possession: the key to a lock she’d fitted herself five years ago.
She opened the door.
Inside was a small space. It must have originally been a maintenance access point for one of the nearby buildings, but over the years, it had been entirely forgotten. Sophia used the flashlight from her phone and opened a small ventilation grate. Then, it was just the small matter of wriggling through her crawl space.
It wasn’t far to the Den, and it wasn’t too bad of a crawl. She’d never encountered a rat in this tunnel, much to her immense relief.
Finally, she swung open the access hatch and pulled herself into her home.
‘Sothat’show you got in here.’
Sophia screamed.
CHAPTER 3
Don’t tell her to relax. Whatever you do, Wolf, don’t tell her to calm down. People don’t like it. She’s got every right to be freaking out right now.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said eventually. ‘I know I said I wouldn’t come back today. I just kind of panicked — thinking about the amount of work I have to do.’
‘I can leave,’ the young woman replied, her eyes as big as moons. He’d never seen eyes like them before. They were gray, but there was such complexity in there — he could swear that there were threads of gold in that gray.
Why did she have to be so pretty?
No, pretty wasn’t the right word for her. It didn’t even come close to describing her. It was like describing Elon Musk as ‘a little wealthy.’
The person in front of him — the scared, anxious creature — was transcendentally gorgeous. She had high cheekbones and pale, smooth skin. Her nose was marked with hazel freckles and her glossy, dark brown hair was tied in a long plait.
She wore bright green, triangular stud earrings, and her lips were cherry red. Wolf was trying with all his might not to look at her body. Every time he caught himself glancing at the appealing collection of bumps and curves, he felt something dangerous and uncontrollable rising in him that he hadn’t felt for a long, long time.
‘No, please, don’t go,’ he said. ‘I didn’t come here to chase you out.’
‘Then maybeyoucould go?’ she said.
Wolf raised his eyebrows. ‘That’s not gonna happen,’ he replied. ‘This is my bar, and, as you can see, I’ve got work to do.’ He hadn’t meant to sound gruff, but the young woman’s stance hardened.
‘Well, what do you want me to do?’ She had a beautiful voice, too. Melodious. He’d love to hear her sing.
Holy shit, Wolf, what is going on with you? You’d love to hear her sing? Are you serious?
‘You’ve got a really amazing set up here,’ Wolf said, looking around at the place. ‘Bedroom here, and of course, all the stuffies in the gents’ toilets.’
‘I’ll move them all, Mister. Just please don’t hurt me.’ There was terror in her voice.
Fuck. He was getting this all wrong. This was a huge mistake. Of course he was gonna scare the poor girl. He had to do something to make this better, to make her feel safe. A sudden idea hit him.
‘Look, you’ve got nothing to fear with me. In fact, this is the safest you’ve ever been in here. When you’re a guest on my turf, it’s my job to look out for you. To protect you.’
She didn’t seem convinced.
‘My name’s Wolf,’ he said. ‘What’s yours?’
‘D-Diane.’ That was a lie. Had to be. Her face lit up like pink lantern.
