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The sight of the man who had made love to me last night brings a smile to my face. I can’t see what Luke looks like when he’s asleep because he’s facing the other way, but I want to revel in his divinity forever.
He’s spread out on the bed in his glorious abandon, spotless skin like refined gold. This same figure had cradled me last night, sending me to the gates of heaven. Luke had loved me with his body, his touch, every part of him. The connection I felt last night was out of this world, beautiful, the birth of something unforgettable.
A ripple of ecstasy shoots between my legs as I think about the sex. I squeeze my thighs to capture it, closing my eyes as it crescendos and falls back again. It’s the magic of Luke Holland, a man who’s made me feel like a woman again.
But he’s a wolf. He’s like me.
The thought steals my delight immediately, wiping the smile off my face. I open my eyes and stare at sleeping Luke, remembering what he’d told me about my family.
It can’t be true. My family would never hurt another so callously and deliberately.
But my stubborn conviction is as thin as a spindle, susceptible to being broken by a plausible truth. My brothers are violent. Lawrence is an unrepentant drunk. My father is consumed by an anger I can’t comprehend. What’s stopping them from barging into a pack and destroying it for no reason?
I get out of bed and find my clothes on the rug. Careful not to wake Luke, I tiptoe out of the room and dress in the sitting room. He’s still sleeping when I open the front door and step out of his apartment.
The crisp morning air welcomes me as soon as I step outside. It’s warm and cold at the same time, the morning sun peeping behind a cloud it’s now taken as a cover. I walk briskly away from Luke’s apartment, hoping to catch the morning bus that’ll take me home.
Guilt compresses my heart with every step I take. Maybe I should have stayed in bed and waited for him to wake up. He’s probably going to pretend he didn’t tell me last night that my family members are pack killers. But I don’t want to have that conversation with him. Not now. I have to deal with something else first.
“Hello,” a voice from behind halts my walk, startling me.
I spin around, coming face to face with Luke’s neighbor, the same man who told me Luke doesn’t have friends, the man from 9A. He looks different today, as if he's shed some weight, his clothes drooping on his slender frame. The neighbor beams at me, the smile reaching his brown eyes.
“Hey,” I answer, shifting back from him, suddenly aware that I have Luke’s scent all over me.
Then it hits me that I’m not talking to a wolf. The neighbor is human. He can’t possibly smell Luke on me.
Gosh! The fear of my brothers catching Luke’s scent on my body has become a part of me, so much that it’s my first thought when I saw the neighbor. How long am I going to hide the truth from my family? When will I have the guts to face them and tell them I’m seeing a wolf, the same wolf who claims they killed his family?
“I know you,” the neighbor begins, his smile deepening. “You came looking for Luke a few days ago.”
“Yeah, and you’re the man who lives in 9A.”
The neighbor nods, his gaze moving to the second floor where he lives. “I am. I bet Luke is in. Is he?”
“He is.”
My eyes don't leave the neighbor’s face. There’s something off about him, like I can tell he’s different from the rest of the humans. My suspicion heightens when I see the way he’s grinning mischievously, and at the same time, scanning the area as though expecting danger to pop out of nowhere. What’s he expecting? What’s he up to?
“Okay, thank you,” he replies, moving towards the stairs of the residential building.
“You’re welcome.” I turn on my heels and leave the area, crossing the road to flag down a cab.
A taxi soon appears, slowing to a stop beside me. As I bend to speak to the driver, my eyes catch Luke’s neighbor. He’s now on the second floor, standing in front of his apartment and staring at me from the railing.
The realization that I’m being watched sends a chill down my spine. Who the hell is he? Is he a wolf masking his identity with magic? I look away and tell the driver to take me to the bus station.
As I hop into the car, I take a quick glance at the building. The neighbor is gone. He’s not watching me, but a chill still rakes my body. It’s almost as if he vanished into thin air but his creepy gaze has stayed behind, observing me.
The taxi takes me away from Luke and his scary neighbor. I wonder if the man from 9A is actually a friend of Luke’s, someone he put on my tail. It’s difficult to trust Luke now, after what he told me about himself. To think he’d deliberately hidden the truth from me, deceived me and taken me to bed while nursing hatred for my family. What if he’s still lying to me and using a wolf to watch me, waiting for the time to unleash his vengeance on my pack?
It all makes sense now—the silent rage, the sudden interest in me, the grandma who doesn’t even look like him. I’m so stupid not to have seen the warning signs, the red flags that Luke isn’t who he claims to be. I was blinded by my desire, my burning passion for a man who made me complete.
And last night, I ran back into his arms and into his bed.
Whatever spell Luke is using on me, I need to save myself. He probably sees me as naive, a lonely woman who would cling to any man who shows her love.
Luke is wrong. I’m not naive.
