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Gray stifled a chuckle.
I looked at him again, laughing as the rush of the water almost deafened us. “Oh, sorry. Am I being too mean to your cousin?”
“Nah,” he replied, rubbing the back of his head. “You look very beautiful, though.”
“Heol. That is so corny—” I stopped, mouth agape. Cole had never outright complimented me. He’d never even considered planning on taking me somewhere nice for our dates. Gray wasn’t my boyfriend, but for the past few days, he’d done nothing but make me feel special. “I mean, what?”
“I said the view is beautiful,” he coughed. “Just look at the waterfall, the clouds, and the rainbow. They don’t mind you cursing my cousin at all.”
“Oh, cool.” I pressed my lips together, holding back the itch to speak up my mind.
He was lying.
I genuinely heard him call me beautiful, but I let it slide. It wasn’t the first time, but the way he said it bewildered me. Perhaps, if he had been more honest, my wavering body next to his would’ve made more sense. Perhaps.
Trust
Aeraand I started heading back as soon as I realized it was already nearing sunset. About one-third of the way down though, the rain poured on us and I picked up the scent of three unfamiliar werewolves roaming the area. I immediately seized Aera’s hand and stopped us in our tracks.
“Shh,” I whispered and focused on my enhanced senses. I could feel the ground beneath us moving and hear the low growls of werewolves hunting their prey.
Fate sure had a way of ruining every thrilling moment I could spend with my crush.
“What’s wrong?” Aera whispered back, clutching her chest as her eyes swept the perimeter.
“Do you trust me?” I squeezed her hand tighter.
She looked skeptical, but still, she managed to scoff at me. “Do I have a choice, Aladdin?”
“Then stay quiet and please close your eyes,” I said, scooping her in my arms without warning. Once her eyes were shut, I pulled her as close to me as possible. I crossed us over a hill and raced into the dark, my pulse drumming in strange places as the wet bushes stung my skin.
Aera didn’t say a word, but I could tell she was ready to bombard me with all her questions yet all she could do was breathe anxiously against my collarbone, too afraid to open her eyes.
The farther we got into the woods, the more werewolves popped into my senses. My nostrils were telling me they were close and scattered everywhere, though unseen.
Frustrated, I reversed and leaped fearlessly down a short cliff.
A quarter mile later, I found a narrow cave concealed beneath a huge tree. I stepped inside and placed Aera on the ground before taking off my flannel shirt, leaving only my tank top on.
Her eyebrows shot up her forehead. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Shh.” I hushed with my finger over her lips and said, “wait here.”
Outside, I knelt down on the ground and covered most of my skin and clothes with mud. Then, I used my flannel shirt to gather some more for Aera. We needed it to mask our scent from any danger.
When I returned, Aera gave me a look of disbelief, but she didn’t protest when I asked her to rub herself with the mud.
“Great. I guess there are wolves or werewolves chasing after us,” she grumbled, her face and body now covered with mud. “I mean, isn’t that why we’re doing this? To mask our scents from wild animals?”
Oh, my. You are so fucking smart, I wanted to tell her, but I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth. Even though it was common knowledge that werewolves exist, I didn’t want to scare her with the fact that now we were surrounded by them.
And that she was with one.
“Are you a werewolf too?”
My eyes widened. Just when I was over dwelling about not being ready for a confrontation like this, she said that and threw me off guard.
She couldn’t have read my mind, could she?
