Chapter Seven: The Offer

JULIA

I kept looking back and forth at Zeke who was busy breaking down firewood with his own bare hands. He would get a log, place his fingers in the middle and pull it apart as if it was nothing. A few days ago, I asked him how he could do that but he just said that the wood was already brittle.

Now that I thought of it, he could do a lot of things that I couldn’t do. I assume that most men can’t do what he can but I was too scared to ask. Not scared of him—just scared that he would have to leave if I knew something I wasn’t suppose to know.

The man in the treeline still didn’t leave. He was still stalking us from afar and made sure his eyes didn’t leave us. Zeke said to just let him be but I was bothered by it.

“You should fan faster or else the fire will die out,” Zeke said without even batting me an eye. I almost jumped and cleared my throat and continued to fan the fire that was cooking our dinner for the night.

“What do you want to ask me?” he asked and threw the last piece of wood and started to walk towards me. I look away.

“What questions?”

“I know you have questions,” he answered.

I looked up at him when he stood next to me. He crouched down and sat next to me while his eyes were on the meat I was smoking.

“What—what happens now?” I asked him, “with your family, I mean.”

“What do you mean what happens?”

“Will you—” I sighed. It was difficult to ask a question when I’m scared of what he’ll answer. “Will you go back to them? Your family?”

He scoffed. “Didn’t you see what happened back there? Why would I go back?”

I felt guilty for the sense of relief I felt when he said that he wasn’t going back. That meant he won’t leave me alone in the woods. I barely survived when I was alone. I can’t imagine going back to how it was.

“But I’m not staying here either,” he said. I immediately turned to him. “I need to go back to society somehow, and I think I know how. Mikael will regret what he did to me.”

I fall silent. Is there even a society out here in the woods? Is there even a world out there? I don’t know anymore. I’ve been living in peace for the past few weeks that I didn’t bother to find out.

Zeke must have noticed my silence and inched closer to me, his high body temperature warmed uo my skin and the slight jolt of electricity ran down my whole body. I sucked in a breath as my hole body shivered. It was a normal occurance when his skin touched mine. I don’t why it happens but when it does, my whole body feels somehow… excited.

I know that the same thing happens to Zeke. His eyes darken as he looks at me differently as if he wants to draw me closer. Sometimes, I see him balling his hands into fists like he was trying to stop himself or something.

“Can I go with you?” I meekly asked him, “I have nowhere to go, and I have been dependent on you lately. I feel like I couldn’t survive on my own.”

The side of his lips lifted into a smirk and took the fan away from my hands.

“Of course, little human. You cannot survive this place without me, and I had no intention in leaving you in the first place. You will stay by my side at all times.”

I bit the my lower lip in embarrassment and playfully smacked his shoulder.

“I survived even before I rescued you, you know.”

“Barely,” he retorted. “You were skin and bones when I first laid eyes on you. Now, you are plumper.”

Heat rises to my cheek as my eyes widened. Plumper?! I smacked him—not playfully this time and rolled my eyes. I sat further away from him suddenly feeling annoyed by his presence.

“What? What did I do?” he asked cluelessly. I glared at him and rolled my eyes. He just insulted me! He said that I got chubbier!

“What? Why? Oh, is it because you are plump—”

“Say another word and I swear I will devour you!” I snapped at him with my eyes wide and a taunting expression. He paused, his ears got red and had an amused expression on his face. His lips turned into a grin showing his unusually large fang-like teeth and let out a lowly chuckle.

“Oh my, Julia,” he said my name as if he was moaning it. “Don’t tease me like that. You should know that I’d let you devour me right here and then.”

I knew right then and there that my whole face flushed in red. I stood up and took a step back.

“What? Scared now?” he taunted as he stood up and walked closer to me. I stepped back again as I felt his heat even meters away from me. It was like he was a human bonfire. It was useful during the night but right now, it felt strange.

“Stop messing with me, Zeke!” I warned him and picked up a stick and pointed it at him. “You’re being weird!”

“What weird?” he tilted his head and grinned. “You’re the one who kept teasing me. And now that I want to take up that challenge, you back away like a scared little pup.”

“I-I’m not scared!”

“Your body shivers,” he whispers, “your heart races, your mind is clouded. You could feel it.”

Zeke sure is different right now. Like he was someone else. He had a manic look in his eyes as if he wanted to devour me whole. And I—I felt weird too.

I should smack his head the hell out using this stick.

“Stop,” he suddenly said. His expression and his playful demeanor changed. He stood straight up like he was standing on guard. He was looking intently at me, no, not at me, but something behind me.

My whole body started to freeze because I was genuinely scared.

“Zeke?” I asked him as I lowered my stick. He snarled and took heavy steps toward me. I started to panic and was about to run from what’s behind me and towards him when I suddenly felt a presence behind me.

Everything happened so fast that I could not catch a glimpse of it. It just felt like someone was about to touch me from behind when a hand grabbed my arm, pulled me hard and I slammed against something hard. I closed my eyes, my heart was beating out of my chest.

“My apologies,” said an unfamiliar voice. “I didn’t mean to touch your meal.”

“Shut the fck up,” a low growl vibrated from his chest. “How dare you touch her.”

When I came to be, Zeke’s arm tightly held my body against his and his frame coward against mine. I looked back only to see a group of people—about ten—wearing strange suits. The one infront of them was older than the rest and his face was blank of expression.

“When I heard the news that you had awakened, I immediately looked for you.” The man in the suit said.

“News sure travels fast even in an isolated area,” Zeke retorted. “Why did you look for me, Amir?”

I looked at Zeke, he knows this man. I slightly pushed my body away from him. He seemed to notice and loosened his grip. He looked down on my to check if I was alright. I nodded at him and freed myself.

“Stay close,” he whispered. I nodded at him and hid behind him, holding on to the stick for dear life. If something happens, I’ll smack them with this. The man named Amir followed my every mood and looked at me strangely.

“This girl—” “What do you need, Amir?” Amir mentioned me but Zeke cut him off with the firm tone in his voice. Amir’s men shifted in discomfort.

“Right,” he cleared his throat. “We need you in the pack, Zeke. Help us defeat Cronos and we’ll let you take his place.”

“That geezer is still alive? I thought I already got rid of him?”

“He formed an alliance with rogues and came back for us when you were imprisoned. Looks like Carl assisted him after you banished him.”

“That’s interesting,” Zeke answered. You want me to lead your pack? Are you sure about that, Amir?”

Amir fell silent. He looked back at his men and sighed.

“If I—If only I was a strong Alpha then Cronos wouldn’t have defeated me so easily. If I had to choose then I’d rather have you leading the pack. At least I know that you would not jeopardize the group.”

Zeke was silent. Amir looked at him with a desperate expression on his face. Even I started to feel bad for the guy. But all this talk about Alphas and Packs and Rogues made my head hurt. I had no idea about what they were talking about.

“Cronos is working with Carl to monopolize the industry. If you take over, a lot of things will change. I’ll give you everything that I can offer, just please. Please save my pack members. Especially the females and pups.”

Zeke’s body tensed up at the mention of Carl. I squeezed Zeke’s arm and he looked down on me. It was as if he could read my mind, his expression completely changed.

Zeke sighed and finally answered.

“Fine, but you know I have my ways.”

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END