Chapter 4: Trust

"Did you kill him?" Verena was panting as she checked on Nelo, now lying in his bed, passed out still. Zoren rolled his eyes as she looked up. It’s obvious that he hates how Verena was so worried about a man who literally just tried to harm her.

"Youre scared that he’s dead?" he asked, still wincing. "Did you not realize how badly you’ve been treated by this disgusting human being?" He plugged his nose with his fingers and shook his head. "I hate having this insane sense of smell right now. He smells nothing but a dark, painful curse. This is such a torture."

"Come on, just tell me, is he alive?"

"Look at his inflated belly!" Zoren pointed at it with a blank expression. "Can you not see how it moves up and down? He’s breathing; relax."

"But-"

"Even though I am a monster in your eyes, I wouldn’t end someone’s life without thinking about it," Zoren stated. He walked a few steps back to save his nostrils and sighed. "Although he deserves it, based on the fear that I could sense from you, But I can't ignore the fear you have of losing him. Even though I don’t relate to it, I could still try to understand your side."

Verena was shocked. She slowly turned to check on who was talking for a second. When her eyes met the alluring eyes of the werewolf, who was leaning back against the door with his arms crossed, she began to chuckle.

"Since we’ve met, I've never heard you say something so heartfelt," she whispered. "I wouldn’t have expected such a soft spot from the werewolf prince."

"And that would make me a fraud again, doesn’t it?" He rolled his eyes and took a deep breath before starting to tell her off again, but Verena stopped him.

"No, it’s making me believe you more," she said. "I mean, after seeing your teeth grow like that, I don’t think I can still deny your existence in this world."

Verena was about to say something else, but she was completely interrupted by a loud grumbling sound.

Her eyes immediately landed on Zoren’s stomach, and she chuckled at how flushed his face had gotten.

"What?" He raised his voice and walked out.

"You could have just told me earlier if you were hungry," Verena said. "I can grab you something if you want."

"I would never eat something that came from you," the tall man said. "I wouldn't be dumb enough to trust you with the food that I eat. Who knows what you could do to those? Are you going to poison me?"

"Please," Verena exhaled deeply, "I am too tired to poison a werewolf from a magical book tonight. I won't do that."

She reached over her pocket to search her phone to see what options she could get delivered directly to their doorstep that late at night, but all she saw were pizzas, sandwiches, and burgers.

"Have you had pizza before?" she asked, not looking up at him. The silence that filled the living room made her feel awkward. "It’s good, I promise. Look at this thing!" Verena handed him her phone.

The man grinned as soon as he felt the weight of the gadget on his hand. It glowed while he studied the circular thing that came from heaven’s kitchen and was being shown on it. As he accidentally swiped the screen, Zoren laughed out loud.

"No matter how much you try to hide it, your power still shows," he said. "Now tell me, how are you going to explain this sorcery?"

Verena chuckled at his amazement. "It's not magic, Zoren. It's a phone."

"A what?" Zoren asked, his voice tinged with disbelief as he reached out to touch the screen. "It's like a mirror, but it's so much smaller! And there are a lot of things being shown; they move when I interact with them too."

"It's a smartphone," Verena replied, relieved that Zoren was finally starting to believe her. "We use it to communicate with other people, take pictures, listen to music, and even watch videos."

Zoren continued to examine the phone with curiosity, poking at the screen and turning it over in his hands. Verena smiled as she watched his childlike wonder, glad that she could show him something new and exciting.

But then, to her surprise, Zoren's expression suddenly turned skeptical again. "I still don't understand how something so small can do all of these things," he said, his brow furrowed. "It's like magic."

"Well, sorry to tell you, I really am not a magical being like you believed me to be." She grabbed her phone from his hand and proceeded to order their food. "It’s going to be clear to you once you realize how bad and difficult my life is. Come on, look around, I said, to show him how rundown the place looks. "Do you really think that I would choose to live in this situation? Look at my uncle; didn’t you already see how much I fear him? If I really had the powers that you think I possess, do you think I would still choose to be in this hell?"

Zoren squinted, thinking of the plausible reasoning that the woman in front of him had been spurting out.

"I see," he said, nodding. "I guess you do have a really great point. But I still do not believe that you are a pure human being."

"Sure, just believe that," she replied. "I don’t really care what you think; I just want the two of us to understand each other and at least trust me for a bit."

"Why do you want that?"

"To be completely honest with you, I am scared."

"As you should be, I am a werewolf."

"I know," Verena whispered. "And you are in my world, the land of mere human beings... I wouldn’t want you to harm anyone, so please just trust me when I tell you something."

"You are still worried about your uncle," Zoren smirked. "I won't kill him if you don’t want me to," he said. "I guess I could do that. But do I really need to pledge my trust to you?"

"It’s not just that," Verena said as she walked closer to Zoren, who had just watched her cluelessly. "Zoren, this is still a very dangerous world for you. You know nothing; you don’t know how different this is from yours. Look, just a mobile phone sent you into spirals. It’s going to be a lot of learning."

"I see what you are trying to do now," Zoren sat down and crossed his arms on the couch. "You are trying to tame me, pull out my fangs, and turn me into a submissive little dog. But no, you won't be able to do that."

Verena sighed. Everything that she tried to explain to this man always ended up in the same dilemma. They can't compromise. He won't be able to swallow his pride and just let her guide him.

"Tell me, do you have somewhere else to go?"

Zoren rolled his eyes. "Do you really think that I would go and leave you alone when you are the main reason why I was summoned into this world?"

"See! You will be staying with me; you need to listen to me to survive normally in this world," she argued. "I just want the both of us to promise that we won't kill each other and for your identity not to be revealed. You can't hurt any human being, and in return, I promise not to let you get into any trouble."

"I don’t need your help to protect myself."

"You know what, whatever!" Verena sat on the couch and closed her eyes. "I am too tired to argue with a barking dog." But suddenly she felt movements next to her. She opened her eyes in surprise and found Zoren looking down on her with an angry expression. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"A dog?" he growled, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "You dare treat me like a dog?"

Verena scrambled to sit up, feeling her heart racing in her chest. "I-I didn’t mean it like that," she stammered, feeling confused and disoriented. "I was just trying to stop the conversation."

"Is this part of your plan?"

"What?"

Zoren leaned in closer to check the slight pink flush on her face. "Did you summon me here to seduce me?"