"Thank you."
Enzo smirked at me as he removed his hand on my cheek. "No need. This isn't for free after all."
Apparently, my mark should've disappeared within hours after Dylan's death, but it had been over a week since the assassination attempt and the skin behind my ear is still as swollen as ever. It didn't help me either that my body has been fatally craving his pheromones. Luckily, Enzo was kind enough to offer me his, though not the same, for a price—he'll use me as bait to lure Dylan out and finish the job.
The rest of the slaves were sent somewhere safe, where the rest of the rescued humans were housed since they were—
I woke up a few minutes before sunrise.As I rolled onto my side, I felt a small bump on my cheek so I reached out a hand under my pillow, and true enough, there was a small glass spray bottle containing some pink fizzy liquid. I groggily propped myself up onto my elbows before popping off the plastic lid to take a curious sniff at the nozzle. It didn't smell like anything so I assumed that it must be the pheromone cologne that Enzo promised to give me the night before. I just wish that I wouldn't smell like anything disgusting once I put this on.The dream that I had was slowly fading from my memory which made me alarmingly jump off the bed. It was a good thing that I was in a separate room from Enzo and the rebels so I didn't have the difficulty packing up the few clothes that I was
Dylan wasn't kidding when he told me that he would be washing Enzo's pheromones off of me.Perhaps it was because we hadn't been intimate for quite a while that the first thing that came into my head when he pulled me into a motel room in a hurry was sex or perhaps I was just slowly becoming a pervert. But here I was in a cheap motel's surprisingly clean bathtub with an angry alpha werewolf scrubbing every inch of my body with a loofah."Just how much pheromones did that bastard give you?" he muttered in frustration, his hands never ceased for a moment from moving. I inwardly groaned in pain as he started getting a little bit rougher by the second which was probably because he was also getting even more annoyed. "I can't believe he would dare touch a woman who's obviously mated
"You've become a naughty little girl, haven’tyou?"Dylan held me by the chin and tilted my head to make me look up at him. The blush on his face and the shortness of his breath made me feel accomplished. I liked that I was the one who made him feel that way. The sweet aftertaste of his secretion in my mouth was another reminder."Would you do something about it?" I replied with a teasing smile. The confidence got the best of me so I moved to sit him down on the bed and position myself on his lap, purposely rubbing my clit against his crotch."You probably should stop playing with me like this, Isabella," he growled playfully before k
"Isabella, don't get me wrong. I'm not acting this way because of the mark," he cut me off. Then, he breathed out as if he was trying to calm himself down before continuing, "I genuinely care for you...I don't know what this is, but I need you by my side."My tears suddenly stopped flowing and I stared at him, my mouth agape and my confession stuck at the tip of my tongue. All I managed to do was stupidly choke on my tears before mumbling, "What?"Dylan seemed to get more and more anxious by the second. He ran his fingers through his hair out of nervousness as he started to subtly hop from one foot to another. "I don't know when or how. I just...""You just?" I urged him when he trailed off mid-sentence. My heart was beating dangerously fa
"This is why it's important to wear socks," Dylan said with a lighthearted chuckle as he carefully applied some soothing cream on the sores on my feet. They were blisters, he said. And apparently, it was caused by the hours of walking without socks on. "Ow," I grumbled, pulling my foot back. He held my ankle tighter and continued to apply the cream. I've never had blisters before, perhaps because I'm used to walking barefoot. When Dylan was done, he slowly slipped on a pair of black socks that he took from his backpack. They were quite big for me, but I was too grateful to point that out. "We need to start moving," he said. He seemed unaware that he was massaging my calves. "Do you think you can manage?" "I think so." We spent one more night in the motel. Dylan told me that he was planning that we stay there for a week at least, but when he looked out the window this morning, he found a few wanted posters pasted on the lampposts. So soon enough, his pack would be combing this par
"Isabella," he whispered in a low voice. "It's not that far from here. I smell corpses...a lot of them." Immediately, my body began to shake in fear and dread. I wanted to know more yet was tempted to just walk away at the same time. But I couldn't possibly shake off my gut feeling. I knew then that I wouldn't be able to leave without thinking about this. Dylan turned to me and held me by the shoulders. He looked at me, boring his eyes deep into mine. The panic in his face told me that he knew what I was thinking. "We should go. It's dangerous." "No," I shook my head. "I can't just...go."
Dylan and I hopped onto a bus that would take us outside the city. I spritzed on the last few drops of my pheromone cologne and hid my ugly swollen eyes with a hat that painfully bore a ridiculous slogan of a certain appetite suppressant candy. With my thin figure, I wouldn't be surprised if some she-wolves would stop by to ask how long it took the product to work for me. I looked stupid.But half an hour into the ride, the dumb slogan was the least of my worries."Dylan," I called out whilst anxiously grabbing the sleeve of his sweatshirt. I sat up straight in my seat to take a clearer glance at the street. Cold sweat began to run down the sides of my face. "What are we gonna do?"The road, according to the map we had, was one of the few
Then, he transformed right in front of me.I heard his bones break and his clothes rip. His golden eyes glowed brighter than ever. And the next thing I knew, from where Dylan was stood a majestic black wolf. From where I was, I saw traces of the same scars on his torso that I admired so much. If I wasn't feeling so weak and tired, I would've mindlessly and carelessly reached out an arm to touch them like I always did."Dylan..."I knew he heard me from the way his ears flinched, but he kept his eyes glued onto the military men who seemed to suddenly hesitate going after us. The crowd panicked even more, but they were now running away while circling around u
Felix watched the cherry blossom trees through the window. A book that he was supposed to read sat on his lap, but the last thing he wanted to do was study. The weather seemed too nice to spend the day doing something as exhausting as studying. If his tutor would allow him so, he would’ve run out to the grassy field outside and laid down as pink petals rain over him while he admired the clear skies. He heard the door creak open and he failed to suppress his groan. Begrudgingly, he took his book and opened it to a random page to pretend that he had been doing what he was supposed to be doing all this time. “It’s been a while.” He looked up from the page he was staring at and found Addie hovering by the doorway. She was wearing a dress and light makeup while a small smile hung on her lips. It was his first time seeing her in a couple of months, and in such garb at that! Felix let his book fall onto the floor as he jumped out of his seat to run to her. A
“So, you’re still not over that plan of yours to convince humans to cooperate with us?” Addie questioned Enzo with a raised eyebrow. She sighed and leaned against the backrest of her chair. “I thought we were going to use the high-security personnel? They don’t hire humans for that.” “You see, that security team’s strength is in numbers,” the werewolf began to explain. “They are excellent individually, of course. But their strength is amplified by much because they work as a single unit.” “And so?” “Dylan. Ash. Ethan,” he said as he raised a finger for each name before pointing a thumb at himself. “And me. We’re going to be taking them on one-by-one, as much as we can.” Felix gasped in amazement. “Wow, really?” “Yes. Then…” he leaned towards the table, pressing his palms against it for support. His red eyes glinted with mischief, just as it always did whenever he comes up with an idea he’s confi
Addie took a cautious step back into the hut. At the opposite corner of the room, she found her father sitting on the floor with his hands handcuffed behind him. She expected Felix to at least land a punch, but surprisingly, Mr. Barlowe was unscathed. She wasn’t certain whether Felix being able to overwhelm her father by his pheromones alone was frightening or impressive. The scent of familiar pheromones still lingered in the air, but it wasn’t enough to make it difficult to breathe. To her right, she saw Felix opening a window to air out the room. She then removed her helmet and goggles to properly meet his gaze. “Hey,” he said with a small smile. With a tilt of his head, he gestured towards Mr. Barlowe who was sitting silently in the corner. “If you want to talk to him, you should do so before he passes out.” That’s when Addie realized that Felix had deliberately avoided leaving any noticeable injury on her father out of consideration for her. She smiled ba
Addie realized that it became easier to breathe. Her lungs didn’t burn and the lightheadedness was gone. She took a deep breath and true enough, Felix had stopped emitting his pheromones. He was only a half-blood but his pheromones could easily overwhelm full-blooded werewolves. She shuddered to think about just how strong his father, Dylan Hayes, was. “Do you feel better now?” Felix looked up at her, his eyes back to their ordinarily dark hue. Without the golden eyes, his features were prominently Isabella’s. “Yes. Thank you.” Then, they pulled away from the hug. He thought about how nice it felt while it lasted and was guilty for thinking that his sudden pheromone outburst had at least amounted to something. Felix grabbed his goggles and helmet that were left abandoned on the dirty floor moments prior to put them back on. But just when he was about to, Addie spoke. “About earlier…” His hands froze and he felt her gaze on him, but for some re
It had only been a few months but the nostalgia hit Felix harder than he expected. It was difficult to properly look at the familiar poorly maintained streets and shanties through the dark tint of the van windows and his oversized goggles as they drove through. There were a bunch of stalls and carts set up on either side of the road, just as it always did at this time of the year. Though many were still skeptical about the whole werewolf-human coexistence propaganda, it had become a tradition to treat the presidential visit in the outskirts as some kind of a festival. Some stalls had a display of an assortment of homemade delicacies while others advertised fun games. Felix remembered running around the neighborhood as a child with a few loose change in his pocket. All the games and food made him excited so James would make him wear contact lenses despite his protests. When he grew older, they would have their own business set up on the road instead of celebrating. Ei
“It might snow today.” Felix turned to his right and found Addie. She had her head tilted up to join him in staring at the night sky. Thick, gray clouds made it impossible to see a single star. “Seems so.” “You nervous?” She craned her neck to meet his gaze. He should’ve felt embarrassed to be caught staring, but he kept the eye contact, letting himself drown into her now -familiar silvery eyes. Addie stared back, a small smile slowly making its way to her lips, “You’re nervous.” “Does it show?” “Yes,” Addie held up a hand to cup his face. Gently, she grazed his cheekbone with her thumb. “Your eyes turned yellow again.” She had her hair up into a ponytail and he wondered whether the cold wasn’t bothering her at all, so his gaze trailed down to her red ears then to her bare neck. Wordlessly, he took off his scarf and wrapped it around her. She seemed to be surprised at the gesture but grateful nonetheless. It was the scarf his mother ha
Isabella’s bullet wound had reduced into an almost-scar. There was still some noticeable redness and swelling on her skin, but she already regained full mobility on her right arm. Nonetheless, when she decided to finally get out of bed that morning, Dylan insisted on assisting her. Despite finding his concern flattering, she couldn’t help but get slightly annoyed at the exaggeration of it all. Craning her head to her left, she cocked a brow at her lover who had a strong arm snaked around her waist to support half of her body weight as she walked. “Dylan, my injury is on my shoulder. Even if my wound isn’t healed yet, I can still walk just fine on my own.” It took a few weeks for his pheromones to heal her wound as the bullet was lodged quite deeply into her flesh, almost penetrating through her back. But for a human, that was already more than impressive. “But…” he looked back at her with a frown and an adorable subtle pout. “What if you fall and hit
“You should live on without me.” Dylan’s voice echoed in her ears, drowning out the sound of the breeze blowing and the curtains flapping. Amidst her shock, she only had enough strength to slowly shake her head and say, “No. I-I don’t want to.” “Without my pheromones, the first few months would be difficult,” he smiled wider as he explained, but the bitterness in it and in his voice was still evident. “But since you’re human, your body can adjust to it slowly.” No, that’s not what I meant, she thought. Tears blurred her vision, and the painful lump in her throat didn’t allow her voice to come out. Isabella wanted to argue or move to embrace him and keep him from leaving. How can I live without you? He cupped her face and wiped away her tears with a thumb. His touch was gentle…too gentle. It felt as if he was paranoid about bruising her skin again. “After all, this bond wasn’t meant to happen in the first place.” His
The sound of the gates creaking open gave Isabella the strength to snap out of her fear and push Lucas away. She spotted a familiar figure standing by the gates through her peripheral view and she swore she felt her heart drop to her stomach right then. Slowly, she turned her head and, true enough, Dylan was right there, out of breath and shooting daggers at Lucas with his dark eyes. Lucas, confused and annoyed at the interference, followed her line of vision and found the werewolf standing a few yards away from where they sat. He sighed and stood up, returning the same menace he was giving him. “I assume your Isabella’s husband?” “D-Dylan…” Lucas briefly looked at her past his shoulder before scoffing at him. “‘Dylan’? I heard people around here call you ‘Kent’.” Dylan didn’t bother replying. He turned his gaze to Isabella, who remained frozen in fear on her blanket, and took brisk steps towards her. He noticed how her eyes darkened with his every st