Felix didn't even know how things happened so fast. All he knew was that they managed to get into one of the rooms, just a few doors down where the makeshift operating room was, without taking their lips and hands off of each other. He pressed her body closer to his while Addie's fingers found their way to his dark locks. His heart thumped loudly in anticipation, and there was no doubt that she felt the same way, too.
After locking the door behind him, he quickly scanned the room they were in. The windows were in good shape—just slight cracks here and there, but they still blocked the cold wind outside— and there was no bed. In one corner, where it normally would have been, was a large leather couch with patches of multi-colored cloth.
Addie looked up at him, out of breath. "Why'd you stop?"
"I was just…" he trailed off upon noticing the almost absent look on her face, as if she was intoxicated. He placed his hands on her shoulders and bent down to meet her e
A mix of unpleasant emotions sat in the pit of Felix's stomach as soon as he positioned himself in the backseat of the van. Lance was sitting behind the steering wheel while Dylan occupied the passenger's seat, reloading a couple of pistol guns Felix wished they didn't need to use. He assumed that the bullets were silver as his father was wearing thick work gloves while handling them, which could only mean that they will be going up against werewolves yet again. An image of Chester Bennet's bloody lobby popped up in his head. The convoluting scene, accompanied by his emotions he couldn't understand, made him want to puke. Swallowing, he fought the urge to do so. "I got intel from one of my colleagues that they found our old address," Lance explained as he turned on the engine and backed out of the driveway. "They only managed to get ahold of the general area, so they're probably sweeping the whole village as we speak." "Did you get anything else?" Dylan asked
Shiny sedans were parked on either side of the road, standing out in contrast with the shabby surroundings. Further down the street, men clad in black from head to toe were seen roaming around. They seemed to have threatened the residents since nobody else was seen outside, though Felix had spotted a few curious homeowners peek out through their windows. "So, maybe I should go confront them while you two go to Isabella," Dylan began to explain while handing his gun to Lance, holding it by the barrel. He then met Felix's confused gaze and tilted his chin towards the other side of the street where Chester Bennet's men weren't able to comb just yet. "I'll be right with you in a few." It didn't seem like a good idea. Felix looked out the street once more and did a quick count in his head, the numbers almost making him puke. But then again, Dylan had already managed to defeat many of them before, albeit he was severely injured afterwards. "S-Should I…help?" His fa
"Oh!" Addie jumped in surprise. She craned her neck to look at Enzo, who was enjoying his morning coffee in one of the less ragged couches in the room and pointing an accusing finger at her. Frowning, she asked, "What?" "You reek." "Excuse me?!" Addie found it rude how someone could blatantly point something like that out. Getting self-conscious by the second, she tugged at her sweatshirt's collar and sniffed. "What the hell are you on about?! I don't smell!" Enzo looked at the water-damaged ceiling and sniffed. Shaking his head, he told her, "No, you definitely do. It wouldn't be anyone else but you." "Uhh, do you mean—" "Yep," he cut her off, popping the 'p' sound. "You should probably take one more shower." "Right, yeah," she felt her cheeks warming up as events from the night before automatically replayed in her head. The places in her body where Felix had touched burned as if reminiscing the feel of his callused hands caressing he
Addie snuck a peek at Felix who had been wordlessly sitting beside her for the past hour and a half. His eyes were starting to swell from all the crying he did earlier. The sight sent an unpleasant feeling in her chest. Without her realizing, her body moved on its own, reaching out a hand to graze her thumb against his cheek. Felix’s absent gaze snapped back into reality at the gesture. Confused, he slowly turned his head to look at her. “Uhh, why?” “Oh,” she mumbled, looking equally surprised as he was. With a pink blush creeping up to her face, she retracted her hand and chuckled awkwardly in hopes to disguise her embarrassment. “Nothing…I’m sorry.” “No, sorry that came out wrong,” he immediately held her hand and pressed his face against her palm. The warmth emanating from her skin was comfortingly familiar. “It’s alright. I was just shocked.” “Ah, I see…” They sat in comfortable silence by the door of the room where Isabella Hayes was bein
When Felix presented the idea, he didn’t expect his father and Enzo to move so quickly. About an hour after Isabella’s operation, the group was all huddled in the main living room. On the dusty coffee table in front of them was a variety of seemingly old documents, maps, and blueprints that Enzo apparently had been collecting over the past couple of decades. He couldn’t help but stare in awe at the spread. Addie, who was sitting on his right, scooted over closer to him to whisper, “What’s happening?” “Well, I told my father that I wanted to continue whatever they did in the past,” he replied in an equally low voice, tilting his head a little to meet her puzzled gaze. His cheeks warmed up immediately when the tips of their noses brushed gently against each other. “It was more like just a suggestion, though. I didn’t think they would react to what I said like this.” “I see…” she mumbled with a slight nod. Unlike Felix, she was painfully unaware about how close
Felix groaned as he walked down the hallway and massaged his shoulder. For the past few weeks, Dylan had been rigorously training him and Addie with shooting and basic combat. Doing the same routine for at least seven hours a day made him think that his muscles were bound to get used to the exercises, but his body apparently had different plans. It didn’t help either that Addie was just significantly better at him in everything, which was admittedly far from surprising given her background. So much for protecting her, huh, he thought while releasing a breath that sounded like something in between a sigh and a bitter laugh. The weather was getting colder but a thin layer of sweat clung to his skin. After fishing out a handkerchief from the back pocket of his jeans, he began reaching under his shirt to wipe away the dampness from his armpits. He couldn’t wait to get a nice shower at last, but upon seeing the door to Isabella Hayes’ room, he automatically stopp
“You seem to be in a good mood lately.” Felix craned his neck slightly to his right and found Addie staring right at him with a small smile. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with a towel, he responded, “What do you mean?” “It’s just that…” Her gaze moved towards the ground where her feet began playing with the dried leaves, making them crunch with the thick soles of her boots. “You seem livelier. Dylan Hayes looks a lot less tense with you, too.” “He’s been tense around me?” “Yep. Not anymore, though. Something happened?” Since meeting his father for the first time, he always thought that he had this aura of calm authority that didn’t seem to falter. So, he found it strange that from a third person’s perspective, the latter had apparently been acting tense around him. “I guess it was because of the talk we had a couple of days ago. I didn’t know it seemed like he wasn’t comfortable around me.” “The both of you were uncomfortable with
“Wait, what?!” Addie, who seemed to be too engrossed in studying Enzo’s notes, had apparently been listening to them all along since she asked, “Would that be plausible though? You already tried before and failed.” “That was because there was a spy, okay?!” Enzo rolled his eyes at her. “It would’ve been a really good plan if only Amelia Crawford hadn’t been able to manipulate us like that.” “Security’s going to be really tight now that the president’s aware that some werewolves are going after him,” she told him before taking one of the blueprints buried among the hundreds of sheets of papers on the table and presenting it to him. “How about this layout? When did you acquire this? If you base your plan off of data as outdated as this one, you’re going to be f*cked.” “I know, I’m still trying to figure that part out. I don’t have as many resources as I did before anymore.” “So your plan is to blindly march into the estate and wish that the huma
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