Chapter 2

Athina's P.O.V.

 I heard my alarm ringing on my phone, for the millionth time. I kept snoozing it for some time now. Dragging my hand out, I searched for the device on my bedside table without opening my eyes, preventing the sunlight from penetrating my eyes. I knew the sun was up, I could feel the light shining into my room. It was super early in the morning, though not quite, it was like 11 o'clock or something. But I love my sleep. I didn't want to get up, I sighed and dug myself into my bed again, to avoid the sunlight. I calmed my thoughts and slowly brought myself back to sleep. I was just about to get back to sleep, but all of a sudden I felt ice-cold water being poured on me. I screamed waking up drenched and freezing.

 Who else, but my crazy gameaholic brother, I am gonna kill him. He had an evil grin on his face and a bucket in his hands, facing out. But it no longer contained any water. Where did the water go, you ask? On top of me, unfortunately!

 ''Rohan, you're dead!!!'' I yelled at him. He yelped like a little girl and ran off. I got off my bed in one swift move and ran after him. May I remind you I am still soaking wet here? I ran down the stairs after him. He's laughing his head off. I would be laughing as well, but he woke me up too early from a wonderful sleep.

 ''Rohan, you know how much I treasure my sleep!!'' I yelled running after him. He laughed even harder at this. ''Duh!! That's why I did it, didi'' (Big sis), he said, sticking his tongue out. He ran into the kitchen. We circled the island for about five times. All my anger washed off, and I started playing and running after my brother like a maniac. We raced each other, laughing our heads off. Before we realised we had reached near the front door.

 I caught him and was about to announce my victory when I heard someone clearing their throat. I grimaced, it was my mother. I looked up nervously and that's when I realised. Oh my Hindu gods, we had GUESTS!!! I immediately straightened myself, Rohan following suit. I was super glad that I hadn't changed into my night-dress last night, or else it would have been really embarrassing. Actually, this was quite embarrassing too.

 The three were dressed in black Armani suits standing by the door in front of my parents? A bit overly dressed, don't you think? The door was left wide open, allowing the chilly breeze to enter. The first person and the third person seems to be some sort of bodyguards, of the person in between, he stood up with power and authority. The first guy had ash-blonde hair and grey eyes; his nose looked like it was broken a few times. The third guy had olive skin colour and hazel eyes. They both held such stoic expressions. I held the urge back to roll my eyes.

 But what really caught me off guard was how attractive the guy in the middle was. He had dark brown hair and a stubble. I shocked myself, thinking how soft his hair would be if I had let my hands through his hair and rough beard. His hair was like a wavy mess; tousled. He had light blue eyes, I could see slight annoyance in them, but he quickly masked it with an expressionless face. Something told me was a man who doesn't show expressions, for some reason that fact annoyed me. Why business men always had such a face, I never understood.

I shook my head feeling emotions and wild thoughts running through me. His eyes, however, stayed in my mind, like a picture I couldn't tear off. They were surprisingly reminded of the wolf- Zayden. But his eyes were darker, much darker;a  dark midnight, royal blue, with specks of black and silver sparkling around. This man's eyes did hold that same sparks. His shirt hung to his body, showing off his muscles that were ready to rip through any minute now. I shocked myself even more thinking of wanting to rip them off myself to run my hands over his skin! Athina! Where are these sinful thoughts coming from?! I lightly shook my head only for my eyes to land a few scars at the bottom of his neck. He looked pretty strong and tough. He was also very tall; I probably only reached until his chin. Actually no, I am not a good judge of height, probably his chest. I am very short, I hated it, but what could I do?

 I hadn't realised how long I was staring at him until he raised one of his slight bent eyebrows and looked at me up and down. Then it hit me, I was still soaking wet. I could feel the heat rising to my cheek; I bit my lip and I immediately covered my face with the curtain of my hair. My brother snickered, I gave him a death glare.

 ''I am sorry for the interruption.'' My mother said, while looking at us, and emphasised the word interruption.. I cringed under her glare and looked down at my feet, ''But please, who were you again?'' My father asked. ''It's fine,'' the guy answered after clearing his throat. Wow, he had a really husky voice, I like it. ''The name's Zayden Dimitri Anderson, and I'm here to tell you about some problems we have encountered at this part of the woods and how to overcome them." Right after he said his name, I gasped and my head immediately snapped up. If I had moved any faster, I swear I would have broken my neck.

 Zayden! That was also the silver wolf's name. It had to be a coincidence, right? Come on, Athi! Think straight. And get out of your fantasy world! Everyone's eyes turned to me, while I just stood there, soaking wet and fighting back another blush of embarrassment. My brother snickered at me getting on my nerves, I gave him another murderous glare and looked back at them.

 The Zayden guy smirked at me, heat raised in my cheeks once again full force this time, and I had this weird feeling of butterflies in my stomach. Why was I feeling this way? Why was I making me think of sinful desirable thoughts of him when I don't even know the guy?! I was never into any guy before. Sure, I thought some were cute or handsome, but never felt like this. I never once wanted to just jump on a guy before, especially at first sight!

 His deep blue pools bore into my brown ones like he was staring into my soul. I gulped, hoping he couldn't see right through me. I know I said was attracted to him, but I also knew this man was trouble, every sign told me to look away, but I was drawn into his dangerous aura like it was a magnet pulling me in. And if I were to fight it, I had a feeling it would only pull me harder. Was I going to fight this?

 ''Please, come in Mr. Anderson." My father invited him into the house. I couldn't help but frown. My father never exactly brought strangers in. Another scream of danger. I watched as the man gave my father a curt nod with an emotionless face. What's with the emotionless face? It annoyed and irritated me. For some reason, I wanted to dig deep into those eyes to find their darkest secrets, not caring about the consequences it brought.

 My mother followed them but not before she glared at us, and signalled me to go dry and change. I cringed mouthing a 'sorry, ma.'

 I sighed and looked at Rohan. He gave me a smug face. I rolled my eyes at him and went to close the front door. They could have at least shown some respect and closed the door behind them. Businessmen!

 I shouldn't say too much. My father was a businessman himself. Well, at least he was part of a business. But he never had an attitude or gave emotionless faces or had an 'I am superior than you, you better respect me' attire. He was always himself, kind and respectful, but also cunning to see the ones who only wanted the benefit themselves.

I sighed, running upstairs to change. Whoever this Zayden guy is, I wanted to find more about him. I knew it was a dangerous path to take, but there something about him that made me feel both uneasy and curious.

Yes, curiosity killed the cat. But I was going to be smart about this.

 My head trailed back to what he said, "I'm here to tell you about some problems we have encountered at this part of the woods and how to overcome them." What did he mean by that? Was he really here to advise us? If he had other plans I was fully certain my father would catch onto it.

 I shook my head and tried to push those thoughts away. I smiled, realising there are only two weeks left until Christmas. Though my family and I were Hindus, Christmas we grew to love and adore since coming to America. The festival, the lights, the holiday spirit made us truly enjoy the season as a family. 

 Since we have guests, I might as well just through a simple dress. Indian clothes, as much as I love them, they take forever to put on and make sure every inch is perfectly smoothed out. And wanted to spend as much time as possible to find out more about this man named Zayden. I should fight it, but something about those deep blue eyes dared me in.