5: Welcome to a Werewolf world

NADINE

I couldn't stop laughing.

Was I that excited about the prospect of Eden City becoming a reality that I was really dreaming about it? Because this must be a dream.

I was dreaming about Eden City and this ridiculously hot male because I'd been starved of men and the subconscious part of my brain was reminding me of what I was missing in my dream.

He was still looking at me with that piercing eyes of his that almost seemed like he was undressing my soul with his eyes and my laughter subconsciously trailed off as I straightened up.

"So... Urhmm, we're in Eden City, right?" I asked him when he obviously wasn't sharing in my humor because he wasn't smiling, just looking at me blankly.

"Yeah."

Another laughter bubbled up my throat and I had to bite my lower lip to stop the laughter from deepening.

"So, we're in a city that's not on the map, a city that doesn't even exist yet, a city that just exists in my head and on paper."

With that, a muscle ticked in his jaw, and an expression I couldn't decipher crossed his eyes.

"You know what? Lemme just go back to sleep, there's no use explaining to a hallucinated character in my dream when all these..." I pointed to the room and to him and once again, I was confronted by the bizarre fact that they all felt real and detailed to be a mere dream.

Especially him.

I had to resist the urge to give in to check him out again, "when this is all a dream, I'll just go back to sleep because the earlier I'm out of this dream, the better."

I turned back to walk to the bed but a strong hand encircled my wrist, stopping my movement and stopping my senses.

I gulped as intense sparks sapped through my entire body at the contact and I looked at where his hand was holding my wrist before daring to look at his face and an involuntary gasp left my mouth again.

There was a dark, almost feral look in his eyes, and with the way his jaws were tightly set, I could swear he was gnashing his teeth together.

What the fuck?

He dropped my hands.

"I understand that this is ridiculous and bizarre but you're not dreaming."

I'm definitely dreaming.

"This Eden City is real but it doesn't exist in your realm, it's a supernatural realm that looks like a normal forest to the human eyes."

Okay, I wasn't dreaming but I was locked up with some deranged hot guy who was sputtering rubbish because what? Supernatural realm? Human eyes?

Why was he talking as if he were an alien?

"I know you're confused so I'm just going to explain everything to you clearly so you'll understand."

I said nothing, I just kept staring at him.

"The forest that you want to develop into Eden City in your realm is actually a natural habitat for werewolves."

Werewolves? He was definitely crazy.

"I know it's unbelievable but it's real, you're in a werewolf realm, I had to kidnap you to bring you here because once you start that development, our world will disappear, I'll cease to disappear, and all those people you see outside..." he pointed outside the window and I followed his gaze to see people on the streets, cars driving around and just people existing and the world going on.

"They'll all disappear, they don't deserve to have their lives upended just because humans want to create a city."

He stopped talking and I just stared at him.

He stared back.

"Where are the cameras?" I finally asked, looking around for cameras and expecting people to burst out of their hiding places with their phones because yeah, this was a sick and elaborate joke and I'll always be in awe of whoever was creative enough to think of this.

"It's not a joke, Nadine, it's real."

"Of course, it's not real, can you listen to yourself? Werewolves? Supernatural realm? This is not some teen wolf or vampire diaries shit, that ridiculous thing is not possible in real life."

"Nadine..."

"So what? You want me to believe that you're a shape-shifter, that you have paws and claws and long teeth, and that you're an animal," laughter bubbled out of my mouth at the ridiculousness of everything.

And the more I said it out loud, the more absolutely ridiculous it becomes.

"You know what? I'm done with this shit, I'm going to carry my bag and leave this room and you'll let me go, okay?"

I was going to leave to figure out if I was going crazy or if this was an elaborate dream or a prank or something.

I moved towards the bed and this time, he did not attempt to stop me. He just kept observing me with the calm interest of a scholar observing his topic or specimen as I fetched my bag from the bed and I started to walk to the door.

I passed in front of the floor-to-bottom window and a movement that made me stop and made my throat jump into my mouth caught my eyes and I stopped before daring to turn to the window fully.

I gulped, my bag dropping to the floor at the sight in front of me.

It was right there in the street, a group of men turning into animals.

Into werewolves.

I gasped loudly at the same time I heard a loud curse behind me as the curtains fell closed and I felt his presence behind me.

I turned back to look at him slowly, dread pooling at the bottom of my stomach and he was standing right behind him, a look of unmistakable anger in his face and his eyes...

His eyes that have been brown or black all this while were now red, deep, fiery red. I moved back, my body pressing against the window as my eyes dropped to his hands and I could see that his fingers were now long, longer than normal with sharpened edges that looked like claws.

Claws. Werewolves.

He followed my eyes and he cursed again before his fingers went back to normal right in front of my eyes and his eyes changed back to black-brown.

My legs gave way beneath me and everything turned black as I collapsed into what seemed to be waiting hands.