Chapter 0003

Elodie's POV

My head had only ever felt like this once before; my twenty-first birthday. And even now, it was personified. Lifting my fingers in a survey of a source that was beyond that of alcohol intolerance, I found nothing to contribute to the pounding. Instead, my frustrated fingers fell to my sides and onto sheets that weren't mine. They were too stiff. Too cold. And belonging to someone who smelled strongly of evergreen and mint, a specific scent I knew once before-

The alleyway. Where smoke and shadows joined together on what had been the most heart-pounding moment of my life. I could still feel the ache of my calves as I climbed the decrepit ladder, feeling it shake beneath me as I gained just enough of a lead to make it up without it costing me my life. Along with this memory came the following of his silhouette as I was taken with bound hands and weak legs to the cement below once more.

My throat was raw and my eyes were wide as I saw him approach. His voice was unmistakable in a mercy he ended up depriving them of as my eyes came to a favorable close. However, my sense of hearing and touch remained. The expensive fabric of his shirt against my cheek as he lifted me into his arms and the sound of guttural final breaths became that final memory until darkness captured me completely. But through it all, I was more afraid of facing him now. Knowing what he was capable of without knowing anything more than his name and a rather brutal reputation.

I slipped carefully from the sheets and to the slate-colored stone beneath my feet, hissing at the chill it sent directly through each and every vein. Deciding forward still, I crept inch by inch until I came to the hallway where I was met with a narrow light from the end of its length. Theorizing this was where he would be, I turned opposite and began to search for a way out. When I made it to the very end, I could feel him closing in on me. Nearly swallowing me as I reached for the handle of the door.

"How do you feel?" He questioned as if I was supposed to greet him with a favorable response. Then again, I wasn't exactly up to date on the etiquette of greeting a savior who also happened to be a homicidal beast. My fingers remained wrapped on the handle of the French doors before gripping them even tighter.

"I can nearly hear your stomach from here, you should eat something." He pushed past me, illuminating the scene before me as a minimally decorated space crossed somewhere between an upscale cabin and a lakeside house. Where I half expected there to be robots cleaning in place of a maid or an intercom system with enough hired help to keep him from lifting a finger, the place seemed rather modest. It was still not enough to forget the version of him from the night before. I was forced to keep ahead if I wanted to leave all the same, and so I followed only a step or two behind him before keeping the front door in sight.

One lock.

Two locks.

Five locks-

Too many to break open without him noticing and at too far a distance to do so before I had a chance to succeed. I had to find a different way.

"Take these for your head." He motioned to two tablets beside a place setting I had no interest in entertaining. Instead, I was hungry for answers.

"What happened?" The words came out quick and short, almost as if I was already angry. He sensed it but simply wrapped a grip around the back of one of the chairs, absent any evidence on his hands from the night before. The same hands I felt guide away a piece of hair before he pulled me into him.

"After the interview you mean?" My eyes narrowed at the memory of the entitled interaction that still left a bitter taste on my tongue.

"You got lost on your way home, I think, and I happened to find you." He reached forward to offer me a seat but by instinct at the memory of what those hands were capable of, I nearly tripped backward.

"It's getting cold." I noticed at this same moment that a small buffet was laid out on the lengthy counter. My mouth watered but I remained steadfast and stubborn. For all I knew he could have dosed those cheesy scrambled eggs or laced the coffee that had my bottom lip tempting to bite between my teeth to stop a coming moan. As if he sensed this, he lifted a bite to his mouth, a pair of full lips too dangerous to be beneath equally enchanting eyes, before smirking when noticing he held my attention. Turning away quickly, I tried to hide a blush that only seemed to worsen his grin.

"Is there something you want to ask-" I interrupted him before he had a chance to continue.

"I saw you last night. I saw what you did..." His muscles seemed to relax to this accusation and all this did was leave me with further uneasiness.

"What I did?"

"What you are." I swallowed hard. For a second he stood taller, fixing himself to respond, before nodding for me to elaborate.

"And what would that be exactly?" His head cocked to the side to call my bluff. Suddenly the words seemed too silly to say aloud. Still, they began to formulate before I could stop them.

"A...werewolf?" I asked more than stated, hoping my corrected expression would make up for my lack of certainty.

The most unexpected of reactions came from him, however, in the form of a repressed chuckle finally released. He nearly fell over the chair and into the blueberry pancakes before rising back up with a hand to his chest.

"Well, Miss Carson, thank you for the laugh..." He turned back to the food, pulling a croissant to his lips. He returned his focus to me but only to add to what he found to be a humorous moment. "I know I could probably use a shave but-"

"I saw what you did to those guys after they tied my hands and threatened me." I looked down at my wrists, expecting to find the marks left behind by raw rope. Instead, they were untouched and maybe even a shade or two paler than the night before.

"I-"

"You hit your head pretty hard last night. I found you in the alleyway and brought you back here so you could rest."

"Not a hospital?" I inquired.

"I'll take you now if you want. I'd feel better to know you are okay since your memory seems to be a bit...questionable." I scoffed.

"I know what I saw...what I heard...what I felt..."

"It took you a while to wake up so maybe you watched something about," He failed to repress a chuckle, "werewolves, before getting hurt. Maybe it was embedded in your subconscious."

I took another step forward.

"I know what happened to me. I can taste the smoke and smell the sweat on them." I cringed at the memory. "Their voices..the...I remember the feel of you...I know you were there and what you...what you became...I-"

"Then what did the men look like?" I could have described them in detail a few hours ago, but now, nothing about them was cemented in my mind. It was as if pieces of the night began to fade away with each passing second. As if his presence alone erased it.

"Why aren't there rope burns on your wrists?" I looked back down to my skin in hopes it would provide some silent answer. Instead, my porcelain skin only reflected an unanswered enigma back at me.

"Why didn't your pleas draw attention?" Again, I could only think without offering a response.

"And why didn't I do anything vile when I had you here by myself?" It was only with this question that I realized he'd blocked me between his arms. Muscles that reminded me I was at a loss if I attempted to use any force against him meant I was trapped between his mercy and his boredom.

All emotion drained from his face that giving an illusion that he could be both predatory and a source of salvation. It left me silent, despite the coming respite that never quite reached past my tongue.

"Because nothing happened." He answered for us both before pushing away from me and renewing his attention to breakfast.

"I am not crazy! I know something happened to me! I can remember too much for it to be anything but true!"

"And yet it isn't. Now eat. It's getting cold and I have better things to do this morning than deal with a tantrum." He began to carry on with a routine, acting as if I wasn't present. At the same moment, I caught the sight of his keys on the table, deciding to go for them as I couldn't walk back through the woods without an inkling of which direction brought me back to the city. For all I knew I could end up in Canada by walking with my mindlessness again.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going back there. There will be something left and then I'll prove it!" Just before I snatched the keys, he took them from the kiss made by the pads of my fingers.

"Not a chance."

"If you take me, I'll stop talking about it."

"Is that all it takes?" I narrowed my eyes as sharp as they could be while still keeping vision of him.

"I have a busy schedule and unless you've somehow been able to gain employment while unconscious I'm sure you needed some way to make your rent by the end of the month so as entertaining as this has been..."

"Either you take me or I walk on my own...I'm going back with or without you...And to be clear, if it is without you, I will pester you at work until you decide to let me prove you wrong." I offered a winning smile that made his jaw tense.

"Christ's sake..." He forfeited his stance before jerking his head to the door, but for it, I held my palm upwards.

"I knew you were immature but do you expect a high five for getting me to agree to something that is wasting both of our time?"

"I'm driving."

"Like hell."

"Like I'd trust you..."

"You have so far. Slept in my sheets. Questioned me without trying to run. Angered me without a care if it would push me over an edge."

"My roommate's dad is a federal agent. If I don't return home she will send everyone out looking for me, the last place I was having been your job. If there are any secrets you're hiding, they'll find them. Maybe starting with why you needed a new assistant to begin with." My threats were a complete bluff. Something he seemed to buy as he hung the keys off of his middle finger to hold. But as I reached, he made his hand into a fist to hold me in place.

"If I have to spend my morning explaining how my car got totaled..."

"You should work on your fragile ego, it can't be good for business." I tore the keys, and my hand, away before moving to the door. The fresh rays of sunlight were met for only a second before a searing burn took my breath away. My equilibrium was tested and weakened as his brawn collected me back into the house as he bolted the door closed. As the final lock was initiated, I slid down to the floor until the wood connected with my butt. It was only when he joined me that I noticed an arrow protruding from my shoulder.