I let out a breath. I want to, just to rub it in his face. I want nothing more than to be like, fuck it, I will tell you. But I can’t. Even as I open the mouth, nothing comes out and it’s absolutely infuriating that my body is so traitorous.
“That’s what I thought,” he says smugly.
“I fucking hate you,” I say as he steps closer to me.
His smirk only deepened. “You fucking love me.”
He drops his shirt to the floor just before his arms wrap around me once again. His hands find my zipper and before I know what’s happening he peels it off like it’s a second skin I’m shedding. It pools to the floor so I’m in nothing but my underwear which Rex then begins to rip off into pieces.
“Hey!” I exclaim in a low voice.
“I’ll buy you new ones.”
When I’m standing completely naked in front of him, he takes a step back and stares at me. His eyes travel up and down, all over my body. I shift my weight, suddenly uncomfortable with his gaze. It’s like I don’t want him to see me.
“It’s crazy,” he says, his voice actually normal instead of growly, “I forgot how beautiful you are.”
My stomach heats. My cheeks flush. I’m not sure how to respond to that so I don’t. Instead, I clear my throat.
“You’re mine.” The two words come out without hesitation, and judging by his eyes, I can tell just how serious he is.
“I don’t belong to anyone,” I remind him, though I know my words fall on deaf ears. Rex always heard what he wanted and ignored what he didn’t want. It’s one of the reasons why we broke up.
I definitely shouldn’t be here with him. At all.
But I can’t help it.
He lunges for me before I have time to get a hold on myself and we crash to the bed, limbs tangled, body heat mixing, tongues clashing like we’re fighting some kind of a duel. I can’t stop touching him, I can’t stop the noises of pleasure from leaving me as he touches me in all the right places. It’s been a while since we’ve been together but it’s like he hasn’t forgotten.
In my haze, I don’t remember how Rex gets naked. It could have been me. It could have been him. Frankly, I don’t care.
When he thrusts inside of me, I see stars. I scratch his back, running my nails along his skin.
He roars.
He takes me, claims me, and when I climax, it’s his name on my lips even though he’s who I’ve been trying to forget ever since I walked away from him.
Chapter Three
I wake up to stillness and contentment. My pelvis is sore but I barely notice. Every nerve of my body hums with satisfaction. This isn’t the first time Rex has made me feel this way and a small part of me hopes it’s not the last.
Which is crazy.
There’s a reason we broke up. We couldn’t get along. Great sex is not a bandaid for other problems, although maybe it could be. Maybe we could figure something out…
But no.
My heart squeezes painfully and I turn to curl up on my side so my back faces Rex. As much as I don’t regret the sex, I do regret getting tangled up in him again. I do have feelings for the guy, even if he does drive me crazy. He’s rough around the edges, sure, but he was always gentle with me.
I close my eyes. He breathes steady, like he’s truly relaxed. The sound soothes me and I nearly drift off to sleep… up until he shifts in his sleep and he curls an arm around my waist, bringing me closer to him.
I freeze.
I’m not sure why my body tenses up. Maybe it’s because I don’t expect such intimacy from him, but regardless, I wish it doesn’t. I want to be comforted by him. I want to drift off with him, especially because I know this isn’t going to last.
“Why are you tense?” His voice comes out low and tired. His lips press against my bare back, causing a shiver to slide down my spine. My pelvis pulses with anticipation even though I’m too exhausted to think about doing anything other than turn around to face him.
“I-I don’t know,” I admit. I shift, curling the blankets around my body, suddenly shy.
“Look at me.” His voice is soft and gentle, a whisper. Rarely did I ever hear him use such a soft voice, but I realize I liked it. I realize I want him to talk to me more like this because it makes me feel special to him.
I turn over, though it takes a decent amount of effort on my part, and look at him. For a moment, he does nothing but stare back. His eyes search my face though I’m not sure why. There’s a slight wrinkle between his brows that tells me there’s something he wants to tell me. I’m just not sure what that is.
“What is it?” I finally ask. There used to be a time when I could read his face like the back of my hand. I think that’s still there, but I haven’t gone out of my way to try looking into it. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s something I need to tell you,” he says.
I want to roll my eyes. Of course, there is. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have told me to look at him in the first place.
“Okay,” I say. I clear my throat and shift again. “What is it? Are you okay?”
He looks down. “Look,” he says, running his fingers through his thick locks of hair. “I don’t know how to tell you this so I’m just going to come out and say it, okay? You can choose to do what you want with the information, but I think it’s important that I tell you.”
My stomach twists. What does he want to tell me? It bothers me is that something, clearly, is wrong with him in terms of keeping something from me, but it’s hard for me to see what he actually wants to say. Is he doing this on purpose by dragging it out? Or is there more going on? And if it’s the latter, should I be worried?
“Rex, stop messing around and just tell me,” I say. “I don’t want to play guessing games.”
He nods once, like he can appreciate my concern. “I’m not who you think I am, Andrea,” he says. “There’s something about me I haven’t told you, and I feel it’s only fair to remedy that.”
“Okay,” I say. I take my hands and rest them on my stomach, lacing them together. I try to keep my patience in line, but the fact that he’s dragging this out and making it more than it needs to be is difficult to deal with.
“I’m a supe.”
I pause, letting his words sink in. “A… what?”
“A supe,” he repeats, like that’s supposed to help my confusion. “A supernatural creature. Someone with superhuman abilities. Do I need to continue?”
My nostrils flare. I don’t appreciate his smartass comment.
“You’re a supe.” I don’t bother to fix my voice. It’s flat and I feel that’s a fair tone to have after what Rex has told me. What am I supposed to do with that information?
“Yeah.”
I furrow my brow. “What does that even mean?” I ask. “You’re a supernatural creature? Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?”
“The last thing I would do is joke about something like this,” he tells me. His golden eyes glow even in the dark and I can tell he’s telling the truth.
My mouth goes dry and I sit up abruptly, leaning against the headboard of the bed. I bring my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them, making sure to cover my breasts.
“This isn’t funny,” I say.
“No,” he agrees. “It’s not.” A pause. “Andrea, there’s more.”
“More?” I crane my neck so I can look at him. “What more can there be, Rex? You’re some kind of creature.”
“A shifter,” he corrects. It amazes me how calm he is, how gentle his voice is. It’s uncharacteristic of him to be this way, but I find that I appreciate it. “I’m an Alpha of my pack.”
I close my eyes and rest my forehead on my knees.
“You said there’s more?” I ask, my voice muffled by the sheets.
“Yes.” Another pause. “You and I are fated mates.”
I start laughing. I can’t help it. Rex believes in fated mates?
I need to get out of here. This is
too much.
I slide out of the covers and throw on my clothes. I hear him shift on the bed.
“Where are you going?” he demands to know.
“What do you expect?” I ask. “First, you tell me you’re a shifter. Then, you tell me I’m fated to your mate. Don’t you think that entitles me to some time to take it all in?”
I slide on my heels and leave before he can answer. Quite frankly, I don’t care if he agrees or not. But I need space. I need time to digest this information – if I can.
Chapter Four
The second I get home, I slam the door. I’m not in the mood to deal with Rex or any of his bullshit. This whole fated mates thing is ridiculous and I refuse to be a part of it.
I close my eyes. Tears accumulate under the lids, but I do my best to blink them away. I don’t want to start crying, especially not over Rex, especially when I knew I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up in the first place. Me and Rex were bad together. And now that I know what he really is…
You still love him, a voice points out. That’s why you’re so upset. Because you still love him.
“Fuck off,” I tell myself, my voice coming out pathetic and wobbly.
I push off the door, wiping at my cheek, hoping this isn’t the start of me being an absolute baby. Fated mates don’t exist. I can pretend for the sake of Rex that he believes it’s true but deep down, I know fated mates is bullshit. Hell, supernatural entities should be bullshit but clearly they weren’t.
I close my eyes again, dropping in my couch. The fact that I can’t unsee Rex shifting into a wolf haunts me.
My couch is much more comfortable than I remember. My bones seem to melt into a pile of liquid and I don’t think I can get up if I try. Was this whole town filled with supernatural beings and I just didn’t know? How could it be possible that they would let a nonmagical entity like myself just live here? It’s not like I have a magical bone in my body. If I did, I would have used that to my advantage much sooner than now, for sure.
A noise outside causes my eyes to snap open. My entire body freezes. I pause, waiting. There’s something sinister about the noise, which boggles my mind because a noise should not be sinister. But that doesn’t stop the hairs on my body from standing up, like they’re preparing me for something. I just don’t know what.
I slowly stand up, glancing at my front door. It’s locked, something I’m grateful for. My mother always ingrained locking the door every time I got home from a young age so I do it now without even thinking about it. Still, I don’t feel settled by this.
I look over at my window in the living room, behind the small sofa I picked out at a garage sale. The blinds are closed. No one can see me, but I can’t see them. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not.
Well, what are you going to do, then?
Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know if I should sit down and turn on the television as a way to distract me or if I should pop the blinds open and look outside. There’s a chance I’m just freaking myself out because of this whole supernatural thing as well.
I stand slowly, the couch pressing against the back of my legs. I’m not one of those girls who’s going to go outside and check on the noise. I’m not a dumbass. But at the same time, I also don’t want to just stand there and wait for this person or creature or whatever the hell it is to come after me.
I sneak into my kitchen, looking for a frying pan or something to use. I don’t have a bat, though maybe I should get one. My fingers tingle and I can’t explain why.
I rub my lips together, dropping to my knees to open a cabinet and, at the same time, hide myself from view. My kitchen windows are drawn as well, but I don’t want to give them a target.
Just as my hands curl around the handle of a pan, my kitchen door bursts open. I scream. I don’t even know how that’s possible because I know, for a fact, that I locked the kitchen door.
Two men – although they could have been woman, I don’t know – walk in, dressed in black. They wear masks covering their face, and it’s creepy because the masks remind me of an old time doll from all the horror movies with the pale white face and the sickly smile.
They say nothing, but turn to where I am, on my butt and pushing backwards. A pan has fallen out of the cabinet. I lean forward to grab it – it’s the only weapon I’ll have to defend myself with – when one of the men kick it away.
“You’re coming with us,” he growls.
The voice is unfamiliar and my heart skips. Why are they here? What do they want with me?
“Why?” I ask.
One reaches for me. I try to grab the frying pan but it’s just out of my reach. I curse. Of course it is.
The man grabs my arm. With my other one, I lift my hand. Before I realize what’s happening, white light shoots from my hand and forces the two men across my kitchen. Their bodies hit the wall and crumple into a heap on the floor.
“What the hell?”
I look down at my hands. Where had that come from?
Chapter Five
The only person I can talk to about what happened is my grandmother. I’m not positive she’ll be able to tell me what’s going on, but if anyone knows anything, it’s her.
I don’t leave my house until morning. On the one hand, I don’t think my grandma would even be awake at that point, and on the other, I don’t trust whoever did this not to try and do it again. I don’t know if they’re watching me. I don’t know if they’re going to try and attack me again. What I do know is that I don’t know much of anything going on so best to stay in my house with everything locked until it’s bright outside.
Of course, I don’t actually sleep well. I toss and turn and dream of being attacked. I dream of light shooting out of my fingers and Rex turning into a wolf. It’s hard for me to concentrate on anything else.
By the time, it’s morning, I roll out of bed and force myself to step into a shower. I’m ready to wash the events from the previous night off, which I do. When I finish, I throw on comfortable clothing. My feet still hurt from the heels I wore last night, so I gingerly slide on flip flops. Instead of blowing my hair dry, I throw it into a bun.
I stifle a yawn, grab my keys, and head across town to my grandmother’s house. It’s located on the outskirts of the woods. Honestly, at night, it’s kind of a creepy place but in the day, with the birds singing, it’s peaceful.
I step out of my car and head to her door. Her roses are overgrown and come on the path up to her house. I’m careful to step around them. She likes her roses like people like pets and I don’t want to be responsible for any damage to them.
I knock on the door and she answers not a moment later. Her pinkish hair is turning grey, which means she’s probably trying to figure out what crazy color she’s going to dye it this weekend. Her blue eyes fix on me and she grins.
“I knew you’d come,” she says in an ominous voice.
I roll my eyes. “Oh, yeah?” I ask as she steps aside, inviting me in. “How’s that?”
“Your powers were bound to manifest at some point,” she says. “Judging that you have your fathers genes, I assumed correctly you’d fall behind the usual manifesting powers timeline.”
“Wait.” I close my eyes once I step into the foyer, trying to understand. “You knew I have powers?” The word feels weird even as I say it, like some kind of prank I don’t know how to react to.
“Of course I knew you had powers,” she says, rolling her eyes at the thought. “Where do you think you get them from? You could have been an amazing witch, my friend, but then your mother had to run off and marry your father, ensuring your genes would be forever tainted by that.”
“Hey,” I say, giving her a levelled look. Clearly, my grandmother is no fan of my father, which I understand.
“Want a snack?” she asks as we make our way to her small dining room. There’s a light blue vase that holds a bundle of wildflowers and it smells vaguely of sage.
“I’m okay,” I tell her. “I’m more
concerned about these powers.”
“How did they manifest?” she asks, going to her pantry and pulling out some chips.
“To be honest, I don’t know.” I drop into a seat and find an old sugar packet blending in with the tablecloth. I began to twist it in my fingers. “I was attacked last night, and just when they were about to grab me, I reached out and powers came from my fingers.”
Grandma nods, popping a chip into her mouth, completely unperturbed by my story.
“Why doesn’t this surprise you?” I ask. I spread my arms out, keeping my hands on the table. “I could have been kidnapped. I could have died.”
“Eh.” She waves a dismissive hand. “You’d have been fine. Your powers are meant to protect you and it sounds like they did their job.”
I blink. “So, they’ve been inside of me since I was born?” I ask.
“Before then, if you want to get technical.” She chews on another chip. “Your mother got her magic from me, I got my magic from my mother. You come from a long line of witches, Andrea. Powerful witches. Do not take that for granted, my darling.”
I look at my hands, dropping the packet of sugar in the process. “It just feels strange,” I point out. “Why didn’t anyone tell me before now.”
“Your mother never got the chance,” my grandmother says, her voice turning softer. I glance over at her only to see her eyes are glassy, but tears don’t fall at the mention of her lost child. She clears her throat. “Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. What matters is you have powers. And now we need to do something about those powers. You said they came when you were attacked?”
I nod.
“Then we need to figure out who’s trying to attack you or take you,” she says. “We have many enemies, Andrea. I had hoped to keep you in the dark for as long as possible, but your magic had other ideas. I need to see who would want to harm us. Until then, go home. Be safe. And trust your powers. They will protect you.”
Chapter Six
When I get back from my grandmother’s place, the last person I expect to find at my door is Rex. And judging by his furrowed brow and his lips thinned from pressing them so hard together, he doesn’t look entirely happy about being here.
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