Marcus POV
Adrian was talking to one of the uniformed officers,his pale blue eyes scanning the crime scene with professional interest. When his gaze found mine across the square, I could feel something pass between us and stirred within me.
"That's Interesting." Wood said his silver prosthetic whirred softly as he moved his mechanical fingers. "Mr Kane seems to have developed an interest in our investigation."he said to himself.
"You know him?" I asked genuinely surprised
"We have history," Wood said in a deep baritone voice that could have frozen fire. "Ancient history actually that I thought was settled decades ago " he said with a frown.
Great...just great, I went from being a cop to this...In one night, I had received two invitations; one from Adrian who was mysterious and dangerous, but was offering answers about what was happening to my body, the other from Wood who was official and organised but was promising to turn me into a weapon against people like Ray.
The sun was setting, casting long shadows across Pioneer Square. My body was starting to ache with changes I didn't quite understand and I was caught between two men who claimed to understand what was happening to me.
I looked at both cards, let out a deep sigh and for the first time since Ray had bitten me,I knew exactly what I was fighting for.
Adrian POV
I watched as Marcus climbed the stairs ahead of me, his eyes looking at his body for the subtle changes that may have accelerated since the warehouse attack. There was something different about him,but I couldn't place it yet.
And that made my wolf pace restlessly beneath my carefully controlled composure.
"Your loft is impressive," Marcus said as we entered the converted warehouse space. I watched as his green eyes looked around the exposed brick walls and floor-to-ceiling windows with professional assessment, but I caught the way his gaze lingered on the expensive furnishings, the art that spoke of centuries of acquisition.
"It serves its purpose." I replied walking to the bar, needing the distance to think clearly. Marcus's presence filled the space in ways that had nothing to do with his physical size, and everything to do with the way his scent triggered responses I hadn't felt in decades.
After three centuries,I should have mastered this control,I thought to myself.
But it was clear that I didn't. Heck I can't even control my feelings right now.lll
"Tell me about the dreams," I said, pouring myself a whiskey as I tried to change the topic. My enhanced hearing caught the quick spike in Marcus's heart rate. I watched him rub his palm together before wiping the trail of sweat on his forehead.
"What... dreams?"I watched as he struggled with his words.
"The ones that leave you restless, and makes you crave things you've never wanted before." I said as I turned, whiskey untouched in my hand. "The ones where you run on four legs through forests that feel more like home than any place you've ever lived."I added them stopped to watch his reaction.
Marcus went very still. Even from across the room, I could smell his fear and anxiety, his surprise giving way to something that might have been relief.
"Erm...How do you know about that?"He asked after clearing his throat.
"Because I've been where you are now." I replied as I set down my glass and moved closer, drawn by an instinct that had nothing to do with his mission and everything to do with the fact that there was something brooding between us.
He jumped whenever our fingers had brushed over crime scene files. "The dreams are your wolf consciousness emerging, Marcus. It's learning to coexist with your human mind." I replied after a long silence.
"What do you mean by my wolf consciousness?"
"That's the part of you that Ray awakened." I stopped just close enough to catch the heat radiating from his skin, to see the way his pupils grew bigger despite the bright loft lighting. "That's the part that recognizes what I am even when your detective brain refuses to process it."I added swirling the whiskey.
I watched as marcus's green eyes grew brighter now, more intense than the first time we met in the hospital. I watched as they searched my face with an intensity that made something low in my stomach tighten with want.
"What are you, exactly?"he whispered.
Ahh,there it is, the famous question every new wolf asks. But I hesitated to answer this one, because answering meant revealing not just my true nature, but the careful web of observation and planning that had brought us to this moment.
"The same thing you're becoming," I said carefully. "Though I've had considerably more time to adapt."
"How much time?"he asked looking straight into my eyes.
"Long enough to recognize potential when I see it." I said as I stepped closer, close enough that Marcus would be able to smell the truth on me if he knew what to look for. "Long enough to understand that some transformations are worth protecting."I added.
I could feel the change in his body language while I tried to figure what it meant. Was it curiosity or desire or both? I asked myself. I was sure there was a connection between us. There was this pull that had been building between us across crime scenes and case files, growing stronger each time we'd shared the same space.
"Protecting from what?"he asked after a while
"Well for starters protecting you from people like Kane Wood, from hunters who see supernatural creatures as specimens rather than individuals." I said as I let my fingers brush Marcus's wrist as I gestured, and felt the detective's pulse rise beneath my touch. "From ending up like Ray, broken, alone, insane with guilt and isolation." I added,my eyes never leaving his.
"What happened to Ray?"he asked
"He was someone who couldn't handle what he'd become." The lie came easier than the truth, that Ray had been my responsibility, my failure, my greatest regret. "Someone who sees turning others as salvation rather than curse."I added.
Marcus was watching me with those sharp green eyes, and I realized the detective's enhanced senses were beginning to pick up emotions, subtle changes in scent and body language.
"You knew him before right."
I knew that wasn't a question. It was more of an observation made with newly heightened awareness.
"Well our kind tend to know each other, Marcus, I said. Survival depends on recognizing potential allies and threats." I added as I moved to the windows, needing distance from the way Marcus's presence made my carefully maintained desire feel fragile. "Ray became a threat the moment he decided murder was mercy."
"But you could have stopped him."he shot back.
"You really think so?" I asked before I turned back, letting Marcus see the layers of regret I usually keep buried. "Should I have killed him the moment his sanity started fracturing? Eliminated a pack member because he might become dangerous?"I asked without realizing that I was squeezing the glass cup so hard,a crack formed.
There was untold silence afterwards, the questions hung between us, heavy with implications I wasn't ready to face. Because tellling the truth was more complicated,I couldn't bring myself to tell him that I'd loved Ray once, I also tried to save him when he went nuts, but I was forced to choose the greater good over personal loyalty.
That's the same choice I might have to make with Marcus, if the detective proved too stubborn and incorporative.
Except with Marcus everything was different. He was much stronger, more grounded in his human identity. And the way he looked at me...boy the way he looked at me with suspicion and curiosity and an attraction that grew more obvious with each passing moment, suggested emotions I hadn't allowed myself to consider in decades.
"Your transformation is progressing faster than usual," I said, watching the way Marcus's eyes tracked my movement, the unconscious way the detective's body moved toward me like a magnet. "Most people usually take weeks to develop the sensory enhancement you're showing."I said
"Is that a good thing or a bad one?"he asked l,his eyes still focused on mine.
"Well, It's... interesting." I said moving closer again, I was drawn by instincts that clouded my mission, my careful plans, my three centuries of disciplined survival. "It suggests your wolf nature is particularly strong and also compatible with your human consciousness."
He looked at me with bewildered eyes. "Compatible how?"he asked
"Your sense of justice, your protective instincts, your loyalty, they all align with pack dynamics in ways that could make you remarkably stable." I was close enough now to see gold flecks beginning to appear in Marcus's green eyes. "Or remarkably dangerous, depending on how you choose to use those instincts."I added while reading his eyes.
Something hit me and filled my nose. I could perceive this particular blend of arousal and uncertainty that made my wolf want to step closer, to corner the detective against the exposed brick wall, and to explore the attraction that had been building between us for weeks.
Instead, I forced myself to maintain professional distance even as my body responded to his closeness with an intensity that threatened to expose my raw desires.
"The dreams you've been having," I swallowed before I continued, my voice rougher than intended. "The voice you hear calling your name,do you recognize it?"
I watched him freeze at the spot. "Should I be able to recognize the voice?"he asked after regaining himself.
"Your wolf consciousness is learning to recognize pack bonds, and potential mates." I let the words hang between us, watching Marcus's pupils dilate further. "The voice belongs to someone your wolf has already chosen, even if your human mind hasn't consciously acknowledged it yet."I added hoping he would realize that the voice belonged to me.
"What is it choosing?"he asked, and I was already weary of his questions.
I took a deep breath before I exhaled trying to control the anger that was stirring inside me.
"That's the dynamics of a mate bond pal" I said quietly. "The mate bond is for loyalty, for connections that are higher than any species boundaries."
Even with my back turned,I could feel marcus looking at me with an intensity that made me feel bare before him, I couldn't help but notice the way the detective's breathing had changed, the slight flush across his cheekbones, the unconscious way he'd moved closer despite the dangerous territory of our conversation.
"Adrian." He called out, his voice carried a roughness that made me realize that his own carefully maintained desire was slipping. "What aren't you telling me?"