"If only the little one hadn't reached out to me and called me 'daddy', maybe I still wouldn't believe it," he said softly. His gaze softened as he looked at Skai in my arms, as if his belief that he was this child's father was now unshakable.
I blinked, a feeling of awkwardness creeping over my entire body. 'Oh, damn... so that's why he believes it?
How naive.
Skai did like to babble "dda-da" to some people in the pack. That babbling didn't necessarily mean "daddy." Perhaps in Skai's eyes, Shax was just a figure he hadn't seen in a long time, nothing more.
"Besides that..." His gaze returned to me, and his face flushed red, making the hairs on my neck stand up. "When I see you, my heart... beats so crazy, my head throbs and my chest feels... ticklish."
Uhm... that's because I shot you, then kicked you in the head.
"My body also reacts strangely when it comes into contact with you. That... is something I've never experienced with anyone I've met before." His smile was thin and awkward. "I think... it's because of love. Because... you're my wife?"
Love, my ass. You're just a sick bastard trapped in sexual frustration.
I sighed. The day had just begun, but it felt like I had died and come back to life three times already. Did he really lose his memory or not?!
It's driving me crazy!
I smiled, my eyes crinkling like a rainbow. "Yes, you're right. I'm grateful that at least your body remembers who I am and... our son."
He returned my smile. So innocent, even more so than a newborn goat. My body shivered at the sight. I quickly turned away, guiding him to lie down on the bed, with his gaze full of trust in me. However, that was precisely what made my stomach twist.
I stabilized my smile, preparing myself to go somewhere with Skai.
"Are you going to be gone long?"
"Just until evening," I said sweetly. "I need to work for us. Baby, say bye to daddy," I deliberately made Skai wave his tiny hand.
Shax fell silent, no longer asking questions.
The small hidden cameras I had installed in several corners of the house would be my eyes when I was not there. I would capture his true side through the video connected to my phone.
But since I left the house, he hadn't left his room at all. He just lay there. And when evening crept in, I had no choice but to return home with a heavy heart because I still couldn't figure him out.
He was still fast asleep, so peaceful, too peaceful for someone like him. That alone made my blood boil. I woke him up, fed him, acting like a devoted wife.
When night fell, my test began again.
"Aren't we sleeping together?" he asked softly. He stood before my bedroom door, looking almost pitiful... like a wet puppy looking for shelter.
I held my breath, then responded as calmly as possible. "You still need to recover. Sleeping alone will be better for your body."
"But... we are husband and wife," he said firmly, his gaze insistent. "Shouldn't we sleep in the same bed?"
I frowned. I held back a faint smile even though my forehead was wrinkled. "I wanted to ask you this from the beginning. Didn't you say you lost your memory? How did you know that husband and wife should sleep together? And how did you so sure... that the feeling you felt when you saw me again was... love?"
He was silent for a moment. "That... I learned it from the grandpa and his wife."
Oh, wow, I couldn't deny that if he learned it from the elderly couple. They look like lovebirds even from afar.
"But, this morning you also kissed me very... good. How do you explain that? Did the elderly couple teach you that too?" Sarcasm escaped my throat.
His face turned red in an instant. He hid it behind his large hands, replying in a low voice. "It's... like I told you, my body... moves on its own. I-I swear, I'm just... really happy when I see you, and without realizing it... ugh, my body... it's..."
Is that muscle memory?
"Alright, alright, I understand. Calm down. Remember what the grandpa said, you can't get too excited or you'll collapse again."
In the end, I led him to my bed.
"Are we going to sleep... together?"
I remembered a saying that said keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. I guess it was time to put that saying into practice.
I nodded, asking him to climb onto the bed slowly so that Skai, sleeping in the crib, wouldn't wake up.
We lay side by side. His breath matched mine, and his every little movement set off an alarm in my body. I had brought my gun to bed, so everything would be fine, right?
One thing was clear: I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
"Good night, sweet dreams," I said sweetly.
"You... too," he replied.
I pretended to close my eyes, as if I had drifted off to some faraway place.
Some time had passed, but there were no signs of suspicious movement from him, except I could feel his gaze drilling into my face.
'How long are you going to watch me sleep, you freak?!'
A whisper touched my ear, "My wife... my beautiful wife."
Suddenly, his finger pressed against my lips.
'What the ffuck?!' I opened my eyes in horror.
"What... are you doing?" An annoyed voice escaped when I found his face so close, his thumb between my lips, and our breaths mingling.
His gaze was so intense, and that smile... was strange.
"I just... wanted to touch and see your face closer."
I got up from the bed, taking a long, heavy breath that made my chest rise and fall rapidly. I glanced sharply at him, cursing him from the bottom of my heart. That handsome face almost made me lose my guard.
"You can't sleep?" I asked, my voice flat despite the tension clawing at my throat.
Shax slowly got up from his reclining position, his back stiff at the edge of the mattress. "I've been sleeping all day... so..." his voice trailed off, cut off by the thick air.
I tilted my head, my eyebrows raised. "You're not awake just because you've been sleeping all day, are you?"
My eyes searched his face. "What's really on your mind?"
His broad shoulders tensed under his T-shirt. His jaw tightened, his voice soft but sharp, "What... has happened to me? Why... did I leave you and our son?"
I looked at him, but my gaze penetrated far beyond his back, into a past I couldn't touch. What explanation could I give him? The truth was too complicated, while lies were too risky.
"Wife?" he called softly. His pupils narrowed, his gaze demanding an answer, almost piercing.
In an instant, the air felt bitterly cold, spreading from the nape of my neck to my fingertips.
When his large hand reached out toward me, I flinched and turned my face away. The world around me cracked, and the room's colors slowly faded, replaced by the shadows of the long hallway in Alpha's mansion.
I... was standing there again. On the night two months ago, on the day of Luna Becca's death, I was kneeling before him.
"Shax, I mean, Beta Shax, I beg you... please re-investigate Luna Becca's death. This is all so wrong!"
SLAP!
The heat of his slap burned my cheek, piercing through time.