"She is not your neighbour".
I turned my head as much as his grip would allow, trying to look at him from the corner of my eye. "What are you talking about? She lives next—"
"She doesn't live here." He snapped "She came from outside the building. I watched her follow you in from the street. Would you open the door for any random person?."
My brain lagged for a moment at his harsh tone. His point was valid but in defence, I was too panicked to notice anything.
And why was he the one angry? If anyone had the right to be furious here, it was me.
" I don't…do that …my hand curled into a fist.
"Let go of my wrists,"
A beat.
Then his hands released.
I stepped away from the wall and turned around and put as much distance between us as the small apartment allowed, which was not very much. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at him properly for the first time since he had appeared in that doorway.
He looked exactly the same. If one could bypass the stumble that has grown on his chin overtime. He was still devastatingly handsome.
And that was somehow the most annoying thing. Weeks had passed. Weeks of me building this life to forget anything relating to him and yet, one look into his eyes brought back memories I'd rather keep locked at the back of my mind.
I cleared my throat, inching more away from him " What do you want from me?".
Those golden rimned eyes of his stared at mine from across the room and I felt a crazy urge to close the distance between us. But I dropped on Clara's bed instead, hoping that would stop my legs from moving against my wish. " What do you want?".
His eyebrows quirked like he was really thinking about it before…" You".
My heart skipped…three beats and for a moment I forgot to breath. But then…
" I want you to come back with me".
I was on my feet immediately "Absolutely not"
"Did it sound like a question?". His voice cuts through my panic. It was calm but had tge effect of cold water being dumped on my head " Because I wasn't asking".
"Y-you will not". My voice trembled, despite how strong I want it to be. The thought of going back with this man and subjecting myself to a pack life again was brain wrecking " You cannot barge into my life and demand of me what to do". " You don't even known me".
We may have shared a night. Hell, we may have created a little one together but he does not know anything about me.
" Lets see…Lyra Ashcroft from Silvermoon pack. Groomed to become Luna from a young age but was rejected by the infamous Moon stone".
My mouth fell open.
"How do you—"
"You don't know, do you?". He raised his eyebrow
"K-know what?". My voice trembling, my hand clutching to the edge of my top.
" There's a price on you. Your pack announced it the second day I found you. You fled from execution".
My heart dropped to the pit in my stomach. Would they really do that?.
The night everything came down flashed in my head and I remembered the look on the elders face. How scared everyone was of me. And how Aric lied to me. Everything brought an answer that I didn't want to hear.
They really would do that.
" You knew". I stared at the man whose presence in the room suffocates me more than anything " You knew and you still kept me in your pack? You knew and you…." I couldn't let the words fall out of my mouth though it was a the very tip of my tongue. Why would he do that? " Were you going to take me back there?". That was the only think I could think of " Were you going to take me back and claim whatever price they put—
A deep growl interrupted and within a blink of an eye, he was leaning away from the wall and front of me.
But I was too far livid to be scared " Is that why you kept me confined in your pack? And have you come to take me back? You bastard!!!". I yelled in his face.
His eyes darkened into a shade that should be impossible.
"You think I came all this way for money?" His voice rose, the controlled evenness cracking for the first time. "You think I spent weeks tracking your scent just to claim some stupid price that the worthless elders in your pack had put on you"
"Then why!" I yelled, choosing not to dwell on the fact that he actually did tracked me"Why are you here! Why couldn't you just leave me alone! I was fine! I was managing and then you show up and you—"
"You are not fine!" His voice filled the entire apartment. "It's only a matter of time before they find you. That woman probably is—"
He froze.
Just like that.
Mid sentence. Like someone had cut whatever channeled him.
The anger on his face didn't disappear exactly. It just — moved. Shifted into something else, something that happened too fast for me to track properly. His eyes dropped from my face.
To my stomach.
And stayed there, making my heart rate intensify
Out of instinct, I cowered back, crawling away from him and further into Clara's bed.
The room went completely silent.
His chest rose. Fell. Once.
Whatever had been happening in his expression a second ago was gone. Just gone. Replaced by something I had never seen on his face before and didn't have a name for.
"You" he said quietly " You're…with child". His eyes raised to meet mine and for the first time I saw a raw emotion in his eyes. Though I could not name it…I dare not name it. " My child".
No
My head flared up with panic .I knew there was no denying it, his wolf had picked up the heartbeat, that was something only Alpha wolfs could do. So I blurted out the only thing that crossed my mind in that moment " It's not yours".
He went completely still. The kind of stillness that felt like the air had been pulled out of the room.
It might actually have because I was not breathing too.
Then slowly, his eyes hardened "What did you just say?" he asked, though I was sure he heard me very well the first time.
My throat tightened, but I forced the words out anyway, even as every instinct in me screamed not to "I said—"
I didn't get finish.
His hand came up, cupping my jaw and forcing my face up to his. "Say it again," he murmured, his voice low, controlled in a way that felt far more threatening than shouting.
His thumb pressed slightly against my cheek ."I fucking dare you."