Chapter 17 Riley #2
The wolf lunged. Damien screamed, high-pitched and pathetic, as the beast knocked him to the ground.
Its jaws snapped inches from his face. Its massive paw pinned him to the filthy alley floor, but it didn’t kill him.
It could, I could see that. The wolf’s teeth were at Damien’s throat, pressing just hard enough to draw a thin line of blood.
One bite, one twitch. That was all it would take.
Instead, the wolf snarled one last time like a warning, and slammed Damien’s head against the concrete. He went limp, unconscious, and I sighed in relief. Good. One devil down, another one to go.
I hadn’t moved, couldn’t even if I tried. My legs were jelly. My brain was static. I was pressed against the brick wall, trying to melt into it, staring at the impossible scene in front of me.
Then the beast turned to me. For a long moment, we just looked at each other. Beast and woman. Glowing amber eyes and wide, terrified green ones. Then the wolf’s form began to shift again.
It was just as fast as before, just as violent. Fur receded, bones cracked and reformed. The massive body shrank and reshaped until...
Until Caelan was standing in front of me. Very human and naked, looking like he wished he were anywhere else.
I couldn’t focus on the body in front of me, though. Not like I would’ve in the past. I was spiraling too hard, my brain desperately trying to process what my eyes had just witnessed.
“Riley.” His voice was rough, urgent. He was moving toward me, hands reaching. “Are you okay? Let me see... your neck... your face...”
His hands were gentle as they cupped my jaw, tilted my face to examine the damage. His expression was anguished as his fingers ghosted over the bruise blooming on my cheek, the red marks ringing my throat.
“I’ll kill him,” he said quietly. Not a threat, but a statement of fact. “As soon as you’re safe, I’ll...”
“No. What the fuck was that.”
The words came out strangled, barely audible. But they stopped him cold. Caelan’s hands froze on my face. The protective rage drained away, replaced by emotions more complicated, more afraid.
“Riley...”
“What. The fuck. Was that.”
He took a breath and released it slowly. I tried not to lose my shit.
“So,” he said. “Funny story.”
“What?”
“I’ve been keeping some secrets from you.”
No shit, Sherlock.
I stared at him. This beautiful, naked man standing in a dirty alley, his unconscious enemy at his feet, talking about secrets like this was a normal conversation.
“Secrets,” I repeated flatly.
“This is one of them.” He grimaced, the expression awkward, almost boyish, completely at odds with the violence I’d just witnessed. “Surprise, little menace. I’m a werewolf.”
My brain made a valiant attempt to reboot.
“Werewolf,” I said flatly.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“You’re a werewolf.”
“I am.”
“You just turned into a wolf. A giant wolf. In front of me.”
“That’s correct.”
“And then you turned back into a naked man. That kind of werewolf?”
Caelan glanced down at himself, seeming to realize for the first time that he was, in fact, completely nude. His expression flickered with embarrassment, but his focus returned to me almost immediately.
“Yes,” he said. “But that’s not the most important...”
“Then what is?” I interrupted, my voice reaching high pitches it never had before. I could pass for a dog whistle now. Ha. That’d be handy. “What other secrets do you have?”
He paused, his jaw tightened.
“What other secrets, Caelan?” Hysteria was creeping in at the edges of my voice. “You said ‘secrets.’ Plural. What else?”
He took a breath. Squared his shoulders. His posture shifted, became more commanding, more regal, like he was bracing himself for battle.
“I’m not from Australia,” he said. “Or any other place on this Earth.”
I blinked. Then blinked again.
“I’m from a realm called Lytopia. A place connected to your world through portals that opened several years ago.”
“Portals,” I repeated, my voice hollow, my body feeling numb.
“Yes. My kingdom is called Duskmere.”
“Your kingdom,” I echoed like a damn broken doll.
“That’s right.”
“Your KINGDOM?” I officially lost my shit. “You have a kingdom?!”
“I’m the Alpha Prince.” He said it simply, factually, like he was telling me his middle name. “My family rules Duskmere. And you...” He stepped closer, his eyes intense, that commanding presence rolling off him in waves. “You are my fated mate.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. My brain was doing its best impression of a computer that had just been asked to reboot.
“I’m your what.”
“My fated mate. The goddess who created my kind, she binds us to our other halves. Our perfect match. The one person in all the realms we’re meant to be with.” His voice softened, but didn’t lose that edge of authority. “You’re mine, Riley. And I’m yours. That’s not a choice. It’s fate.”
I stared at him.
He stared back.
He was beautiful and earnest and standing naked in an alley next to an unconscious man, explaining wolf goddess magic like he was giving me directions to the grocery store.
I had really liked him so damn much, only to discover he was fucking insane.
Life had its ways to punch you in the face when you least expected it.
Maybe I should’ve called an ambulance. Or a psychiatrist. What if he had escaped from some psychiatric ward?
“Let me see if I understand this correctly,” I said slowly, as if talking with a toddler. “You’re a werewolf.”
“Yes.”
“A prince.”
“Yes.”
“From another dimension.”
“Realm, technically, but close enough.”
“And I’m your... fated mate. Your destined soulmate, chosen by a goddess.”
“The Moon Goddess, specifically. She created werewolves and...”
“I don’t need the mythology right now!”
“Right. Sorry.”
I pressed my hands to my temples. My head was pounding. My throat was aching. My entire understanding of reality was crumbling around me like wet sand. Could he be insane? I had seen him shifting into a literal beast. Was I hallucinating? Was it staged? Maybe a hidden costume somewhere?
“Okay,” I said finally. “Okay. You got me.”
His brow furrowed. “What?”
“The prank. The joke. Whatever this is.” I was nodding now, a manic edge to the movement. “Did you put some mushrooms in my soup? Was that the secret ingredient? Because I have to say, this is very elaborate, but I’m done now. You can stop.”
“Riley...”
“Very funny. Ha ha. The wolf was a nice touch. Really committed to the bit. Oscar-worthy performance. You should consider a career in film.”
“This isn’t a...”
“The unconscious ex-boyfriend on the ground is a bit much, though. How’d you get him in on it? Did you pay him? Is this some kind of hidden camera show?”
“Riley, I’m not...”
“Where are the cameras?” I spun around, looking at the walls, the fire escapes, the dumpsters. “Come on out! You got me! Very impressive special effects! Must have cost a fortune!”
“There are no cameras.”
“Sure there aren’t.”
I started walking. Or trying to. My legs were still shaky, but adrenaline was carrying me forward, away from the alley, away from the unconscious man on the ground and the naked werewolf prince who apparently thought I was his destined soulmate.
“Wait.” Caelan was behind me in an instant, stepping in front of me, blocking my path. His speed was inhuman. More proof that either I was hallucinating or the world had gone completely insane. “Riley, listen to me...”
“You’re naked,” I said.
He looked down again, sighed, then turned back to Damien’s unconscious form, crouched down, and ripped the shirt clean off his body. He tied it around his waist like a loincloth, the fabric barely covering anything.
He looked like a caveman. A very attractive caveman, who was apparently also a prince from another dimension. My life had gotten very weird very fast.
“Better?” he asked.
“Marginally. Still insane, but at least marginally less naked.”
“Listen to me,” he said, and his voice had shifted, deeper, more commanding, the voice of a man used to being obeyed.
“You’re not hallucinating. I’m not lying to you.
I am a werewolf prince from Lytopia.” He closed the distance between us, and despite everything, I found myself unable to move.
“And you truly are my fated mate. The goddess bound me to you. You’re my other half. ”
“You’re insane,” I whispered.
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“You’re insane, and I fell in love with a madman.”
His whole face lit up and the hope, bright in his eyes, was a knife straight to my heart. “You love me?”
“That’s what you took from that sentence?”
“You said you fell in love with me.”
“I said I fell in love with a MADMAN.”
“You love me.” He was almost smiling now, even as I glared at him. “Even if you think I’m crazy, you love me.”
“That’s not... I didn’t mean...”
“You said it.” His smile was growing, that infuriating, beautiful, completely inappropriate smile. “You can’t take it back.”
“I’m having a mental breakdown and you’re focused on semantics?”
“I’m focused on the fact that you love me.”
“I’m leaving.”
“Riley...”
“Stay away from me.” I shoved past him, my legs finding their strength, my fight-or-flight firmly choosing flight. “Just... stay away.”
“Please.” His voice cracked, the smile gone now. “Please don’t run from me. I know this is a lot. I know I should have told you sooner. But everything I said is true. Everything I feel is real, and I...”
“I can’t do this right now. I can’t.” The words came out ragged, desperate. “I just got attacked. I just watched a man turn into a wolf. I just found out that werewolves exist and portals exist and goddess-ordained soulmates exist and I can’t process this right now.”
He stepped back. His expression was anguished, but he nodded.
“Okay,” he said quietly. “Okay. I’ll give you space. But Riley...” He took a breath. “I’ll be waiting. However long it takes. I’ll be here.”
“Don’t.”
“I can’t help it. It’s what mates do.”
I ran, and I didn’t look back.
This couldn’t be real. These were the things I wrote about in my books. Fantasy, escapism for lonely readers who wanted to believe in magic and destiny.
But I could still feel the warmth of that wolf’s tongue on my cheek, hear the whine of distress when it saw my bruised throat. Could still see Caelan’s body shift and change, bones cracking, fur erupting, humanity giving way to beast.
I, Riley Hawkins, romance novelist and skeptic and general disaster of a human being, was apparently the fated mate of a werewolf prince from another dimension.
I had no idea what to do about it. But I knew one thing for certain: I was going to need a lot of wine.