Chapter 18 Caelan #2
I could still hear her inside. At one point she called someone, and I heard fragments: “...can’t tell you yet...” “...no, I’m fine...” “...just need time...”
Her friends, probably. Checking on her.
Hours passed. The sun set. The hallway grew dark. I didn’t move.
My body was still recovering from the compulsion. I should’ve eaten and rested. Do any number of things to restore my strength. But I wasn’t leaving this spot until she was ready.
Night fell completely, the neighborhood grew quiet around me. Distant sounds of televisions, of doors closing, of humans going about their lives. Normal, simple sounds. My life would never be simple again. I didn’t want it to be. I just wanted her.
Then the door swung open.
Riley stood there in pajamas, hair wet from another shower, face scrubbed clean. She looked calmer now. Still wary, but calmer. The hysteria had faded into measured wariness.
“Is Thessa one of you?” she asked without preamble.
“Yes.”
“A werewolf. She-wolf?”
“Yes.”
“And Aedan? The grumpy doctor you knew from home?”
“Also yes. He’s a wolf.”
She absorbed this then nodded slowly.
“The first portal,” she said. “You mentioned that. When did it open?”
I rose to my feet. She didn’t step back this time. Better.
“Seven years ago. No one knows exactly why. Our scholars are still studying it. One day the barrier between our worlds simply... thinned. Opened. Wolves began crossing over, exploring.”
“And now? Are there wolves just... living among humans? Does everyone know?”
“Not everyone. Most humans are still unaware.” I paused, considering how to explain. “Several wolves have found their mates among humans. Like I did. Those wolves have integrated into human society, living quietly, keeping our existence secret from most.”
Her eyes widened. “So there are werewolves walking around and regular people have no idea?”
“Yes. We’re careful. We have to be.”
“Why are you here?” she asked finally. “In Lysmont specifically. What was your mission?”
“The portal connecting your city to Duskmere opened not too long ago. It’s new, unexpected. I was sent to investigate, to understand why it appeared, to assess whether it poses a danger.”
“And?”
“And I haven’t found any answers yet.” I held her gaze. “I forgot about the mission the moment I met you.”
She swallowed hard.
“Yes, I was sent here for the portal,” I went on.
“But I think... I think maybe the goddess guided me here. Maybe the new portal was just an excuse to put me in the right place at the right time.” I stepped closer.
She didn’t retreat. “To put me in front of a bookstore on the day you were signing your novel. To let me find my mate.”
Her eyes were wet.
“The bond,” she said, voice barely a whisper. “What does it actually mean?”
I took a breath. This was the part that mattered most.
“The bond is a connection between souls,” I said.
“Ancient, sacred, created by the goddess who made our kind.” I stepped closer, and reached for her, giving her time to pull away.
She didn’t. My hand cupped her cheek, thumb brushing away a tear she probably didn’t know she’d shed.
“It means you’re my other half. The piece of me I didn’t know was missing until I found you. We’re two halves of one whole, Riley.”
Her breath caught.
“When wolves find their mates, we know.” I was speaking carefully, trying to make her understand. “Instantly. The bond snaps into place and everything changes. The world reorganizes itself around that person. Nothing else matters the same way.”
“Is that why...” Her voice broke. She tried again. “Is that why you stayed? Because of the bond? Is that all I am to you? An obligation? A biological imperative?”
The question hit me like a blow.
“No.” The word came out harsher than intended, and I softened it, leaning closer, holding her gaze with everything I had.
“Riley, listen to me. Yes, I followed you because of the bond. Yes, I stalked you...” I grimaced at the word.
“...because the bond wouldn’t let me stay away.
But the bond doesn’t mean love. Not automatically. ”
Her brow furrowed. “What does it mean, then?”
“Possession. Obsession. The need to protect, to claim, to be near.” I was brutally honest because she deserved nothing less. “When I first saw you, I didn’t love you. I wanted you. I needed you. The bond screamed that you were mine and I would have burned down the world to have you.”
She shivered.
“But love?” I shook my head. “Love came later. Love came when I watched you laugh at book club. When I saw you take care of your friends. When you made terrible jokes and ate my awful soup and let me hold you through a nightmare.” My voice dropped, rough with emotion.
“The bond made me find you. But falling in love with you... that was all me.”
Riley stared at me. Her eyes were overflowing now, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“You’re in love with me,” she whispered.
“Yes.” No hesitation. “I’m in love with you. Completely and desperately. In a way I didn’t know I was capable of.” I brushed another tear away. “You’re not just my mate, Riley. You’re the woman I love. Those are different things, and they’re both true.”
She was trembling. I could feel it under my hand, the fine tremor running through her body.
“Get out,” she said.
The words landed like a knife between my ribs. Not again.
“Riley...”
“I need...” She was shaking her head, stepping back, wrapping her arms around herself. “I need to think. Please. Just... get out.”
I walked out again. I didn’t argue or push or try to convince her. She asked me to leave, so I left. Sat down right outside her door, and waited.
Time passed. I didn’t know how much. I was slumped against her door, exhausted, drained, running on fumes. Inside the apartment, I could hear her pacing and could almost hear her thinking.
I heard her say my name once. Quietly, to herself. Like she was testing the shape of it.
Then nothing.
I must have drifted off at some point, because the next thing I knew, the door behind me was opening and I was falling backward. I landed on the floor of her apartment, staring up at Riley, who was looking down at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read.
“You’re still here,” she said.
“I told you.” My voice was rough from disuse. “I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
“You look like shit.”
“I used a compulsion, earlier. It takes a lot out of me.”
“What compulsion?”
I shouldn’t tell her. It wasn’t exactly legal, even in Lytopia. But I was done hiding things.
“I made Damien forget,” I said. “Everything. His name, his life, his memories. I made him forget you ever existed and sent him away. He won’t bother you again.”
Riley’s eyes went wide.
“You can do that?”
“It’s forbidden magic. Ancient. It nearly killed me the only other time I used it.” I held her gaze. “I would use it a thousand times to keep you safe.”
She was quiet for a long moment. Processing this new information. Adding it to the pile.
“Get inside,” she said finally. “Now.”
The command in her voice sent a thrill through me. I scrambled to my feet, probably looking ridiculous, and followed her into the apartment. She closed the door behind me.
We stood in her living room, facing each other. The air was dense with everything that had passed between us. The revelations, the confessions, the fear and hope and love that had been building since the moment I saw her.
“Is there anything else?” Riley asked. “Anything else you’re hiding?”
I steeled myself. I was done hiding things. If she was going to accept me, it had to be all of me. Even the parts that would make her angry.
“Recently I hired lawyers. The best I could find.” My heart was pounding but I forced my tone to stay level. “They’re building a case against Damien for the contract he trapped you in, the percentage, the manipulation. All of it. I wanted to free you from him legally, not just... physically.”
Riley’s eyes went wide. “You... you hired lawyers for me? Without telling me?!”
“Yes.”
“That’s why he was so angry. That’s why he...” She gestured vaguely at her throat, the bruises that were still visible.
“Yes.” I growled, scowling at the marks that marred her perfect skin. Fucking Damien. “And I’m sorry. I should have warned you. I didn’t think he’d find out so quickly.”
She paused, processing.
“What else?”
I hesitated. This was the one that might actually make her throw things again.
“There are…Cameras.”
“What cameras?”
“Ones I installed around your building.” I said it quickly, like ripping off a bandage. “Security cameras. Outside, on the perimeter. Did it to watch for threats and keep you safe.”
Riley’s expression went through approximately seven stages in three seconds. Confusion. Realization. Shock. Outrage.
“You put cameras around my building?!”
“Just outside! Not inside. I would never... I didn’t watch you in your apartment.” I could feel heat rising to my face, which was ridiculous. I was an Alpha Prince. I didn’t blush. “They’re purely for security. Entrances, exits, the fire escape...”
“You’ve been watching me?!”
“Watching for threats...”
“WHAT THE FUCK, CAELAN?”
“I know. I know how it sounds.”
“It sounds like stalking.” She was pacing now, hands in her hair. “Because it IS stalking. You’ve been stalking me.”
I winced. “We... we discussed this. At book club. The hero in that book...”
Riley whirled on me. “WE DISCUSSED IT IN FICTION. I DIDN’T THINK YOU WERE TAKING NOTES.”
“I wasn’t taking notes, I was already doing it...”
“THAT’S WORSE.”
“I know.” I held up my hands, a gesture of surrender. “I know. It’s... it’s a wolf thing. The instinct to protect, to watch, to ensure the mate is safe. It doesn’t translate well to human norms.”
“Human norms? You mean basic PRIVACY?”
“Yes.” I had the grace to look genuinely ashamed. “That.”
“And I thought the hero in that book was problematic! You make him look like a well-adjusted member of society!”
“To be fair, I thought you said you found that character romantic...”
“IN FICTION, CAELAN. FICTION. There’s a DIFFERENCE.”
“You said, and I quote, ‘I would let that man stalk me into the ground if he looked at me like that.’”
“I was exaggerating!”
“I wasn’t.”
She made a sound of pure frustration, somewhere between a scream and a growl. For a moment, she almost sounded like a wolf herself.
“The tattoo guys know about me and you,” I added, because apparently I had a death wish. “They helped me keep an eye on you. Dom, Marco, and Vinnie all know.”
“They... they’ve been in on this? The whole time?”
“They like you. They wanted to help.”
She stared at me, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. “I can’t... I don’t even know how to process this.”
“If it helps, they all think I’m obsessive and unhinged.”
“THAT DOESN’T HELP.”
“Right. Sorry.”
She stared at me, breathing hard. I could see the war playing out on her face. The outrage, the violation, the anger. But underneath it, an emotion that looked almost like reluctant understanding.
“They’re just outside?” she asked finally.
“Just outside. Entrances and perimeter. Nothing inside. I swear on my life, Riley. I never watched you in your private moments.”
She was quiet for a long beat.
“Anything else?”
I thought. Really thought. The lawyers, the cameras, the compulsion, the stalking, the secrets about who I was...
“No,” I said. “That’s it. That’s everything.”
She nodded slowly. “For fuck’s sake,” she grunted. And then she was kissing me.
I made a sound of surprise and relief as her lips pressed against mine. My arms came around her automatically, pulling her close, holding her against my chest. I thought I’d never do this again. She tasted like tears and toothpaste and home.
“I’m still angry,” she said against my mouth.
“I know.”
“I’m still scared.”
“I know, baby. It’s totally understandable.”
“I have a million more questions.” She scowled at me.
“I’ll answer every one.”
“And you’re going to grovel for approximately the next century.”
“Yes. Whatever you want.” I kissed her again, deeper, pouring everything into it. “I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t send me away.”
“The cameras come down.”
“Umm,” I hesitated. “What if I give you access to them?”
She scowled, thought about it for a second, then nodded grimly. “Fine. But you tell me before you do anything else that affects my life.”
“Absolutely.”
“Though if you install any more surveillance equipment anywhere near me, I will find a way to hurt you.”
“Understood.”
“And you’re going to explain everything. The portal, your family, your kingdom, all of it, in detail. No more secrets.”
“I’ll tell you everything. Every detail. I’ll give you a complete history of Lytopia if you want it.”
“Don’t be a smartass. I might actually want it.”
“Then it’s yours.”
She pulled back, looked at me. Her eyes were still red from crying. Her hands were fisted in my shirt. She looked exhausted and beautiful and like she was making a decision she might regret.
“This is insane,” she said. “You know that, right? This is completely insane.”
“I know.”
“I’m a romance novelist who writes werewolf books, and I’m dating an actual werewolf prince.”
“It’s funny, though, huh” I grinned, because it was fucking funny. Who the hell would’ve thought?
“This is either the best meet-cute in history or a massive red flag.”
“Possibly both.”
She laughed. It was watery and weak, but it was a laugh, and it made my chest ache with relief.
“Stay,” she said.
It was one word, but it changed my whole world forever.
“I will,” I promised. “For as long as you have me.”