Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Iclimb out of bed and immediately stub my toe on the nightstand.
Biting the inside of my cheek to stifle my scream, I wait for the pain to subside, then tiptoe to the closed bedroom door.
I have spent the last hour flat on my back, waiting for the crazy man in the living room to fall asleep. That was very hard to judge because there hasn’t been a snore, a rustle, or any sound at all to confirm the moment he fell asleep.
I’m taking a big risk here that I won’t open up this door I have my ear pressed up against and find him sitting upright, wide awake.
But I have to leave. Tonight, he’s telling me he’s a werewolf. If he’s this crazy now, what will he be like tomorrow?
The bedroom door is soundless as I pull it open a crack and stick my nose through the gap. My shoulders relax.
Good. He’s sleeping.
I pull the door the rest of the way open, glance down at my bare thighs and consider going back for a pair of sweatpants.
Stop wasting time and just go, Shelby.
The living room lights are off, but moonlight filters through the sides of a window not covered by a drape, illuminating the gorgeous man fast asleep on the couch.
I walk into the edge of the coffee table and choke back a curse. Thankfully, I don’t make a sound, but it hurts. It hurts so damn much. What’s one more bruised toe, huh?
The blanket slid off Vaden as he slept, revealing washboard abs and tan skin.
He’s too tall for the couch, not that his height stopped him from falling asleep in a position that can’t be the least bit comfortable. His legs hang over the edge, and his right arm dangles off the couch, his hand on the floor. It’s impossible not to stare down at him and just admire.
I never thought big muscles were my thing, but apparently they are.
His dark lashes are long, casting shadows on his cheeks. His nose is long, with a tiny dip at the tip I want to touch. And his lips—firm, fuller at the bottom than the top—are so damn kissable.
Why did you have to be crazy?
He stirs.
My heart skitters, and I stumble, swallowing my scream when the back of my knee hits the edge of the coffee table.
My eyes never leave his face, and I don’t dare breathe as I wait for him to open them.
When he remains quiet, still, and asleep, I relax and continue my escape.
Beside the front door is a small entryway table, and I search it for keys until I remember his habit of leaving them in the ignition with the car door unlocked.
The front door creaks slightly as I twist the doorknob, and I spin around, keeping my eyes on Vaden’s face as I pull it fully open.
My heart aches to see him sleeping so innocently, and not just because I’m about to steal his car. He’ll come after me and find his car at Fisher’s house when I go back to get mine, so really it’s more borrowing than stealing.
Even though he’s crazy and I barely know him, I think I’m going to miss him.
I really did believe him when he said he would kill anyone who dared lay a finger on me, and I’m attracted to him in a way I haven’t been to any other guy before.
But I can’t accept that he believes he’s a werewolf.
Everyone has flaws, but that’s a non-negotiable.
Shaking my head to dislodge my unexpected sadness at never hearing him call me Jane again, I open the door just wide enough to slip through the gap, pull it shut behind me, and start walking.
Then I stop.
It’s the middle of the night with a half moon and stars blanketing the skies; I’m surrounded by trees, and I have only the vaguest memory of how we got to this tiny cabin in the woods.
If I’d spent less time distracted by being in Vaden’s arms, I might have known exactly how to get back to the clearing beside the farmhouse.
Which way did we come?
Hugging myself for warmth as my teeth begin to chatter, I peer around me, spot a tiny gap between two large oaks, and take a gamble that it’s that way.
I resume walking, hoping I’m headed the right way. It’s cold, and I mentally curse myself for not taking Vaden up on his offer to grab a pair of his sweatpants. They’d have been too long, but I’d have rolled the pant legs and been a hell of a lot warmer than I am in just a thin cotton T-shirt.
At least the ice pack on my hip seems to have helped the dull ache when I walk.
It will still bruise, but once I’ve gotten my car from outside Fisher’s house, I can hit the road and maybe stop at a Walmart or gas station to pick up a bag of peas to help it heal a little faster.
My knee only hurts when I bend it, but I could be dead with a bullet in my brain, so I focus on getting to Vaden’s car rather than complaining about the cold and the aches and pains I have from escaping the men who want me dead.
Because of Vaden. I’m only alive because of him, and I’m stealing his car.
Stop with the guilt; staying isn’t an option. You know that.
It’s not as quiet in the middle of the night as I thought it would be.
There’s the occasional rustle of leaves in the trees as the wind blows my hair up around me.
I like the way this forest smells. Fresh and crisp.
I’m a city girl through and through, but walking through a forest is pretty damn nice.
If it weren’t so cold, I’d like it a lot more.
A small scuff makes me halt abruptly, and cautiously, I look in the direction it originated—my right.
With my heart in my throat, I wait, braced to run. When the sound doesn’t come again, I keep walking.
And walking.
And walking.
My footsteps slow as alarm bells start ringing. Vaden carried me before, and he has much longer legs than I do, but he definitely didn’t take this long to get from the car to the cabin. And where the hell is the farmhouse? I should have seen it by now.
I’m about to turn back when I notice a clearing just ahead. I step through a gap in the trees and find myself feet away from a beautiful lake illuminated by moonlight.
“Wow!” I whisper, awed by the stunning sight.
A small scuff on my left startles me. It’s a repeat of the one from before so I don’t freak out. Assuming it’s nothing again, I glance to my left, and my heart stops.
A large reddish-brown wolf with silver eyes stands two feet away from me.
It doesn’t move.
It just stares.
At me.
People say that when you’re about to die, your life flashes before your eyes.
That is absolutely not true.
This is the second time I have looked death in the face, and the same thing always happens.
Nothing.
There’s no reliving happy memories or finally letting go of regrets that no longer matter. There is absolutely nothing but adrenaline surging in your veins and the desperate need to run, but you’re not sure if your legs will work.
My fingernails dig into the fleshy part of my palms as I clench my fists. It hurts.
In my mind, I’m climbing the nearest tree, all while shrieking and screaming for someone to save me.
In reality, I do the stupidest thing of all: I freeze.
Wind tugs at the wolf’s fur as it prowls toward me. It would almost be beautiful, and it kind of is, in only the way something utterly terrifying is.
The air in my lungs has frozen. My eyes are glued to the wolf, but my knees are shaking.
It stops.
That’s probably the perfect distance it needs to leap at me and rip out my throat. It will happen fast. Maybe I won’t feel a thing. Maybe I’ll die in agony, wishing it was the two men who’d found me and shot me in the head instead.
But the wolf does not spring at me with canines aimed at my throat.
Its fur… shimmers.
I stare, barely breathing as my heart hammers against my chest. My teeth chatter, though I’m not the least bit cold anymore, even though I’m in just the T-shirt I wore to bed.
And as I watch, the wolf's reddish-brown fur thins, and tan skin replaces it. I struggle to believe what I’m seeing. It is happening right in front of me, but it still doesn’t seem real.
When Vaden rises from the ground, in the same place as the wolf, something in my mind… snaps.
He’s reaching for me as my world goes black.