Chapter 13 One Room, Two Beds
One Room, Two Beds
Apparently, regular bullets weren’t fatal to werewolves, so while they were in pain, Alby and Dianna wouldn’t die from blood loss.
“Werewolves’ blood clots faster,” Lucien explained while the paramedics carried the wounded werewolves inside the hospital, ignoring the gory scene as if it was nothing to write home about. “The real scare here is from contamination, which is why they still need to be treated.”
I looked on as Alby and Dianna succumbed to their fates quietly, faces pale not just from pain but also from sheer terror.
They couldn’t even look directly at Lucien, they were so terrified.
That helped the paramedics usher them inside quickly, leaving Lucien and me alone in the parking lot only mere minutes later.
Before I could ask him anything, Enoch exited the hospital and headed toward us, glancing briefly at Mack’s lifeless body, his white coat billowing behind him dramatically.
“You have no idea how many favors I had to call in to sweep this whole thing under the rug,” he said, glaring at Lucien. “It’s also time you rest.”
Lucien grinned humorlessly. “There is no time to rest, Enoch,” he said quietly. “If what we think is right, time is of the essence.”
Enoch folded his arms. “You need to rest,” he repeated with a soft growl, eyes flashing.
The two glared at one another, and I glanced between the two of them, concerned and also burning with a need for answers, before, to my surprise, Lucien sighed and pushed his hair back. “Fine,” he growled lowly. “We’ll get to the hotel.”
The hospital director’s face lit up with triumphant satisfaction. “Good. Call me tomorrow morning.”
Lucien gave him a single nod, and without goodbyes, grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the Rolls-Royce.
His touch made me stiffen. I was still trying to reconcile the monster who killed Mack without so much as breaking a sweat and the man who’d been nothing but kind to me. The disparity was so wide, I was left in utter confusion, and even fear.
Lucien must have noticed that because he immediately released me as if my skin was on fire once we arrived at the car. Wordlessly, he pulled open the passenger seat door for me.
This gentlemanly gesture only added to my overwhelming emotions, and my throat closed up as tears threatened to well in my eyes. “Thanks,” I barely whispered as I slid into the car.
I expected him to close the door, but to my shock, he kept it open, grabbing the top of the car as he leaned toward me, blue eyes stormy.
Yet his voice, when he spoke, was overwhelmingly gentle.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly, his gaze ensnaring my own in an unbreakable hold.
“I will never hurt you. If you can’t believe anything else, at least believe that you have no need to fear me on that level. ”
My body began shaking, not just because of his words and the real hurt I could feel emanating from him at my sudden mistrust and distance, but also because the events of the last twenty-four hours—hell, the last few days since I found him, even—were finally catching up to me, as though my mind was only now processing it all.
It was far too much for me to bear.
Yet seeing Lucien staring at me with those guarded, beautiful eyes, his body strained with tension, his gaze searching my own, I knew this, right now, wasn’t about me.
Lucien had just had to kill a man who’d betrayed his trust.
He was also still injured because of that man’s actions.
Yet here I was, fearing him for simply exacting his rightful revenge.
I recalled the wolf who slept with me in bed, offering me his warmth. The wolf who trusted me, despite being in his most vulnerable position. The wolf who pretended to be a mere animal as he offered me a comfort no one else had in a very long time.
Then I thought about the human shape of this wolf, the one who was now in front of me, the man I’d spent the last day with. He’d said he wasn’t able to shift back to his human form until earlier today, when he did shift to stop me from touching the shadow mark.
I also thought about the man who grabbed me and ran out of my apartment, ignoring his own bleeding wound, just so I wouldn’t have to have an eye kept on me and my memories erased by Chase and the Council.
It was the same man who showed remorse when he told me the people who were after him were probably now after me, too, due to his supernatural run through the streets with me draped over his shoulder.
The man who grabbed my hand back in the hospital director’s office and didn’t let go.
I might’ve only known him for four whole days, spending most of those with him in his wolf form, yet I couldn’t lie to myself.
I cared about Lucien Delterre.
I didn’t want to fear a man who had done nothing but be kind, and helpful, toward me.
Who cared enough to give a shit when I was in danger.
Who kept looking at me with endless gratitude for saving his life.
But I didn’t know what to make of any of this.
So all I could do was whisper, “I know you won’t hurt me, Lucien.”
Liar, a little voice murmured in my head. You think he will hurt you like anyone else.
My heart beat fast as he leaned his head against my forehead, his eyelids hooding his eyes, his long, pretty lashes fanning his cheeks. “Thank you, Drew.”
A guilty, painful feeling twisted my gut, but I ignored it.
We stayed like that for a few long moments, before Lucien let out a breath and gently pulled away. “I think it’s time we retire for the night,” he said now, and I looked up to find him watching me with eyes so brilliant, they were vivid even in the darkness of night.
“Yeah,” I agreed, watching him as he stepped back and closed the door, my forehead tingling, burning, despite my heart fearing, too, to touch him again.
Once Lucien was driving deeper into San Diego, he said, “So you’re good with your pistol.”
Up until then, there had been a heaviness weighing on me following the events of the night, but his words, and the lightness of his tone, alleviated it almost at once. Relieved, I matched his tone and said, “I told you, I won’t get in your way.”
“Yeah,” he drawled, and I glanced briefly at him before quickly returning my gaze to the road. “But I took it as in, you’re going to stay put.”
I snorted, putting one leg over the other and leaning my elbow against the door. “Yeah, staying put wasn’t an option when I saw they were about to leave, and you were out of contact.”
His lips curled downward. “You risked yourself unnecessarily,” he countered, eyes on the road, but I could feel his whole attention fixated on me. “I was a couple of minutes away from making my move when you decided to play detective and hid behind their car. I had to readjust my entire plan.”
Opening my mouth, I was about to speak, but he cut me off before I could.
“I would’ve knocked them out, taken them somewhere far more quiet and secluded, and interrogated them to my heart’s content,” he explained in a still-light yet strained voice, as though he was trying to keep his composure and not lash out.
“But I had to be quick before they could raise a ruckus and alert nearby humans and hospital workers, which would’ve put me, or rather, Enoch, in a lot of trouble.
So I had to be quick and decisive, meaning I killed Mack in a rush, trying to protect both you and myself, and thus I’m now out of any and all leads. ”
He paused his rant and sucked in a deep breath before falling silent, focusing on the road determinedly.
Feeling a little less helpful and more guilty now, I winced. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I didn’t know. Maybe . . .” I hesitated and braced myself. “Maybe you should share your full plans with me next time, so I won’t make such mistakes again.”
Lucien nodded curtly. “Agreed. And apology accepted.”
We fell silent then, which made endless thoughts run through my head.
I wanted to ask him about his powers. How strong he was.
I also wanted to ask about the Imperative he and Enoch had mentioned, since it sounded important.
I also wanted to inquire about Otherborne, Luminar, and all the other terms that had been thrown around in Enoch’s office and I had yet to get the definitions of.
It also made me wonder one thing in particular. “You and Enoch want to expose the supernatural, right?” I clarified, breaking the silence.
If Lucien thought my question was oddly timed, he didn’t show it. “Yes.”
Thoughtfully, I continued. “Then why would it have mattered if you got caught in action back in the hospital parking lot? I mean, that would sure help with the exposure both you and Enoch want.”
He glanced at me briefly, face unreadable, before, to my surprise, a small, somewhat sardonic smile stretched his lips. “Imagine seeing what you’ve just witnessed on the news. Imagine that being humans’ first impression of the supernatural. What do you think would happen?”
I immediately saw where he was going with it and couldn’t help but feel like an idiot. “That was a stupid question.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Lucien countered, making me latch my gaze onto his profile.
“If I were you, a human who isn’t aware of supernatural politics and the powers in play, I might’ve thought the same.
Alas,” he added with a brief glance in my direction, “the situation is a tad bit more complicated than simply going out and announcing to the world we exist. We might want to expose our existence, but there is a way to go about it too.”
Everything he said made sense. I still felt foolish, but mostly because I’d pretended to know anything about the supernatural world, while I was merely a human. An outsider. Someone who didn’t belong in that world to begin with.
Not that I wanted to belong to that world. The image of the monstrous being who killed my sisters floated in my mind. The shadow marks appearing in murder crime scenes. The supernatural creatures preying on unsuspecting humans under the guise of mere homicide.