Chapter 16 #2
We leave the lab and ride in silence toward Fenn’s room.
Reed says nothing, his expression hard to read.
As we approach the door, Fenn’s eyes are still locked on me.
At that exact moment, I notice Wilhelm stepping out of a nearby room.
He freezes in the doorway when he spots us.
Seeing me holding Fenn’s hand, he twists his face into a disgusting grimace and, thinking Fenn can’t see it, lifts his hand to his mouth and makes a series of vulgar gestures, miming jerking someone off.
At the same time, he opens his mouth wide into an "O" and rolls his tongue in an obscene, swirling motion.
No idea how Fenn even catches it…
Without any visible effort, he yanks both arms up and tears the metal restraints off their mountings with a loud crack. Thick industrial bands, around three inches wide and half an inch thick, solid steel. And yet they are like paper now.
Reed hisses in protest, but if he thinks he can stop Fenn Drax, he’s delusional.
His movements aren’t human.
The leap he makes toward Wilhelm covers about thirty feet.
Seven feet six in height, a massive body, and yet he moves like a flash of light.
What the fuck? Even I couldn’t jump like that. So what the hell is Fenn?
Of course, I rush after him right away, afraid of how this ends.
Wilhelm is suddenly under the ceiling of the small storage room he was trying to leave earlier, lifted by one of Fenn’s arms, his head slamming into the wall, blood splashing…
Immediately, I grab Fenn’s shoulder and shout:
"No, please! Leave that trash. He’s not worth it!"
My touch seems to calm the violent, almost unimaginable surge of aggression in Fenn Drax’s body; its energy reads so strong, almost palpable, radiating from him in a wide, red aura.
What fills him now feels so intense and completely wild, that it makes me shiver. As a cat, I am a predator myself, but Fenn seems to be on a whole different level.
Looking at his profile, it appears to shift slightly, his face elongating somewhat and his teeth protruding more, but maybe it’s an illusion.
But the longer my hand stays on his shoulder, the more that energy softens and recedes.
Wilhelm hangs limp in his grip, blood dripping from his temple.
Fenn slowly steps back and lets him fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes, then turns toward me.
His three-dimensional purple eyes lock onto mine.
"Nobody… nobody offends you in my presence," he says slowly, leaning slightly toward me, his gaze dropping to my lips.
In a split second I close the distance, rising onto my toes, and our lips meet in a heated, passionate kiss.
His hands pull me against him, into his hard-as-stone body. I press into him, fire igniting inside me. I feel his hardness, mine meeting his…
"What the fuck are you doing! He’s unconscious, you idiots!" Reed’s voice snaps behind us.
That brings me back to my senses. I break the kiss, forcing myself away from those powerful and hot arms.
"Is your other form a predator?" I mutter
"Yes," he answers quietly.
That kind of attack speed points to his nature. I have pretty good speed myself, so it makes me start wondering what kind of shifter Fenn Drax is. But I'm somehow afraid to dig into that topic. Talking about shifters just doesn’t come easily to me, even if my curiosity keeps growing.
"Step away!" Reed growls, thrashing furiously, trying to squeeze past Fenn to reach Wilhelm, but he doesn’t even flinch, his purple eyes fixed on me.
I guess Fenn’s secret will have to wait a little longer. I'm not ready to ask him directly, anyway.
"I have to go… take care, Fenn," I say quickly and turn around, throwing him a loaded, intense look.
As I walk away, I hear Reed trying to revive Wilhelm. He doesn’t look permanently damaged, and that’s fine. I don’t want anything added to Fenn’s sentence because of this.
Fenn Drax calmly lies back on the bed, but his eyes follow me as I leave, glowing in the dim corridor like a predator watching its appetizing quarry. I know that look. It’s part of my nature too.
◆◆◆
The next day, during the break between pheromone exposure sessions, I head to Rainbow Spring.
The drive feels dreamlike. My mind is somewhere else entirely.
The only thing I can think about is turning into a cat, slipping into a ventilation shaft, and then…
Throwing myself at Fenn? Yeah, this is already insane, but I'm thinking about him all the time.
All. The. Time!
I thought I had already given up on the idea that what’s between us could be some kind of magical Pull. After all, we can’t be fated mates. He’s a purple alpha, hello. And I’m not a rose omega, that much is clear.
So why does absolutely everything keep drawing me toward him in exactly the way they describe it between True Mates?
I keep running scenarios through my head over and over, until they're practically spinning around in there.
Fenn Drax. Who is he to me?
I’m drawn to the need he carries, the longing, and our shared nature.
We bear the inability to belong among humans, the sense of being different, rejected, the loneliness, the secret, the struggle of living as something other than what the world expects.
What if I got to know him better? What if we became close?
Lovers, partners, but how?
It sounds ridiculous, but I can't stop wondering.
Could we share moments like that: just sitting on the porch of a small house surrounded by flowers, holding hands while the evening settles around us? A serenity that I crave, yet that seems so far away, unreal, like a fairy tale.
I almost laugh at myself, but I let the fantasy continue.
What if we left all this insanity behind and traded it for a quiet family life somewhere far away from everyone else? Had kids, be happy.
Okay, now that’s too much.
I finally chuckle. Can anyone believe in such an idyllic life in our situation and still call themselves sane?
Can you really build a life with a monster?
Then another question hits me: what exactly am I?
Let’s be honest.
Maybe I turn into something cute, a fluffy, purring ball of fur.
That doesn’t change the fact that plenty of people would still see me as a freak, an abomination, a curiosity.
My dad used to tell me the same thing over and over: never reveal yourself.
You’ll end up in a cage! People experiment on creatures like us.
The first one in our bloodline spent two decades locked behind bars.
They will never understand us, never accept us.
Well, Fenn Drax has exactly that fate. He and I could never be just normal.
I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment and force myself to focus on the road.
The map on my phone points me toward Raspberry Hill.
The area is so beautiful that even my tangled thoughts begin to loosen.
The cottage is built from white-painted wood, surrounded by gardens and dense clouds of blue and pink hydrangeas.
I stop the engine. The view from here is beautiful, with even more cottages scattered across the tops of gentle green hills. What an idyllic place, almost like something out of my dreams… yeah, the ones I was indulging in just five minutes ago, and gave up.
Ehhh. But then I remember why I came here in the first place: an unexpected veterinary call, one I still have serious doubts about.
Muttering something incoherently under my breath, I get out of the car. I'm not in the right place mentally, but here I am still, standing on the porch of a small yellow house.
The front door swings open before I knock. The gray-haired omega I met at the funeral is standing there. For a moment, he just stares at me. Then recognition flashes across his face, and he quickly snaps out of it.
"Hello! So you came… I'm so happy. I gave up hope, actually."
I clear my throat. "Yeah. I'm here."
His eyes travel upward, taking in my height, then back down again.
"Well, please come in." He waves his hand. "And my name’s Davos! Nice to meet you."
"Marlow Nolan."
"Sorry, but I have to say this: you're gorgeous."
"Um. Thanks."
"Now, come here, dear. Peaches has been waiting."
The house smells of lavender, cookies, and dog.
A yellow Labrador appears from around the corner, tail wagging lazily as she approaches.
Peaches comes toward me, but after a few steps, she slows down.
Her nose twitches as she sniffs my jeans, then my hand, and finally tilts her head as though she's trying to place something familiar.
Most animals react to the faint scent of cat beneath my deodorant sooner or later.
The deodorant masks most of it, but not completely.
"Good girl," I murmur, crouching to let her investigate.
"Oh, she likes you already," Davos says.
I straighten. "Let's take a look."
He leads me into the living room while Peaches follows behind us. The Labrador settles comfortably on a rug, and I begin the examination. While I work, Davos talks almost nonstop.
"She's had two litters before. Beautiful puppies. Healthy puppies. But this time something feels different. I can't explain it, I just know her."
"When was she bred?"
"Six weeks ago. Maybe a little more."
I nod. Forty days or so. I should be able to find at least some indication of pregnancy if everything is progressing normally.
I carefully palpate her abdomen. She remains relaxed throughout the examination, occasionally glancing back at me before returning her attention to Davos.
I try again, slower this time, checking thoroughly.
My alpha hearing doesn’t catch the super faint heartbeats that should already be there.
Nothing. No obvious enlargement, no palpable fetuses, nothing that suggests a developing litter.
Davos notices my expression immediately.
"What is it?"
I don't answer right away. Instead, I continue the examination. Her mammary glands are slightly enlarged, though not as much as I'd expect at this stage. As I look around the room, I notice several stuffed animals gathered beside her bed. One of them is tucked beneath her paw almost possessively.
"Has she been carrying those around?"
Davos blinks. "The toys? Yes."
"Collecting them? Guarding them?"