Chapter 7
414words
Ethan—a werewolf from a moderate pack who'd always shown interest in me.
"Layla, it's been too long. How are you holding up?" Ethan approached with a warm smile.
"Ethan, good to see you," I replied with genuine warmth.
We exchanged brief updates about our respective packs.
Before leaving, Ethan took my hand and placed a respectful kiss on it—an old werewolf custom between allied packs.
The temperature around us seemed to plummet instantly.
I turned to find Cael watching us, his face a perfect mask of indifference—but his eyes burned with something ancient and dangerous.
"We need to leave." Cael's voice betrayed nothing.
Ethan sensed the danger and, after a quick glance at my face, made a hasty exit.
Cael maintained stony silence all the way home.
"What's wrong?" I finally asked, unable to bear the tension.
No response.
The instant our apartment door closed behind us, he pinned me against it, his mouth claiming mine with startling intensity.
This was nothing like my timid kiss from before—this was possession, dominance, punishment.
He was marking me, erasing another man's scent with his own.
Only when I gasped for air did he release me slightly, his forehead pressed to mine, his voice a dangerous rasp: "No other man touches you. Ever."
Command and confession in one.
"Then tell me your real name," I whispered.
"Cael," he answered simply.
My brother Lucas served as our pack's acting alpha.
He'd been suspicious of my mysterious "human" roommate from the beginning.
"Layla, you're being naive," Lucas confronted me. "Nobody helps strangers without ulterior motives. This man appears from nowhere with convenient amnesia, and you don't question it?"
"He's not what you think, Lucas!"
"You can't judge a book by its cover." Lucas tossed several surveillance photos onto the table. "He's been meeting with Lilith. Do you even know who she is? The most powerful information broker in the supernatural world. She never does anything unless it profits her."
The photos clearly showed Cael and Lilith deep in conversation at the café.
"How does an amnesiac human know the most dangerous witch in the city?" Lucas pressed. "Wake up, Layla! He's using you—using our entire pack—for something we can't even imagine!"
My brother's words doused my romantic fantasies like ice water.
I had no defense because everything I "knew" about Cael rested on his convenient "I don't remember."
Doubt crept back into my heart, taking root and spreading like poison.
