Chapter 18: OUR VILLA
POV - Hazel
Beep.
The sound echoes in the emptiness of the meadow, and I seriously hope no one is nearby to hear it.
I don’t sense any movement in the proximity, so I swiftly slip inside and quickly but stealthily walk though the living room toward Derek’s office, which is on the first floor.
My heart clenches when I spot the couch where Derek and I have spent so many hours talking, laughing and playing with each other. Only a few nights I was cuddled there in his embrace, while he was telling me about his day, and about the progress he has made in bringing the werewolf and human communities together. He’s always been the positive one, the one with great hopes for the future. Not me, I am the pessimist of the house, always waiting for something bad to get us around the corner. In fairness, seeing how things have turned out, I wasn’t that far off.
I would give anything to turn the clock back to that evening, and feel Derek’s strong arms around me, melted in the safety of his warm embrace, coddled by his enticing scent. His hearty laugh would make me smile in adoration, and I would be hanging on his every word, because I love how he talks, how he thinks, how he moves, I love everything about him.
Tears start running down my cheeks and my lips tremble with the effort of keeping my sobs at bay. This is not the time to break down like this, I pep talk myself, I need to find the report to save Derek.
Tears still spilling down my cheeks, I make my way to his office, softly closing the door behind me. His laptop is on his desk, waiting for me to get what I need.
I open the lid, and then blank out when the screensaver pops up, and an image of me completely naked appears on the screen. Typical Derek… he had another one set as screensaver on his mobile, this way every time his mobile light up, everyone in the vicinity could see myself naked. He nearly killed a few males for staring, and that’s just dumb, because he practically put it in their faces. I had to threaten him of refusing to have sex with him for one month if he didn’t take it off. Fool, as I could resist him for one month, I wouldn’t last even a day. With hindsight, I think he knew that too and agreed to change the picture not to upset me, which is sweet and annoying both at the same time.
I left click on his mouse, wanting to get rid of the image that is bothering me, and another important issue comes to my attention: I don’t know his password. I obviously haven’t thought about this plan thoroughly.
Well, now that I’m here, I might as well try something. I check his desk and drawers first, in case he’s written it down somewhere, but without any success. Then I start trying different combinations of letters, numbers and symbols, some quite obvious, others more related to his personal life.
Abcdef123456.,;:/
No.
Qwert123,./
Nope.
CrescentMoon1300$ (Pack name + period the pack was created + Derek’s favorite symble)
Neither.
I try many many more, until, to my utter astonishment, I manage to find the right one!
HotPup520
The nickname I found for him to counteract his kitten, the term of endearment he uses for me; although I seldom use it, it’s just too silly. He uses mine often though, sometimes I’m a bad kitten, a mean kitten, at times a cute kitten, even a badass kitten, and definitely a naughty kitten when in bed.
520 stands for May the Twentieth, which is the day we married formally and held the Luna Ceremony for the pack. That was a beautiful day, just by remembering it, I can still feel the warm afternoon sun on our skin, the soft breeze playing with my bridal veil, and the strong emotions I felt when we pronounced our wedding vows and when we remarked each other, in front of all the pack members as witnesses to our union.
After the ceremony we held a party in the packhouse garden, it went on until the next morning; everyone was so happy and carefree, we danced and drank and joked, it’s probably been the best day of my life.
When we free Derek and the pack from the compulsion, we must do that again, we need some fun, without worries and problems, just pure blissful unrestrained fun.
But first, I need to free the pack, which brings me back to earth and to the problem at hand.
Once logged in, I scan the desktop, but can’t find anything that catches my eye, so I pull up the documents folder and start scrolling through, until I find a folder named “Alice Antidote”. I double click it open, and I nearly want to cry again when I see the rows and rows of word and excel files reporting all the steps and details of the research.
I hurriedly create a zip file of the entire folder, then open the browser and log-in my cloud account, where I upload the file, painstakingly slowly, if you ask me. Note to myself, switch to a faster connection. When it’s done uploading, I send the download link to Meera, Cindy and Lukas’ email addresses, just to make sure that one of them at least gets it.
Now that my mission is completed, I release the breath I was holding, and with it comes along a loud gurgle of my stomach. I’m starving, I don’t even remember the last time I ate, and seeing how the house seems to be completely empty, I decide to go on reconnaissance of the kitchen, and see what our fridge has to offer. I could even use this chance to get some clothes for my human self and maybe to take a shower too, that would be absolute paradise.
With my belly full of tacos and orange juice, I enter the master bedroom on the second floor. I refrain from looking at the bed, first because it has too many painful memories of me and Derek together, and second because the soft mattress would call to me, after having slept on cold wet cold stone last night, and I really can’t take this kind of luxury.
I shower quickly but thoroughly, lathering shampoo on my hair three times before I rinse them with warm water. I skip my usual skin pampering, and focus on putting on comfortable clothes, such as black sweatpants, a sports bra and a black T-shirt over it. I take out a small backpack and fill it with two changes of clothes, a soap bar, a brush and a few hair ties, a water bottle, some snacks, and some cash, because I can’t risk using my credit cards, in case Derek tries to track me down through those.
I’m about to leave the room, when I spot the rosewood jewelry box which belonged to my mom. I’ve retrieved it, among other things, from our destroyed house before it was demolished.
The amethyst amulet of that dream pops into my mind, and with a sense of foreboding, I open the lid of the box and find the amulet there, on top of the other jewels, like it was waiting for me to take it.
I pick it up and clasp it around my neck, then tuck it under my shirt, so it won’t be noticeable. Honestly, I don’t even know if it would be of any use, but somehow, I feel it is important, and that I should take good care of it.
I place a burgundy cap on my head and am ready to get the hell out of here, when I feel a presence in the house, not the spirit kind, but a real person with heartbeat and light footsteps. Someone’s here.
I stealthily exit the bedroom, checking both sides of the corridor, not finding anyone, the person must downstairs. I wonder who it could be, someone from the staff?
With light steps I approach the stairs, making myself invisible, even if I know that if it’s Derek down there, he will be able to sniff my location, invisibility or not. I go downstairs, taking each step slowly; my heart is thumping so loudly in my ears that I’m afraid I won’t be able to hear the person’s movements. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves, but instead my limbs become as rigid as a statue, because I’ve just got a whiff of the most delicious perfume ever, white musk and vanilla, a fragrance that usually would render me happy and excited, but now just sets panic and dread deep inside of me.