Chapter 3 You are not supposed to be here
"Marry me, and become untouchable."
I stared at him for a long moment, my eyes scanning his face for something—a smirk, a tell, a smile, basically anything that would confirm that this man was practically joking, but there was nothing. Just those dark eyes looking at me sternly like the answer was already obvious and he was simply waiting for me to say it out.
"You're insane," I said, bursting out laughing out of nowhere despite the terrible situation I was in.
"Possibly." He glanced down at the wolf on the ground, then back at me. "But I'm the only one who can save you at this point."
I looked away from him scanning the warehouse surroundings again. It was nearly empty now, the men who were most definitely spying on me had all disappeared. The few people still inside were moving fast, with their heads down and their bodies trembling as they made their way towards the exit.
My mind drifted back to my apartment, the short-stay lease and the agency placement flyer that I'd picked up three weeks ago from a noticeboard. I had built this life to be invisible, to be unseen, but tonight, it had all come crashing down.
He might just have been right, he might just be the only one who could save me at this point, who could actually help me get my life back.
"Fine," I said, after a while trying not to look desperate even though I was.
He smiled, like he knew my response beforehand. “Come with me.” He said, already moving towards the exit.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“You'll find out.”
We walked for a while until we got to the front of a black SUV where he pulled open the door to the passenger seat for me to enter.
He drove for what felt like twenty minutes before we finally got to where we were going to.
I stepped out of the car and felt the presence before I actually saw them.
My eyes widened as I scanned the sight before me. It was like a whole different city, not too big, not too small but screamed wealth in abundance.
There were wolves everywhere, some fully transformed and some not, moving through the compound in a way that made it very obvious that this was their home.
A hand touched my elbow and I turned.
The woman looking back at me was tall, with dark hair and a certain kind of composure that probably took decades of relentless practice.
"Lena," Zarek said from behind me. "She's with me."
I noticed something between them, the way his mouth stretched into a genuine smile for the first time all night.
Could this be—
No it actually wasn't possible, if he had a lover, he probably wouldn't have asked to marry a stranger he had just met for the first time.
Lena's gaze didn't move from my face.
"I can see that," she smirked and walked away without saying another word.
I watched her go, then turned back to Zarek who was already looking at me.
"Old friend," he said, before I could ask.
"She doesn't seem particularly friendly." I teased.
"No…she's not." he agreed.
We walked into one of the tallest buildings. He stopped at a door at the end of the hall and pushed it open.
I walked in ahead of him, my eyes scanning the whole room. The jacket placed on the chair beside the bed, the watch on the dresser. This room was currently lived in.
I turned around.
"Wait." I looked at him, my eyebrows raising slightly. "Is this your room?"
"Well." The corner of his mouth stretched into a smile. "Don't married couples share a room?"
"We're not married." I protested. "At least not yet."
"The fact that you agreed to this already means we're married," he said, his gaze fixed on me as he spoke. "The rites and the rest are just formalities." He moved toward the door. "I'll announce it to the pack first thing tomorrow, but before then." He paused at the threshold without turning back. "I'll be right back."
The door didn't close fully behind him. He probably expected to return soon enough that he thought latching it wasn't worth the effort.
I stood in the middle of the room and listened to his footsteps recede down the hall.
Then I went to the window. Force of habit.
That was when I saw him.
A man crossing the far end of the compound, head down, moving like he was avoiding something.
My breath caught, through the night light shining bright on his neck, I recognised the tattoo. It was the same one Cole had.
I pressed closer to the glass, my breath fogging it slightly. He was almost at the far building now, almost gone—
He looked up.
Our eyes met through the window and across the distance and I watched his face widen in shock the moment he saw me.
He ran.
I was out of the room before I knew what was happening.
I jumped down the stairs and bolted through the door I came in from, out into the cold night air. I could see him ahead, cutting left between two buildings, fast, faster than someone who just happened to be in a hurry.
He was running, he recognised me and he was running. No doubt.
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.
Being small had always meant being underestimated, but the up side was that I could run faster than most people could. I closed the distance between us in less time than he expected, not because he wasn't fast enough, but because he was obviously so focused on his own speed that he didn't account for my desperation.
I caught him at the wall at the far edge of the compound, one hand gripping his jacket before he could turn the corner.
He spun around, and I finally had his face in full light. I stood there for a second, eyes widening with the breath knocked clean out of me.
"Sylvie—" His voice cracked, his eyes wild, darting over my shoulder toward the compound. "No…no, Sylvie." He grabbed my arms, his grip too tight, his whole body shaking. "You shouldn't be here.”