48

LOGAN

LOST BUT DON'T WANNA BE FOUND….

That was exactly how I felt right now being in her arms, or rather, having her wrapped in my arms. It was the most surreal shit, and I wasn't gonna let go, despite how much she fought to break free from my hold.

I could hear her cuss and fight, even kick my feet, but I was so lost in the scent that my body was numbed to whatever pain she was inflicting on me. The deeper I inhaled the scent, the more it pulls me in. I held her tighter, needing to feel each warmth that seeps from this scent.

You can't blame me much, back when I had this scent and its real owner close, I never appreciated it. Took it for granted 'cause I thought it was gonna stick around forever. But now that I've been starved of it for years, I wanna get a fill of it now. That's why I can't let go of her just yet, maybe in the next twenty minutes, I will, or never.

Holding her this close made everything else seem to fade away. It was like we were in our world, and we didn't need to worry about speculators, or what others are gonna say, or if it was right to hug a stranger just because she had the scent of my mate.

A surge of emotion swept through me, almost bringing me to tears at my wishful thought that she would turn into my real mate, Daisy. How badly I wished to see Daisy's face on her neck and not hers when I eventually let go of her. It was my most earnest wish for her to turn out to be the mate I rejected due to my foolishness.

But it was never gonna happen, and I have to live with that.

Flynn, my wolf, calmed a great deal as I held her tighter. He cowered in satisfaction and laid to rest at the back of my mind. But I still wanted more of the scent.

”Hey, perv, let me go,” She said, I could feel her hands giving weak punches to my arms but it didn't get me to leave her. It would take more than just her weak struggles to break free from me.

”Give me a second, please. I just need to hold on to you a bit more,“ I said, my tone was nostalgic and showed just how broken I was feeling at the moment.

”So I was right, you a perv,” Though her words were harsh, her tone wasn't. She was speaking in a softness I never thought she had.

”I'm no perv, dammit. I'm just…“ Desperately searching for the right words, but not finding them, I slowly let go of her, staggering backward. My eyes were lowered as I didn't want her to see the emotions that lay beneath them. Just until I got myself under control.

”You just what?” She urged. Again, not in a harsh tone. It was kinda surprising. I mean, judging from how irritated she was a while ago, I was expecting her to go completely berserk on me right now. But she didn't.

“I'm sorry,“ I apologized. There were no human-related terms that would vividly explain just what I felt a while ago or what I was still feeling. That's why apologizing felt like the right thing to do at the moment, “I'm sorry, I was wrong. I shouldn't have latched onto you like I did,”

She was quiet, I thought she walked away, but when I looked up, she was still standing right in front of me. Her eyes twitched and I could see a flicker of emotions in them.

”I don't know, but, it's not too late to start over, is it?“ I said, stretching out an olive branch to her. If I wanted to keep her close like Flynn demanded, then I might as well end my bickering with her.

Even though she was a brat, a seemingly coy stalker and I hated her guts, she still had the one thing that was calling out to my soul, and for it, I'm gonna trade everything else, including my dislike for her.

”I don't wanna start over with you,” She stated, and the anger she felt a while ago was back in her voice.

“C'mon, don't be like that,“ I groaned, taking a few steps closer to her. I grabbed her hand and caressed it warmly, ”We partners now, remember?”

”What kinda bipolar jerk are you?” She snapped, pushing me away and jerking her hand away from my hold, “ One minute you were taunting me and calling me a stalker, and in the next minute, you wanna be friends? It doesn't make sense,”

I was speechless. She had a valid point. I switched moods fast. It's unbelievable. And right now, I can't seem to fathom how to explain why it was so. I did intend to bicker with her like I was ready to go all out. But when the scent came, it took with it all my energy to bicker. Right now, I'm weak and at her mercy, and bickering with her wasn't an option anymore. Even calling her a coy stalker would never happen again. It was about time I became nice to her.

“I'm sorry. I was being an ass. You didn't deserve that,” I said. Funny I had to be the one to apologize when she had all the faults, but it's cool, ”I'm sorry I ruined your outfit at the nightclub. I'm sorry I called you a stalker. And I'm sorry for calling you dirty. Please, we got off on the wrong foot, but it's not too late to try to be civil around each other. I'm not asking you to completely trust me right away. I'm just asking you to give me a chance to show you that I can be more than just an ass to you, please,”

She said no words. Seconds passed and we just stood there in silence, staring at each other. A lot of students passed by us and stared at us, but that didn't get to us.

To us, they were invincible.

Her skeptical gaze was on me and my heart raced in fear that she might turn down my offer yet again.

Out of the blue, she gave a warm smile and stretched out her hand to me,

”I'm Valeria. Valeria Garcia,“ She introduced with a dose of cockiness that made me think there was some great importance attached to her name.

Looking at her closely now, I can't help but think I've seen her in some advertising campaigns. A model. She looked so familiar as the young, Hispanic model, who was also a young heiress. I don't know much about her, and I'm not a huge fan either but she's quite popular, especially among the guys. But if I could remember clearly, the model's last name was 'José'. And she just said her last name was 'Garcia'.

Yeah, I could be wrong, and my baseless speculations could just be from the fact that they were both Hispanic, and Hispanic girls share striking resemblances.

I took her stretched hands in mine and shook them slightly, “I'm Logan. Logan O'Hara,“

“Nice,” Her smile got wider and I slowly let go of her hand.

“Okay, Valeria. Now that we cool, can I be honest?”

“Sure, please be,”

”I got no clue what this project is about or what it was we're supposed to do together, so…“ I stopped talking when she began giggling. It wasn't like the usual, irritating female giggles. Hers sounded better, like so much better.

”It's fine. I'll cue you in,“ She offered sweetly, Her smiles were like the orange hue of sunset, hitting on a mirror and giving off a radiant glow. I didn't mean to go all poetic right now, but she had one of the most beautiful smiles I've ever seen. And giving her all the credit, her smile was exceptionally beautiful. Not in a way that makes my heart go 'lup-dup', or gives me a hard-on, but in a way that makes me kinda relaxed around her.

”Will you?” I asked, offering her one of my cutest smiles too. I earned a blush from her for it.

”Sure will. But first, I wanna know if you read,“

I arched a brow at her question, “Sorry?“

“No, hold on, that came out wrong,“ She chuckled, tapping her lips, “I wanna know if you read books, like fictional books,“

”Oh, Sure, I do,” I answered rather enthusiastically, recalling all 50 books I read in the last two weeks. And all the others I've read in the past years. Those were enough to tag me as a good fictional book reader.

“Great,“ She said and pointed to the east wing, “The library is that way. Let me show you some of the books we might need for the project,“

My ears perked up as she said 'library', it was just the place I wanted to go to.

She led the way and I followed, we walked in silence and I just basked in the warmth of the scent.

We went through a door and she headed to the librarian at the desk. She was plumpy and had curly locks that draped just below the brim of her glasses.

“Hello, Ma'am,“ Valeria greeted her with a polite smile. I stood a bit farther away from them, drawing circles on the ground with my leg and at some point, letting my gaze wander. I've been in this college for four years, but this was my first time inside the library. I had all my books in e-book form, and Daisy's books too. This was the first time I was craving to read her book in paperback form.

My attention was back on Valeria and the woman when I heard her call my name.

“Let's go in,” She gestured at another door with her jaw. I nodded and followed her in, not without noticing the weird stare the woman gave me.

My mind ran 360°, trying to understand what that look meant. But the thought got brushed off when we got into the room and I was looking at shelves filled with books of different genres.

Valeria gave me a tour around the library and I listened as half-assedly as I could. I had just one mission in here, and that was to snag up one of Daisy's books.

“And we are at the fictional books,” She said, pointing at a set of books on the shelves, “They're arranged according to their genres. You can find your preferences here. Happy, Sad, tragic, contemporary romance…“

I did a quick eye scan around and spotted ten of Daisy's books. Two of which I've read, the other eight I haven't.

“A question. How many books are you permitted to take at once?” I asked, cutting her off.

“Just one,” She replied, and took out of the books, “And this is what we'll be needing for the project,“

“Oh, okay“ I took the book in my hands and checked the name on its spine. Flickering through the pages, I could tell it was a book, whose story was based on ancient, England times.

“Be right back. Don't move,” She said and headed to the other side of the room.

With her gone, I quickly took out one of Daisy's books and stuffed it into my bag. I didn't mean to take it without permission, but she just said you could only take one book. They won't let me take Daisy's book, because she already chose a book for me. So this is the only way, but I'm sure gonna return it when I'm done. I'm not keeping it forever.

Stuffing it into my backpack and zipping it close, I waited for her to return. The book was for me, when I hold it in my arms, and clutch it to my heart, it's gonna make me feel Daisy's presence.

But Valeria was for my wolf, keeping her close seems to put Flynn at ease and that's why I intend on keeping her by my side for as long as I can.

She returned and asked that we head out. I nodded and followed her out, the woman at the desk gave me another weird stare. I just couldn't keep quiet about it anymore.

“Is it just me or does the librarian give everyone that weird look?” I asked. We were strolling through the hallway.