Chapter 46 Hallucinations

Chapter 46 Hallucinations
Cassius,

The window might have still been opened when a wave of cold breeze passed through me. My body flinched as I woke up, startled, finding the sound of curtains moving constantly, dancing with the wind like restless spirits. For a brief moment, I wondered if the house was breathing with the storm outside, each gust rattling through the quiet rooms as if trying to remind me that night was far from over.

I looked around. The entire house felt like a ghost house. Cold and quiet. Miss Thorne might have slept, peaceful in her own world while mine felt like it was slowly collapsing in on itself. The silence was heavier than usual, pressing into my skin, reminding me that despite her presence, I was still living in a space filled with memories I could not escape.

Sitting up, I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to understand what was happening to me, to my thoughts, to the unraveling pieces of my life. Dad cheated on Mom again. I didn’t think that Jennifer would be that kind of woman. She always carried a sophisticated aura around her. She talked with grace and gentleness, always composed, always looking like she belonged in a world far cleaner than ours. So women could be like this as well. Act all innocent but turn into something disgraceful.

But her death didn’t make sense. Something felt strange with the situation, something out of place, as if the world had deliberately twisted a few details to mislead us. And I couldn’t shake off the feeling that whatever happened to her was only the beginning of something far worse.

I stood up and walked out of the door with a quiet click, locking the door behind me. I shouldn’t stay here until morning. I might cause problems for Miss Thorne. Even though she never complained, I felt like my presence was starting to disturb the fragile balance she maintained in this home.

However, the problem was that I didn’t know why I kept coming back to her or maybe to this place. Either way, it felt like my entire world suddenly started revolving around her. No matter how far I went, no matter how much I tried to distract myself, something kept pulling me here again and again.

I looked at the house I tried to build with a picture that was all I had after everything. Yet it still didn’t feel like home, not the way it used to. Now, all of a sudden, I wanted to come here. Was it because someone started living in it? Or was it something else? Something I was refusing to admit even to myself? I couldn’t find any answer, and the lack of clarity frustrated me more than I wanted to admit.

I turned, walking on the cold sand. I grabbed my shoes, letting the sand send its comfort to my Lycan, the wounded beast who had been spending all his time regretting whatever he had done ten years ago. The sand was freezing, almost numbingly so, but to my Lycan, it felt grounding, like a reminder that we still belonged somewhere even if everything else felt like a lie.

My mind kept returning to the painful memory as the wind blew past me. The thundering waves felt like an alarm of an upcoming storm. The entire atmosphere shifted, thickening with tension and the smell of danger. The ocean was roaring, warning, pulling, and I felt the strange urge to jump into it and calm myself, to let the cold water swallow the noise inside my head.

But I froze when I saw a figure, standing right in the danger zone.

The figure was small from the distance I was in, but I wasn’t wrong. Someone was standing where even the bravest wouldn’t dare to go. The strong waves weren’t going to show mercy to that person.

"Hey. Get out of that zone. Don’t take another step!"

I ran toward the person with all my might, my heartbeat slamming against my chest, until I found myself widening my eyes.

It was a small figure. A childlike frame but not a child.

"A she-wolf?"

"Hey. Stop. What are you doing?" I shouted again, running through the water as icy waves hit my legs. My heart pounded rapidly, fear cutting through me. Who would try to kill themselves at this hour?

Jennifer’s incident reminded me. What if someone disclosed the matter and this woman got inspired by her? Damn. This was why I forbade the media from mentioning suicidal incidents. It always triggered something in people who were already hovering on the edge.

The tide was so strong. The ocean kept pushing me back, making it hard to move forward as fast as I wanted. But the moment I almost reached the person’s wrist, a voice made me freeze.

"What are you doing, Mr Brightblade? At this hour?"

My eyes snapped toward her. Miss Thorne was standing on the shore in her pajamas, her phone held up with the flashlight on. Her hair blew wildly with the wind, her expression tense. Then I turned back, my heart skipping a beat. But the person wasn’t there.

She was gone. Vanished as if she had never existed.

"What are you doing? Come out of the water. It’s dangerous!"

"But the girl? She just—!"

"What girl? Are you alright? What’s going on?" she shouted as the wind grew stronger, swallowing her voice in the roar of the waves.

"I just saw a woman who was standing here almost—!"

"I didn’t see anyone. It’s too dark to see anything clearly. Please return to the shore. It’s dangerous!" she shouted again, extending her arm toward me, her voice urgent with worry.

I couldn’t help but feel like I was hallucinating. The girl was indeed there. I wasn’t making it up. I saw her. I heard the sand shift under her feet. I felt the ocean pulling her silhouette. She wasn’t a shadow.

"It might be the darkness creating illusions. This place is off-limits. You told me that!"

Her words made me snap out of my daze. My attention immediately went to the fence. She was right. This place was off-limits. Nobody could enter. No one could cross that barrier without setting off security alerts.

Then why did I?

The question dug deep, unsettling me. I slowly returned to the shore, my heart pounding. This had never happened before. I had never hallucinated in my entire life. Then why now? Why tonight?

"Let me see."

My eyes widened when she got closer to me and pressed the back of her hand against my forehead. I froze when her face came close enough for me to smell her hair, which was swaying with the wind. Her scent, or the lack of it, always had a strange effect on me. It grounded me and shook me at the same time.

"You are a bit feverish. I think you’re under the weather. Please put on your shoes," she said, her voice carrying a surprisingly authoritative tone that made my heart stir in a strange way.

"Miss Thorne—"

"No excuse. You handle countless tasks but have no intention of getting rest, do you?" Her words were calm, but for some reason, I felt like she was concerned about me more than I expected… more than she should be.

"It’s okay. I am heading to my chamber. It’s not safe for you to stay here alone. It might rain."

"Why? Do you think I will try to do something or take advantage of your sickness?" she muttered, her eyes lowering slightly as if a hidden insecurity slipped through.

My jaw tightened, a wave of warmth crashing into my chest unexpectedly. "No. It could be the opposite. After all, you are the first woman who could make me stay awake all night. But I don’t want to cross the line we have set," I said honestly.

Her scentless presence always gave me a taste of sinful desire. A desire that made my Lycan restless. I would lose my mind to get that taste again. But it wasn’t worth crossing the boundaries we had decided on. I needed to put my selfish desire—

"Since you aren’t actually engaged," she suddenly said, interrupting my thoughts. "Maybe it’s fine with me."

My eyes widened when she said that.

"What?" My voice barely came out.

She smiled slowly, her eyes sharpening. "As long as there is no actual relationship, I don’t mind."