He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Emma’s bewildered expression. His memory quickly brought him back to reality, and he hastily sat up, feeling embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be here.”
Seeing his embarrassment, Emma’s own nervousness dissipated by a good half. She spoke softly, “It’s okay, I just wanted to know why you were here. You should have your own room.”
Patrick scratched his head. “I was supposed to leave. But you held onto me, I didn’t want to wake you.”
“So, you stayed with me for the night?” a perfect and flawless excuse, Emma raised an eyebrow.
Emma knew her sleeping habits were terrible. Since childhood, she would cling to something and refuse to let go. She was certain she must have held onto Patrick and refused to let go, hence why he stayed the night.
But Patrick didn’t think like that. He earnestly asked Emma, “But did it make you uncomfortable? If it did, I apologize.”
Recalling the moment she woke up, she felt like she hadn’t slept so soundly in a long time; she was very comfortable. At that moment, she felt calm and didn’t want to leave the warmth around her.
“It’s okay, Patrick,” she murmured softly, feeling her blood rushing to her cheeks again. “I didn’t feel uncomfortable. I should apologize to you. I made you stay and couldn’t go back to your own room.”
Patrick seemed to receive some form of approval, chuckling foolishly, making Emma feel he was quite childish.
“But about what happened today, I hope we don’t let anyone else know for the time being? Consider it our second secret? In exchange, can I call you Emmie?” he said.
Second secret? Yes, ever since that night when they found out he wasn’t a wolf, this was the second secret. How many secrets did she have to keep for this Alpha? Was this a way to test her?
Emma turned to look at him. His sincere eyes made it hard for her to refuse. She felt her blood rush to her cheeks once more. She could swear the temperature in the room was rising every second. Why was it so hot in here?
Then her gaze fell on the clock, and she exclaimed, “Damn it!”
“Emmie?”
Patrick called out to her in concern, “What’s wrong?”
“I promised Rory today would be my first day at work, and I’m about to be late!”
Being late on her first day, she had never experienced such a thing before. She used to be the earliest at the store; everyone said she was hardworking. Now, here, she was about to be late without even starting work.
“You don’t have to insist on this job,” Emma quickly finished her morning routine and, as she left, Patrick said to her.
He was genuinely concerned for her. She hadn’t yet adjusted to life in the Silver Moon Pack and knew nothing about her future school. He hoped Emma would focus on her own life and not be busy with livelihood. “Silver Moon Pack has allowances for minors; we are not short of money, you don’t need this.”
Emma’s hand paused in packing her things. She didn’t know how to explain it so that Patrick would understand better. She liked making coffee; she needed some kind of life similar to her old Pack. She was also saving money for her future departure, which wasn’t conflicting.
“Please don’t mind my other affairs. This isn’t illegal, is it?”
Patrick sighed. Indeed, it wasn’t. Watching Emma rush out the door, he didn’t even have the chance to drive her to work.
Patrick’s sleep wasn’t very good either; he had long been in a state of sleep deprivation. Last night, he only wanted to accompany Emma for a while. But listening to Emma’s breathing made his mood strangely different, as if a gentle hand was soothing his heart.
Soon, he fell into a dream.
He didn’t sleep that late. He woke up before Emma and found himself sleeping in her room. Holding Emma’s frail body, he felt a sense of happiness and fulfillment, and even more strangely, he felt it was only natural.
He was pleased with his little cheating act.
But it was too weird.
Patrick had thought about using his fingers to comb her smooth hair and gently kiss her forehead. The scent of her skin made Patrick see stars. He deeply inhaled her wonderful fragrance and didn’t want to wake her, selfishly wanting to maintain this subtle position a little longer.
It was as if he had stolen a wish from the moon goddess.
It calmed Patrick’s soul, and perhaps there would be more such happy accidents. Patrick had many things related to himself and the Silver Moon Pack that he wanted to tell her. Maybe she would fall asleep in his arms again, and Patrick yearned for the next time such a thing would happen.
Unfortunately, Emma’s unsympatheticdeparture in the morning shattered the sweetness he had just experienced, causing a pang of pain in his heart once more.
At that moment, he deeply regretted being a wolf-less guy. With or without his wolf, he felt nothing related to a destined mate. If his wolf were here now, it could tell him whether Emma was his destined mate, and perhaps everything would be different.
But for now, the most important thing was to go with Emma to meet Rory.