~YULIA
The sun broke through the window blinds, filling the room with golden rays as I opened my eyes slowly- not fully awake. My head was hammering, a slight headache, living rent-free in it.
The bed seemed strange, it felt like a thousand year old brick wrapped around with pieces of bug eaten foams joined together with glue.
I moved my hands about it trying to locate my phone which I always kept under my pillow when it suddenly struck me, this wasn’t my bed.
“Where the fuck am I?”
My eyes flew open and jumped off it, my heart thumping hard in my chest. Only when my feet touched the floor did I realize that everything in the room was different.
Memories of yesterday’s events came rushing back. From the moment I realized that the sexy man I almost made out with in the club was my uncle to the journey home with him, getting attacked by those weird men and my encounter with Iran.
It filled me with dread.
“Fuck, it was no dream. It was all real. . .”
I sighed heavily when I felt a sudden sadness about losing my mother. I wiped the tears that had escaped my eyes away and found myself thinking of Issa again.
I looked down at my arm for a scar, where Iran had hurt me but it had disappeared, replaced by a red mark which was almost totally faded.
“Was I too harsh on Issa?” I wondered aloud, grazing the spot softly with my fingers.
My wolf shifted in agreement. Of course, the treacherous animal would accept anything that has to do with Issa.
“It’s all my fault,” I whispered, slamming my butt hard on the bed. Miles’ warning echoes came back.
Should I apologise? He really wasn’t at fault.
I remembered his scent and it made my blood rush as my wolf danced with excitement. If I had just ignored it and waited for the maids, I wouldn’t have experienced his ugly side.
“He’ll come around,” I whispered. “I’ll just wait for him to apologise again and that will solve everything.”
I reached for my phone which was on a brown cupboard beside the bed but it got me confused, I didn’t remember putting it there.
I had run into the room sobbing silently as anger boiled within me after Issa chased me away.
“Strange. . .”
Slowly, I turned towards the door, moving cautiously till I reached it. The key was lying across the room where I had thrown it in anger, after I locked it before crashing on the bed the night before.
Had Issa come in after I slept off?
Of course, it was his house, he definitely had a spare key.
My wolf danced treacherously with lust as the thought crossed my mind. Having Issa in the same room with me, staring at my body with all kinds of unimaginable things running through his mind, made me break into cold sweat.
I placed a hand on the doorknob, its cold surface sent spidery sensations to my body as I turned it. But, it was locked.
I made to pick up the keys when suddenly, I heard footsteps coming my way.
My wolf leapt in fear as I froze.
I broke away from my fear as soon as I had been gripped by it and tiptoed silently to the door, placing my ears on it. The sound of the footsteps sounded heavy as the floor vibrated with each step taken.
It was definitely not one person coming, two or three perhaps.
My wolf stirred restlessly within me as my thoughts became scattered.
Just outside the door, they stopped. The sound of keys jingling intensified my fears as the pit in my stomach deepened, causing a queer feeling to hit me- unprepared.
Did Issa send guards to arrest me because of our fight yesterday? I wasn’t sure, neither was I ready for unwelcome surprises.
My eyes scanned the length and breadth of the room for something- a weapon I could use to defend myself.
I sighted a baseball bat, sitting at a corner and ran up to it. My movements were swift, I wondered if I wasn’t getting worked up for nothing.
Whoever came in through that door first was definitely getting smashed on the head.
The door suddenly came unlocked and I lifted my bat in the air.
“YOU CAN’T TAKE ME-”
I screamed as the door burst wide open but stopped, when I noticed a beautiful woman, probably in her early sixties, dressed in white with her long hair flooded across her shoulders, accompanied by two armed guards.
Her brown eyes widened in disbelief and her mouth came open but no words came out of it as she froze on the spot.
“Ms. Yulia,” she began, finding her voice after what seemed like an eternity. “What is the meaning of this?”
My cheeks flushed in embarrassment and I immediately wished the ground would swallow me. The guards stared weirdly at me, whispering inaudible words between themselves
My wolf didn’t seem to help as she disappeared, abandoning me to face the moment alone.
“I… I,” I stammered, not finding the right words to explain my actions.
Sensing my worries, she smiled and placed a hand on my shoulders. “One can be insecure with the Lycan sometimes, it has always been that way, you’ll get used to him soon enough,” she assured, lifting her hands to my face. “You look just like your mother, she must be so proud of you.”
Her words rang in my head like a painful memory which was hard to forget. “You knew my mother?” I questioned, my wolf suddenly reappearing like it had never left.
“Mariana?” She chuckled. “Of course, I knew her, I was her nanny, both she and your uncle since they were very young. She was such a sweet child, the news of her death broke me, I wished I had seen her once again.”
Her eyes suddenly became distant and moist. She tried to clean it immediately, but it was too late- a tear dropped already.
I felt a wave of emotion in my heart, scenes from my mother’s funeral- before I escaped from it- came rushing to my memory. I suddenly felt connected to her in a way I couldn’t explain.
The next second, I was buried in the strawberry scent of her hair, crying uncontrollably on her shoulders. I missed my mother. She leaving me so soon was something I just hadn’t imagined.
“You should come down the stairs for breakfast,” she whispered after we disentangled from our embrace.
“I would be there shortly,” I replied, closing the door behind them as they left.
I picked up my bag and scanned through it for something to wear. I chose a hoodie and a pair of loose pants before hurrying out of my room for breakfast.
I didn’t bother to take my bath since I was going nowhere, I would do it later.
I let my hair flow and ran down the stairs into the dining hall, opposite It. My mouth seemed to have detached itself from my brain as I stared in disbelief at the 60-inch golden table, filled with varieties of food.
“What the fuck!” I screamed, unaware of the presence of other maids there.
All the food laid out before me was enough to feed fifty hungry werewolves but here it was in the house of one man. It left me wondering, just how wealthy was Issa?
I took my seat on one of the golden chairs. It was such that whoever coming down the stairs wouldn’t escape my sight.
I picked up my spoon to scoop the huge bowl of soup before me when that familiar forest scent I knew strolled into my nostrils.
I turned immediately in the direction of the scent and sighted Issa, coming down the stairs looking all majestic, in an all-black outfit.
His forest green eyes were beyond beautiful, I couldn’t help but get lost in it.
I tucked my hair behind my ears, watching him descend slowly from the stairs.
I was torn between greeting him and not. Shouldn’t he be the one to greet me first?
I sat straight on the chair, trying to look calm and composed even though my wolf was going crazy inside of me.
He was probably coming to apologise and we would get the heat off our heads.
Each step he took towards me made my heart beat triple. Everything suddenly faded out and I saw just him.
He was definitely going to apologise. I was sure my eyes glinted with mischief because I was already imagining how I was going to make him beg.
What’s the fun in giving in easily?
But the moment he reached me and I was about to clear my throat, he walked past me, ignoring me completely as if I never even existed in the first place. . .