5

~Thea

His hair slips through my fingers, that tangle around the light brown strands.

Luca is mad. Furious actually. So irked by Casper's comments, he had taken it upon himself to prove that he could make me climax. I think he was proving it to himself more than anything.

But as I lay there, feeling the assault of his tongue against the most sensitive part of my body, I didn't feel anything but uncomfortable. Fuelled by anger, not love, Luca had decided to go down on me, and I wasn't enjoying it in the slightest.

For a start, I couldn't get Casper out of my mind. How he knew about me faking orgasms was chilling. People shouldn't just be able to look at others and tell that from one glance.

So instead of enjoying his tongue against me, I moaned when needed, and uttered his name as I pretended to finish.

As I pulled my clothes on, I noticed Luca looking proud of himself. It had boosted his ego, and I wouldn't doubt that he would tell Casper any time he saw him. So I decided I needed to wander into the Phantom Forest, and find where Casper lived.

Because I can't deal with a jealous boyfriend any longer, and I have a feeling Casper is the main cause of Luca's suddenly change of attitude. I'm going to find Casper and tell him to stay away.

Luca left not long after. He got a call from his father who reported another girl had gone missing. Despite being worried it might be June, I'm going to find Casper first. The sooner he is out of Luca and I's life, the better.

So I grabbed a black backpack, and stuffed it with a spare jacket, an umbrella, and a flashlight. I was prepared.

I started my walk with the afternoon sun on my back. Since yesterday, when Casper came to my house, and made me late for work, I've wanted to find his house. It was only fair me knowing where he lives, since he knows where I do.

So I walk at a quick pace down the beaten path I usually take to June's house. I hope she's okay. She locks her house up pretty good, and never goes out much. But with that broken window...No, she would have stayed at her parents house if it was that much of an issue.

Determined not to let he heaviness of my backpack get to me, I stalk on, pushing the odd branch away from my face, or bush sticking out of the dirt path away from my feet as I walk.

I have a vague idea of where Casper's estate would be. People said it was old and falling apart, and stuck out through the undergrowth, which means it won't be hard to find. Nowadays, the only people that go around the property is the ones who owned it, although no ones knows who does anymore.

Some rumours even hint that Alpha Jasper and his father lived in it centuries ago, before they both died. I think June told me once that their souls haunt the place.

Not that I believe that.

The walk ate up around an hour of my time. I had never expected it to take so long to finally find the estate Casper lived in. And despite there being no hint of this being his residence, it just seemed so...Obvious.

But it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. I expected run down. I expected chipping away at the edges, broken and deranged. Instead the house stands proud and tall, the sun reflecting off the classic wood. This wasn't the estate I was told to be frightened of.

This is a mansion. A palace in its own right.

The garden wasn't unkempt either. Plants grew around the concrete walls that surrounded the property, kept trimmed and neat. Someone had put great care into the home that stands many floors above me, wanting it to look delightful and airy.

I slip through the wrought iron gate that had blown slightly open. If Casper didn't live here, someone pleasant must do. Maybe that is foolish of me to think, but it is the drive behind the courage needed to actually knock on the door.

The front door presents itself in front of me like the gateway to hell. If Casper is really behind that door, then what will his reaction be when he sees me? Is he even home?

I knock twice before stepping back. Why is my heart beating so fast? Why am I asking myself so many questions?

I waited for at least a minute before knocking again. No answer.

My back had turned on the door by the time it had opened. I had given up on the idea of him actually opening the door, already planning how I was going to keep him away from Luca. That was until I heard the click of the door opening.

Slowly, I turn. Not only was I faced with Casper, but a half naked one.

I never knew a man without a shirt on could take my breath away until now. Leaning casually against the doorframe, I am fully aware Casper is watching my eyes drag down his torso. And at that moment I couldn't do anything but.

Not only did his abdominal muscles look as if they were carved from the personification of sex itself, but they glistened with a thin sheen of sweat. What I assumed was a tattoo ran from his shoulder, down to his hip, curving in and out of the muscles built into his body. I couldn't be sure it was a tattoo, as it looked like he had been born with darkened markings that didn't quite make a coherent shape.

A small towel was draped over his other shoulder, that I knew was used to mitigate sweat when working out. And it definitely seems as if he's been doing nothing else...

I blink. What am I thinking? I have a boyfriend, and I am stood staring at the chest of a complete stranger. But who am I to not appreciate a masterpiece of a body...No Thea, stop.

"What a pleasant surprise," Casper notes, drawing my gaze off his body. He assesses me through the thick locks of dark hair that cascaded across his forehead in a way anyone would be jealous of. I never really questioned his violet eyes, but maybe I should start to-because they hardly look normal.

I couldn't force the words out of my mouth.

"Would you like to come inside?" he asks. Glancing over my shoulder, I can tell he is either worried about the time of day, or the weather.

Finally, words find me. "I just came to tell you something-"

"You should really come inside," he insists, still not meeting my eyes, as if the clouds behind me are far more interesting. I shake my head in protest, until suddenly, a crack of thunder booms in my ear.

To reiterate, I hate mother nature. Sure I had braved the wind and rain the other day, but thunder was different. It may just be a sound, but it always had me cowering for fear, and today is no exception.

I push past Casper in my fright, rushing through the door which he closes behind me. Stumbling into the hallway, I brace my hands against either wall, my eyes squeezed shut. My fear of thunderstorms has overruled my rational thinking.

"Here," Casper murmurs. He drapes a mink blanket over my shoulders, and the feeling of softness against my skin instantly calms my nerves. "You can stay here."

His words are a warm promise. And despite the true reason for coming here, I am grateful his house is refuge from the storm.

I wince at the sound of another clap of thunder above us. "Sorry."

Why I am apologizing, I am not sure. Without a word, Casper coaxes me deeper into his home, down the dimly lit hallway. My fingers clutch the edge of the blanket around my shoulders, as I savour the feeling of Casper's hand pressed against my clothed back. Almost as if it's my lifeline.

"Nice home," I point out, drinking in the sight of the gathering-lounge-room he lead me into. It is decorated lavishly, and I know from just the sight of the old books lining the wall, and even the furniture, that this place is probably worth more than me.

"I only just finished putting the furnishings in," he tells me. I sit on the edge of his couch, sinking into the plush cushions.

I notice now that Casper is still shirtless, despite the cold that circles the area. He glances at me. "Tea?"

I nod gratefully. He disappears through a door for a moment, and I can't help but admire him as he walks out. His back is like a machine, with every muscles moving intricately as if to ensure he keeps his elegant gait and stance.

Other than the marvelous silk fabric and tapestries strung around the place, it is hardly decorated. No portraits. No evidence of the life Casper left behind to move to this Pack, or at the very least, this village.

He wandered back in a few minutes later, a shirt on-unfortunately-and a tea cup balanced between his fingers. I catch the gentle smile on his face. It really is a sight to see, and for a moment, I wished he would smile more often.

"Here you are," he says, handing me the tea. "It is special for calming nerves."

I take the cup, only to be surprised at the contents within. The liquid is a thick mixture of swirling black and grey. Gently tipping the cup so I could see what was in it properly, I notice the way the contents lag and spill like sludge around the rim.

"What the-"

"Will you drink it?" Casper questions, having found a spot on the couch opposite mine while I was inspecting the strange liquid.

He stared at me with such fiery curiosity I felt nerves within me spike. Opposite of what the tea is said to do. "Not if it isn't tea."

"And if someone else offered it to you? Your friend, your dad, your boyfriend?" He questioned.

His voice was demanding, but also smoother than silk. Obviously there was nothing more that he wanted to know about then this. But what he had asked took me by such surprise, I had to think about it.

"I suppose so, yes," I say warily.

Instantly, Casper's expression is cold, detached. He even looks slightly angry.

"In the cup, is a mixture of herbs meant to sedate someone. Make them drowsy and vulnerable," he tells me, looking anxious at his own words.

I gasp, the cup falling from my hands. The china shatters on the ground, the contents within soaking into the carpet by my feet. He tricked me...I had allowed myself to be lured into his psychopaths home.

I was up in a second, twisting around to dash down the hallway. The moment I am out of this house, I will call the Luca and demand he gets taken into the police station.

Except when I make it to the door, I realise with a sinking heart, that it is locked. And I can't see a way to unlock it.

Defeat beating away in my heart, I slowly turn around. I have never felt so devastated. So frightened of inevitable death. Because if he didn't rape and discard of me, my future could look a lot worse.

"Please don't kill me," I whisper.

Casper stalks slowly down the hallway, noticing how I am trapped. His eyes strip me bare, his gait slow and calculated, as if he is assessing which is the best way to kill me.

Instead, he surprises me with his words. "Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you."

But I don't believe him. He stands before me, eyes burning into my mind. Wordlessly, he leans forward, bracing his arms on either side of my head against the door.

Holy-

His head is on the left side of my face, hot breath brushing against my ear. I want to arch against the feeling, savour it. But the fear of being potentially drugged by him pushes through the feeling of his proximity, and the heat that it sends to my core.

"I'll never hurt you," he murmurs, the words radiating straight through my body. "Because if I did, I wouldn't have told you what was in that cup."

Truth. I could see it in his eyes. In my fright, I hadn't thought rationally about what had been in the cup...I had just thought about what it could possibly to do me. Maybe it was linked to the fact that I had probably made a big mistake walking into the stranger's house.

But the thunder...It has suddenly ceased.

"Then what do you want with me?" I question, my voice breathy. He seems to think thoroughly about my question.

Right now, I could reach out and touch the soft skin on his face, or even kiss him if I wanted to. Him being this close to me is terrifying, but at the same time, a part of me wants nothing more than to feel him against me...Wait, what am I thinking?

"If anyone...Anyone offers you a drink that looks like that, you don't take it," he says, as if he is able to predict the future and can see someone planning to force feed me the drink. I could have laughed in the moment. I could have taken it as a joke, but the look in his eyes suggests I shouldn't play around, when this is serious.

"Okay..." I mutter, still unable to move.

Casper waits for a moment, and I see a flicker of something in his eyes. Longingness? Sadness? It is masked in second, and he lets me go.

"I should go home," I tell him, anxious to get out of this house. His jaw clenches, and he leans over me, and for a second, I think he is going to trap me against the door again. Instead, he twists the doorknob, and swings it open.

"It is getting dark," he says, and I turn around to see he is right. But how? How does time pass so quickly around him? When I swear it hasn't even been an hour..."At least let me drive you home."

I did let him. Despite wanting nothing more than to say no, and walk back, an hour pushing through the undergrowth at night doesn't sound pleasant at all, and if I wander off the path...

I made him park further down the driveway, so my dad wouldn't question who I had shown up with. Perhaps he would demand to see Casper and intimate him as much as he does with everyone else in the town.

"So why did you come over in the first place?" Casper asks, as I was about to step out of his car. I pause. The true reason I had come over has been expelled from my mind the thunder struck, and hasn't reappeared until now.

I can't get out of this car until he knows. "I need you to stay away from me and Luca."

He looks surprised. Why do I feel so bad?