Chapter 5.

Iris.

“Comfortable?” His voice slices through the silence, low and calm.

A beat. Once. Twice. I breathe in, shaky. “Yes,” I whisper.

Even in the dark, I feel his eyes on me, sharp and glowing. Watching. Assessing. Seductive? I don't know. Maybe not. 

“Good,” he says, his tone gentle, almost like a caress.

 He suddenly leaps.

In a single, breathtaking motion, his body coils and launches us into the air. His muscles flex around me. I gasp, clutching him tighter as the world vanishes beneath us. The wind rushes against my face, my breath stolen in the moment of flight.

I don’t feel fear. Just shock and adrenaline and  exhilaration.

We land hard with a thud. He absorbs the full impact with ease. How is that possible?

“You can open your eyes now.”

I blink them open, heart still pounding. We’re in front of a car. Headlights on. Driver’s side door wide open. I recognize it. The same car from when I ran, earlier. 

He lowers me gently by the passenger side and opens the door. He’s still naked, and despite everything, I avert my gaze. It’s ridiculous, I know, considering what I’ve seen tonight. But I can’t help it.

“Wear this,” he says, pulling a thick coat from the back seat.

I wrap it tightly around me once I’m seated. It’s warm. Has his scent. Heavy. Comforting. I sink into the seat, letting the weight of it press down the last tremors in my body.

He disappears behind the car. I hear the trunk open and close. When he returns, he’s clothed. T-shirt clinging to his chest, jeans hugging his hips.

He slides into the driver’s seat and drives.

We drive in silence, the world outside blurring into dark woods and heavy rain.

“Where were you headed?” he asks, voice low.

“I… I was headed to Alpha Gerald’s home,” I stammer. My throat is raw. “I’m supposed to be his mother’s new caregiver.”

Another pause. I'm uncomfortable.

I turn to him, hesitating. “Dinah… the diner lady…” My voice cracks. “She was killed.”

“I know.” His voice is quiet, clipped. “I smelled her blood on them.”

There’s something beneath the edge, grief, maybe, but he doesn’t show it.

“I’ll notify the authorities.”

That’s it. That’s all he says.

My chest tightens. “But… I need to give a statement. Tell them what happened. They talked about a rule, about humans not coming out at night…” I pause, trembling. “They killed her.” My voice breaks. “They ripped her apart. She didn’t deserve that…”

Tears well up, blurring my vision. I curl into myself, not wanting him to see. But the pain is too much, too fresh. I saw raw death in the hands of these beasts. My head aches. My heart heavy.

He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t turn.

“I’ve handled the vampires,” he finally says. “They broke a rule, too.”

I glance at him, confused. “What rule?”

His jaw tightens. Then, calmly: “No assaulting females on my territory.”

His territory?

I meet his gaze. His golden eyes glint in the dark, unreadable. But something in them pulses, control. Power. Finality.

We drive the rest of the way in silence. I don’t press him. The weight of what I’ve been through still clings to me, heavy as wet clothes.

Eventually, we reach a large, iron gate. It slides open soundlessly. The car glides forward, and a wide driveway unfolds before us. Streetlamps cast golden pools of light over cobblestones and manicured hedges.

We stop at the front steps of a grand estate.

I stare in awe. It’s not a house, it’s a gigantic mansion. Elegant, shadowy, and silent.

“My things…” I whisper. My voice breaks the silence between us.

He glances at me, but says nothing.

I wrap the coat tighter. I feel small beside him. Drenched in emotion. Extremely exhausted. But safe. How ironic, right? 

“Is this… Alpha Gerald’s place?” I ask, voice trembling slightly.

Before he can answer, two men in black suits approach.

“Sir,” one of them says with a nod, eyes briefly flicking to me.

“Get her a room and fresh clothes,” the man beside me commands. “And see to it that the mess near and at Dinah’s diner is handled. Inform the authorities about her death.”

His voice has shifted; firm, authoritative.

The men exchange a look. “Sir… what about this lady…?”

“She’s the new caregiver recruited for my mother.”

I freeze.

He turns to me fully now. That confident smirk tugging at the edge of his mouth.

“She resumes tomorrow.”

The pieces crash together in my mind. My heart stutters.

He’s Alpha Gerald Ford.

The man who just tore apart three vampires. The werewolf. My rescuer. The very employer I came here to serve.

And now I’m standing in his world.

Drenched. Shaking. Wearing his coat.

And completely unsure whether I’ve just escaped death. Or I just walked right into death's den.