CHAPTER THREE

She looked so guilty, it was beautiful to watch. 

I watched her from my room window, she didn’t shut the blinds. Maybe because she didn’t realize she was being watched. 

She moved around her room probably fussing about how she acted. A girl like her would want to make up for her actions. 

I was following her, I could have returned to the house whenever but I wanted it to be in that moment, to get her reaction. 

I was studying her, her weaknesses, her strengths, and everything about her. I was learning. 

And she wasn’t so hard to study. 

The werewolves I had brought to act as my parents were out, they were good at smiling in public and acting like my parents. 

This mission was mine and they were props. 

The job was simple; Find the lost daughter of Alpha Fred and Luna Celine. 

What an irony. 

My lips tugged into a playful smirk.

A werewolf, leading an anti-werewolf youth club.

Maya had no idea about her identity.

But the moment I saw her, I knew who she was. 

Her scent hit me, and my wolf, Tyler had screamed in my head like he’d been released from a lifetime in prison.

Mate. 

I’d hoped for a regular bond, born of a mark between two people. That was the plan but what I found when I stepped in that class was wild. 

It was dangerous, especially for me. 

My wolf wanted her badly, and he wanted her now. 

Not after she turned. 

He didn’t have that patience and my control got weaker anytime I was close to her scent. 

She didn’t even know who she was. 

She didn’t know I was her mate. 

But she would fall for me; atleast the mate bond would help. 

She probably already has. 

*** 

I made my move at school the next day. 

She stood by her locker, pretending not to notice me as I walked toward her. 

I found that cute. 

I leaned on the locker beside hers and offered a small smile. 

“Hey,” I said. 

She acted startled. “Hey.” 

“Listen,” I said, my voice lower and slower, a simple art of seduction she didn’t know. 

“About yesterday, I didn’t mean to scare you.” 

“You didn’t,” she lied. 

I tilted my head, she was falling for it. 

“You sure? Because you stopped and looked at me like I had a knife and I was going to jump you or something.” 

She winced. “Okay, maybe I was a little scared but it’s not your fault. I was just… Sorry,” 

“No need to apologize, I understand.” I said gently. 

She didn’t know how to respond. 

I held out my hand. “Let me carry those.” 

She hesitated, the books in her hands were stacked high but she finally handed them over, her fingers brushed mine as she passed the books to me. 

Her breath hitched, nothing audible but I heard it. 

She felt the electricity too. 

Good. 

I walked beside her, deliberately matching my pace with hers, we weren’t rushing but this was the slow unraveling of trust and I wanted her to trust me willingly. 

“I was thinking,” I said casually, “since you’re the only person here who doesn’t look at me like I’m a shiny new you, maybe you’d want to get coffee or something?” 

She glanced up at me, the height difference between us, more visible. 

“Coffee?” 

“Yeah,” I shrugged. “Or anything you’d like, ice cream even, but just so we get to know each other. You’ve been nice and that’s rare.” 

She smiled. 

With that, she had bitten into the hook. 

*** 

Maya didn’t know this type of love, she didn’t know affection and real closeness. 

I knew the Hawkes cared for her but they mourned around her and starved her of warmth. 

And I would give it to her, I would drown her in warmth. 

As we talked, I brushed a strand of her read curls behind her ear. 

Her cheeks flushed but she didn’t pull away. 

Tyler growled under my skin, pacing back and forth. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from reacting. 

She wasn’t ready for us yet, but soon she would be. 

The classes were a joke, I had already finished college, online of course, to stay hidden. 

So being in highschool again, it was like theater. 

But it was good as it gave me time, time to watch Maya and study her. 

She was quick to smile with me, it surprised her that someone wasn’t patronizing. 

I wanted to mark her already, but we hadn’t come full circle with the seduction. 

I would have loved to take her, to bury myself so deep inside her that she’d never questions the fact that she belonged to me. 

But I had to wait. 

At lunch, I made sure to sit close enough to brush her knee under the table. 

Zelda stared daggers from across the cafeteria, she’d been trying to get my attention but I didn’t even look her way. 

Not once. 

For her cruelty to my mate, I’d let her rage on, let her wonder why her silly schoolgirl charm didn’t work on me. 

She might be the school beauty queen; but she fell short to Maya's flawless and innocent beauty.

In the few weeks, Maya was already letting her guard down and laughing more when I spoke, brushing my arm when she gave me a napkin. 

She didn’t know how much her life had already changed. 

Her birthday drew closer, and with me in the picture. Her wolf would be forced to come out. 

Then she’d have only me to run to, I’d be there to show her who she truly was.