Chapter 3

— The Gentleman in Black

Lena rolled out of the bed, breathless, panting. She couldn't count how many times she'd had that nightmare. All over and over again, a recurring memory stalking her in her sleep like it was trying to show her something, tell her something. Lena wasn't interested in that. Especially when what she really wanted was to forget all about that day. It ruined everything for her. And so it felt cruel of the world to let her relive it every night.

She looked over at Jude's side of the bed. Of course he wasn't there, what was she expecting? As she looked away, her eyes suddenly caught the shining glass of a bottle. His rum was still here? That was interesting. Maybe that was what she needed; a good dose of alcohol to help her forget her trauma.

She rolled over to his side of the bed and grabbed the bottle by his nightstand. Reading the label that was on the largely printed ‘Olgsburg,’ she shrugged. The bottle was almost empty, Jude was sure to find out that someone had drank from it. But at that point, she couldn't care any longer. She stuck the neck of the bottle into her mouth and gulped down its content as fast as she could. Placing it back on the nightstand, she let out a wobbly “Oooh,” and smiled to herself. Alcohol tastes awful but it did make her feel better. She wanted more. Where could she get more?

She walked into the kitchen, checking the stalls, cupboards and drawers for anywhere Jude could be hiding his stack of alcohol. Her failure stung her personally. She was disappointed that she couldn't find any. Not a single trace. Maybe he had left to get more. Where would that be? she wondered. Where is he always off to anyway?

The thought of alcohol creeped back into her pondering once again and she groaned, slamming her fist on the already fragile kitchen table. “Oh, shit,” she let out an oath when she heard it creak. She thought about sneaking into the Landing once again and maybe finding her way to Omon's bar. Omon was nice, there was no way he would rat her out or deny her a nice bottle of wine or maybe beer, she wasn't picky.

She groaned again, “It's way too dangerous.” And she also didn't want to ruin any chances she had of returning there once again. . . in the future.

She also doubted Omon would have any of that Olgsburg rum. It seemed nice.

Wait. Her mind flickered and she turned to look at their bedroom. She hurried inside, grabbing Jude's bottle of rum once again and reading its label. “Olsburg, Made in Barbados.” This was human made grum. Lena frowned, disappointed to know that her mate had been off to the human societies without her. It was something she always wanted to do, he knew that and yet. Perhaps there truly was no way she could change him. She wondered if the moon goddess ever made mistakes with allocation of mates.

A few minutes later, Lena was all dressed up. She had spent some time arguing with herself whether or not she should visit the human side of the world. The Wolf Landing would have been against her and her pack's too. But she wasn't in Wolf Landing anymore and she didn't have a pack, so what was holding her? Absolutely nothing.

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It was 12:35 when Lena had walked into the city. The place was like a living land, there were lights on every end and cars driving as fast as foxes on the tarred roads. 

It was her first time in the city of humans. It wasn't something she liked to admit because she was twenty-five, it would be odd to any werewolf in a wolf pack if she told them she'd never been with the humans. But she heard stories, especially the male ones. They were like normal male werewolves but hornier and even more disrespectful. They were something she wasn't sure she wanted to experience in her first night in the city of humans. 

It didn't take long for her to find a bar.

Lena had to give it to the humans. They knew exactly how to spend their time and they did it by having fun. She counted over thirty people in that bar, somewhere dancing, some sitting together, eating and just very few were with her on the barside. She couldn't help but feel that she looked very lonely sitting on the barside, watching as others danced and talked. 

She sipped on her rum. Olgsburg, just as she'd wanted. She'd tried other stuffs too, but none of which suited her taste. She didn't mind trying everything because she had no idea how she was going to pay.

“Miss? The gentleman in black ordered this for you.” Lena turned to the bartender who had just placed a glass of red wine in front of her, pointing to her left. She followed his finger, faintly surprised at what had happened. 

The man he pointed to smiled flirtatiously at her and indeed the bartender was right, he really was a gentleman in black. He looked around six foot five, sun blond hair and a thin pointed nose that detailed his facial features better. Below his nose was a bright pink pair of lips that he had dampened with his wine. He wore a long black coat, black trousers, a white shirt with a black tie and a pair of black sunglasses she wished he wasn't wearing so she could tell what color his eyes were. Lena could do nothing but smile back.

She took a small trusting sip of the wine and her eyes lightened in surprise. It tasted amazing. What was it? She took another sip, this time letting the fruity liquid settle on her tongue as she savored it.

“Pinot noir,” a deep husky voice said to her.

She dropped the glass immediately, almost choking and turned to see the gentleman now standing shockingly close to her, a wide charming smile below his beautiful nose. “I'm sorry what?” she asked, flustered.

“Pinot noir,” he repeated. “It's one of the fruitiest and most expensive red wines in the world.”

“Oh,” Lena said, she was so sure that she was blushing. “I didn't know that.”

The man didn't reply, but she knew he was staring at her. She could feel his eyes burning into her frail skin, making her outrageously nervous. She caught his stare and they both laughed.

“I'm sorry for staring,” he said. “It's just. . . I haven't seen you around here before.”

“Yes,” Lena nodded her head. “I'm not from around here. I'm just. . . visiting.”

“Oh,” he nodded. “Are you alone?”

She smiled at the question. “Yes. I guess I stood up.”

“Someone stood you up?” he asked, his eyebrows raising so high, Lena could see them. “Well, then they have some guts, standing up to someone like you.”

“Someone like me?” she asked.

He took his face away, smiling down at the table. “I'm really sorry, you are just so . . . terribly gorgeous. I have a thing for saying what I feel, what I think and . . . I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met.”

Lena couldn't help it, she let out an overjoyed laugh. At least it stopped her from blushing like a teenage girl. “The most beautiful woman you've ever met?”

“I cross my heart,” he said, beaming nonstop at her.

“Alright, alright,” she gushed. “I'll take that.” She took another sip of the Pinot noir and licked her lips sensually, knowing he was watching.

“I'm Maverick,” he said, taking off his glasses and offering his hand.

Lena froze. Under the green blaze of his emerald eyes, she froze. They were bewitching as she looked at them, calling her in, seducing her just by looking. “Hey?” 

Lena blinked. “Yes? Oh, I'm sorry.” she smiled, shamefaced. “I'm Lena.”

“It's nice to meet you, Lena,” Maverick replied.

“You too,” she glanced again at his glowing eyes. “You have the most beautiful eyes, you know that right? Why are you hiding it with those sunglasses.” 

Maverick sighed, then smiled softly. “Because it tends to be the only thing everyone notices.”

Lena's eyes widened that very second, realizing that she'd just made a mistake. “Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so so—”

“No, it's okay.”

“Really, I'm very sorry.”

“I was just messing with you,” Maverick declared. “Sorry.”

Lena frowned playfully and crossed her arms over her chest. Maverick's gaze dropped that same second to the deepening V of her cleavage and a bolt of desire shot straight from his eyes down to his groin.

“If it's any consolation,” he said hoarsely. “People are actually a bit obsessed with the whole green eyes thing.”

“I don't think that worked,” Lena chortled, noticing where his eyes had gone. “But thank you for trying.”

They both shared a laughter that only lasted a couple seconds as they began to accept what they both wanted from each other. Lena and Maverick glanced at each other and they couldn't resist any longer. He wrapped his arms around her, knowing that she wouldn't object and lowered his mouth to hers. She melted against him and he felt her melt, and as they kissed, the same current of passion ran through them. They continued to kiss.

“What am I doing?” Lena heard herself say out loud, losing her breath.

“I don't know what i'm doing either,” Maverick said, kissing her soft pale lips as he spoke. The demands of his body telling him exactly what to do and his weak mind unable to defeat them. 

Lena kissed back, grabbed onto his blond rugged hair and swam her fingers inside of every lock. Her pulse was racing.

“This is what we should do,” Maverick spoke in her ears, his deep husky voice seducing her thoughts. “The way I see it, we have two options. We can either stop this right now and pretend we never met each other. . .” Their lips unlocked.

“Or?” Lena asked, terribly wishing that there was an 'or.'

His eyes darkened. “Or we can go somewhere, so we can continue this in private.”

Lena stared into his eyes, took one deep challenging breath and pushed her lips into his once again.