CHAPTER 5. Where Danger Feels Like Heat

This is… crazy.

I could hear my heart pounding right in my ears. I hoped he couldn't hear it, and couldn't hear the rattling of my brain trying to lie.

"Do you really not remember anything?" His deep voice broke the silence.

I looked up at him.

Morning light spilled across his face, catching on that sharp jawline, turning him into something unreal, like a statue carved from ice and bad decisions. 

I gulped, trying to keep my heartbeat steady. Don’t mess this up.

“I… I woke up in a rotten shack,” I said, forcing the words out slowly. “I didn’t know the people there. It's just... they treated me badly.”

Yes, that part wasn't a lie. I remembered every second of the pain. How Ella and the pack members laughed when they were pelting me with gravel. I also remembered how Victor easily broke my finger.

But in front of this man with a collection of silver rifles on his wall, the truth was a death sentence.

Silence followed for too long. His gaze didn’t soften. If anything, it sharpened, like he was waiting for something, for me to slip, maybe?

My fingers curled into the sheets. Did he notice? The hesitation? The way I chose my words too carefully?

I pressed a hand to my head, fingers tangling in my hair, like I was trying to hold myself together. My eyes flicked back to him, and I froze.

Why was he looking at me like that?

Was he not buying my lie?

"I... I have to go," I muttered.

Yeah, I needed to scram before he grew suspicious of me, or worse, my true form was revealed. I had to go, now!

However, the moment my feet touched the floor, my world spun. Pain slammed into my chest with sharp and crushing force, like something invisible had decided my lungs were optional, and I collapsed.

Ugh.

Instinct took over me in an instant, and my hand flew to my neck. But… there was nothing there.

"Huh?" My fingers brushed bare skin.

No collar.

My pulse spiked. No, no, there was no way. Was this man the one who...

The man stepped closer, squatting right in front of me. "Only a monster would put something that disgusting around a human neck."

His long, rough fingers lifted my chin, forcing me to look into his hypnotic dark eyes.

"I took it off when I first brought you here," the man said. “Can you breathe easier now?”

Easier, you ask?

His thumb brushed the scar on my neck. His touch was cold, very cold, sending a strange stinging sensation.

I flinched.

Heat spread through my chest, sudden and traitorous, clashing violently against the instinct screaming at me to pull away. But this man, this human, was the enemy. So why did my body hesitate?

My breath hitched.

No... it doesn't get easier to breathe.

"Well, too bad, though, you can’t go yet,”

My heart sank. Was he suspicious? Did he know I wasn’t human?

“Why?” I asked, my voice a little too high. “I’m better now. I don’t want to bother you.”

“Is this what you call better?” The man frowned, then let out a dry snort. “More than that, I need you as a living witness to the depravity of those hairy monsters. I want to ask you a few things about them.”

“B-but I—”

When his eyes met mine at this close range, it felt like something was squeezing me inside. He was a human, wasn’t he? But why did his gaze… remind me of an Alpha of my kind?

“Besides, didn’t you say you lost your memory?” He tilted his head. “If you leave now, do you know where to go?”

"Ah." My eyes blinked rapidly. “That’s right… where should I go?”

“Stay,” he said. “At least until we figure out who you are.”

My brows pulled together. “Who I am?”

He held my gaze, unblinking. “You said you don’t remember, didn’t you?”

“…Right.”

Damn it. If he started digging deeper, this could go very wrong.

His eyes lingered on me a second longer, then slowly dropped.

I followed his gaze, and heat rushed to my face as his eyes landed right on my chest so casually.

I was wearing only an oversized striped shirt, with the top button undone! And underneath… nothing. No bra, no underwear. Just my skin in direct contact with the thin fabric.

I hugged myself immediately, glaring at him. “Don’t tell me, you’re the one who took off my clothes too?”

He just shrugged.  “Who else?”

My stomach tightened.

I looked away, jaw clenching. "I... I need decent clothes. And… ahem, underwear,"

“I don’t have those.”

“You’re joking.”

He didn’t answer. Just opened a drawer and tossed something at me, and I caught it. A… black boxer, huge ones I was sure both of my legs would fit through one hole.

I stared at them, then at him. “This is your solution?”

“It’s that or nothing.”

His tone didn’t change. That was the problem. Like this, crouching here, exposed, and vulnerable, meant nothing to him at all. My grip tightened around the fabric.

Fine. Better than nothing.

“Good,” he said. "Now, go back to sleep.”

“I didn’t agree to—”

I didn’t finish when he already moved too fast. One second, I was upright, and next, I was in his arms.

My breath caught. Not just from the sudden movement, but from how easily he lifted me. Like I weighed nothing. Like I was nothing.

My hand instinctively pressed against his solid, unyielding chest. And for a split second, I forgot to push him away.

That was the most terrifying part.

His thick arms wrapped around my waist and under my knees, sending a kind of electric shock that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. As he lay me back down on the pillow, our faces were mere inches apart.

His warm, sandalwood-scented breath brushed against my face. Our gazes locked. For a moment, I forgot he was the man who slaughtered my people.

"Stay here. I'll prepare some food," he said, without breaking eye contact.

As he turned around, I grabbed his sleeve.

He stilled. Slowly, he looked back at me. "What is it?"

If he really hated werewolves… then I would risk using him.

“Help me kill them.”