Chapter 5 - The pull

My heart hammered against my ribs as I stood in front of room 254. I had considered turning back a thousand times, but something kept pulling me back. Or someone.

I brought my hand up to knock for what had to be the thousandth time in the twenty minutes I had stood there when the door suddenly opened.

I jerked back, an awkward smile appearing on my lips.

“Oh” surprise spread across his face, his eyes widening.

“Uhmm” a second of awkward silence stretched between us

“I came bearing wine” I raised the wine and immediately regretted how stupid I sounded.

His gaze lifted to the bottle before returning to me.

“Okay?” He sounded like he wasn’t sure what to think but he invited me in anyway.

I steadied myself before walking in trying to keep my balance.

“I figured I didn’t thank you for…” the minutes I had spent practicing what to say meant nothing the moment I turned around.

He stood a few feet from me with a towel hanging low around his waist, his bare chest was still damp from the shower. Droplets of water clung to his skin, trickling down the defined lines of his abs, before disappearing through the ‘V’ that formed beneath the towel.

I swallowed hard.

My gaze followed one last drop before I forced myself to look away.

“…what happened earlier”.

I saw a smirk tug at the corner of his lips, he saw me looking. He definitely did.

“Okay” he turned around towards his closet.

I quickly turned my attention to anything else in the room. Fan, curtains, rug.

Painting….

I stood in the middle of the room pretending to be intrigued by the painting of two lovers enjoying the night on his wall. It was beautiful.

Or maybe I just needed something to look at.

Growing up, painting had been the one thing that made me feel connected to my mother. I could recall the morning sun spilling through the windows, making her fair skin glow as she sat with a brush between her fingers drawing anything that crossed her mind.

She used to say painting was her way of expressing her feelings she couldn’t put into words. Sometimes I wondered if she ever painted a portrait of my father but talking about him had always been like stepping into a room no one wanted to enter. It had always been a subject better left untouched.

But now, standing in this room, my eyes remained on the painting but my mind was nowhere near it. The heat spreading through my body made sure of it. The painting was supposed to be a distraction for me but it wasn’t working.

“What do you think that painting means?”

I spun around so quickly that my heart jumped into my throat. He was only a few breaths away.

“Woah” his lips curved into a smile. “I didn’t mean to scare you”.

Without thinking, I took a step backwards. But my body wanted to take two steps forward. It felt as though there was an invisible thread connecting us, tightening every time I tried to move away and the more I fought it, the tighter it became.

KAEL’S POV

“What are you thinking about?” Zane asked, now standing a few feet away from me.

“No one” I shoved him away when realized I had been staring at the wall for over few minutes.

“Ohhh, so it’s a person” he held on to me “Who is that?”

“You” I pushed him away. “Zane, please go away, I need to shower”

Zane stopped and smiled as if he had just solved a case. “Hold up”

“Is it the lady from the restaurant?” his eyes widened in shock.

I paused and stared at him for a while, my mind torn between letting him know and keeping it to myself. Without much hesitation, I crossed the room in few steps and sat at the edge of the bed.

“I don’t know, Zane. Something feels… different” my leg bounced against the off-white tiles that covered the room.

“Hmmm,” he raised his index finger to his temple, putting on a thoughtful expression “Zane the therapist to the rescue” he pointed it at me.

I watched him for over a minute pace back and forth then he stopped directly in front of me.

“Positively or negatively?”

My thoughts spiralled trying to find an answer. “Positively… negatively” I sighed “both I guess.”

“Could she be your mate?”

Mate.

This was one word that scared me. Another is pack. Another is werewolf. I could go on and on but I didn’t need to. The thought of the werewolf world was something I had fought hard to forget but how can one forget the place that made you who you are?

So I just avoided talking about it until now. Zane immediately regretted saying it just as soon as it left his mouth.

“I’m sorry…” he mouthed and I forced a smile out of the corner of my lips.

“It’s not possible. I lost access to that a long time ago”

He nodded at me, not convincingly but I didn’t need to convince him. I was sure of the curse the moon goddess had placed on me. She said to live like a human for the rest of my life and humans don’t have fated mates.

“Well, if you like her, then maybe keep in touch with her” he said heading towards the door.

I had no interest in keeping a woman, especially not a human. I had been in the human world for almost ten years and the only things I’ve had to do with ladies were the regular kisses, blow jobs, hand jobs, whatever they were comfortable with.

Don’t get me wrong, they were all attractive but I wasn’t fazed. Maybe I’m mistaken and what I felt for the lady at the restaurant was a regular attraction.

“Thanks” I stood “…therapist”

“If you need me, you know where to–”

I didn’t let him finish before pushing him out. “I hope I don’t need you. Goodnight”