5. Hoodie

Izzy’s pov

Why did he look at me that way? It was making me feel all kinds of things, and once again, I felt like I was stuck in some romantic novel or movie. I had never had someone look at me the way Orion did. As if I were the most beautiful person in the world.

I had seen my dad look at my mother that way, but I was pretty sure there was no way Jordan would ever look at me the way Orion was looking right now.

My eyes went down, and I took a few more bites of my food. While I enjoyed the company, it was hard to keep lying to these people. I barely knew them, but they invited me over to dinner and had been nothing but nice to me. I could never tell them anything important about my life. It would either put them in danger or make them think I was insane.

Humans didn’t know about werewolves, and for good reason. They would try to hunt us, or worse. We had healing powers, we could shift, and our communities were completely different from the way humans lived. They had a president, congressmen and women, and a mayor, and we had an alpha, a beta, and a gamma. They didn’t have mates or duties like we did. But if humans knew about us, they’d try to use us or experiment on us. I had seen enough movies to know humans' first instinct was to either kill the unknown or use it.

If I was going to have to hide from Jordan, I would have to get used to living among humans, knowing that even if I found someone to share my life with, I wouldn’t be able to tell him the truth. It was probably better to be alone anyway.

But what was I thinking about right now? Planning an imaginary future because one very handsome man looked at me for a few minutes? Instead, I should focus on getting that job and making enough money to move somewhere even more secluded. Or maybe a busy city would be safer? I wish I knew anything about living on my own or trying to escape a very angry future mate.

In movies, they dye and cut their hair and get a fake passport, but I didn’t even have a passport, only a driver’s license that was hidden in my backpack. And I love my hair too much to dye it. Maybe I could finally get that haircut I wanted, though.

“You’re a thinker too, aren’t you? I can see the cogs working inside your beautiful head.” Erin said.

I faked a smile; this was the longest I hadn’t been busy studying or going to stupid classes my parents wanted me to go to. I always dreamed about having a day off, but this day had been miserable. I spent the whole day reliving the last moments I had with Jordan and Finn.

I didn’t expect to be thrown into a social gathering so soon, and I hadn’t prepared myself properly for what I could or couldn’t tell them. I needed a game plan.

“I guess I am.” I replied, “but I’m mostly just tired.”

Erin looked at the bruises on my neck but didn’t say anything about them, which I appreciated. “I can imagine you being tired. Did it take long for you to get here?”

“It did.” I replied, being as vague as possible.

“Well, tomorrow, when you finish eating breakfast, Orion can take you to meet my ex-husband, and we’ll see if we can get you a job. That’s one less thing to worry that pretty little head of yours about.”

That was the second time she called me beautiful, and it felt strange. I mean, werewolves did have superior genes to humans, so we were perceived as more beautiful than the average person, but I had been told I was ugly and worthless for years. The only people who called me beautiful were my parents, but they were forced to say that I was their child. But Ezra called me pretty before, too.

It didn’t matter anyway. I had decided long ago that it didn’t matter what I looked like; it was what was inside that mattered most. Yet a tiny part of me loved hearing it. Perhaps because the last time I saw Jordan, he made me feel disgusting and powerless.

I shuddered thinking about him, and Orion’s eyes found mine again, “are you cold?”

I shook my head, but before I knew it, Orion stood up and handed me a hoodie from the back of the room. It smelled like him, and I was tempted to stick my nose on the sleeve to inhale the scent further. He smelled like books. It was crazy, but he did. It was my favorite scent in the world, and it reminded me of every time I got to open a new book and find a new way to escape from my life for a while.

I wasn’t cold at all, but I kept the hoodie on until dinner was finished. I started taking it off, but Orion shook his head, “it’s fine; you can give it back another time.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“See you tomorrow, Izzy.” Orion replied, giving me one of the most beautiful smiles I had ever seen.

Shit, this crush would be the death of me. I hadn’t even known this man for twenty-four hours, yet he made my knees weak by merely looking at me, and the way my name sounded coming out of his mouth was just perfect.

Erin and Ezra seemed to talk amongst themselves, and they giggled, which earned them a glare from Orion. For a second, I felt this familiar feeling that I got whenever our Alpha or Jordan got angry. This feeling of an aura slipping out, letting people know they meant business. Erin and Ezra seem to feel it, too, because they stopped laughing and began talking to Orion in sign language.

I really needed to learn this language. It almost felt like I was stuck at home again, where everyone was mindlinking each other, and I sat there not knowing what they were talking about. But it wasn’t just that I felt excluded; it looked beautiful, and it could be useful to have a way to communicate that didn’t require a voice.

Like my own secret language with someone like Orion.

I almost laughed at my own thoughts. Someone... Like I could get a guy like Orion anyway and have a happy ever after. I needed to make sure I was safe and not drag people into my problems. 

I walked to my room, brushed my teeth, and took off my bra. I sat down on the bed, thinking about my plan.

Step one will be to earn some money, and then I think my safest choice would be to go as far away as possible. Maybe Europe? But that would require a passport. Okay, so leaving the country is out of the question, so I just needed to find a place where it would be difficult to find me. Werewolves wouldn’t be able to track me in a big city, I think? Goddess, I should have read more mystery and spy  books instead of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte.

I laid down on the bed, wearing nothing but Orion’s hoody and my underwear, inhaling his scent. His scent was calming, and I closed my eyes, hoping to get a good night’s sleep.

Unfortunately, not even Orion’s scent was enough. I dreamt about Jordan marking me forcefully, and the whole pack was laughing while my blood dripped down his mouth. I looked down and saw the blood from my neck flow down on my torn-up wedding dress.

I screamed out when I suddenly felt hands on my shoulders. I opened my eyes, bowing my head in defeat. “Please, Jordan. I’m sorry I left! Please show mercy.”

A low growl came from the man in front of me, who was slowly touching my arms up and down. “It’s Orion. You were screaming, and I was worried you were in trouble. No one will hurt you here; they’ll have to go through me.”

I looked up to see Orion’s hazel eyes look at me with concern. “It was just a nightmare,  Izzy.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, “it was just a nightmare.” I repeated the phrase, trying to calm myself.

“Who’s Jordan?”

I shook my head, not wanting to talk about him.

“He’s the one who hurt you, isn’t he?” Orion said, touching my neck softly where the bruise was. His fingers brushed over the bruise and over the area where Jordan marked me in my dream.

I almost moaned; the area was so sensitive, and Orion’s touch felt so good. Goddess, what was wrong with me?

“Yes, but I don’t want to talk about it. Please, I’m fine. Like you said, it was just a nightmare.” I said, looking at the clock, that showed 3.43. Shit, it was hours before breakfast would start. I used to love waking up at 3 and realizing I still had a few hours to sleep, but I really didn’t want to sleep right now.

Orion let go of my arms and nodded, “okay. But if you need anything, just let me know. I’m in room 20; just call. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

He looked me up and down and smirked before turning around and walking out of my room.

I looked down to see that I had fallen asleep in his hoodie and had kicked the blanket off. It looked like I was sleeping in nothing but his hoody because it covered my underwear. I looked like a freaking pathetic loser. Who does that? Go sleep in a hoodie someone borrowed you?