Chapter 3: What Happened To Nineteen?

My eyes opened to a pounding on the door. The familiar ceiling of my bedroom came into view. I looked around a bit, wondering why I wasn’t in a hospital. Did they manage to save me?

I remembered waking up coughing as smoke filled the old science building. I remembered the heat from the door when I tried to escape, the panic in my chest as I screamed for someone to let me out, and the voices outside as they finally realized I was trapped inside.

Then came the hissing beneath me.

The gas line.

I remembered the explosion.

I started inspecting myself for injuries, completely ignoring the knocking on the door. I was perfectly fine. I had no burns and I didn’t feel any pain. But that could’ve just been because my wolf healed fast. Or maybe I was asleep longer than I thought?

“Billie,” Alpha Trojan muttered from outside the door, his deep voice sounding curious.

“Yes?” I managed. My voice sounded throaty and nothing like my usually-on-edge self.

A second later, the door opened and he strolled in. I held my breath and watched him. He was truly handsome. I'd always thought so, even when I was younger, although I had never allowed myself to say it out loud.

Alpha Trojan was a wall of a man who made people notice him when he walked into a room. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with a big chest, and great abs that I shamelessly used to stare at whenever I caught him shirtless in the home gym. His dark hair was usually kept short, and there was something about his eyes that made it difficult to hold his gaze for too long.

Maybe it was because I'd grown up around him that I’d gotten used to noticing things about him that I probably shouldn't.

The way his sleeves were usually rolled up when he was working. The way he smiled when Marcus said something ridiculous. The way his voice changed whenever he was angry. And the way he commanded the entire pack.

I had a small crush on him for months.

It was embarrassing to admit, even to myself, because he never looked at me that way. To him, I was his ward. His best friend's daughter. Marcus's childhood friend.

Nothing more.

And I never gave him a reason to think otherwise.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked, sitting on the corner of the bed.

I really wished he’d stop treating me like a child.

I realized I was staring and quickly blinked. “Yes.”

He frowned slightly. “You look like you've seen a ghost.”

I almost laughed. If only he knew how many times I’d seen my life flash before my eyes because of Marcus. Multiple near-death experiences. And I’ll probably keep on counting after this.

Trojan tilted his head to the side. “You didn't answer my question.”

“What question?” I asked.

“How does it feel to finally be twenty?” He smiled.

I stared at him again.

Twenty?

“Don’t forget you have to pick up your dress for the party in two hours,” he whispered. “Marcus is already getting ready.”

Twenty. A party. He thought I was twenty and there was a party.

Was I out that long after the explosion? That would’ve meant I lost a year of my life. But at least it would explain why I was completely fine, because it would definitely take longer than a day or two to completely heal from something that devastating.

Was I really twenty?

I quickly threw the blankets off and stumbled off the bed, startling Alpha Trojan. I ran toward the bathroom like my life depended on it.

“That excited, huh?” Alpha Trojan muttered as I ran past him and entered the bathroom.

I gasped the moment my eyes landed on myself in the mirror. Sure enough, I didn’t look as pale or as pathetic as I did at nineteen. It was incredible what a difference a whole year in a coma could make.

I had my full, round cheeks back. I looked at my hands. I hadn’t even realised the significant change when I checked myself for injuries earlier. I looked in the mirror again. I looked like that girl I lost when Marcus’s pranks became too brutal and depressing. I looked older than that sixteen-year-old, but I looked damn good. And my tits had grown into double Cs overnight.

“Where is she?” Marcus’s voice came from the bedroom.

I froze for a second.

What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?

‘Don’t you dare think about hiding,’ Momo muttered inside my head. Well, at least she was okay. I would’ve really hated to lose her. Despite her defects.

“In the bathroom,” Alpha Trojan whispered. “I’m going to check on the preparations.”

A few seconds later, Marcus’s head poked into the bathroom door. “Are you done, fatty?”