"Isabella, don't get me wrong. I'm not acting this way because of the mark," he cut me off. Then, he breathed out as if he was trying to calm himself down before continuing, "I genuinely care for you...I don't know what this is, but I need you by my side."My tears suddenly stopped flowing and I stared at him, my mouth agape and my confession stuck at the tip of my tongue. All I managed to do was stupidly choke on my tears before mumbling, "What?"Dylan seemed to get more and more anxious by the second. He ran his fingers through his hair out of nervousness as he started to subtly hop from one foot to another. "I don't know when or how. I just...""You just?" I urged him when he trailed off mid-sentence. My heart was beating dangerously fa

"Isabella," he whispered in a low voice. "It's not that far from here. I smell corpses...a lot of them." Immediately, my body began to shake in fear and dread. I wanted to know more yet was tempted to just walk away at the same time. But I couldn't possibly shake off my gut feeling. I knew then that I wouldn't be able to leave without thinking about this. Dylan turned to me and held me by the shoulders. He looked at me, boring his eyes deep into mine. The panic in his face told me that he knew what I was thinking.  "We should go. It's dangerous." "No," I shook my head. "I can't just...go."

Then, he transformed right in front of me.I heard his bones break and his clothes rip. His golden eyes glowed brighter than ever. And the next thing I knew, from where Dylan was stood a majestic black wolf. From where I was, I saw traces of the same scars on his torso that I admired so much. If I wasn't feeling so weak and tired, I would've mindlessly and carelessly reached out an arm to touch them like I always did. "Dylan..."I knew he heard me from the way his ears flinched, but he kept his eyes glued onto the military men who seemed to suddenly hesitate going after us. The crowd panicked even more, but they were now running away while circling around u

"I love you, Dylan."He only managed to pull away a little to look at me before he froze in shock at the moment the words escaped my lips. I understood his reaction since I was even shocked myself. I kind of blurted it out mindlessly, although I do mean every word. I would've preferred to say it in a more romantic setting, but here I was. The embarrassment sunk in a little too late, so after quite a long and intense staredown with a surprised Dylan, I hurriedly moved to bury my face into the crook of his neck, hiding the redness in my cheeks. "What?""I know you heard me," I replied, albeit it was more like a whimper rather than a proper answer. "Don't make me say it again.""But I do want you to say it again."Thankfully, he didn't force me to look at him, most likely sensing that I was too shy to make eye contact. Instead, he planted a kiss on my temple while brushing his fingers through my hair gently. If I wasn't so nervous at the moment, I would've been tempted to fall asleep at

I sighed once Enzo disappeared through the crumbling doorway, his hand relentlessly waving over his shoulder in a crude farewell. Then, I pushed myself onto my feet to walk towards our baggage that has been chucked into one corner in a hurry earlier to fish out the now-empty vial of pheromone cologne. It was so small that it fits conveniently into my palm which was probably why I never really considered the possibility that it was bugged. I held it up at eye level for a closer inspection. Nothing. Then the thought hit me. I unscrewed the cork stopper and after much struggle, surprisingly managed to take it apart with my hands, revealing a small almost capsule-like device inside that flickered with a red light. "Dammit", I cursed under my breath before throwing the empty bottle, tracking device, and bits of cork out the window both for good measure and out of frustration. It was a mistake that I hadn't been wary of Enzo and those rebels just because they showed me a little kindness.