Chapter 21

I couldn’t wrap my head around his revelation. My first instinct was denial.

Vampires weren’t real. They were fiction. Anyone that drank blood and claimed they were vampires were just crazy fuckers who read books about them as children and were never able to get past it.

Derek didn’t say anything as denial after denial filled my head, letting me work through it on my own.

After I wore out every excuse I could come up with, I decided to consider the possibility that vampires were real and Ezra was one of them. From what I knew about vampires, they couldn’t go out in the sunlight, and now that I thought about it, I never saw him during the day. When he showed up at my work, it was after the sun had gone down. Our night class started after sunset also. His obscenely pale skin now made sense with this in mind. I’d even made the comment that he looked like he hadn’t seen the sun in years.

Then there was how I’d always felt like there was something off about him—like he was playing the role of an average human but was unable to get the part right. It wasn’t too noticeable, but just enough to make me never able to relax around him.

I’d never gotten into the whole vampire craze: I was always more of a romance book kind of girl, so I wasn’t too familiar with the nuances of their lore. I knew the lore changed with each book and TV series, and I couldn’t take any of them as fact. A commonality in all of them was that they were fast and strong, which Ezra clearly displayed tonight. If I wasn’t mistaken, a lot of them also included the ability to hypnotize. Ezra was able to do something like this. Every time he was around me, it was like his scent tried to choke me and made my head feel fuzzy.

As I wrapped my head around the possibility that Derek wasn’t screwing with me, a thought came to me. “You’re not the only one that knows this, are you?” I knew the answer before I asked, but I needed confirmation.

Derek shook his head as he pursed his lips again. “No, I’m not.”

“Leon,” I guessed, and he nodded again. If Leon knew, then that meant so did Cassius. His actions these past couple of weeks only confirmed it. Through the hurt and anger at not being told a fucking vampire was my classmate, I realized something else. “That’s why he made such a big deal about me taking a night class.”

“Vampires will sometimes take night classes, wanting to update their education every few decades.”

“How do you know about them?”

“It’s complicated,” he said with a low sigh. “I promise you will get all of your questions answered, but you need to be patient. It’ll be easier for you to wrap your head around everything when we get to our destination. Just do something for me? Keep an open mind, and do exactly as I say when I say it. The forest isn’t a safe place for humans to enter on the night of a full moon.”

I was silent the rest of the drive, my thoughts racing as I considered his vague warning. Was he referencing werewolves with the mention of the full moon? Did they seriously exist too? If vampires existed, it made sense werewolves would as well, but it made me wonder what else existed. Were dragons real?

It was a good thing I trusted Derek. After nearly a half hour of driving, he pulled off onto a dirt road that led deep into the forest. As we drove, I heard a howl in the distance, followed by a chorus of howls in response. My heart felt like it hammered against my rib cage as my body went still, and I focused on keeping my breaths even. I could handle this; there wasn’t anything to be afraid of. It was just some wolves howling at the full moon.

Even as I thought the words, I knew they were a lie, but it was all I could do to keep myself from losing my cool.

We were probably a half hour into our drive through the forest when I noticed narrow dirt roads branching off the main one, leading into the trees. As we passed a branching road, I spotted a house. It was hard to tell in the dark and with the lack of light emanating from it, but the house didn’t resemble a shack or rundown cabin, so I took that as a good sign.

I didn’t ask who lived in the house, afraid he’d confirm my suspicions. I was already anxious and jittery enough as it was.

After another ten minutes of following the dirt road, we finally reached the end, where a towering mansion stood before us that was bigger than my former high school. The mansion was dark, with only a few lights coming from the downstairs windows. From what I could see illuminated by the car’s headlights, the mansion was built in a log cabin style with dark wood. While the grass and foliage surrounding the structure were wild and untamed, the building itself was well-maintained and not rundown like what you’d expect. Whoever lived here took good care of it.

Derek parked in front of the mansion, and anticipation fluttered in my chest and stomach as he turned off the car. Nerves buzzed through my body, but at the same time, curiosity as to why we were here and what I’d learn.

Derek turned to face me, his expression apprehensive. “Remember, do exactly what I say.” He waited until I nodded before he got out of the car, and I quickly followed suit, remaining close to the car just in case.

Rustling in the underbrush to my right had my heart rate picking up and me reaching for the door handle. “Don’t move, and don’t freak out,” Derek said as he hurried around the car to stand beside me.

Telling me not to freak out didn’t help ease my nerves, especially not when a giant fucking black wolf emerged from the trees. The damn thing was nearly my height and had glowing yellow eyes that tracked my every movement. The only things keeping me in place were Derek’s warning, his hand on my shoulder, and the fact the wolf didn’t seem aggressive.

I couldn’t hide my gasp as the sounds of snapping bones filled the air, making me cringe back into the car. The wolf’s black fur began receding into tan, glistening skin as its limbs began bending at awkward angles.

No fucking way.

It only took a few seconds, but those seconds felt like a lifetime until a man was kneeling where the wolf once stood. Despite how painful that must’ve been, he didn’t make any sounds indicating he was in pain as he returned to human form.

His tanned, sweaty skin was on full display with how he was completely naked. As he stood from his kneeling position, my gaze immediately shot up to his face, not wanting to get caught staring at the junk of a fucking werewolf. What if that offended him, and he ended up killing me?

He appeared to be in his late twenties, with short blonde hair and glowing green eyes that still tracked my every movement. “What happened?” He may have aimed his question at Derek, but his attention remained on me, and I wished he’d stop.

“This is Rhea Hale; a vampire tried abducting her from her dorm building.”

I shifted on my feet, and now that I was standing without adrenaline pounding through my body, my feet ached from the scrapes I received from running barefoot on concrete.

The man’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as he took in my appearance of a baggy t-shirt, leggings, and no shoes. When his gaze finally left me, I sagged against the car. “Let’s get inside,” he offered, his attention on the surrounding trees.

“Not to be rude or anything, but could you please put on some pants or something,” I said, struggling to keep my eyes anywhere but his junk. Not only was it difficult to keep my eyes on his face, but it was weird to have a conversation with a man I didn’t know when he was stark naked.

A hint of amusement filled his features as his lips twitched. “I sometimes forget how uncomfortable humans are with nudity,” he said to Derek, who chuckled in response as he guided me through the front door.

The front room was a massive open space, filled with cozy-looking furniture with a woodsy aesthetic. Derek guided me to a warm brown sofa and took a seat beside me. The man chose the chair across from us, and thankfully, he was wearing sweatpants. He rested his forearms on his knees as he looked at us expectantly. “Tell me what happened, and don’t leave out any details, no matter how small.”

“Do you want me to start with the attack or at the beginning?”

“The beginning.”

Letting out a low and heavy breath, I told him about my first encounter with Ezra and how I immediately had a bad feeling about him. This time, I didn’t leave anything out, including the feeling of being watched. Now that I knew he was a vampire, I was confident Ezra had been watching me from the start. I’d only ever felt it at night, never during the day. I’d never given it much thought because I assumed the fact it was night had heightened my paranoia.

At the risk of sounding insane, I even told him about the thoughts and how they were always centered around Ezra and only happened when he was around. I even told him about the uncomfortable shower vision, but I was light on the details.

He remained quiet throughout my explanation. His only reaction was raising an eyebrow every once in a while and stroking his jaw.

“It doesn’t sound like he wants to drain you,” he finally said as he sat back in the chair, crossing one leg over the other as he rested an arm across the back cushion. “Were the thoughts all romantic in nature, trying to convince you that you were interested in him?”

“Basically, if they weren’t about how hot he is”—I rolled my eyes and barely suppressed a sigh—“then they were about how I should trust him. It started small, random thoughts here and there that I was easily able to write off at first.”

The man let out a weary exhale as he rubbed his jaw again. “Cassius will not take this well.”

Derek snorted as he took a sip of the water he retrieved while I was telling my story. “That’s an understatement.”

“Cassius? Why would—” I let my words trail off as realization had me freezing in place.

No…

“Yes,” the man said as he read the shock and denial on my face. “He’s a member of my pack.”