Chapter 22

“A member of your pack? You’re the—”

“I’m the Alpha,” he finished for me, looking amused by how I was gaping at him and struggling to string words together.

Holy shit. As with vampires, I wasn’t too well-versed with werewolves, but even I knew the Alpha was the leader of the pack. The one you didn’t want to fuck with. He was younger than what I expected from an Alpha, but even so, I could see it now that he told me. He exuded the confidence and strength of a man who knew he could easily kill you with his bare hands, which was frankly terrifying.

“If we’re getting shocking revelations out of the way, your roommate Adalind is also a member of the pack,” Derek said, shrugging when the Alpha arched a brow at him, and my jaw dropped.

Addie was a fucking werewolf? That wasn’t possible. She was my roommate and one of my best friends. If she were one, I think I would know. There would have been signs…

Her plans. Her monthly fucking plans she was always vague about when it came to the details, and the next day she was always exhausted. I bet if I looked back at the full moon schedule, I’d find her plans, and the full moon would coincide.

I couldn’t form words as betrayal sliced at my chest. Now that I was thinking over our friendship, there were other signs. She never had trouble moving through our room in the dark, while I’d always bang my hip or foot on the furniture. She’d always had excellent hearing and an unbelievable sense of smell. Whenever someone wore an obscene amount of perfume or cologne, she’d end up having a sneezing fit.

Shaking off my thoughts of Addie, I returned my focus to the Alpha, who was carefully watching my reactions. “What happens now?” It was my roundabout way of asking if he’d kill me for knowing his secret.

“Take her to the guest cabin.”

Derek stood without asking questions or making any comments, gesturing for me to walk ahead of him. I paused at the front door, glancing back at the Alpha werewolf, who was still sprawled back in the chair. “We’ll speak again tomorrow when it’s safe.”

I didn’t say anything in response or allow myself to think about how they kept alluding to it being dangerous for me to be here. I was having a hard enough time keeping it together as it was.

With the knowledge that there were werewolves out in the forest, I hurried to the car, limping from my aching feet. “I can’t believe I just met a werewolf,” I whispered in stunned amazement once I was in safety of the car. This was not how I expected my night to go. I expected a boring night in my dorm, alone. I didn’t think my whole world would be turned upside down by discovering vampires and werewolves were real, living amongst humans.

“Technically, you’ve already met several.”

“Yes, but I didn’t know they were werewolves at the time.” I bit my lip as I considered Derek for a moment and debated if I should start asking questions now. “I thought the Alpha of the pack would be older.”

Derek turned off onto a dirt road that was narrow enough that the low-hanging branches from the trees were only a couple of feet from my window. The ease and confidence with which Derek took these paths spoke of how familiar he was with this forest.

“Sebastian took over the pack when his father was murdered a couple of years back.”

“Are you—”

“I’m human. I learned this knowledge from my father, who was sheriff before me. It’s good for the pack to have a few human allies. But even so, the supernatural world is selective about which humans can know their secret.”

“Is there a punishment for the humans that stumble on the truth?”

“No. It’s not a law in the supernatural world that humans can’t find out, but it’s recommended that they be cautious about whom they trust. They don’t want the whole human population aware of their existence.”

I let out a relieved exhale as I sagged back against my seat. It wasn’t lost on me how he kept saying supernatural world, but rather than ask about it, I let it be for now. There were already too many new things being thrown my way all at once, and all I wanted to do right now was go to bed.

We eventually pulled up to a small cabin that appeared to be well-maintained. Inside was an open floor plan, with the living room on the right, the kitchen on the left, and two doors at the back wall. The floor was hardwood and made me feel less guilty about tracking dirt and blood in.

“Bedroom”—Derek pointed toward the door on the right and then the one on the left—“bathroom. There should be some unused toiletries in the cabinets.” He headed straight for the fridge, opening the door and peering inside. “Ah, it looks like someone stocked it recently. Good.”

I aimed for the small bathroom and found a claw-foot tub with a shower curtain that could be pulled around it. Normally, I preferred showers with glass doors, so I didn’t have a curtain invading my space, but I’d take anything if it meant I could wash Ezra’s touch off of me. It may have been my imagination, but I could smell him on me.

As promised, there were toiletries, ranging from unused toothbrushes and toothpaste to shampoo, conditioner, and an unused razor. I took my time in the shower, letting the hot water loosen my tense muscles and already bruising body as I thought over everything that occurred tonight.

A sharp sting of betrayal stabbed at my chest. It shouldn’t have been surprising that Cassius and his friends didn’t tell me. Cass and I hadn’t been close in years, so in theory, it made sense he didn’t tell me. But even so, I still couldn’t help but feel betrayed that he hadn’t told me. While I didn’t know much about werewolves or whether or not they had to be bitten to be turned, I had a feeling Cassius had been a werewolf for a while.

Then there was Addie, who I considered to be one of my best friends. Part of me understood why she might not have told me. People hear werewolf, and they either thought you were crazy or freaked out, but I thought she trusted me enough to know this wouldn’t change how I saw her.

I knew I was being a hypocrite. It wasn’t like I rushed to tell her about the voices or all the other strange shit lately, but my feelings were still hurt nonetheless.

Once I finally felt like I removed all traces of Ezra’s touch, I wrapped the towel around my body and sat on the toilet seat. In the same cabinet as the extra toiletries were first aid items that I used to clean my scraped-up feet, wincing and hissing at the sting.

Because I hadn’t packed for a night in the woods, I was forced to change back into my clothes. I was in the middle of pulling on my leggings when I had a thought. Cass had mentioned he was taking me somewhere this weekend. Was this where he was planning on taking me? He said it was something I needed to see to believe. Being a werewolf was one of those things that needed to be witnessed in person. It wasn’t until I saw Sebastian shift that I truly believed everything.

The thought he’d been planning on telling me eased some of the hurt just a fraction.

Derek was at the stove when I exited the bathroom, cooking what appeared to be breakfast food—pancakes, bacon, and eggs, the works. “Are you hungry?” He called out over his shoulder.

I couldn’t even think about eating, not with the way my stomach was still in knots. “No, thank you. I’d rather get some sleep—if I’ll be able to fall asleep.” It was a strange combination filling my body. On one hand, I felt wired and on edge. But on the other hand, I was exhausted and drained—mentally and physically—from the attack and information overload.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping watch tonight. Nothing will get to you on my watch.” He gestured at the bedroom door with the spatula. “You can take the bedroom. You look like you can use the rest.”

“Thanks?”

He chuckled as he flipped the bacon. “It’s a lot to take on all at once, especially after being attacked.”

I paused with my hand on the doorknob, glancing back at him. “Are you sure?”

“I’m usually working the night shift on weekends. Trust me, I’m used to this.”

“Alright, ’night,” I said hesitantly.

It wasn’t surprising when it not only took me hours to fall asleep but that I kept waking up throughout the night from nightmare after nightmare, starring Ezra. It seemed my subconscious wanted to be a dick and imagine different possible outcomes of tonight’s events. With the new knowledge that he was a vampire, several of the scenarios ended with him draining all my blood.

The lack of windows or clocks in the bedroom prevented me from knowing how long I’d slept, but it couldn’t have been too long with how exhausted I still felt. But even with my body’s exhaustion, I couldn’t fall back asleep after my latest nightmare.

Eventually, I gave up on trying to fall back asleep and headed for the door. As I stepped out of the bedroom, I came to a halt at the sight. Derek was sitting at the round table, sipping coffee from a mug, and Addie sat across from him.