A Passionate Shock

‘October 30th, 2017’

‘Lumen’

Eve

“You ready?”

Martin was standing by the front door, and I could tell he was nervous by his outfit choice. Khaki pants and a button-down shirt.

No one ever wore khaki pants when they were feeling confident.

“What’re you nervous about?” I asked him as I finished climbing down the stairs. “I thought you already made the deal with Gabriel.”

We were headed to Martin’s registration meeting at the Pack House, and even though I was the one who could be persecuted for being there, he was the one fidgeting.

“I’m not nervous,” he said.

I gave him a look, one that said, ~I could read your mind if I wanted to.~

“Bye, girls,” he called, and I looked to find Reyna and Anya eating Lucky Charms at the breakfast table.

“Oh no, who’ll protect us when she’s gone?” Reyna asked her sister sarcastically.

I smirked. It would take a lot more than teenage angst to rile me up.

“You go on ahead. I’ll go out the window,” I told Martin.

“You’ll go out ~the window~?”

“Well, I can’t exactly walk with you into the Pack House, Martin.”

He gave me a blank look.

“Every non-werewolf needs permission to be in Lumen, you know this. I don’t have it. So I’ll lay low.”

“I thought you were coming to the meeting.”

“I’ll be watching it. Don’t worry.” He gave me an uncertain nod and then opened the door.

I headed back up the stairs, entering the guest room I’d taken over.

There was a window facing the side of the house and a tree not more than a leap away.

I opened the window and jumped to the nearest branch. Then I jumped to the roof of the house next door.

Then I was leaping from roof to roof until the Pack House came into view.

I knew I was going to have to do a lap around the grounds in order to find the meeting room where Martin would have his appointment with the Alpha, so I figured I’d better get started.

Taking another breath, I jumped off the ledge.

***

I was perched on a fire escape ladder, outside the window of the room Martin was pacing nervously inside of.

He had been brought inside by some receptionist, and now he was waiting for Gabriel to arrive.

He kept shooting glances out the window, like he was trying to figure out if I was really there or not. But he couldn’t see me.

I had made sure to dim myself, and my position behind the brick wall was out of his view.

That was when the door opened, and I saw Gabriel and his Beta, Zavier, enter the room.

I’d come across Gabriel a few times in the past decade and knew him to be a pretty typical Alpha. Charming and full of himself in equal parts.

I turned my hearing powers on, allowing me to hear everything happening on the other side of the bullet-proof window.

“Martin Morgan. Great to see you,” Gabriel said, shaking Martin’s hand.

“Likewise, Alpha,” Martin replied.

“Call me Gabriel. And please, take a seat.” Gabriel motioned to the boardroom table, and Martin took a seat opposite him. “You know Zavier, my Beta.”

“Hello.” Martin nodded at him.

“I have some documents for you to fill out, and once they’re done, your status as a resident in your new house will be confirmed.” Zavier dropped a stack of papers as thick as an encyclopedia onto the table in front of Martin.

“That’s a lot of documents.” Martin sighed.

“Can never be too careful,” Gabriel responded, a sly smile on his face.

I rolled my eyes at the Alpha—his big muscles, his wavy hair.

He was used to being the center of attention. And he liked having the upper hand, even when it was over a human who had just lost his wife.

I watched Martin unscrew the cap from a pen and get to work on the papers, but then I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out.

Anya

eve?

Anya

help!!

Eve

What’s happening?

Anya

come to the house! plz!!

Immediately I shot up to the closest tree and then propelled myself onto the next roof, speeding back to the Morgans’ home the same way I came.

“Anya?” I called out as I flew through the window in my room, running into the hallway. “Reyna?”

There was no answer. I checked all the bedrooms on the top floor and, finding them all empty, ran down the stairs to the main floor.

“GIRLS?” I yelled out.

“We’re here,” a voice said behind me, and I turned to find Reyna. She was standing outside Martin’s office, tossing an object between her hands.

“Where’s Anya? She told me there was an emergency.”

“Sorry. I can be a bit dramatic,” Anya said, appearing from the office.

“So why did I come back here?”

Reyna stopped tossing the object between her hands and held it up to her eyes, squinting. That was when I noticed what it was.

A pill bottle.

~My~ pill bottle.

“R21?” she asked, reading the label, but before she could read any more, I closed the distance between us and grabbed the bottle from her hands. “Hey!” she snapped.

“Where did you find this?” I demanded.

“You moved in with us. We have every right to know who you are,” Reyna shot back.

“Yeah, especially if you’re, like, a drug addict,” Anya added.

“They’re not ~drugs~,” I said, holding the pills up. “I need these for health reasons.”

“That’s what a drug addict would say,” Anya said under her breath.

“Enough,” I ordered. “If you snoop through my room again, I’ll—”

“What? Hunt us?” Reyna said, taunting.

“I have no need to hunt you, Reyna. I already live with you. Not only that, but I know everything about you. I know more about you than you do.” I paused, letting that sink in.

“You know I’m powerful. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. But what you’ve seen is just the beginning. So when I give you instructions, believe me when I say that ~it’s in your best interest to follow them~.”

I watched as both girls swallowed. “Good. Now I’m going to watch over your dad. ~Stay out of my room~.”

***

I arrived back on the same fire escape just as Martin was putting the cap back on his pen, clearly exhausted by the stack of documents he’d just filled out. He rubbed his temples.

“So then, it’s done?” he asked Gabriel.

“It’s done.” Gabriel smiled.

Zavier collected the stack of papers from the table, and Martin stood up to go. But I could sense Gabriel wasn’t done with him yet.

“Wait just a second, Martin,” he began, walking around the table to get closer to him. “There’s someone that wanted to meet you.”

That was when I sensed him.

~Him.~

The same him from my dream. From all my dreams.

I couldn’t see him, but I could smell him. I could taste him, could ~feel~ him, and I was consumed by panic.

~He was here.~

The meeting room door pushed open, and there he was.

“Raphael, we’re so happy you came to town.” Gabriel smiled at him, guiding him into the room. My mouth opened by itself, and I felt my tongue lick my lips as I took him in.

His bronzed skin, his strong arms, and that masculine, square jawline.

~Goddamn.~

Raphael shot Martin a smile—even from here it made my knees weak—and the two men shook hands. “Great to meet you, Martin. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you, sir,” Martin choked out, even more nervous than before. Because he’d just shaken hands with the single most important man in the entire werewolf population—the Alpha of the Millennium.

The Alphas’ Alpha.

Just then Raphael turned to look out the window, and I immediately took a step back, pressing myself into the brick wall and dimming myself even more. I squeezed my eyes shut.

~Why is he here?~

What business could the Alpha of the Millennium possibly have in Lumen?

But then it dawned on me. The increased security at the perimeter, the urgency of the four wolves chasing me, it all made sense.

When the Alpha’s Alpha was nearby, every unknown was to be treated as a top-priority threat.

The asshole. Always making my life more difficult.

“She’s here,” I heard Raphael say from inside the room. Even though I wasn’t looking through the window, I knew he had taken a couple steps toward me. I could sense him, just like he was sensing me.

“Who’s here?” Gabriel asked.

But Raphael just ignored him. “I know you’re here,” he called out to me. “I can smell you.”

I tried to keep my breathing level. But my arousal...it wasn’t under control.

The heat between my legs was growing, just hearing him talk to me.

“I’m not playing around here,” Raphael growled, and he was getting louder, which meant he was getting closer. “Show yourself! I demand you show yourself!”

All I wanted was to show myself. To be near him, to be touched by him.

My body was trembling with hunger, with desire, but my mind, it wouldn’t let me.

It knew too much.

“Show yourself before I ~find you myself~.” He seethed, threatening me.

That was all it took. I wasn’t going to be threatened by him. Not today.

I stepped right in front of the window, making myself completely visible. He was a few feet away from me on the other side of the window.

“There she is.” He smiled at me, and my palms started to sweat.

“Why are you here?” I snapped.

He stepped closer, his hands pulling the window up and open. Then there was nothing separating us. I could reach inside and touch him if I wanted to.

~And oh, I wanted to.~

But I couldn’t.

“On Pack business,” he replied. “Why are you here, sweetheart?”

Our eyes were locked on each other, and I could feel the shivers run down my spine.

The heat at my core was building, and I could practically taste his lips from here. But I couldn’t.

He couldn’t win.

He could never win again.

“I’m not your sweetheart.”

“Does your body know that?” His eyes traveled up and down me. I wanted to moan.

“Leave Lumen. Get out,” I demanded.

He just smiled again, even bigger this time, and then leaned his head out the window. We were inches apart.

“But, Eve, you’re here. Now there’s all the more reason to stay.”

Before I knew what was happening, he was climbing through the window, joining me on the fire escape. I was frozen, just like in the dream.

My body was yearning for him. It needed to close the space, to feel him against me. But my mind was screaming to run.

~Run, Eve! Run!~

He reached out for me, and I watched in slow-motion as his hand moved through the air, reaching for my face. But before he could touch me, my body came to.

I was unfrozen.

And I was ready to run.