Chapter 2

• Zora’s Point of View
• “Kaleb! What are you doing?” I sighed with relief.
• “I’m not the one fucking a guy on the dance floor.”
• I rolled my eyes. No, because he was sucking on other girls.
• His eyes changed colours depending on the lighting. Now they were dark which added to the intensity of the moment. I didn’t get why he was mad, though.
• “Did he do something to you?” Kaleb demanded.
• “Of course not.”
• He straightened his spine. “I was just… checking up on you.”
• Of course. Because I was his little sister’s best friend. It didn’t have anything to do with the subtle stares he gave me or the touches I didn’t think were there but they meant something when darkness fell and I was alone in my room.
• Kaleb closed the space between us. I pressed my body against the door and lifted my chin.
• “You should go back in there. Everyone’s here for you,” I said.
• He caged me against his chest and his arms. I couldn’t escape into the dark night but I didn’t think I wanted to.
• “What if I don’t want to? I want to be here with you.”
• My eyes widened.
• In an instant, his lips crashed on mine. He was six foot two so he had to hunch to grab my cheeks and dominate my lips. After shaking the shock, I grabbed his shirt and kissed him back. I moaned against his mouth. I wanted more, I needed more. The desire was as intense as the feeling of someone watching me by the bar.
• Kaleb grabbed my thigh and raised it to his waist. He broke the kiss and sucked on my neck. His teeth suck into my flesh and I cried out. The pleasure that came from the pain was foreign and I feared I might get addicted to it if Kaleb kept doing it.
• “You okay?” Kaleb stopped.
• He pressed our foreheads together.
• I nodded slightly breathless.
• “Is that what you wanted?” Kaleb caressed my bottom lip.
• I stared in response, unable to answer.
• I made out with my best friend’s brother and I loved it. Shit.
• “Kaleb!” Someone yelled.
• Kaleb looked over his shoulder.
• “Are you coming inside with me?” He asked.
• I snapped out of the trance Kaleb put me in. “I should use the bathroom first.”
• “Cool. The next dance’s mine.”
• I watched him walk off. I’d known him as long as I’d known Cassidy. For so long he’s seen me as a little sister, annoying, childish and off-limits. Since he got back the dynamics changed but the reality was. Kaleb was a wolf and I was a human. Relationships between our kinds weren’t supposed to get serious. I needed to guard my heart when it came to Kaleb.
• ***
• My head pounding terribly. It felt like someone was hammering a nail on a block of wood.
• “Zora! Wake up!” Cass yelled.
• Wait, the pounding was my best friend.
• I sat up and my muscles groaned. Cass strolled into my room with two coffees.
• “You’re a lifesaver.”
• She looked like a ray of sunshine. One of the perks of being a werewolf. They didn’t get hangovers unless they drank a year’s supply of alcohol.
• “Why didn’t you come to my house? Why did you come here and sleep all alone?”
• “I thought you left with a guy. I didn’t want to hear that going down… again.”
• She rolled her eyes. “I thought you left with someone. Gunner to be exact. Everyone saw you together.”
• I swallowed. “It was nothing! I had too much to drink.”
• Cassidy laughed. “You had three drinks! You knew what you were doing. You know he’s the Alpha. That automatically makes him a great fuck.”
• I grabbed my sheets and covered my face.
• “Don’t be modest just don’t play with your heart.” She stared at me seriously.
• “I know the rules, Cass. I’m not interested anyway.”
• “Looks like he was…” she sang.
• I rolled out of bed. I didn’t have to work until three in the afternoon. Which gave me time to pack up some of the things in the house. I was about to give up on this house as much as it broke my heart.
• “Got to go. Kaleb’s taking me to work.”
• I froze and poked my head out of the bathroom. “He’s here?”
• “In the car. Probably losing his head because I’m taking so long. Come over for dinner, okay? This house is so depressing. Love you!”
• Cass left and I was alone.
• Once again I found myself with the memories.
• The old Victorian mansion belonged to my adoptive parents. They were an elderly couple who never had kids of their own. They took me in when I was six. I have no memories of life before they welcomed me into their home. Janet and Martin Fisher were all I knew and they loved me tremendously when they died together in a fire in this very house it devastated me.
• I was at work when the fire broke out. It’s still suspicious to me. How did a fire start in their bedroom? It spread as far as the hallway and consumed the entire master bedroom and bathroom. The coroner was unable to give a specific time of death or a cause of death.
• The fire department deemed it an accident but I couldn’t fathom a scenario that placed an accidental fire in my parent’s bedroom. On top of mourning their death, I was left with this massive mansion that needed repairs and had a huge mortgage I couldn’t pay off on my own.
• I didn’t know but my parents’ finances dwindled. There was a man who’d come here several times to claim a debt my Father supposedly owed him. It was a ridiculous amount and I thought he was crazy.
• My only option was to sell this house because of the renovations I couldn’t do. It felt like sin but what choice did I have?
• ***
• My shift ran later than I expected. I worked at an old folk’s home, the only one in town. I was packing my uniform into my bag so I could have it cleaned. My co-worker arrived late, meaning I’d be late for dinner at Cassidy’s house.
• A knock on the door prompted me to look up. Kaleb leaned on the doorframe a casual smile on his face.
• “Kaleb, what are you doing here?” I asked.
• “Uncle Jack’s here. Plus, Cass told me you work here I thought I might pick you up for dinner.”
• “Killing two birds with one stone?”
• He kicked the door shut. I swallowed. He closed the distance between us. This was a common changing room anyone could walk in at any moment. Kaleb didn’t care. He pinned me against the wall. He was a man who relished control just like Gunner.
• “Did you tell her?” He asked. “About last night?”
• “Of course not. She’d freak.”
• “Good because it can’t happen again, Zora.”
• “Excuse me?”
• “I was drunk.”
• “That’s a lie. Wolves don’t get drunk after a couple of beers.”
• He groaned. “I wasn’t in my right mind. I shouldn’t have tasted you. That night never happened.”
• “I can’t believe you.” I swatted him.
• He stepped back and ran a hand through his hair.
• “You’re human, sweetheart and I’ve known you too long. I can’t cross that boundary. Even if I’m dying to.”
• “Are you dying too?”
• “Don’t ask me that Zora. I know you see how I look at you. My wolf wanted to taste—”
• “Oh wow, Kaleb fantastic. Your craving is satisfied so you can just leave, huh?”
• Men can be jerks but shifters were on another level.
• “I wouldn’t say that.” His silver wolf flashed in his eyes.
• I looked away. “We don’t want to be late for dinner. Can we go?”
• “Yeah, we don’t want to be the last ones there.”