Chapter 5

• Monica opened her eyes and looked at the clock on the nightstand. It was almost lunch. She groaned and, sitting up, stared at her arm and sighed. She knew she was getting into trouble when she saved the be— A., but facing the consequences now was rough.
• Standing up from the bed, she bit her lip at the pain her leg and arm greeted her with. She headed to the kitchen and glanced at the windows. The storm had calmed down, and the sky was clear. Finally. Monica let her eyes roam around for A., and realized he was nowhere in the house. Had he left? Her heart jumped, and excitement and another unfamiliar feeling erupted in her body.
• She rushed to the backyard and, opening the door, squealed when she saw that the wolfman was sitting on the bench at the porch.
• “I need clothes,” he said out of nowhere. His elbows were propped on his knees, and his eyes were fixed on the trees in front of them. “Get ready, we're going to the city.”
• Shock spilled into Monica like water in a well. It filled her soul and made her dream about opportunities. Chances. The return to her routine, as she desired. Her life was waiting for her, yearning for her to forget this bad experience.
• ...
• “You know, you'll stand out quite a lot if you go there looking like this. You can't walk around shirtless,” she said, dragging her bag in her hand. She'd spent a few minutes more than necessary to look for her phone, but it was nowhere to be found. This man... She eyed him as he stood next to the couch. He was quite the view.
• “I'm not a fool.” He lifted a brow, his sour expression stitched on his face. A. grabbed another shirt from her ex that he had left on the couch and headed to the exit. “I'll put it on after we get there. I can't have it get ripped now.”
• Monica chuckled behind him. He was like a giant with all the muscle and enviable height. A. opened the door and glanced at her, surprised.
• When they reached the car, she extended her arm and waited for him to give her the key. A. shook his head and unlocked the vehicle, taking the driver's seat.
• She jumped into the passenger seat and arched her brows.
• “Are you sure you can drive? You have a driver's license?” She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Risking her life was turning into an everyday thing.
• A. rolled his eyes.
• “Of course, I'm an adult.”
• He turned the engine on, made sure he was comfortable in the seat, and started down the road.
• Monica sat there, gaping at him.
• “Don't you know what a seatbelt is?” A. asked, a small smirk teasing his face.
• She glared at him, scowling, and quickly put it on. It took her a minute to shake off the shock that a wolf could drive. But he wasn't just a wolf, was he? She had to stop seeing him like a monster. It was obvious A. had his own character, knowledge, and past.
• “Are there many more like you?” she asked after a few tense miles.
• A. stopped at a stop sign, making sure he could calmly pass. Here, he even knew the regulations.
• “Why do you want to know? Monica, don't take an interest in me. It would only harm you. Nothing good will come out of it.”
• She whirled to look at him. He knew her name!
• “I'm not taking an interest in you. I'm taking an interest in your species,” she corrected him, and her cheeks turned into a similar color to her hair. Embarrassment was not a good look on her, and she didn't know his words even made her feel this way.
• “Then watch a movie or something. It'd be far more interesting than reality. And thanks to your kind—” he began but stopped talking.
• Everything in him screamed tension. His face, his arms, his... taut, muscular body that had the lines of a god. She averted her eyes, and now, even her neck burned. Ogling him was ridiculous, and it was the last thing she imagined herself doing. She sank into her seat and let silence take over her.
• A.'s eyes turned to her, and pity filled them. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but he pulled his lips in a straight line and focused back on the road.
• He parked in front of a small mall and put the shirt on.
• “Come on. Don't say a word about me. I can kill ten people in under a minute with my bare hands and still come out unharmed. Don't make me prove that,” he said with his hard gaze set on her. He looked so cold and cruel. Just like an experienced ruthless killer.
• Monica felt her mouth run dry and nodded. There was a whirlwind of emotions in her. And they were all variations of fear. She was in deep trouble.
• They entered the first men's fashion store they saw, which turned out to be on the medium price range, and A. quickly chose a few sets of clothes. He checked their sizes and went to the cashier, keeping close distance to Monica. She took her credit card out and paid for the clothes. She gritted her teeth at the price on the machine. Her savings were going down the drain because of a stranger. She wanted to kill him.
• The cashier gave them the bags, and A. grabbed them and pulled Monica to a fitting room. She balked as he closed the door and wondered if this was her chance to run. Or scream. Her hopes quickly diminished when he opened the door, closing the zipper on his jeans. He glared at her as if he had read her thoughts.
• “Your city is full of werewolves,” he said and went out, putting a shirt on. Two passing girls giggled, staring at him, and he growled at them.
• “What?” Monica barked and looked around.
• “That's not good,” he added, shoving Brad's clothes in the bag, and narrowed his eyes.
• “Why? Why isn't it good?” Monica asked urgently, but he caught her wrist and started leading her out of the store.
• “I'm on their territory,” A. told her and mumbled as if to himself, “What's going on? This place was supposed to be empty of wolves.”
• Monica carefully listened to him, taking in his every word like a sponge. She wanted to know more. She wanted to know who else was roaming this world and how threatening they were to the human society.
• “Where's the closest polyclinic?” He whirled to her.
• “Um, five minutes away by car. Why?” She blinked, not understanding where this question came from.
• A. furrowed his brows at her and pointedly glanced at her arm.
• Oh...
• Slightly jogging, they ran out of the mall and entered the car. A random man turned in their direction and stared at them, and A. bent to hide in Monica's lap.
• She gasped, and he growled, sending her a hard stare, “Don't react if you want us to live. Just pretend you're waiting for someone. Don't look at his eyes.”
• Monica did as he said, but the feel of his body on top of her made her flush, and her skin started burning. Every second was torturous and spanned like a millennium. It was excruciating. But also so nice. She couldn't understand what was going on with her and why the hell she felt so attracted to a stranger. To a strange creature she thought only existed in movies.
• A second after the stranger disappeared, A. shot up and started the engine, getting out of the parking lot. Monica gave him some instructions which way to go, and he headed towards the polyclinic.
• Glancing at her trembling body, he sighed and murmured, “I'm sorry.”
• She snapped her eyes to him and gaped, flabbergasted.
• “About what?” she breathed out.
• “I won't stay long, don't let it consume you. Don't get attached,” A. quizzically said and, looking around, stopped the car. “It's clear. Let's go before another werewolf shows up.”