The last bell rings announcing the end of the long torturous week. Two more days until it was finally time to hit home. So far nothing has happened. No irregular heartbeat. No drumming in my ears. Nothing. That only led me to believe one thing. That it was time to move on now.

There was nothing here.

"Want to go out tonight? Same place?" I head for my car and open the door, resting one elbow on the roof while the other on top of the open door as I wait for someone to reply.

Egan who has his arms snaked around Circe's waist looks confused whilst Alex had a worried look on his face. "Are you sure? Cause' the last time we went there it didn't go well-"

I just stop him, before he starts ruining my mood for celebration. "I have decided to return."

And that seems to do the job. A wide grin makes an appearance on his face as he comes forward to tightly warp me up in his arms, his face bright with excitement. "Should have said so before. This calls for a celebration." He goes back to Circe and gives a deep peck on her forehead, pulling her back into his arms.

"We are going back."

"Are you sure?" Alex who still looks worried comes beside me, but I just give him a somehow reassuring grin and dismiss his worries. Then I look back at the two love birds in front of me with a small smile on my face. I feel this knot in my belly as a foreign feeling starts to slowly creep into my heart.

Jealousy.

I was starting to feel-

But before it could go any further, I turn my head around and seat myself into my car. No, I was fine. I pull the corners of lips upwards, forcing a smile out of them. "Let's go." I whisper as I close the door and rev up the engine. And as always, I leave first, for them to trail behind.

With a few minutes of back and forth, and a whole lot of blackmailing on my side, though I preferred to say convincing, I made Circe to put on a matching outfit. But one certain Lycan freaked out when he saw her in that short dress, which covered almost nothing, that too heading out.

But much to Egan's threatening glares and warning growls, one little peck from Circe was enough to put him on leash. And like a good and obedient mate he was, he let it slide. Oh but, not his strong possessive barrier of arms that snaked around Circe's waist as we entered the dark room whose only source of brightness was the neon light flickering around crazily.

And as I step a foot inside, my heart once again starts to thump a little loud, reminding me of its existence, but my resolution was too strong for me to pay it any attention. I didn't care. With its ever so increasing pace in the back of my chest, I march into the crowded floor with the music blasting on its highest volume and inhale a few shots before I move towards the dance floor packed with hormonal bodies, glued to one another.

My feet staggers as I sway into the crowd. I don't know what it was, the alcohol in my body or something else, but I felt dizzy, and even delirious as the minute ticks by. But I discard every other feeling that comes knocking my way and just let my body free.

I know the dress I wore was not helping to reduce the male testosterone now building around me. What can I say, it was drool worthy. I wore the shortest black dress. My long legs bare and my cleavage on show. The black fabric stuck glued to my body as if it was another coating of my skin. My black hair neatly tucked behind my ears, but otherwise left free to fall on my back and dance as it pleased.

The other Lycans that came with me long forgotten as they too started their own quest for the night. But I know that Alex will always be around, watching over me. So, I just let myself be, even if that meant losing control.

Tonight, I just let it go. I let go of everything as I sway my hips to the beat of the thumping music that was blasting over the speakers. The smell of the alcohol and hormones that clouded the air now filled my lungs, bodies glued together, each equally intoxicated. Including me.

As this almost nostalgic feeling starts to resurface, I close my eyes and feel my heart thump uncontrollably against the loud noise. And as the seconds tick by, its pace increases forever more along with its increasing volume. This eerier feeling that was creeping through. This tightness in my heart. It was the same as the last time.

My initial thought was to run. Bolt across the room and exit the building as I had last. But I hold on, this time. Or more like I wasn't able to.

I was losing control over my body, my mind getting fuzzier as the night passed and my legs weaker. There was definitely something wrong with the shots that I blindly inhaled. Or was it just me being deprived of sleep, and suddenly losing all my energy?

Only a part of my brain functioned fully while the rest tried to fight off something, another force that was trying to take over my thoughts, probably manipulate them into something that was not. I try to inhale deep breaths and regain control over my immobile body. I become so focused on keeping myself together that I let those sex-crazed humans around me to leech all over me. It disgusts me, angers me. But I'm incapable of doing anything.

At this point, I was barely consciousness to chase them away. Only the silent rage building inside me was keeping me on my feet, and not their arms. I curse my body for its inability to defend itself as I stand barely able to hold my own weight. And then I hear it.

A deep, dangerous. A feral growl.

It vibrates through the air that surrounds me and sends my drumming heart, my vivid thoughts to a complete stop. The growl was anything but humane. Angry, like it wanted to spill blood, brimming over with rage, in the brink of an eruption.

But for some reason it only ignited this extreme fire in me, leaving a permanent mark of its burn in my heart. A feeling of something that I never felt before.

It ignited a hunger in me. A craving so deep that I didn't even know I had. I was starting to get hungry. Thirsty even. But for what?

Closing my eyes, I bite my bottom lip and inhale the air that was now oozing with this fresh minty scent. The smell, just too strong for my dysfunctional senses. Even with all these heavy smells of the night, alcohols and the hormones hovering over, it was the only thing that filled my lungs now, completely overpowering every and any other scent.

And like a person addicted to drugs, I start to crave more of it. This scent, familiar yet so foreign at the same time.

I know it was seconds later, but it felt like an eternity after when all those bodies were lifted off me and I was let free, but only for so long until something else replaced those empty blanks from before. A touch so electrifying.

Even through my seeping conscious, I could still feel the strange yet pleasurable shiver up my spine. I could feel the goosebumps all over my body as charged current zapped me from everywhere, filling my numb body with life. The minty scent now engulfed my entire being as a pair of hard muscular arms wrapped itself around me, caging me. Protecting me. Possessing me.

Then I feel it again. The beating of my heart.

It thumped so hard that it hurt. Like it wanted to jump right out of my body and into his soul. As if telling me this is it. This was it.

What I have been looking for, searching for. What was missing. This was why my heart wanted to cross over the blue horizon.

It was for him.

Unable to handle the increasing pressure and the building anxiety on top of my barely conscious self, I finally give in to the darkness and slowly feel my body lose all its strength. I fall into the inevitable darkness and let myself be free as I fall forward.

I wait for the heavy impact of the hard floor, and a pain that only lasts so long, but it never comes. And just before I lose all my conscious, I feel the million voltage raid my body as something grazes the sensitive skin on my neck and engulfs me in its warm embrace. And lures me further into that scent.

Unconsciously, I place my head deeper, seeking that warmth and hear a word that I thought was never in my destiny.

"Mate."

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. Love Mila❤️