#10 | #FILIPINO | 06/07/21

2,800 READS | 06/07/21 

CHAPTER NINE

"Don't lie to me." He warns, lowly. 

His hand slips agonizingly slow down my neck, to the swell of my chest. My breath hitches at this, an almost harrowing desire for more. 

My face flushes and I slowly shake my head, "I'm not lying." I attempt to say this with confidence, but instead, it comes out as a whisper, that even struggles to convince me. 

If I admit it then he'll never let me go. 

but why does a part of me not want to go? Why do I not want him to stop? 

He narrows his eyes, but drops his hand with a deep inhale. 

"I have a life, goals and an apartment lease with my name on it. How long do you plan to keep me here for?" 

He lifts a brow, "Is that what would make you happy?"

"What are you referring to?"

"The apartment." He reiterates. 

"It's the first place I've earned for myself." I confess.

He pauses in deep thought, before he parts his lips to speak,"Then you can visit it when you please." 

I narrow my eyes, clearly we have a misunderstanding. "I can't visit it if I can't pay the monthly."

A look of confusion washes over him, "Why would you need to? I will buy the building." 

I shook my head incredulously at this. "That's not what I want- it's not the same if it were handed to me."

His raises his eyebrows in surprise before nodding in understanding at my words, with a small smirk. "I like your spirit." He goes past me towards a bookshelf, and begins to put his earlier read away. 

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're not spoiled." 

"And you are?" 

He raises an eyebrow at this with a slight smirk. "Am I?" He responds rhetorically. 

I cross my arms over my chest, maybe I stepped over the line for assume that he is. He couldn't be more than a few years older than me, there's no way that he amassed this wealth by his own means. 

As if he read right through me, he began again. "My family has a-- healthy bloodline. We live longer than most, and found a means to maintain what we have. I take care of our domestic affairs. Naturally, I also take a piece of the gold." 

I take in his words, with a wave of embarrassment for assuming. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off that way." 

He offers me a small smile, with a shake of his head. "It's okay." 

A short silence falls between us before I finally ask the burning question. 

"What happened last night? Are you going to tell me now?" 

Ezra pauses his doings, with a deep inhale. "Are you sure you want to talk about that?" 

"Hyacinth told me that he--," I swallowed down the lump in my throat that the topic gives me. "that it was a monster."

His expression hardens, he tightens his jaw but stays silent calculating his next words. 

"He is a half-breed." 

"Half of what?" The words tumble from my mouth almost impatiently. I flinch, half expecting an angry backlash at my tone of voice but instead am met with a calm silence. A stark difference from what I'm used to back home. 

"Half-human and--," he pauses at this, as if he were hesitant to tell me. 

I step closer to him eagerly awaiting the answer, his eyes darken with each inch closer. He releases a shallow exhale, and closes his eyes tightly. 

"and what?" I probe, under my breath. 

Finally, he pulls his gaze back to mine. "and half Lycan."  There's a thick pause between us, he watches me carefully- waiting for my reaction. 

Meanwhile, I furrow my eyebrows trying to comprehend what he said. But for the life of me, I can't. 

I shook my head, no doubt looking like a fish out of water as I wrack my brain for words. "A Lycan? A werewolf?" 

My words come unheard. Ezra's expression immediately shifts gravely.

"What is it?" I ask, feeling a wave of distress wash over me. The feeling comes spontaneously without explanation. But oddly, as I look over to Ezra- it's as if we unspokenly share the same feeling. 

Wordlessly he intertwines his hand tightly with mine. "Don't make a sound." He warns, tugging me closely behind him. 

I don't fight him, If there's anything I know for sure- it's that hurting me is not on his agenda. 

Although my mind races with a million questions, I bite my tongue. The earlier feeling of distress washes into a heavy dread instead. Involuntarily Ezra begins to pull me towards the door. A loud scream crescendos through the premises. The sound sends a chill down my spine but it doesn't deter Ezra. However the sound that follows has him pausing in step. A shrill screech. I wince at the pitch,  the sound has Ezra pulling us into a quicker pace. 

"You are staying in your room, under no circumstances do you leave. Guards will be at your door." He commands, harshly. 

"At least tell me what's going on." I say in exasperation. 

"We've had a breach," He responds tightly, his patience obviously thinning. 

We rear the corner into the hallway where my room is, and immediately stopped in our tracks. I suck in a breath at the sight, Ezra immediately clasps a hand over my mouth. 

The being drags itself through the hall, limbs moving in an unnatural fashion. It's skin has a sickeningly grey sheen, that glows under the hallway's light. 

The safest place to be my ass. The audacity he has to tell me earlier that this was the safest place to be. I withhold the bile attempting to claw up my throat. My room stood between that thing and us.

Stay behind me. 

The words thunder into my head, I immediately snap my gaze to Ezra. Even though his gaze never wavered from the being in front of us I knew it was him. But how? 

He ushers me behind him, his grip on my hand loosening as he took a step forward. 

Stay still and away from us. When I have it- go into your room and lock the door. 

His words linger momentarily, before he released his grip on my hand. 

My heart drops at this. With each step he took, the air around us began to shift. In full speed the monster began to feverishly stampede towards Ezra. His hands that held mine earlier molds into a clawlike form, golden brown fur protrudes from his previously smooth skin.

My breath hitches in my throat at the sight. The unwelcome memories of last night immediately flood into present. My feet feel cemented onto the floor. 

What makes him different? 

Its movements are hellish as its stony silver eyes lock with mine. A bony claw reaches over Ezra's shoulder, desperately beckoning for me.  A scream bubbles from my throat as I watch the scene unfold. With his opposite arm, Ezra wraps his hand around its wrist. I immediately turn to him. His expression changes, jaw tight as if he were tensely gritting his teeth. His eye color shifts from it's once warm honey tone into a fiery amber color. Like it was last night in the restaurant. Despite the fear, I can acknowledge one thing; He's beautiful compared to Jace's hellish form last night. 

Despite this, the truth of the matter is- a beautiful monster, is still a monster.  I stepped away from them, feeling a tremble beginning to involuntarily take over. 

The fear of last night seeps into the present. "You're like him," I whisper in fear. "A monster."  

"Go into the room, Amara!" He growls. The being begins to thrash within his grip.

But I don't listen. How could I? So he could become just as Jace was last night? 

Biting back my fear, I turn in the opposite direction and force myself to run.

END OF CHAPTER

* thank u for your patience! *

in my defense it's still monday in hawaii lol. 

do we forgive amara for her reactions due to the trauma or do we all wanna fight her for not listening to ezra? looool.