Beneath The Blood Moon {TMT #2}

Chapter 8

My head shot up just as my heart skipped a beat. "Why?"

He glared. "I asked a question."

"And I won't give you, a stranger, any information about my parents without a valid reason," I said defiantly, though amidst the courage I inwardly feared the outcome of my words. "I don't care how scary you appear to be."

The stranger's muscles tensed and I caught the way they flexed in the faint firelight, silently telling me to beware. "Do not test me she-wolf," he growled out before leaning in and gazing straight into my eyes. "Tell me about them."

Shit. I couldn't look away. Not when his eyes had changed from being just grey to a deeper, enchanting starlight silver, and also not when he used that voice on me again. That voice that seemed to have me constantly spellbound and unable to think clearly.

"What do you want to know?" I asked softly before I could help it, which just showed me how much trouble I was in. Why did he even want to know about my parents? He's clearly a rogue, because I've never seen him before, but what's his motive?

I might as well just throw those questions into a black hole because as long he kept looking at me like the way he was, compelling me, I didn't have much control over what my mouth would utter.

A flash of hatred crossed his expression before it disappeared that very second. "Your father, where did he meet your mother?"

Not being able to help myself, I replied, "They met at a tour. He was the tour guide."

"A tour where?"

"Here. In these woods."

His eyes narrowed. "He was not a tour guide, was he?"

"No," I answered. "He killed then impersonated the real one when he found out that my mother was coming on a trip here."

"Why did he need to impersonate when he could have had her any time and any how he wanted?"

"Mum said he saw no fun in that." I wanted to shrug, but damn if I could get my brain to send the signal to my shoulders. I was still hopelessly transfixed by this stranger, not able to concentrate on anything else but his voice and his eyes.

"It sounds almost the same," he muttered to no one, and I tried to not make sense of what he just said since nothing he had said so far made any sense to me. And it wasn't like I could anyway.

Suddenly, the brightness in his pupils dimmed and so did the compulsion. Finally, I could breathe again. "Are you going to cooperate or will you force me to compel the answers out of you?"

Seeing as my plan to escape couldn't be acted on if he was this watchful, I decided to go along with his inquiries until my moment came along. The moment when I would catch him unaware and helpless. That was if the odds were on my side.

"I'll cooperate," I agreed before adding, "But first, please, tell me who you are."

His eyebrows arched. "Why?"

Really? "Because I don't know what the hell is going on and I need answers way more than you do. I clearly don't know you, and I have no idea why you'd want information about my parents and why you'd kidnap me for it. "

He crossed his hands over the wide span of his chest and wore a serious expression. "I have my reasons, none of which concern you."

"But I have a right to-"

"You have no rights," he said through clenched teeth, as if the direction in which this conversation was going irritated him. "Not while with me."

I breathed out a frustrated sigh. "Fine." I thinned my lips before trying one more time, "But will you at least tell me how you know my grandmother and why exactly you're looking for her? And why you think I'm her?"