I have got to stop discriminating against good-looking people, Vanessa thought, pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes and stole another glance at the guy opposite her.
He was definitely good-looking. No doubt about that. Wavy, dark brown hair that was just a little too long to be fashionable, but not long enough for it to be unkempt. In the late afternoon sunshine it looked almost red when his head moved.
She could see his hand rubbing at the slight stubble on his chin as he read, his brows furrowing in concentration. It was a very nice chin, she thought, right above which were a couple of very nice lips followed by a long, slightly crooked nose. She had always been a sucker for long noses – Adrien Brody totally had the most beautiful nose ever– and the sight of his had been enough to almost make her turn in the door.
Vanessa disliked and avoided good-looking people, especially guys the way other people disliked and avoided poisonous snakes and spiders. They absolutely terrified her. Not only did they cause emotions she found both riddiculous and embarrassing, they also made her stop using her brain. Vanessa knew from personal experience that the consequences of someone like her not using their brain could be lethal. With the situation she was in right now, it would be terminal.
He looked up from his books as if he knew she had been watching him and she felt her breath catch when she stared into a pair of startling green eyes.
Once, when she was little, she and her family had gone to Austria for a holliday trip. Her sister had spent most of the time complaining about having to sit in a car for hours, but Vanessa had been absolutely mesmerized. By the mountains, the food, the strange language people around her was speaking in. More than anything, she had been amazed by the green water. The lakes were green, the rivers were green. An intense, sparkling green that seemed to glow from within when the sun hit it.
She knew she was sitting in a library in southern Indiana, but for a second she was back in Austria, looking down into a mountain river,her mother yelling at her not to stand to close to the water. The green eyes narrowed into slits and she blinked confusedly. Ah, yes, she had been caught staring. She shook her head to clear it and focused on the lap top in front of her instead. Way to go Vanessa, way to ... use your brain.
She took a deep breath and tried to focus on what she was supposed to be doing, which was to work. She opened up the laptop and checked her inbox to see if Ross had sent her the material for the new website he wanted her to make. Nope. Vanessa sighed to herself and typed a quick message to him. There was no way she was going to be able to meet their aggreed on deadline if he didn't send her his stuff on time.
At least Martha had sent over the texts she needed her to proof read. Great, best start with that while she still had a clear head. She sent the whole ting to the printer and got up from her seat.
Pretty boy was still glaring at her. She glared back. Honestly, what was his problem? It was not her fault the seat opposite his was the only one available in her favorite part of the library. There must be exams coming up or something because she had never seen this many people in Tell City public library before.
She made her way past him and over to the printer to gather up the twenty-something pages. She preferred proof-reading on paper. Finding errors when reading on screen was harder and it made her head hurt.
Vanessa started scanning through the papers on her way back to the desk. It was Martha's latest version of the third chapter of her book and Vanessa had been itching to get her hands on it. She just knew it was going to be good. No publisher was going to be able to say no to it when it was finished and Martha would be able to leave her job working in a high school cafeteria and really make her mark on the world. Vanessa smiled to herself. It probably wasn't a good idea for an editor to get this attached to a customer's project, but she just couldn't help herself. She felt as if it was her project too.
She sat down and immersed herself in her reading, red pencil at the ready. It was a great story, set in the civil war from the perspective of a cat. It might sound a bit odd, but it was way better than most of the stuff people sent her. With this she could actually... Someone cleared their throat. Vanessa looked up and straight into a pair of glowing green eyes.
"What do you want?" he asked in a low voice.
Vanessa felt her jaw drop. Pretty boy was standing over her desk, staring at her intently and he was even more gorgeous up front.
"What?" she asked.
"I said, what do you want?"
Vanessa took a deep breath. Clearly, this was another nut job. The pretty ones always were. When they weren't vampires, she thought and shivered.
"I want to sit here quietly and work, why do you ask?" she said slowly, not wanting to antagonize him.
He looked down at the papers spread before her and her red marking pen, before his gaze snapped back to her face.
"What's your name?"
"Why do you want to know my name?" she asked confusedly.
He narrowed his eyes again. "Do you always answer questions with questions?"
Vanessa felt her cheeks start to burn with anger.
"When they are asked by random strangers who haven't even said hi, then yes. I do," she snapped.
His eyes travelled from hers down to her lips and back again.
"Hi,"he said angrily, still glaring at her. "Now, what do you want?"
"I think we just covered that ..."
He slammed his hand onto the desk, causing some of the other visitors of the library to look up in surprise. He leaned closer so that his nosewas almost touching hers.
"What. Do. You. Want. Rogue?" he hissed.
Vanessa felt her blood run cold. Oh no. Oh no no no no no. This could not be happening to her. Her hand automatically went to the charm she carried around her neck. A silver circle, twisting around a small moonstone. Letitia had promised her, promised her that no one would know. That no one would sense what she was.
"I...I don't know what you're talking about," she said, feeling panic flood her.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," he snapped.
"I promise I don't..."
"I'm feeling generous today so if you get up, get out and leave the Blue Pack's territory right this minute I'm gonna forget that I just saw you here, scum," he growled into her ear, the feel of his breath on her cheek sending shivers down her back. "Come back or move too slow and I'll rip your head off,
Vanessa nodded and slowly got to her feet. She was being given a chance and pack wolves hardly ever gave you a chance. She would be a fool not to take it, she thought as she started putting all her things back into her bag.
It stung a bit, being forced to leave like this. She tried to ignore that he was staring at her intently the whole time. When she was finished he grabbed her arm and practically dragged her out. He didn't stop until they were standing in the evening sun in the street outside.
"You can let go now," she said irritably when he still held on to her arm.
He didn't answer. Instead sniffed her hair and pulled her closer.
"Hey! Stop that!" she said and tried to push him away.
It was like trying to break rock with her hands.
"You smell so strange," he muttered before his head burrowed into her hair.
She froze as tingles spread all over her body. This was definitely not how the charm was supposed to work. Could it be wearing off? It had been seven years since she'd had it done. Maybe Letitia had died? Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of her best friend gone .
No, Letitia was too tough to die. Besides, spells set in metal and stone lasted even after the conjurer was gone. And this spell was powerful stuff. The necklace was supposed to suppress her wolf so much nothing would be able to sense what she was. Not even silver burned her when she wore it. She could feel the metal against her skin and it didn't hurt at all. So what was the problem when it came to this guy?
"Let go," she told him firmly, ignoring the pleasant shivers he was sending through her.
He had moved down to her neck now, his nose brushing her skin. He didn't smell half bad either, she realized and bit back on a happy sigh as his lips touched her collar bone. A mix of rain and boy and chocolate. His face reached her necklace and he pulled away with a curse as the silver chain stung him.
"What the hell?"
***
Author's note:
Hello dear readers! I've been absent from Wattpad for a while and I've missed it. I'm now updating the stories I have on here (one of which has been published) and editing and finishing this story. I also started a new story I'm really excited about! There will be weekly updates on all stories. Let me know what you think about the comments.
Kind regards,
Your adoring author, Sanna