Logan:
There's something so tauntingly dangerous about her eyes. I could feel trapped in them for hours, reveling in the ways she can pull me into a trance. She stood there with the door open wide and a big smile on her face.
"Hey." I greeted her once she opened the door.
"Hi, come in! It's pretty chilly out there." Bella said and whisked me away inside. I entered her small apartment, books scattered in every corner. It wasn't cluttered or messy way, it was more of a cozy feeling to it. "I'll show you where to put the pizza."
Her cheeks were tauntingly flushed, and her hair was in a messy bun. The air of her apartment smells like crisp fall cinnamon, pulling me into a trance. My skin was buzzing at the proximity of my mate, finally feeling like I can relax for the first time in days.
I followed her to the kitchen and placed the pizza down on a nearby counter. "Uhh, I'll just give you a quick tour..." Bella gave me a warm glance around the room, "So obviously this is the kitchen where I almost never cook." She began walking through the confines of the small apartment. Bella led me to a hallway in the living room, "Down there is the bathroom on the left and then straight ahead is my bedroom."
It was a low-lit hallway that had two separate doors. It could barely be called a hallway, if anything, it was a small corner.
"I like your place," I told her.
I wasn't lying, I did like how she decorated it and made it her own. It was her own personal space, it was the area that bothered me. The thought she was in a sketchy apartment complex like this one made my skin crawl.
I watched her cheeks turn a light pink color in return for my comment, "Thanks, I really tried to make it more like home." Bella nervously fiddled with her hands. "So, do you want to eat? I'm starving." Bella locked eyes with me and I followed her into the kitchen.
I could almost feel how nervous she was. It was radiating the air, and it was bouncing all over me. I was unsure if it was just my presence or if there was something else on her mind. I was praying it wasn't a certain wolf interaction a few days ago...
"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry as well," I told her as I watched her delicately take two plates out of her cabinets. Bella walked over to me and handed me one.
"What would you like to drink? I don't really have much, I think some red wine or lemonade. Oh and obviously water..." Bella nervously bit her lip, and I could tell her mind was working a mile a minute.
"I'll have whatever you have, love." I blinked a few times. I wanted her to relax around me and I could tell she was on edge. I just wanted her to be comfortable.
"Is red wine okay? It's not fancy or anything, I bought it for like $5 at Trader Joe's, which is pretty reasonable for a bottle of red wine. I've actually never tried it but it seems pretty good because I love Trader Joe's. Their stuff is pretty affordable if you're ever in a pinch, which is usually what I'm in. But yeah, red wine?" Bella rambled on, with a new shade of pink appearing on her cheeks.
"Yeah, that sounds perfect." I shot her a warm smile, and slipped off my suit jacket that I had on from work. I placed it on the back of a kitchen chair and grabbed a slice of pizza for both of our plates. Bella proceeded to pour us both a glass of wine, and placed both glasses on the kitchen table. She sat in front of a plate of pizza and I was quick to follow her.
"How was your day?" Bella asked me and took a sip of her wine.
"It was pretty good, work was busy. We have a lot of new clients coming into the business so it has everyone working overtime, but it's worth the extra assistance. How was your day?" I asked, taking a hefty bite of the pizza. I wasn't much of a small talker, I was more of a straight-to-the-point kind of person. I wasn't a very patient, or understanding man. But for Bella, the world seemed to tilt on its axis.
"Well, I worked today too. It was pretty mundane we had a lot of people coming in for the Colleen Hoover board books, which have been sold out of our store for a while. But other than arguing with customers, I had a pretty good day."
I couldn't help feeling a little annoyed when she told me that people had argued with her. If only I was there to make them rethink their words to my Bella...
"Arguing with customers?" I gave her a pointed look and took a sip of the red wine. Definitely cheap.
Bella let out a hearty laugh, "Well not necessarily arguing but it was a little back and forth on when the books would get to the store. At that point, just order it on amazon and take your business elsewhere." Bella explained to me, "I hate entitled people like that." She scrunched her nose and shook her head.
I gave her an understanding nod, "Me too, but usually, they don't bother me that much." I sent a wink her way, "Let me know if I ever need to make my way over there and rough someone up." There was a teasing tone to my statement, but I was more than serious.
Todd was already dealing with the consequences of messing with Bella, and I wouldn't stop at just him.
"No, no, never that. I'm careful to bite my tongue anyways." Bella teased. We sat in comfortable silence for the next few minutes just finishing our pizza slices.
"What was your boarding school in Washington like?" Bella asked me, sort of out of the blue.
I bit my tongue, I knew the absolute truth of Washington. That I was hauled there to become a vicious, endearing werewolf and it was nothing like a boarding school. I was taught to break, be ruthless, and become one of the most powerful werewolves in the world.
I was trained by some of the most brutal Alphas in the world, all shaping me into the man I am today. Washington, to me, was secluded and one of the darkest points in my life. While I was there, I was taught how to kill more than math homework.
It's easier to lie to her than tell the truth, and that left a pit in my stomach. She didn't deserve it.
"It definitely was a learning curve." I gulped down another sip of wine, I was sure to keep my voice steady. I didn't even know what to say in order to make whatever I said about Washington, I barely even know what people do at boarding schools.
"Was it kinda like college? Like dorm rooms and scheduled meals?" Bella pressed the questions further.
I nodded quickly, "Yeah, kinda. A little more strict."
"The longest I was away from my family when I was younger was when I went on a family vacation with one of my neighbors. Long story short, I got a concussion from one of her brothers throwing a basketball at my head and I wasn't allowed to go on trips with them anymore." Bella began to tell me.
I couldn't help but smile at her story. "Well, concussions are never fun," I commented, standing up to clear our plates off. Bella hummed in response, cracking a smile at me. I needed to switch conversations before she caught on to whether I was telling the truth or not.
I knew deep down I was doing the right thing by not telling her the truth. My world was heavy and violent. I would give her the skin off my back in a heartbeat, the truth was a different story.
"What kind of movies do you like to watch?" Bella asked me while I began to wash the dishes in the sink.
"I'm going, to be honest, I don't remember the last time I watched a movie." I chuckled. I began drying off my hands and turned to look at my beautiful mate.
Bella tilted her head, "You seem like you'd really like action movies. I recently watched Ocean's 8 and it was really good!! Want to watch it?" She began to nervously chew on that bottom lip of hers. It was dangerously taunting. "Oh wait, let me get those books I choose for you." Bella rushed and hurried back to the living room.
I followed behind her and watched her dig through her tote bag. I began to take in all the books she had in the room, and there had to have been more than a hundred books in this small space. She grabbed a handful of books and started to organize them in two different piles.
My breath caught in my throat once I saw a particular cover. I could feel my blood run cold once I read the title, then she pulled out another. And another.
Three books about wolves sat on her coffee table.
Bella tilted her head back up to me and as if she could read the questions on my face she began to answer. "Oh yeah... I saw this giant wolf the other day in the woods and it kinda piqued my interest. I can't stop having nightmares about it... so I thought I'd brush up on my knowledge of wolves. Kinda weird, I know." She shrugged, and I was frozen.
Nightmares. Like this one.
I cleared my throat and came to sit with her on her sofa. "No, that's pretty interesting, do you mind telling me more about the wolf?"
She nodded and grabbed onto one of the books, flipping through the pages. "It was huge...like a size I've never even seen before." Bella paused, frantically looking for something in the book. "It was bigger than a bear, and its fur was all black. And its eyes..." Bella stopped and glanced over at me. "It's hard for me to explain, but it was just really different than any wolves I've ever seen before and that's why I want to see if I can find what it was in one of these books."
I knew deep down that she would never find a creature like me in one of those silly anatomy books. I was the beast sitting right next to her.
"Hopefully you can identify it in one of those books," I said blankly.
"I hope so too." She sighed and closed the book. Bella placed it back on the coffee table and began to read off the new books she hand-picked for me.
Yet the only thing on my mind was the fact that I was either going to have to tell her my dark secret one day or leave.
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