CHAPTER EIGHT
1563 Words
CHAPTER EIGHT
LIFE CHANGING BIRTHDAY AND STORMY EYES
LYKAINA'S POV
The moon was quite bright today, I looked up and saw its warm light.
I felt it's warm touch on my face as I looked up.
While I noticed all this, my body still felt jittery from my near accident inside the library.
I kept obsessing on the reason why all this was happening to me.
I continued my leisure walk towards the cab station, jostling my books to find a more comfortable position, my hands were beginning to feel cramped.
‘I need to get a big bag’ I thought to myself. Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing my mind was thinking about.
My traitorous mind conjured up Zarek in all his tall and unfairly gorgeous glory. No one should possess such perfect features. It should be a crime.
His eyes, the colour of the cloud during a storm… Ugh. Why was I even thinking about him?
Our coffee disaster on day one had been humiliating, sure as the colour of my hair, but he hadn't laughed it off like I'd expected. He watched me too closely, like he saw something I didn't. And last night, in the garden, he'd been all charm, twirling my hair like we were in some cheesy romance novel.
‘Know enough’ he said, like he held the key to my secrets. Jerk. I kicked a pebble, watching it skitter into the grass.
“Get out of my head, Royalston.”
“Talking to me now, Miss Thorne?”
My heart lurched, I spun around, and there he was, leaning against a lamppost like he'd been sculpted from the night itself.
He wore a black jacket tonight, open over a fitted shirt that hugged his ripped frame in ways I don't have any business noticing.
No Phillip or Lucien in sight this time.
I crossed my arms, forcing a huge smile on my face to hide the flutter in my chest.
“What's your deal, Royalston? Stalking me? Though I see you are wearing proper armour against any coffee attack tonight, so you are not here for a coffee rematch.”
He chuckled, stepping closer, his boots silent on the path.
Why was he always stepping close to talk to me?
His scent hit me then, wild like a forest after a rain, woodsmoke and that mint scent.
“Stalking is a strong word,” he said tilting his head.
“Let's call it… keeping an eye out. You looked like you needed it, bolting out of the library like that.”
I snorted, ignoring the heat creeping up my neck. He saw that?
“I'm fine. Just needed to get home early. And you are not my babysitter.”
I jostled the books I was carrying, feeling their weights in my hand ground me. The buzzing in my head was back, low but insistent, like a warning. I ignored it.
“Why do you keep showing up anyway? The campus isn't that small.”
Zarek's lips twitched, not quite a smile.
“Maybe I like puzzles.” His eyes locked onto mine, and for a second, I swore they flickered, a silver glint in the grey.”
“And you, Lykaina Thorne, are one hell of a puzzle.”
My breath caught. He said my name like a prayer, like a caress, slow and deliberate, and it did stupid things to my inside. I stepped back, clutching my books tighter.
“Flattery does not become you Royalston. I really need to get home. What do you want?” I asked already feeling weary.
He didn't answer immediately, instead he plucked a leaf from a nearby bush, twirling it between his fingers like he had last night.
“Tomorrow’s your birthday,” he said finally, voice low.
“Eighteen. Big milestone.”
I froze.
“How do you know that?” I asked in a tone that was sharper than I meant it to be.
Seriously, what the hell? First the cryptic vibes, now this? My skin prickled, the buzzing in my head spiking. The leaf in his hand fluttered violently, stilled, then drifted to the ground, though the air was dead calm. Crap. Did I do that?
Zarek’s gaze flicked to the leaf, then back to me, quick and sharp.
“Heard it around,” he said, shrugging nonchalantly, like nothing unusual happened, but his casual act didn’t fool me.
“Birthdays like that… they change things. Stir things up.”
He stepped closer, and I backed up, my heel hitting a tree. The lamppost flickered, casting his face in shadow.
“Stir things up?” I asked with a forced smile, but it came out shaky.
“Yeah, I’ll get a cake and maybe a speeding ticket. Real life-changing stuff. You know.” I say trying to channel the cool kids vibes.
The buzzing was louder now, a hum that vibrated in my bones. My hair lifted slightly, strands brushing my cheeks like they had a mind of their own. I clenched my fists, nails biting my palms. Not now, not in front of him.
Zarek didn’t smile. He leaned in, voice dropping to a whisper.
“You feel something, don’t you? Something waking up.”
His eyes searched mine, and that silver glint was back, brighter, like moonlight on steel. My heart slammed against my ribs.
“You’re not alone, Lykaina. Whatever’s coming, I’ve got your back.”
I blinked. Was he serious? Concern from Mr. Stormy Eyes?
Before I could snap back, the hum surged, a sharp jolt ran down my spine like an electric charge.
The lamp post beside me creaked and groaned loudly and immediately it bent in an unnatural way.
I gasped, grabbing it like I could reverse what I'd done.
Zarek’s eyes widened, but he didn’t move, didn’t speak. The silence was deafening.
“I gotta go,” I stammered, my books falling from my hands as I turned. I didn’t stop to grab them, I just ran, my sneakers pounding the cobblestones.
His voice called after me but I didn’t look back. The hum chased me, a wild pulse in my veins, and the air crackled, alive against my skin.
I ran, not knowing where I was going to or what I could do to stop what was happening.
Something was happening to me but I don't know what.
Without even thinking, I ran into the forest just after the university.
Pain like I have never felt before tore through me in an agonizing manner. It pulsed through me from the root of my hair to the soles of my feet.
I felt charged, but not an electric kind.
I screamed as another agonizing pain pulsed through me again.
I began to cry and whimper. The pain was unbearable and I don't even know where I am.
"Shh, I've got you. You have to breathe through it Lykaina. Stop fighting it," Someone said as they held me close. I could feel the heat coming off the person.
I tried to speak, but I couldn't, my skin was stretched tight over my skin.
"Phillip! find Lucien meet me at the location I just texted you. The change is coming over her powerfully." The speaker, Zarek, said to someone on his phone.
He gathered me in his arms and began to carry me out of the forest.
"We need to get you somewhere safe Lykaina. Just keep breathing baby."
"Grand... ma, I... need..."
"Shh, don't try to speak, just try to keep your breathing steady. I will contact your grandmother, okay?" He says as he continued to move with me thrashing about in his arms.
We finally got to a place, it had an earthy smell. I could hear the forest speak in it's many voices. The trees humming in harmony with the rustling leaves, the birds singing in harmony with the wind.
It smelled like home, wild and untamed.
Zarek placed me on the grass.
"I'll be right here with you the whole time," he says while cradling my head to his side. I opened my eyes and looked at his mesmerising eyes, those storm coloured eyes that followed me everywhere inside my head.
He stood and I felt him move away from me, close by but not too close.
I curled on myself and laid on the grass hoping that the pain would soon go away.
I heard other footsteps coming close to where I and Zarek were. I listened closely and heard Lucien speaking to Phillip excitedly.
"You mean this is her first change? This would be an interesting watch," he says to Phillip.
"I best be careful with what I say if I were you Lucien," Phillip says in a cool voice.
"Yeah, right, well thankfully you are not."
I could hear Zarek turning towards the direction they were coming from. Before I could hear what he wanted to say, pain worse than what I felt before passes down my spine to my legs. A loud scream rips from my mouth.
The trees began to groan and their leaves started to rustle violently.
Energy starts to build inside my core and I could hear the wind howl louder in reply to the energy build up inside of me.
"Holy goddess, what in the world is she Zar?" I heard Lucien say before I blacked out.
- Writer
