Chapter1
1198 Words
My head throbbed gently beneath the heat.
Steam curled around me, fogging up the bathroom mirror until my reflection blurred out of sight. I sat at the edge of the bathtub, legs dipped inside the hot water, my arms wrapped loosely around myself. The light overhead was soft—one of those yellow hotel bulbs that made everything feel too quiet, too slow. I liked it.
I leaned back slightly and let the water wash over my bare skin, sighing as the warmth crept into my bones. It was comforting—almost enough to dull the ache in my chest. Almost.......
I hated this feeling. That slow, heavy sadness that followed you around when you had nothing left to be mad about. My life wasn’t a story worth crying over, but it hurt all the same.
The scent of jasmine soap clung to the steam, a cruel contrast to the bitter taste of alcohol still sitting on my tongue. My fingertips were pruned, my lips parted with the haze of a sigh, and my brain floated in that space between half-drunk and fully gone. Everything felt weightless.
Dad had told me, just yesterday, that we couldn’t afford next month’s rent.
He said it so casually. Like he wasn’t the same man who promised to make things right. Like he hadn’t lost my tuition last year to some poker table in a place I wasn’t allowed to know about.
And now here I am. Twenty-three. No school. No job. No direction. And no one to really blame but a man who never knew when to stop betting.
"Stupid," I muttered to myself, eyes closed.
Somewhere in the back of my foggy head, I knew this wasn’t healthy. The way I had downed shots earlier with my friends like I was trying to burn something out of me with a bottle of tequila I hadn’t bought, and friends who’d drunkenly dumped me here because I was too far gone to stand.
“Beneath my humming, I heard the doorknob shift—followed by soft kisses and muffled whispers.”
My eyes opened slowly. I squinted toward the glass panel of the bathroom door, fuzzy lights filtering through the fog. My heart didn’t register anything yet. It was too lazy, too drowsy. I licked my lips and called out, "Ari? Lila? Is that you guys?"
No response. Just the faint shuffle of footsteps. Then a voice. A man’s voice.
"Who the hell’s in there?" the man asked. His voice wasn’t loud, but commanding.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out.
Another knock. This one harder.
“Excuse me?” the woman called, voice clipped with irritation. "Kade, is this some kind of sick joke? Who is in that bathroom?"
The fog in my head popped like a balloon.
I blinked. My drunken stupor began to drain with the water as adrenaline started to pump in. My fingers scrambled to turn off the faucet. I wiped steam off the mirror with the back of my hand and stared at my reflection.
Naked. Wet. In someone else’s bathroom.
“A cold knot twisted in my gut.”
My trembling hands reached for the white towel hanging by the wall. I wrapped it around my body, still dripping, and tiptoed toward the door.
The knock came again. Harder. This time, a growl accompanied it.
"Open this damn door. Now."
With fear, I yanked the handle, and the door swung open with a hiss of steam.
What I saw stopped me cold.
He was taller than the doorframe could contain. Sharp cheekbones. Black shirt, half unbuttoned. Tattoos curling up his neck like shadows. And those eyes......Blood red. I knew them, I could recognize those ember eyeballs. Of course, everyone does.
Thomas Kade, the infamous rogue wolf. The only mafia Lord in the city.
The one whose wealth bought silence and whose rage had ended men. The werewolf without a pack, without mercy, and without equal, not even our Alpha would want to have issues with him.
Beside him, a beautiful woman stood half-naked, her perfect curves wrapped in sheer black lace. Her glare pierced through me before her voice did.
I stepped out a little more, and that’s when I saw the room.
This wasn’t mine.
The furniture was wrong. The curtains were darker. There was a half-open suitcase on the bed. A suit jacket. A sleek black pistol on the nightstand.
My breath hitched like I’d forgotten how to breathe.
“I… I think I’m in the wrong room,” I panted, voice barely audible.
Like a predator watching its prey, slowly, his gaze dropped down my neck, across the bare skin I hadn’t managed to cover properly, down to the edge of the towel clutched to my chest.
His jaw flexed once.
Then, like a switch had been flipped, the woman beside him let out a bitter, broken laugh. “Of course,” she hissed. “What else should I have expected from you?”.
“You bastard,” she spat at him. “You brought another woman here? On our bond night? I should’ve known. You can’t tame a beast.”
“I don’t know her,” he said. His voice was low, but not defensive or apologetic.
“You don’t have to know her, Kade,” the woman snapped. "She’s in your shower. Naked. On the night we were supposed to seal the bond. What the hell am I supposed to believe?”
“This is a mis......” I tried to speak but she interrupted.
“Save it,” she cut me off. “The alliance is off. Tell your men the deal with the East Claw family is dead. I’m not mating with a liar.”
And with that, she spun on her heel, heels clicking hard against the floor, and stormed out the door.
Something about the air around him shifted. It got heavier. Colder.
His voice came quiet. Measured and dangerous.
“Do you know what you just ruined?”
I clutched the towel tighter. “I didn’t mean to......”
“You cost me a mating bond,” he said, taking one step closer. “A political alliance I spent six years building.”
My heart pounded. “I swear, I didn’t know this was your room.”
His jaw clenched. “You walked in, stripped, bathed, and sang. You didn’t notice the difference?”
“I was drunk,” I whispered.
“No.” His voice dropped to a whisper now. “You were reckless.”
My eyes started to sting.
"I.......I thought this was my room," I stammered, finally glancing at the room number hanging behind him. 702.
Mine was 706.
I felt my soul leave my body. Thomas Kade was not the kind of man to let mistakes slide.
His chest rose and fell like a man trying to stop himself from shifting.
"So, tell me, darling. Now that you just ruined the one night I needed everything to go right. How would you like to pay for that?”.
I had made the worst mistake of my life. And to think… it all began just three hours ago.
- Writer
