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1526 Words
I followed him down the hallway in silence, my heart thudding louder with every step. He never once looked back, yet I could feel his awareness the entire time.
He stopped abruptly inside an empty conference room and closed the door behind us.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
He leaned both hands against the table, his head bowed as if he was trying to steady himself. His shoulders were rigid, and his breathing was heavy and uneven.
“You need to stay away from me,” he said finally, his voice low.
I frowned. “You’re the one who told me to come with you.”
He let out a quiet laugh, but there was no humor in it. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?”
My pulse spiked. “I don’t even know what you mean.”
He lifted his head, and the look in his eyes made my breath catch. They were darker than before, sharp and restless, and for a brief second they burned red. I stumbled back without thinking.
“You walk into my office,” he said slowly as he took a step closer, “and everything that’s been quiet for years suddenly isn’t. You smell wrong. You feel wrong. And yet—”
He cut himself off, his jaw tightening.
“And yet what?” I asked, even though every instinct told me to stay quiet.
His gaze dropped to my throat, then to my mouth, and I hated the way my body reacted. Heat curled low in my stomach, unwelcome and confusing.
“And yet my wolf reacts to you like you belong to him.”
The word hit me hard.
“Your… wolf?” I whispered.
His head snapped up. For the first time since I met him, something like panic crossed his face.
“I didn’t say that,” he said quickly.
“You did,” I replied, my voice shaking now. “You keep saying things like that. You growl. Your eyes…” I swallowed. “Your eyes just changed.”
He said nothing for a long moment.
“You shouldn’t have seen that,” he said quietly.
That was confirmation enough.
“You’re not human,” I said.
His mouth tightened. “Neither are you as innocent as you think.”
Fear crept up my spine. “Don’t say that.”
He stepped back as if he had gone too far, one hand dragging through his hair. “You need to stop coming near me. Stop looking at me like that. Stop smelling like that.”
“I don’t know what you want from me,” I said, my chest tight. “I’m just doing my job.”
His laugh came out sharp this time. “No. You’re standing in my territory, wearing another woman’s face, and my wolf is screaming at me to take you.”
The room seemed to tilt around me.
“Take me how?” I asked softly.
He looked at me then, really looked at me, and whatever he saw made him curse under his breath.
“f**k. Just get out,” he said suddenly.
“What?”
“Before I do something I won’t be able to undo.”
I didn’t wait. I turned and left, my legs shaky and my thoughts spiraling.
He confuses me.
Who the f**k does he think he is? I cursed under my breath as I packed up my things, my movements sharp and rushed. I was not stepping foot in this office again. Not after what I had just learned. Not after realizing the man Celeste worked for, the man she admired so much, was a beast who would not hesitate to rip me apart if he lost control.
The thought made my stomach churn. I wasn’t doing this. I wasn’t coming back.
“I’m so f*****g done,” I muttered as I grabbed my bag and stormed out of the office, heading straight for the exit.
I didn’t spare anyone a glance. Not the coworkers who stared. Not the ones who called after me. Not even Greg.
I just kept walking.
The drive felt like chaos inside my head. Anger, fear, and confusion tangled together until I could not separate one from the other. He’s a wolf. The words replayed no matter how hard I tried to push them away. Everything he said. The way he looked at me. None of this would have happened if it were not for that stupid curse.
I pressed my forehead against the window and squeezed my eyes shut.
God, just take me back. Back to when things were normal. Back to when I was Yena in my own body and my life made sense.
The taxi finally stopped, and I got out, my hands still shaking. I stormed inside and slammed the door behind me.
“I am not stepping foot in that monster’s office ever again,” I yelled.
Celeste jumped where she stood, clearly startled.
“Jesus Christ, Yena, you scared me. What the hell happened?” she said as she walked toward me.
I dropped onto the couch, frustration weighing heavy on my chest. “Your beast. Your monster of a boss happened,” I replied.
She told me to calm down and disappeared into the kitchen before coming back with a bottle of water. She pressed it into my hand and sat across from me, her expression serious now.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
So I did. Not everything, but enough. I left out the part about him saying I wasn’t human, but I told her about his eyes, the growling, the way he lost control, and the kiss.
By the time I finished, her mouth was slightly open.
She stayed quiet.
“He kissed you?” she asked slowly. “And he’s a what… a wolf?”
I nodded and watched her as she struggled to find words.
“I… I think I need time to process what you just told me,” she said, pausing.
Then she looked at me again. “Are you being serious about him being a wolf?”
I raised a brow. “Are you kidding me, Celeste? Why on earth would I make something like that up? He literally told me himself. His eyes glowed red.”
She stared at me, still looking unconvinced.
“Wait,” I said, disbelief creeping into my voice. “Don’t tell me you don’t believe me when we’ve literally swapped bodies. Nothing else should be surprising at this point.”
I stood up before she could respond, the frustration boiling over.
“You know what, I need some rest,” I said as I headed for the stairs. “Why don’t you think over everything I just told you and decide whether you still want to work for him.”
I didn’t wait for an answer as I climbed upstairs, my head pounding and my thoughts tangled.
I collapsed onto the bed, trying to quiet my mind. It wasn’t easy, but after a while the exhaustion took over. Still, Maximus lingered at the back of my thoughts. His voice. His face. Those glowing eyes followed me into sleep.
A faint knock sounded through my dreams, and then Celeste was shaking me awake.
“It’s already sunset,” she said.
I groaned softly and struggled to sit up, my eyes heavy and burning. She sat beside me on the bed, smiling far too wide for the situation. I raised a brow, immediately uneasy.
“I believe you,” she said, nudging me lightly. Her smile only grew.
That made my stomach tighten. “Believe me about what?”
She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she launched into it, words spilling out like she had been holding them in for hours.
“I looked into it,” she said. “Werewolves. Alphas. Pack structures. If he’s what you say he is, then he’s not just any wolf. He’s an Alpha. That means he leads a pack. It means power. Influence. Status. Packs value that more than anything else.”
I stared at her, my unease growing with every word.
“He kissed you because he wants you,” she continued, her voice lowering like it was something sacred. “And since you’re in my body, that means he technically wants me.”
My chest tightened. “Celeste—”
“And if he chooses you,” she went on, barely listening, “then he’s choosing me. Which means when we swap back, I could be his Luna. His queen.”
She murmured the last part under her breath, already picturing it.
“I don’t understand anything you just said,” I told her, confused and still half asleep.
She took a breath, like she had been bracing herself for this part.
“What I’m trying to say is,” she began, then paused, choosing her words carefully, “I want you to make Maximus fall in love with me.”
The room went quiet.
Her words settled slowly, and something twisted deep in my chest, a warning I could not ignore.
- Writer
