Chapter 10 - More Confusion
1175 Words
Selena
Phil still hasn’t said anything since he mysteriously appeared at my door.
He just stood there, his body framed in the soft gold wash of hallway light behind him. His eyes was still glowing silver like something pulled out of a story I had no memory of reading.
There was no logical reason for him to be in my bedroom at that hour. But still, there he was, as real as the pulse thudding in my throat.
I couldn’t bring myself to say anything too. I was too stunned to speak.
The journal slipped from my lap and landed beside the chair, but I didn’t move to pick it up. My hands stayed clenched, tight in my lap, my nails digging into the sides of my fingers just to remind myself that I was still here and that I hadn’t fallen back into a dream.
Eventually, I managed to speak.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
My voice came out smaller than I had wanted. I sounded tired.
Phil didn’t flinch. He didn’t move toward me either. He just looked at me like someone who had come a very long way and wasn’t quite sure if he was allowed to step any closer.
“I know,” he said.
That was all.
I blinked. “Then why are you here then?”
He looked down at his hands as if surprised they were still attached to him. His jaw tightened before he finally answered me.
“I didn’t choose to come here. Not exactly but I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about you… about what happened between us. About what I said. And then I felt something pulling me.”
He lifted his eyes back to mine.
“I tried to ignore it. I really did. But the closer I got, the harder it became to stop. One moment I was in bed, and the next… I was here.”
My stomach twisted.
“You don’t get to say that like it’s normal. You don’t get to act like this is okay.”
“I’m not saying it’s okay,” he said, “I’m telling you the truth. I didn’t come here to scare you, Selena. I came because I felt you calling me.”
I shook my head.
“I wasn’t calling anyone.”
“You were,” he said softly. “Even if you didn’t mean to.”
I stood, slowly, trying to keep my breath from breaking apart in front of him. The room felt suddenly enclosed. Too full of whatever was crackling between us. My body felt too aware of his presence, like every nerve had started listening for him.
“You can’t keep doing this,” I said. “You can’t just show up and say things like… like I’m yours. You don’t even know me.”
His mouth tightened. I could see the effort it took for him not to look away.
“I do,” he said. “And I wish I didn’t.”
That startled me. I folded my arms, trying to keep the distance between us from shrinking even more.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means this hasn’t been easy for me either. I’ve spent most of my life fighting something inside me. Something I couldn’t explain. It kept reaching out for someone I didn’t know. And now that I’ve found you, I can’t shut it off.”
He paused, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver chain. At the center was a small stone, pulsing softly with the same silver light that lived in his eyes. He held it out in his open palm.
“This belonged to someone like us. Someone who didn’t survive their awakening. Not because the bond was wrong… but because no one told her what it meant.”
My eyes flicked to the necklace, then back to him. I still didn’t move.
“I’m not here to force anything on you,” he continued. “I’m here because I don’t want you to go through this alone.”
Something in me cracked.
“You’re making me scared,” I whispered.
His expression softened.
“You scare me too.”
He hesitated, like saying what came next would make it real. Then he spoke, and his voice dropped into something heavier.
“I’m a werewolf, Selena. A wolf born of an alpha bloodline older than the name I carry. And you…” his gaze locked on mine again, “you’re my mate.”
The room changed not with any sound or movement. Just with a shift in the air so real it made my skin prickle.
He didn’t say it like a confession. He said it like a fact. Like something already written in stone before I was ever born.
“I don’t believe in that,” I said, though my voice trembled. “I can’t just accept that I belong to someone because of some ancient rule.”
He stepped forward, slowly, closing the distance between us without touching me.
“This bond isn’t about ownership. It’s about recognition. My soul recognized yours before either of us had a say. You felt it too, Selena. I know you did.”
My chest felt tight. I hated how much sense it made. I hated that I hadn’t stopped thinking about him since the first time I heard his voice.
“I don’t want this,” I whispered.
“I didn’t either,” he said.
For a long moment, neither of us moved. I could feel the heat from his body even across the few inches left between us. My pulse thundered in my ears.
Finally, I forced the words out.
“You need to leave.”
He looked at me like he was memorizing every detail. Then he nodded once.
“I’ll go. But if it gets worse… if the pull grows stronger, if the changes start to hurt you… I’ll feel it. And I’ll come back.”
“I didn’t ask for that,” I said.
“You don’t have to.”
He turned. And before I could blink, he was gone.
He didn’t go out through the door or did he pass the stairs.
He was just… gone.
The air still smelled like him, earth and smoke and cedar bark. I was intoxicated with his scent.
I stood there, stunned, unsure if I had imagined the whole thing or maybe I was probably dreaming. Then I heard something shift again. Not inside my room this time, it came from outside.
I walked slowly to the window, staring out into the dark.
The street was empty.
But I caught a glimpse of something moving near the lamppost.
It looked like an animal.
A shape.
Then another came into the light
They stood eight feet tall. One had brown fur and the other black.
One of them turned.
And I swear, even from this far away, I saw its eyes.
It was glowing red.
- Writer
