CURSED AS ASWANG, SAVED BY HIS LOVE

CHAPTER 4:THE MORNING AFTER BEING LOVED

*Chapter 4: The Morning After Being Loved*

Isabella had never slept in a man's bed before.

She woke up not in her small nipa house, but in the biggest bedroom she had ever seen. White sheets that felt like clouds. A glass wall showing the entire sea. And a bandage on a man's arm right in front of her face.

Elias was asleep sitting up against the headboard, his black shirt off now, revealing a broad, hard chest and abs that looked carved from stone. His bandaged forearm was resting protectively over her waist, even in sleep. His other hand was still holding hers.

She was still in her red dress from last night, but it was wrinkled, sandy, torn at the hem. Her hair was tangled, her makeup completely gone. She should look like a mess.

But when Elias opened his eyes and saw her, the look he gave her made her feel like she was still the most sexy, beautiful woman in the world.

"Good morning, my aswang," he said, his morning voice rough and low.

Isabella blushed, which on her was devastating. "Don't call me that."

"What should I call you? My beautiful nightmare? My irresistible curse?" He leaned closer, his lips brushing her temple. He smelled like blood and sea and sleep. "My Isabella?"

She sat up quickly, remembering. "Your arm! I hurt you! And Lola - Lola will be so worried - and the town - if they see me coming out of the resort like this, in this dress-"

"Hey, hey," Elias pulled her back gently, making her fall back onto his chest. His bare skin was warm against her cheek. "My arm is fine. Just a scratch. Your Lola called me. I told her you were safe with me. And let them talk. Let the whole town talk about how the most beautiful woman in Baler finally let a man bring her home."

Isabella looked up at him, her lips parted, her long hair falling over his chest. She was lying on a billionaire, in a sexy red dress, after showing him her monster form, and he was looking at her like she was a precious, fragile flower, not a hot piece of meat.

No man had ever looked at her like that.

"You know they will say I'm a gold digger," she whispered. "That I used my body to trap the rich resort owner."

"Let them," Elias said, and his hand slid from her waist up to her bare shoulder, his thumb stroking her soft skin. It was a light touch, but it made her entire body shiver. "Is it working? Are you trapping me with your body?"

She should have been offended. But the way he said it, with that dark, teasing smile, with his eyes dropping to her lips, it didn't feel dirty. It felt powerful.

For five years she hated her beauty because it made her a target. Now, for the first time, she liked that her beauty could make this strong, powerful man lose his breath.

"I might be," she whispered, being brave, leaning closer until her lips were almost touching his. She had never seduced a man on purpose. Men always seduced her. But now she wanted to seduce him. "Is it working?"

Elias's jaw tightened. His eyes went black with want. He looked at her mouth, at her smooth neck, at the way her red dress slipped off one shoulder.

"Isabella," he warned, his voice strained. "Don't play with me like that if you don't know what you're doing. I've wanted you since the first time you told me you had work to do in that little flower shop. And after last night, after seeing all of you - the beautiful and the cursed - I don't think I can be a gentleman much longer."

Her heart was pounding. Not from hunger. From wanting.

She didn't know what she was doing, but she knew what she wanted.

She closed the tiny gap and kissed him.

It was soft at first, hesitant, her first real kiss. Her lips were soft, tasting like salt and yesterday's wine. Elias groaned, low in his throat, and his hand came up to cup her face, to hold her still while he deepened the kiss.

It wasn't like the kisses she had seen in movies. It was desperate, hungry, but not scary hungry. It was a hungry that said _I want you, all of you_.

Isabella melted into him, her hands finally touching his bare chest, feeling his muscles tense under her palms. The sexy, untouchable girl of Baler was finally being touched, and touching back.

When they broke apart, both breathing hard, Elias rested his forehead against hers.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," he whispered.

"Then why didn't you?" she teased, her beautiful face flushed, her lips swollen from his kiss.

"Because I was waiting for you to not be afraid anymore."

At that moment, her phone rang loudly. Lola Pina.

Isabella answered, still lying on Elias's chest. "Lola?"

"ISABELLA REYES! Where are you! The whole barangay is talking! They saw you run to the beach last night with the Montenegro boy! And Rosa said she saw something with red eyes near the resort! Was it you? Did your curse-"

"Lola, I'm fine. The curse... it stopped, Lola. When he - when he offered his blood, it stopped."

Silence on the other line. Then Lola whispered, terrified: "What did you say? He offered his blood? Anak, no! That's how the curse transfers! That's how the original mangkukulam did it! If a man offers his blood willingly to an aswang out of love, the curse will try to take him!"

Isabella froze, her sexy, happy glow disappearing instantly. She looked at Elias's bandaged arm, at the scratch she made.

"Elias," she said slowly, her voice shaking again. "Your arm. How does it feel?"

He frowned. "It's fine. Why? It just burns a little."

Burns.

Lola Pina's voice screamed through the phone: "Bring him to me! NOW! Before the sun sets! Or he will become what you are on the next full moon!"

Isabella dropped the phone, her beautiful eyes now full of horror.

The curse wasn't broken.

It was spreading.

And the irresistible, sexy, beautiful woman who no one could resist was about to turn the only man who ever truly loved her... into a monster just like her.