The Bloodhound Alpha and His Prey

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - MADELINE

“I'm sorry, he what?”

Delia looks a little uncertain, almost as if this whole thing puzzles her more than it puzzles me. I watch her eyes glance at the computer and for a few seconds, her fingers are dancing over the keyboard before she turns to me again and says softly, “He has not registered himself back on the system for a few days now. Ever since the last night with you… and neither did you. We were so sure we would no longer see you as well.”

… How long has it been? My memory feels fuzzy and all I can seem to remember is me kneeling in front of him. It's the clearest image in my head and it's all my brain and body seems to want right now, especially after hearing this.

I squeeze the papers in my hand tight, my mind spiralling. I don't know what it is— or perhaps I do. The feeling is similar to how it was before, how it's always been. What was I thinking? That he wouldn't leave again? He had done that before, why wouldn't he leave the second he gets bored?

I want to feel angry. I want to scream at the receptionist, at myself, but I don't. Something heavy wraps itself around my body. Loneliness, maybe? Disappointment? I don't know. I don't know anything right now.

“Would you like a new Alpha?” Delia's voice is the thing that brings me out of the trance I am in. I stare at her, noticing how kind she looks, soft too as she adds with a small smile, “Remember that you are the one with the choice here. You have the power to do whatever you want,”

Power… the thought of me having any sort of choice, power included was laughable. I'd been able to pay off some of my bills and debt but how long could I go without a well paying job? And this… I can't just trust anyone. What would happen to Lucas if they hurt me? What if—

“Thank you,” I watch her smile fall slowly though it stops as I say, “I'll… I'll think about it and come back. Thank you. Again,”

She doesn't look sure but she sends me a reassuring look. I don't linger there anymore as I walk out of the building. The cold instantly digs into my body but I don't seem to mind it, not as much as I should.

I'm squeezing the paper tighter, the fact that I had put all of my thoughts into actually answering any of his stupid questions causing the tears in my eyes to cloud my sight— until I bump into someone.

“Ah, sorry, I—” The smell of this… person is the first thing that hits me. A scent that lures you in with its honeyed, almost intoxicating sweetness, but carries an underlying sharpness. The kind of fragrance that feels too thick in the air, sticking to your skin and lungs, making your head swim with both allure and warning.

I stare up at the person, my heart almost falling into my stomach as I realize who it is.

Green eyes. Blond hair. Freckles over his face.

Michael Fenrir smiles at me. His smile hasn't changed. Demeaning but kind. Glad but cruel. It's disarming but the sensation that I should never let my guard down is far more powerful than the need to not do so as he tilts his head and says softly, “You are still alive, remarkable. You were always such a powerful butterfly,”

His voice is so gentle it takes me back to when I was six and he was eight. Both of us pack members with him as the Alpha's son and I, the runt of the litter and my family's disgrace as I was born an Omega.

He was a terrifying friend. At times, he could be gentle and sweet but there were times… times when he would hurt me, just to see how much I could take. I was never sure about how to feel when he was like that because he was really my only friend and he protected me from other people in the pack, even my family.

When I got the scholarship to study in college, he had been angry that I'd constantly kept myself busy with school but after a while, he was sent overseas for his Alpha training and I didn't see him again, even after I was exiled. Till now.

I swallow. “What are you doing here?”

Our pack… my former pack is far away from here. Too far. Was he hunting me? Looking for me? But why? I haven't done anything.

His laugh startles me. It's the mocking one, the one tinged with amusement as he pauses and says, “Butterfly, do you believe that I, Michael Fenrir, would come all the way here for you? Ah, you've always been such a wolf with such… large ideas about yourself. And dreams. Did you get all those things you wanted? Your big, big dreams?”

Maia is terrified of him, she always has been, but not too much. I can feel the surprise she feels at him being here… finding him this close to her. I can feel her curiosity at his wolf but that's the last thing I need now. Her curiosity.

“I…”

The sound of something rustling draws both our attention as I watch his eyes suddenly shoot to the ground and I see it— that madness in him that he hides so carefully as his eyes zero on the paper on it, the paper that had been in my hands a few minutes ago.

My heart thumps and I lunge to grab it— but he's faster, because of course, he is. He picks it up before I can blink, his eyes scanning over the pages as I watch literal fireworks exploding in them before his eyes center on me, and for that moment, I feel as if I am about to be preyed upon as I hear him ask, “Oh, you really haven't changed, have you?”

A memory flashes through my head. Michael holding my hand over a fire to see if I'll shift and to see how loud my scream can be. I never did scream— or shift, and he had kissed me after.

I turn and start to run. I don't know why I'm running but every blood cell in my body demands that I get as far away from him as possible.

I know I don't get far enough when I slam into someone but before I can jerk away, the person is grabbing my waist, keeping me stable while his scent breaks me out of the muddled state my brain was trying to drown itself in.

Cedarwood and spices.

I slowly look up, realizing that Damien Bloodhound is staring down at me— and he looks very angry.