Someone Knows My Secret
1281 Words
Maeve stared at the sketch long after her hands had stopped shaking.
The golden eyes seemed to follow her.
Watching.
Waiting.
Knowing.
A chill crawled down her spine.
“No.”
She pushed away from the dining table so abruptly that the chair scraped against the floor.
This wasn’t funny.
It wasn’t some elaborate prank.
Nobody knew about the dreams.
Nobody.
Not her coworkers.
Not her neighbors.
Not even Olivia knew exactly what the man looked like because every time Maeve tried to describe him, the details slipped away.
The eyes were the only thing she remembered clearly.
Always the eyes.
Yet somehow a complete stranger had sketched them perfectly.
Her gaze dropped to the words written beneath the drawing.
He’s looking for you.
The room suddenly felt too small.
Too quiet.
Too suffocating.
Maeve grabbed her phone and dialed Olivia’s number.
The call connected after the third ring.
“Please tell me you’re not calling because you miss me.”
Maeve swallowed.
“Come over.”
Olivia immediately sat up.
The teasing vanished from her voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just come over.”
“Maeve—”
“Please.”
A pause.
Then—
“I’m on my way.”
⸻
Twenty minutes later, Olivia was standing in Maeve’s apartment staring at the sketch.
For once, she had nothing sarcastic to say.
Nothing comforting either.
Just silence.
Which was somehow worse.
Finally, she looked up.
“Okay.”
Maeve folded her arms.
“That’s exactly what you said this morning.”
“Because I don’t know what else to say.”
Olivia pointed at the sketch.
“That is the man from your dreams?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve never shown anyone what he looks like?”
“No.”
“You didn’t commission this?”
“No.”
“You don’t know who left it?”
“No.”
Olivia exhaled sharply.
“Okay, now I’m officially concerned.”
Maeve sank onto the couch.
“Someone knows.”
“Maybe.”
“No, not maybe.”
Maeve pointed toward the paper.
“Look at it.”
Olivia did.
“He knows exactly what I’ve been seeing.”
The thought made her stomach churn.
For years she’d convinced herself the dreams were nothing.
Stress.
Overactive imagination.
A bizarre coincidence.
But this?
This was proof.
Something was happening.
Something she didn’t understand.
And for the first time in five years, she wasn’t sure she wanted answers.
⸻
They spent the next hour searching for clues.
The package contained nothing else.
No fingerprints.
No return address.
No note beyond the four words.
Nothing.
Whoever sent it wanted to remain anonymous.
Olivia sat cross-legged on the floor.
“What if it’s related to the summit?”
Maeve frowned.
“The summit?”
“You got invited today.”
“So?”
“So maybe someone wants your attention.”
“By sending me a sketch of my nightmare man?”
Olivia winced.
“When you put it like that…”
Maeve sighed.
None of it made sense.
The timing was too convenient.
Too deliberate.
Five years of silence.
Then suddenly:
An invitation.
A sketch.
A warning.
All within the same day.
It couldn’t be coincidence.
Could it?
⸻
That night sleep refused to come.
Maeve tossed and turned for hours.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the sketch.
The golden eyes.
The words.
He’s looking for you.
By two in the morning, she finally gave up.
She walked onto the small balcony outside her apartment.
The city stretched beneath her.
Lights flickered in the darkness.
Cars moved along distant roads.
Everything looked normal.
Ordinary.
Safe.
Yet a strange feeling lingered in her chest.
As if something had begun moving toward her.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
Like fate itself had finally decided to stop waiting.
A sudden movement below caught her attention.
Maeve frowned.
Across the street stood a man.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Dressed entirely in black.
She couldn’t make out his face.
But she knew one thing.
He was staring directly at her building.
A shiver raced down her spine.
The man didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
Didn’t look away.
Then a car passed between them.
Just for a second.
And when it was gone—
The stranger had vanished.
Maeve’s breath caught.
“What the hell…”
She rushed back inside.
Locked the balcony door.
Then checked it twice.
⸻
The following morning, she arrived at work exhausted.
Her manager was waiting.
Which immediately put her on edge.
“Good news.”
Maeve groaned.
“Whenever you start a sentence with those words, my life gets worse.”
He ignored her.
“The summit itinerary arrived.”
She took the folder.
“What changed?”
“You’ll be staying in Shadowfang Territory for two weeks.”
Maeve froze.
“Two weeks?”
“Standard procedure.”
“No.”
Her manager blinked.
“No?”
“I thought it was a three-day event.”
“It is.”
“Then why am I staying for two weeks?”
“Networking.”
Maeve looked horrified.
Her manager looked delighted.
“You’ll represent Sinclair & Co. during post-summit negotiations.”
Wonderful.
Just wonderful.
As if being haunted by mystery stalkers wasn’t enough.
Now she was spending two weeks in the territory of the most powerful werewolf pack in the region.
⸻
Lunch didn’t help.
Neither did coffee.
By the end of the day, Maeve’s nerves were frayed.
She was leaving in forty-eight hours.
Forty-eight.
The number echoed relentlessly in her head.
Everything felt wrong.
Like she was being pushed toward something.
Something inevitable.
Something she couldn’t stop.
⸻
That evening she decided to do something she’d never done before.
Research.
If she was going to Shadowfang Territory, she wanted to know more about the pack.
About its Alpha.
About the people she’d be dealing with.
She opened her laptop.
Typed:
Alpha Kael Draven.
Hundreds of results appeared instantly.
Articles.
Interviews.
Business reports.
Pack records.
Photographs.
Maeve clicked the first image.
And immediately regretted it.
Her heart stopped.
The man staring back at her wasn’t the stranger from her dreams.
At least she didn’t think so.
The face was different.
Older.
Sharper.
More dangerous.
But the eyes…
Golden.
Exactly the same.
Maeve’s pulse quickened.
No.
No.
That wasn’t possible.
She clicked another photo.
Then another.
Then another.
Every image showed the same thing.
Golden eyes.
The exact shade she’d dreamed about for five years.
Her breathing became uneven.
This couldn’t be real.
Thousands of werewolves had golden eyes.
Didn’t they?
Surely they did.
But a terrible feeling had already settled in her stomach.
One she couldn’t shake.
Because the more photos she examined—
The more familiar Alpha Kael Draven seemed.
Not familiar in the way celebrities were familiar.
Not familiar because she’d seen him online.
Familiar because somewhere deep inside her…
She felt like she’d known him forever.
A sharp knock on her apartment door nearly made her jump out of her skin.
Her laptop slammed shut.
The room fell silent.
Another knock followed.
Slow.
Measured.
Patient.
Maeve frowned.
Olivia had a key.
Her coworkers never visited.
And she wasn’t expecting anyone.
The knocking came again.
Three deliberate taps.
Her heart pounded.
Slowly, she approached the door.
Looked through the peephole.
Nobody.
The hallway was empty.
Maeve’s stomach dropped.
She opened the door.
Carefully.
Cautiously.
The corridor stretched in both directions.
Deserted.
But something rested on the floor.
A single black envelope.
Her blood ran cold.
With trembling fingers, she picked it up.
Inside was a card.
Only one sentence had been written on it.
Three words.
Three words that made every hair on her body stand on end.
See you soon, Maeve.
- Writer
