Chapter 3 DOWNHILL

Kiernan's Pov

I gently tapped his face, his head lolling at the whim of my palm. He wasn't coming awake, even as I tapped him harder.

What the hell?

I picked him up, cradling his body and looked around the empty restaurant. What would I do?

Sighing, I walked over the front door and flipped the sign to closed. Then I walked over to one of the booth chairs and laid him down.

Goddess, he was beautiful.

My wolf purred. I glanced at his face for a moment more, unable to look away from the soft point of his wide nose, the plush pink lips, the pale skin. Under the dark slit that were his closed eyes, I imagined the soft brown of his irises.

Sighing, I yanked myself away. Goddess.

I retrieved a bottle of water from the corner, sliding a big enough bill underneath the others to pay for it. Then, as I passed by, I dropped a few more into his tip jar, for any potential customers he must have lost to this fainting.

I walked over to him, opened the bottle and gently flicked some drops onto his face. Placing my wet hand on the skin of his face, I ran my cool hand down his skin, ignoring how tingles feather all around the contact point between him and I.

He finally opened his eyes.

"You," he breathed, losing the little colour in his face all over again.

I opened my mouth to say hello when he sat up, sliding himself away from me. "I didn't tell anyone," he muttered. "About last night. About what I saw. I didn't tell a single soul.”

I tilted my head at his heart rate speeding up. Was that because he was afraid, or was that because he was lying?

"Please don't kill me!" He added, leaning away.

Still, I said nothing, focusing on the wild way his heart was beating. I just wasn't getting a read on him.

He wet his lips, a little tongue darting out over the flesh. I watched the action, and it replayed over and over in my head for some reason even as he continued speaking. "Look, I don't know what you are or what the fuck I saw last night, but I'm not going to the cops or the news or whatever you're worried about. I just want to forget this ever happened."

I decided I believed him. But him trying to forget wouldn't keep him alive, not if he was seen.

"Listen very carefully." I kept my voice low, controlled. "Last night, I was attacked by hunters— people who kill things like me. You witnessed it. That makes you a liability and if they realize you saw what I am, they'll kill you just to tie up loose ends. So whether you like it or not, you're involved now."

"How would they know? Didn't you k— kill them all?”

"My cleanup crew only met two bodies there so unfortunately, no.” 

I pulled out a business card, slid it across the table to him, his eyes following my hands as they neared, sending his heart into a frenzy again. "That's my number. If you see anything suspicious, anyone following you, you call me immediately."

He looked at it, then at me, his brows pulling downward. "Why would you help me?"

I opened my mouth, closed it and cleared my throat. I couldn't tell him that. I straightened, letting out a sigh. "Because those men last night, they'll, uh, be looking for witnesses and I'm just not in the mood to let an innocent person die because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He looked like he didn't believe me . I watched him shimmy all the way over to the other end of the booth and stood. "How considerate of you. But I’d prefer if you just stayed away from me."

He walked back to the counter, and I watched him go, everything in me screaming to follow. That wasn’t good, my wolf was getting attached to him.

A tingling at the back of my neck made my head swivel, a snarl on my face. Someone was watching us. 

I was right. The swift movement made a man, seemingly leaning casually on a wall across the street, jolt so harshly the sunglasses on the top of his head fell off. 

Another wolf. Fuck.

What did they know? Or what did they think they knew?

He glanced at me, picked it up and sucked away at the side of the building. I would have to watch Enzo closer.

My wolf jumped at the thought of that and I forced the elation down. After one more glance at him, wiping down the counter top for the twelfth time in a row, I ducked out of the shop.

—

Enzo’s POV

Turns out, trying to forget about a werewolf is really fucking hard when said werewolf keeps appearing everywhere you go.

I saw Kieran at the coffee shop three more times that week, outside my apartment building twice and at my fucking university during office hours with my professor.

At first I thought I was paranoid. Then I realized he was actually following me.

"Your stalker is back," Sienna announced, appearing in my room where I was trying to finish an essay that was due yesterday. "Six o’clock, pretending to have some of that shitty coffee again.”

I looked outside the window from the couch I sat curled in. He did seem to be drinking the coffee but I agreed with Sienna, no human could drink a whole cup of that toxic sludge and be fine.

He is a werewolf though. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"The guy who's been parked outside our building for three hours. In a car that costs more than our annual rent." She crossed her arms. "Want to tell me what's going on?"

"He's just—" What? What would I say that wouldn’t put my best friend in danger? "It's complicated. He's just some rich asshole who's into me.” Sort of. “It's fine. I'm handling it."

"By letting him stalk you?"

"By ignoring him until he gets bored and moves on."

Sienna didn't look convinced, but she dropped it. She had her own life to worry about— trying to find a job after graduating a few months ago, her new boyfriend Julius, who she'd met at some security conference and was apparently ‘different from other guys.’ I hoped so. The last ones hadn’t been great.

I glanced at the man in the shop as he lifted the cup to his lips again. I just hoped Julius didn't turn into a wolf. That would be my luck.

Four days after the werewolf had visited me at the coffee shop, everything went to shit.