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4. Little Human Female

Xander

Present

Maeve. For some unknown reason her name kept whirling in my head like a giant pool. It wasn’t a familiar name, at least not where I came from and Prescott wasn’t very far from my place either.

One second, she was trying to brave my threats and the next moment, she zoned out. And when I tried to snap her out, her nose started bleeding.

Unable to fathom, I scrubbed a hand over my scruffy morning-face and that’s when it happened. Her scent caught my senses and my wolf almost leapt out of my skin. In twenty-nine years, for the first time, my wolf craved a scent and my cock twitched in pain.

How the hell was that possible?

She was a human, my brain tried to reason. A human with a delicious amalgamated scent of lemon and flowers. I pressed the hand to my nose again. Fuck. It’s like she was a drug. Throwing a last scowl at the closed door, I went inside my apartment.

“Xan, do you want coffee?” Blaize called out from the kitchen when he heard me entering through the door.

“No, I am good.”

Grabbing the remote, I settled on the couch and turned on the local news when Blaize joined me. The three bedroom apartment was too big for me to live in. Besides, my brother was an excellent cook and therefore, I had no dearth of good food in my refrigerator.

“So, what was she saying?” he asked after a long stretch of silence and my head in his direction. Blaize still had his eyes on the TV screen, but I knew how excellent his peripheral vision was.

“What?”

“That human…female…” he pointed at the door with his chin. “I heard her talking to you.”

“None of your business,” I snapped. As wolves, we were always happy to have that sharp sense until our privacy was at stake. And for some reason, I was not comfortable talking about Maeve with any of my brothers, or a male for that matter.

Blaize didn’t say a word but continued to stare at the screen; only a corner of his lips tucked up.

I was only about to stomp back to my bedroom when he spoke up over the rim of his coffee mug. “Oh, and by the way, dad called.”

“What did he say?”

“He wanted to know if you are okay with him meeting the Alpha of the eastern pack.”

Could this day get any more worse?

“No,” I grunted out. “I am not ready for it now. Besides, there’s still one more year I have before I claim a mate through arranged circumstances.”

“Fine.” Blaize shrugged. “But you will have to tell him yourself. He seemed pretty piqued about it.”

“Okay.”

But first, my wolf needed to know about this little human or else by the next full moon, I would go berserk.

Maeve

Twice in two years couldn’t be a coincidence, right?

However, I was born with such shitty luck that nothing seemed to be a coincidence, especially something bad I envision. But thankfully, there was no vision at all. The neighbour was the first person around whom I have encountered a weird vision, except he made all my senses come alive like never before.

My heart sped up every time I was around him, and even without his physical presence, my cheeks would flare up with the heat of the memories. Xander was definitely not the kind of guy I have ever been attracted to—not that I dated too many to have a type, but still it counted something.

A part of me was thrilled to know that this man—full of power and strength and more masculine than any male I have ever seen—lived across my door, but it was also a terrifying thought to harbour.

What happens when he finds out that I am weirdo with crazy visions, nose bleeding episodes and zero social skills?

Pushing back all the thoughts of that hulk of a man, I concentrated on the job. The day at the hospital turned out to be surprisingly easy without any vision. Maybe moving to Prescott was a good thing, I thought. I was slowly getting slotted into a normal life, for once.

“Hey, Maeve, are you ok?” Heather asked, shrugging out of her white coat in the locker room. “I heard you came in early to run some tests for yourself.”

“Oh, yeah,” I flashed a smile to ease the situation. “It’s nothing, just some regular tests.”

“That’s good.” She smiled brilliantly. “Do you want to join us for drinks? Marianna and I are going to the Shacks.”

Shacks was one of the most happening bars in Prescott. As much the idea tempted me, I knew I couldn’t. I just didn’t want to risk another embarrassment. One in the morning was enough. “I really wish I could,” I whined and fibbed. “But I promised to hang out with my friend tonight.”

“Oh, no worries, hun. You have a good time.” She grabbed her jacket and left quickly, leaving me to sigh heavily into the silence.

“So Netflix and chill again,” I muttered into the empty before grabbing my bag and made my way out of the locker room. I was about to bring out the brand new AirPods that arrived today when a commotion blasted around the hospital.

Nurses whose shift just started rushed around the place with injured patients and paramedics skittered around the floor.

“What happened?” I ran towards a woman who was holding a little girl in her arms with a bleeding gash on her forehead.

“The school bus accident,” she croaked. “Please…please help!”

I immediately helped the girl onto a bed and dragged a crash cart. “Please, wait outside. I have got this.”

As usual the mother wasn’t willing to leave her injured daughter—not that I blamed her—-until a hospital staff had to pull her out so that the ER doctor could treat the wounds and sent her for an MRI to check for the internal injuries.

And that was just one case out of the ten others I handled. Finally, when the rush of adrenaline settled down, I started to feel the weariness. Finding an empty nurses’ station, I slouched down on the chair and closed my eyes for a bit.

“Thank you.” My eyes flew open and I saw one of the elderly nurses smiling effusively at me. “I know it wasn’t your shift and you didn’t have to stay, but still you did.”

“It’s nothing.” I waved off and started to rise. “Besides, there were injured children. How could I not?”

“You look really tired, dear,” she said. “Why don't you head home now? The situation is under control.”

I looked around and contemplated. “Okay.”

This time I was finally able to step out of the hospital without any unfortunate incidents and started to walk. It was way past my usual time and the inky blackness had already shrouded the night sky. The silver moonlight was shimmering ahead and the air was a bit chilled as I tried to hug myself with the warmth of my arms.

I should have brought a jacket.

The distance from the hospital to my apartment was a little more than an hour of walking, and generally I would haul a cab, but somehow I couldn’t find one today. A car would have been a good choice when I moved to Prescott, but I didn’t want to take a risk.

It happened once in Manhattan that I was driving and zoned out, leading to a massive, life-threatening accident. And ever since, I avoided cars. Besides, I was a terrible driver too.

The walk home was quiet and peaceful, although a bit chilly and deserted for a town, when all of a sudden, a car screeched to halt before me.

“Oh, my god!” I almost shrieked out mid-walk, frozen like a deer in headlights.

The window beside the passenger seat pulled down and a masculine voice called out, more like growled. “Get in!”

For a second I hesitated and peeked into it. Xander?

Surely, he was kidding. I knew the man for like a day and a half, and whatever little I knew of him, screamed of danger. For all I know, he was just an intimidating neighbour. There was no way I was getting into his car.

Frowning, I shook my head. “No, thank you. I am good.”

Without sparing another look, I walked past his car and began to trot away.

“Wait, Maeve!”

Heart hammering, I clutched my bag tighter and paced until he actually caught me. “Woman, can’t you hear!” Xander grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled impossibly closer to his chest. His hand slid down my forearms, strikingly warm against my skin and cursed. “Fuck! You must be cold.”

Why does he care?

I managed to shrink away from his touch. “I am fine,” I grunted. “Leave me alone.”

I could swear I saw that again in his eyes—that sharp glow of amber. Before it diffused. “No way, kitten. You are coming with me.”


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