Zevran.
She stared at like I was mad; and truthfully at this point, I couldn’t bla her.
Because tell why my heart was racing so much?
Tell why my hands were shaking so badly and why I was stuttering so much, I couldn’t even force out a coherent sentence?
Leilani was still sitting in the snow, her eyes still wide as she stared at with open confusion. And I... the confused idiot, I still couldn’t bring myself to speak or touch her in fear of not being able to control myself or the words I would say next.
After a mont of insanely awkward silence, I slowly got out of the car, stretched my hands toward her and nodded, as if saying: ’Take my hand!’
But she didn’t take it. Hell, she wouldn’t even stop looking at .
Her eyes held emotions that made jittery, and I hate to say this but only her stares were enough to turn my knees into jello.
I gulped, swallowing the large bile now settling sowhere in my throat before I managed to rasp out; "Leilani, it’s freezing cold..." and you shouldn’t be in the snow. I said, ultimately refusing to voice out the rest of the sentence.
At my voice, she raised her eyes to look at again, and then slowly... very slowly took my hands in hers.
And goddess, I wanted to lt!
I wanted to dissolve into the floor and be reincarnated as a vanilla ice cream so that she could lick .
I wanted to take her hands in mine forever and never let go.
I wanted to grow old here... to die here. To be reborn here.
Jolts of electricity ran up the length of my arm as soon as she took my hands, and I had to stifle a moan to stop myself from embarrassing myself further than I already have.
I pulled her to her feet easily and smiled when she nodded at , her voice soft as she whispered; "Thank you"
But I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t stop looking at her. Bloody hades, I couldn’t even bring myself to let go of her even though she was currently looking at like I was stupid.
She tugged at her hand again and this ti— so as not to be seen as perverse— I begrudgingly let go and took a step back. And then I faked looking around us in confusion.
"You brought to your house?" I asked in confusion, imdiately hating myself for asking that as her face soon dropped.
The small smile on her face lted, replaced instead with a frown so deep, the earth’s core was a joke, and then she seethed; "Did you follow ?"
I wanted to lie. I wanted to pretend like I didn’t know what she was talking about, or that we had walked into the sa place coincidentally at the sa ti; But sothing about her eyes made it impossible for to lie to her. It felt like a truth serum— only that I couldn’t drink it— and made my heart race.
I shook my head then nodded. "Yes."
"Why?"
Why?
How do I even know why?
How do I tell her why?
Do I say that I had seen her leaving her house and gotten worried about her safety, hence the reason I followed her?
Do I tell her I have an obsession with ensuring that she is safe?
I knew that all of those were true but how do I say them to her without looking stupid? Or perhaps like the obsessive creep that I was?
I was however snapped out of my reverie when she leaned close and snapped her fingers in my face, causing to jump— not from fright but from a weird kind of excitent.
I whispered; "I don’t know."
Her eyes thinned as soon as I said that. She folded her arms across her chest, glared pointedly at and spat; "I would need more than that, Alpha Stormborn,"
"By the gods, call Zevran, Leilani!" I hissed before I could stop myself, my face heating up in embarrassnt when she tilted her head to the side, watching .
Another awkward second passed and then she whispered; "Why did you follow ?" And this ti, I knew that I couldn’t escape telling her the truth. That I couldn’t lie to her... that I couldn’t pretend like I fight hear the things I heard; So I said;
"I saw you leaving your house earlier tonight and I got scared that you were walking headfirst into danger..."
"...and you decided to co with ?" She asked; But I didn’t miss the tinge of annoyance in her tone. I didn’t miss the way her eyes had hardened so much, diamonds must feel like a joke right now, and how she had stiffened so much it felt like she was disgusted to be in the sa space as .
I gulped again, in embarrassnt this ti, and nodded. "Yes," then when she still wouldn’t respond, I added; "I know it was wrong for to do... but I cannot help it. I could not help the panic I felt when I caught you sneaking out of your house dressed like you were going for so secret CIA mission."
"But it was none of your business!" She bit back, imdiately making my swelling heart deflate.
I didn’t like the way she looked at like I was nothing but a nuisance. It hurt that no matter what I do, she would never like . And even though I knew that I didn’t follow her because I wanted her to like but because I was genuinely worried about her, her reaction still pinched a little too deeply.
I sighed. "I was wrong."
"I don’t care," she hissed as she turned and began to walk away. But I couldn’t let her go like this. I didn’t want her to remain this pissed at . We needed to talk.
Hell, we even left my car back there!
So like a puppet, I followed behind her, wincing when I bumped into her back when she stopped in front of her door.
Another jolt of electricity ran through my body but I had no ti to think about it because her eyes thinned as she turned around to regard ; and in the coldest voice I’ve ever heard, she spat; "Why are you still following ?"
I shrugged. "Because I am cold and it is snowing."
"Find your way ho!"
"It is too late to go back there for my car or to book an Uber ho." I supplied, looking for more reasons to remain by her side.
She scoffed but said nothing, and as we stepped into her cozy ho that slls just like her, I blurted the one thing I knew I shouldn’t.
I said; "I overheard your conversation with that guy!"
And I knew thatI shouldn’t have because she instantly froze, and her face hardened once more.
—
Leilani.
"It’s none of your business!" I spat for the nth ti this night, but instead of leaving like I had anticipated, he ca closer, so close that his warmth seeped into my clothes... and so close that I could sll him— rich, sweet but stupid.
He shook his head. "I can help you." He said, and while that should’ve made feel even the tiniest bit better, it didn’t.
Instead, it made extrely annoyed. It made want to rip his head off his neck and perhaps help him with so brain which he lacked.
My hands shook violently as I set my keys onto the counter; and I was only snapped out of my montary mont of angry blindness when I felt his hands on my shoulders, halting my movents, and annoyingly setting my body on fire.
He said in a quiet voice; "I can help you find out if the Lycan guy lied to you... I can get your parents’ samples to conduct a DNA test since they’re locked up in our pack’s cell. I can piece together those parts of his story that seem disjointed. Just try ."
And I wanted to.
Goddess, I needed soone to help out with this.
I needed soone who I could easily talk to... soone who wouldn’t try to talk out of what I was about to do...
...and while Zevran poised to be all of those, I still couldn’t bring myself to trust him. I an, he is Zevran Stormborn.
So I shook my head. "No."
"No?"
"No, I do not need your help. No, you’re not supposed to be here and you should never have heard what you heard... and no, you shouldn’t be in my house because I can vividly rember filing for a restraining order against you and your brothers."
"But we own the court," he answered slowly, infuriating even further.
"I know you do," I spat in anger, "...and I know that you have the power to overturn anything but I don’t want you exercising your power in front of . I also do not want you anywhere around .."
Maybe I didn’t intend to sound so harsh but as soon as the words started coming out, I could no longer stop them,
—And to my utmost surprise, Zevran simply nodded, then turned and left without sparing another glance, and without a care that he had no car, and that it was late... and that it was snowing heavily.
He just left.
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