I take a peek into the living room before going to the kitchen to make breakfast. He’s still sleeping. That’s good. He needs it to heal. It makes me wonder what happened to him in the first place.
Once I’m done cooking breakfast, I prepare two plates and walk over to him. I put one on the ground next to him and then take a seat on the couch and wait for him to wake up.
I sigh as I look at the clock and see I have no time left anymore to spare and quietly get up. He can eat when he wakes up.
I head to the door when I suddenly feel dizzy again and hold on to the wall so I don’t fall. I wait a few seconds and close my eyes, slowly standing straight again and taking a breath. My health is acting up again. I haven’t completely recovered from the flu I had last week. Normally, I get better quickly, but this time around, it really did a number on me.
I sigh as I put on my shoes and coat and head out for school, and I’m thankful my house guest isn’t awake to give me a hard time about doing so.
Mr. Lamberg calls out to me as soon as I enter the classroom.
“Good morning, Valery. How did it go yesterday?”
I stop in front of his desk and smile weakly at him, trying to hide my throbbing headache and dizziness while holding onto the desk for support.
“Good morning. It went well. His wound is looking much better, and I believe he can get up soon.”
He nods at me with a smile but soon frowns.
“You overdid it again, didn’t you?”
My eyes widen and I tilt my head. He sighs and takes out some papers from his bag and hands them to me.
“This is the material for today. You can look over it at home. The book pages are written down as well.”
I take them and look at him. He nods to the door.
“Go home for today and rest, Valery. I don’t need you to collapse like last week. Rest over the weekend.”
I frown at him but nod. He’s right. Last week I forced myself to come to school and collapsed while cleaning the sheep’s stable.
“I’m sorry.” I hate feeling as vulnerable as I do now, but he shakes his head with a smile. “Don’t be. Just go and rest. Should I let someone walk you home?”
I shake my head and put the papers into my bag.
“It’s all right. It’s not far. Thanks.”
He nods and I exit the classroom, the building, and the campus itself as I trudge back home. My head is spinning, and the blinding light of the sun only amplifies the throbbing pain. I’m grateful when I make it home and unlock the door.
After closing the door quietly to avoid any unnecessary pounding in my brain, I make my way to the kitchen to grab something to drink and look into the living room.
I stop in my tracks.
He’s not lying on the carpet. The whole time he has been here, he hasn’t left this room. I burst out in a smile at the thought of him feeling better but frown right after. But if he’s not here, where is he?
I look around but don’t see him. The only place he could access is the living room and the kitchen, so—
A sudden sound upstairs makes me gasp, and my body tenses. Did someone break into my house? Trembling with fear, I desperately try to steady myself as dizziness threatens to send me sprawling.
“Whoa! Watch out!” someone shouts.
I’m caught in strong, muscular arms. It takes a few seconds for my senses to come back to me, but then I try to push the arms away, panicking.
“Hey! Stop! You’re gonna hurt yourself like this!”
I realize I’m too weak to fight back and stop. My head is pounding, my body is shaking uncontrollably, and I feel like I’m going to pass out.
Whoever is holding me sighs. “Why are you back so early? I didn’t expect…”
I’m being pulled up into a standing position.
“Well, at least you’ve calmed down. Good girl.”
The hands leave my arms and pet my head, and I’m reminded of my house guest. I open my eyes and glance around the room before looking up at the man in front of me. His dark blue eyes look into mine and then flicker in a familiar golden.
“No… It can’t be.” I sink to the ground and lean against the wall. “Y-you’re… You’re…?”
He smiles and nods. “Thanks for taking care of me when I was injured. I feel much better now.”
“B-but… How is that even possible?”
My head starts to spin again, and I close my eyes. The man sits next to me.
“I didn’t want you to find out like this…” He shakes his head and says something under his breath. “Listen. First, just believe me when I say I’m not going to hurt you.” He raises his hands in a placating gesture. “But I’m—I’m a werewolf.”
I stare at him in disbelief. Maybe I’m sicker than I thought. I must be hallucinating or something. I try to stand up, but I’m still too weak.
Releasing a heavy sigh, he points toward his bare stomach. “This is the wound.”
The bandage is gone, but that definitely is the wound the wolf had, and his eyes…
I look up into them again and see them flicker to golden once more.
“You’re…really him.”
He nods with a smile. “My name is Alvarius.”
I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks, and I lower my gaze. “V-Valery.”
I hear a low grumble from him. “Valery.”
My name on his lips has my heart beating faster.
“So…” Wanting to get this awkward feeling away, I change the topic to the first that comes to my mind. “I guess that would explain why you didn’t like the dog food.”
Alvarius chuckles. “Yeah. We eat normal human food. I actually really like veggies.”
I nod awkwardly and look at his stomach. The wound looks way better than before. That’s impressive. I knew it was getting better when I looked at it last night, but this is incredible.
He notices me staring and speaks up. “Werewolves have good healing abilities. It almost doesn’t hurt anymore. But if you hadn’t helped me, I don’t think I would have made it. So, thank you.”
I blush at his words and shake my head. “No need to thank me. I just can’t stand to see animals hurt. I-I mean, not that you’re an… You’re not… I mean, you were, but, um…”
I nod, relieved he wasn’t offended by my remark. Now that the sudden panic is over, and I have calmed down a little, I realize his arms are still on me and push him away before trying to stand. He’s a werewolf. A werewolf! This is too much for me.
“Valery! Watch out!”
My sudden movement startles him, and he lets go of me, but since I’m still feeling lightheaded from my illness and his revelation, I fall back against the wall and slump sideways.
Alvarius sits me back up and frowns at me. “Goddess, what’s with you?”
He touches my forehead with his hand and sighs. “You’re sick, aren’t you? C’mon. You’re going to lie down.” He takes my hand, but I pull it away.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” It was one thing to have him touch me as a wolf, but now that I know he’s not just a wolf, it changes everything.
He looks back at me and growls, his eyes shifting to his gold. “Don’t make me repeat myself, or there will be consequences.”
I ignore him and successfully stand, pushing him away as he tries to help. I lean against the wall for a moment, debating what to do. Do I ask him to leave? Do I wait until his wound is completely healed? My head is pounding so much I can barely think straight.
Alvarius growls louder and grabs my waist, throwing me over his shoulder.
“What are you doing!? Let me down!” Overwhelmed with embarrassment, my cheeks turn a deep shade of red as I realize just how close I am to his exposed skin, and I ineffectually hit his back.
“Silence.”
My words get stuck in my throat by his dominating voice, and I stop struggling. He chuckles while heading for my bedroom. Once he opens the door, he places me on the bed and starts taking off my clothes.
“I can do that myself!” I push him away, but he grabs my wrists and pins them over my head, holding them there with one hand and opening the buttons of my shirt with the other while grinning.
“Why so shy suddenly? You didn’t have a problem walking around in your bra in front of me the first time we met. Or just being in a towel after that…”
The gentle grazing of his touch against my skin draws a soft sound from my throat.
“Th-that was different. I didn’t know you were…”
He chuckles and places his lips next to my ear. “A man? Well, I am a man. A man who always gets what he wants, so stop fighting against me already. You will lose.”
