Lunar Temptations

Ch 16

I forgot to process or even breathe for a moment when my eyes landed on him. His breathtaking face was up close, eyeing me cautiously as if I would break any moment now, and he couldn't help but handle me delicately. The feel of his hands on my waist, holding me steadily against the door, felt surreal - maybe because I wasn't used to imagining him being this gentle towards me anymore. Maybe because I only saw him with the look of vengeance now, nothing more, and that made me blind to his humane side - which was bare to me right now.

My gaze swept over his face, watching a bead of sweat trickle down the side of his forehead, and followed it as it went lower down his neck and over his bare chest. I had only realized it then that he wasn't wearing anything except a robe. I nervously blinked for a moment before clearing my throat.

Well, I shouldn't have gawked like an i***t, and maybe I should have realized the situation first because when I looked back at him, the look on his face said it all as to how I had been caught staring. Surprisingly, he didn't say a word.

"I was looking for you," I admitted sheepishly, not sure why I was looking for him in the first place. Maybe because I felt like I owed him something for saving my life, and our last interaction was pretty messed up about which a part of me felt. Well, there I was trapped between him and a cold metallic door, which was a contrast to Zayden's warm front sending ripples of warmth throughout me. Old Raya would have believed that this man carried warmth in him, but this version of mine would have never until now when I could feel it running through me and heating my body like a bonfire on the coldest of nights.

He didn't say a word and kept staring at me with an unfathomable look. His brown orbs were reflecting an emotion I couldn't comprehend, and I had seen many emotions pass on that face for years, but this one was unknown to me.

"If you don't want me here, I could leave," I said, trying to read his stoic face, but damn, that man was hard to read, especially when he was almost naked across from me with nothing but a robe on. No matter how hard I tried, it was f*****g distracting, even with an injured neck.

"I am not letting you go. Ever again," he mumbled, his jaw clenching. I bit my lip, not expecting this from him, and weirdly my stomach started doing those weird things again, whatever it did when I thought of him. A shiver ran cold down my spine when his gaze landed on my lips for a moment, his brown eyes turning red momentarily before he let go of me and backed away.

"Who did this to you?" he asked, turning his back to me, probably to not let me see him weak for me. That red colour was a giveaway of his emotions, and I wondered if whatever he felt towards me was genuine, hence the red eyes. But whatever it was, he had been keeping good control of it.

"I don't know. They came out of nowhere-" I took a step away from the cold door.

"They?" he said, c*****g his head to the side, slowly turning to face me.

I nodded, "There were two of them who attacked me."

His jaw twitched, and his head tilted back as if he would lose it any moment now. "I tried to fight them off, but eventually I-" I said and paused to take another breath. "I failed."

Silence washed over us, and I waited for him to reply.

"You could have died, Raya." His voice was low but hoarse enough for the reality to dawn on me. He was right, everything he was saying was right. I could have died, and there would have been no trace of me, and yet there I was, alive and breathing with a wolf so weak, I bet I could not even transition to its form. No matter how hard I tried to hate him or think of the terrible thing he had done to me, it didn't matter. All I could process now was how he was the reason I could walk right now. He came to look for me and found me before my own family could.

"But you knew where to find me," I said and watched him still. His toned chest peeking from underneath his robe tensed. Well, I reacted similarly when I remembered where I had ended up at last and his voice. The small hut by the stream, where our good days had passed by, where our runs would end, and I would always try to push him into the stream afterwards, only for us both to end up tripping into the water.

"You remembered. Didn't you?" I said. "Would you believe me if I said-" He suddenly advanced on me step by step. "Yes, I did, but-" another step, and I began to take each back, matching his. "I feared I would not find you there either and lose you again and these broken pieces of our relationship once more?" He didn't stop, and there I was, once again trapped between him and the door, but this once, way too absorbed by his words to realize it. He could mesmerize me in seconds, and I wished it was not that way and that it was easier to hate him, but it was proving to be impossibly difficult with each passing day. Especially now when he possessed the power to take over my attention swiftly, with bare minimum efforts - like pressing me against a door and telling me how he was afraid of losing me.

Fuck, what was happening to me or my senses?

"Would you believe it?" He was calm, but the emotions swirling on his face were like a tornado ready to sweep me off my feet. "Tell me, Raya." He urged me to speak, carefully lifting my chin to meet his gaze. This time, I was speechless instead of him, and unlike him, I had no way out of there.

"I-I don't know what to say," I mumbled, and he could see straight through my lie. My heart and mind were in a brawl once again, so I chose the neutral answer. A small smirk crept on his face, and for some reason, I felt my cheeks heat up. He looked breathtakingly handsome in that grey robe with a body glistening with sweat, and something about it made me clamp my thighs shut.

He slowly leaned into me until he reached my ear. His hands reached down to grasp one of mine. A surprised gasp escaped my lips but was silenced when he took my hand and rested it on his chest, right above his heart. My hand burned with the need to freely roam over him, but I clenched my jaws tightly, not letting that thought prevail. Though, his heart beating underneath my touch made it impossible to do so.

"Someday, you'll learn to trust me again." His face was stoic, his voice low but chilling as if he was challenging me. "And I'll gladly wait for that day than lose it all." His eyes lowered to meet mine, his heart thumping under my hand, and his words taking over my mind was euphoric. A moment so priceless to me, yet so terrifying.

Because somewhere, I knew that he was right.