Chapter 6: Amy
1799 Words
I sat at lunch with my best friend, Cassandra, drinking coffee with my elbows on the table. I was technically hiding behind my cup, but she didn't need to know that. Although, I'm sure she knew. The woman had known me since we were three.
"So... how'd it go?"
I didn't want to answer her. It had been complete hell and all I had thought about was f*****g Thaniel. His name wouldn't leave my damn head. All I thought about was him, and he had invaded and lodged himself in my brain with only a single moment that felt like eons.
"How do you think it went? I was taken hostage by a damn Alpha at Club Oasis when a witch dragged me over to him like I was some virgin sacrifice." I mumbled and took a sip of my coffee.
My best friend choked on her tea and burst out laughing. Once she calmed down, she uttered words to me that made me grumble more. "Except you're not one."
"Shush you!" I burst out and buried my anger into my fries.
"Look," Cassandra shook her fork at me. "I told you to text me the bird sound if you were in trouble."
"I'm sorry, I was busy almost being murdered by a big dimwit!" I burst out under my breath at her with an irritated expression.
"Yeah, but was he a sexy dimwit? Because if that's the case then he can choke me out anytime." Cassandra winked and popped a forkful of salad into her mouth with a smile.
"He's no Thaniel," I mumbled under my breath and widened my eyes for a moment, staring down at my food.
"Excuse me, who?" My best friend nearly choked on her salad.
"An Alpha saved me." I blushed and pushed around my food.
"You mean to tell me that you had not one, but two Alphas on you last night?" My friend dropped her fork on her plate, causing a scene.
I leaned closer and whispered at her, "Could you not yell that in here? The main one got handsy and furious and another one came out of nowhere and saved me." I shrugged and went back to eating my fries.
"I need the story, woman. You can't just drop that and think I won't want the details." She widened her eyes and took a long sip of her tea.
I sighed and sat back in my chair. "Fine... His name was Thaniel. Well, he didn't tell me it."
"Tell me he went primal on you. Tell me he smelled you and bit you and pinned you to the wall with his claws." My friend got way too excited about the damn encounter I had.
"Will you chill?" I brushed her off and groaned.
"Not until you tell me about him. You know I love my ABO s**t, woman." She pointed her finger at me, and I rolled my eyes at her.
"You're worse than me and I thought I was bad." I giggled at my best friend and took a sip of my coffee.
"Just tell me about this Thaniel... Sounds hot." She giggled, and I wanted to strangle her in the most loving way possible.
"He's tan."
"Mm-hm...."
"Handsome."
"Okay..."
"Muscular."
"Mmm.... now we're talking."
"Incredibly... sexy. God, his growl is like a deep purr and the way he just lets it linger as he breathes in your sent. The way his fangs graze your skin, and his claws scratch the wall beside your ear. How his body presses against yours like he owns you. I just-" That was it. I was lost in him again. Lost in the way he had protected me and kept me safe from something scarier.
I had met the guy once. Once! I had lost my goddamn mind at this rate. I was too smitten for only meeting the man once and I only had a name. No address.
"Sounds like he rubbed off on you." My best friend widened her eyes and took a long sip of her drink again. "Like when Martin found me. I mean he's part of the primal kink community, but damn if he doesn't act like an Alpha in the sheets."
"Oh my God...." I burst out in a fit of giggles at her.
"What? Look I married before I could catch a damn predator, ma'am. You got time." She tilted her head to the side and finished her salad.
"You know you love Martin. Even his quirks." I shoved her from across the table, and she laughed with a blush.
"I know it. I'm just saying... go after the man."
"I would if it wasn't forbidden," I grumbled, remembering the rules that Evie had told me.
"Forbidden?" My best friend set her cup down a little too hard.
"Mm-hm. This girl, an Omega, Evie, told me it was forbidden for a human or prey to be with a beast or predator." I sighed and set my cup down, giving up on it at this point.
There was a wall that had been built over the centuries between our kind and it was fine. There were few places that a human could get a primal and it was at Club Oasis. But that club also drew in the real freaks, like the monster I had been thrown at.
"But it happens all the time out here." Cassandra waved around us.
"I don't know. Maybe it's their pack rule, Cass. I really don't know. I didn't ask anything else. Either way I just have a name. That's all. It's not like he's gonna waltz in here and-" The bell chimed on the door and a man, in a crimson button-down and a pair of black slacks, walked into the restaurant. "-show up. Hide me."
"What?" Cassandra looked at me like I was insane.
"It's Thaniel." I sat lower in the booth and watched how he tilted his head up, closed his eyes, and sniffed the air for a moment before slowly peering over at me.
His lashes were low, and the corner of his lips curled up for a moment. His warm brown eyes locked on mine for a few seconds, and I got lost in him with parted lips and a blush to my cheeks.
"What are you waiting for? Go talk to him!" My best friend nudged me.
I zoned out on him as he turned to grab coffees from the takeout area and bit my bottom lip. He looked even more gorgeous in his work attire. I couldn't stop staring at him. It was like I was in a trance that I couldn't shake. He had me hypnotized with his eyes alone.
"He's leaving, so help me- Hey!" Cassandra waved Thaniel over and I wanted to die. How dare she call him over! He probably didn't even want to talk to me.
Oh my God, he's walking over. Someone shoot me. I hid behind my hand as he approached.
"Hello?" Thaniel leaned on the back of the booth my best friend was sitting on, keeping his gaze locked on mine.
"I couldn't help but notice how amazing your shirt was and I wanted to know where I could find one for my husband." Cassandra smiled up at him.
Thaniel set his jaw and kept his gaze on me, while brushing his thumbnail along his middle finger. It felt like his eyes were reading me and boring into my soul. Like I was something to flip through, such as, a book or catalogue. Something fun to play with and less so something to eat. At least eat in the sense of the food chain. I could tell he wanted something else.
His eyes scanned down my upper body and landed back on my eyes. I watched his nostrils twitch and there was a low rumble coming from somewhere that made my heart jump in my chest in a way that told me I should run. I should run far and hope he caught me. God, I wanted him to catch me.
I hadn't even noticed I was chewing on my bottom lip with lowered lashes until my best friend brought me back to reality.
"That's my friend, Amy. I'm Cassandra, but you can call me Cass." Cassandra giggled and threw something at me.
I jumped in my seat and cleared my throat. "Right, hi. I'm Amy and you are?"
"Leaving. The shirt is from the suit company down the street from here, Ray's." Thaniel shoved off the booth to grab his coffees and left without another word. The only thing he did was shoot a glance at me from the side and smirk to show off a fang before leaving.
"Well, he seemed interested in you and only you." My best friend laughed, and I groaned, getting lost in watching him walk to his car and get into it.
"Yeah." I chewed on my bottom lip again.
"b***h, you can't tell me you don't want him." She laughed and brought her cup to her lips.
"Did you see what he did?" I was still in shock by how he had treated me.
"Stared at you like he was going to chase you? Yes. C'mon, I wanna go shopping before I have to go home and work." Cassandra took the bill and walked up to pay at the register.
"Alright." I couldn't keep my eyes off the door or from the spot where his car had been.
I'd be lying if I didn't want that man to chase me all over the city until I couldn't breathe, and he pinned me against a wall in a damn alley. Until his nose was making its way up my neck to sniff me out as a growl echoed in my ear. God, I was so f****d.
"You gonna tell me more about him?" Cassandra took me out of the restaurant and led me to her car.
I got into her green jeep with her, and we took off to the mall down the way. Did I want to tell her more? There wasn't anything else I knew. I knew hardly anything about him. That was encounter two. I doubted there would be more. Prey and Predators didn't mix. Forbidden. The word practically danced with Thaniel in my head. I wasn't allowed to touch. I wasn't allowed to run. A whimper escaped my lips and my friend burst out laughing.
"You got it bad, I'm telling you." She focused half on the road and half on me.
"I do. f**k, I do." I gave up, throwing my hands up to grip my hair.
"You really should figure out where he is, but I have a feeling that he'll find you." Cassandra winked at me, and I wanted to die.
- Writer
