"You're not…" he starts. Then he waits, still all up in my personal space, like I'm supposed to finish that sentence.
"I'm not what?"
A few seconds pass. Then a minute. I feel itchy. I know I should want to get away from this very intense close talker with gorgeous green eyes, days-old scruff and thick arms trapping me in place, but I'm rooted. My feet won't move. My arms won't lift to push him away.
I should be uncomfortable or scared, but instead, I feel calm. Warm. Content being near him.
Finally, after another minute, he shakes his head.
And then his entire demeanor changes. The darkness fades away. As much as it can for someone like him, covered in tattoos and scars, and his general air offuck with me at your peril.
"Nevermind, pet." Then he winks, turns, and leaves. And just like his arrival, the black hole of energy follows him, and only then do the sounds of the party rush back in.
Huh.
That was the weirdest five minutes of my life. Hands down. And I once caught my elderly neighbor stealing my underwear in the laundry room.
This is the part where I should breathe again, but I think he took all the oxygen with him. Something inside me sparks to life, a rush, aneedto follow him. I take a step forward, but Amy snaps me back to reality.
"Okay, who in the fuck wasthat?"
"I don't know," I say honestly.
"Damn. I'd drop Eric in a heartbeat for twenty minutes with him. Hell, I'd do it for ten. I bet he'd change my life in ten minutes. Did youfeelthat? I mean, what thefuck?" Amy fans her neck, still staring in the direction he disappeared, though he's long gone. I can't tear my eyes away either.
That itchy feeling inside me crawls around, making me feel restless. It's familiar, but I don't feel it often. Random occasions, like when I'm at the doctor's office my dad brings me to, or when I'm having particularly bad days, when I'm doubling up on my meds and can't get off the couch.
All my physical energy might be zapped, but something inside me, something beneath my skin, wants to get out. It's clawing and aching.
But I'm here, and he's gone, and that whole thing was a fluke. So why does it feel like he took a piece of me with him?
The loneliness feels louder than ever.
Amy keeps talking, and Jason, the guy I was flirting with earlier, finally makes his way over. They talk around me, though Jason keeps trying to include me. I smile and chime in when appropriate, but I'm off kilter. Confused. Unwell.
It's different from the usual. Not woozy or tired. In fact, I feel kind of wired. Like that restlessness beneath my skin is trying to get out, banging around my insides.
Jason is a nice guy, but I've lost all interest in him. It's not his fault. Not that I'm comparing him to whoever the hell that man was, because that wouldn't be very fair. It'd be like comparing a chihuahua to a hellhound. Different beasts altogether.
Amy laughs at something and hits my shoulder again, but now I'm stuck in a thought I can't shake.
Could he have been…?
No.
Impossible.
Everyone knows wolves don't come to the city. They keep to their communities in the woods and countryside. And yet… once the idea is planted, all I can think is that, yes, he might've been a wolf. Hemusthave been.
Holy shit! Was he a fucking wolf?
I've never met a werewolf, or shifter, whatever they like to be called. They keep to themselves. There are forums and gossip sites about them, but nobody really knows what's accurate or not, because, aside from some wolf-leader on the west coast, they keep their identities secret. We know humans vastly outnumber the werewolf population, but still, when there are supposedly hundreds of thousands of werewolves worldwide, you'd think at least one of them would want to be a celebrity and end up on human news.
But no. Just a few random postings, some articles with potentially false claims about their mating, eating or killing habits. So elusive that most humans, like me, forget they exist entirely.
But there was somethingotherabout him, and suddenly, I feel struck down by the realization that yes, I just met a fucking werewolf. He leaned in close, hesmelledme.
What are you?
