8

EMILY'S POV.

I froze on the spot I was. My eyes were stuck in his, and his in mine.

Even if a hundred years had passed, and I had seen a billion men, there was no way I would ever forget the face of the man I was staring at.

Soft brown hair, which was now styled sweetly, showing the low cut on the sides of his head… dark eyelashes, smooth eyebrows…

It turned out those eyes were as enchanting as the rest of his features. They were a deep green. Green like the forests pronouncing freedom.

He was the man I slept with. Even in my horror, I couldn't stop myself from getting enchanted by his beauty.

My heart beat in two different ways. One was for fear, and the other was something unexplainable. My chest was cold, and chills spread around my body, down to my fingers making them shake.

Why was he there? Why had he called John? How had he gotten in? Did he know the passcode? How did he know the passcode? Why did he know the passcode?

"Lucas." John called, after some seconds, and the stranger's attention was stolen from me. Did he… did he recall my face? Why was it so hard for him to smile at John properly? After a few failed attempts at smiling properly, he produced a bright smile that struck me to the heart like a shooting star. Well aligned teeth, slightly pointed at the canines, making him look dangerous, yet alluring.

They hugged, and I could only feel doom approaching. I tore my eyes off, and tried to control my shock. They were… they were friends? I had slept with my husband's friend?

My fingers shook hard, and I found it hard to breathe. I tried holding them together, but it turned out I kept letting go of my own hands because they were too shaky to hold.

My eyes were restless, and I felt like crying. It was just too much. The stranger I had slept with, and had acted so coy and strange with… the stranger I had passionately given my all due to heartbreak, the stranger who would make me seem like the same thing as John… the stranger who would ruin everything; he had come. He had come to haunt me.

How could….? I didn't understand…

In a million handsome strangers upon the earth, how could I have slept with my fiancé's friend!?

No, something didn't seem right. It was a setup. A plan…

I wanted it to be a plan, but even as I thought about it, it didn't sound right.

"Emily." John called, and I jumped noticeably.

"Uh?" I asked, looking at him, then snatching my gaze back to the floor, taking a tiny step backwards.

"Can we…? Can we talk later? I know you're mad, and all, but… I… someone's here, and I…"

"Oh yeah, sure. We… we'll talk later." I said, hastily, still looking at the ground. My current state didn't permit me to keep fighting. I was supposed to leave, to walk out, but I couldn't bring my feet to move. I was stuck on one spot. How was I to leave the house, with both men boring holes into my body with their gaze? When I had committed an atrocity with one of them?

My bones were shaking, and all my life, I never knew arms, and legs could shake that terribly, until that moment. Even my head was stiff and creaky when it turned.

"Thank you, and… so, uh… Lucas, meet my fiancé, Emily." He said, and I should have retorted, 'Ex-Fiancé, John', but I was in no state of mind to do so.

The stranger came to me, and my heart seemed like it would pop out of my chest the closer it got. I took another tiny step backwards, and took in silent, deep, shaky breaths.

He came to stand in front of me, and flashes of the night went through my head.

The smell of his hair, the taste of his lips, the feel of his body… the beautiful gaze in his eyes… his hands on my body, his…

Emily! My mind screamed, bringing me to order, as I realized I was so caught up in thoughts of him that I didn't realize his hand was stretched out in front of me, waiting for me to take it.

No, I didn't want to take it.

"Emily?" John called, and my restless eyes looked everywhere, but his face, as I took his hands.

Soft, smooth, no blisters, it was no wonder they had roamed my body, without trouble. They were also… warm… large, comforting…

I snatched my hands back immediately.

"Emily, meet my Uncle, Lucas." He was saying, and it took me half a minute for that to sink in.

Uncle… uncle… not friend… Uncle…

He was… he was… What the!? John's Uncle!?

I stumbled, as the shock threw a powerful headache on me, and as I lost balance, staggering backwards; the both of them tried to reach out to me, but I was too fast, and it wasn't until I hit something heavy that I lost complete balance.

I tried to hold onto something, but fell anyway, and with shock, something was falling with me!

The sculpted Alpha Wolf— John's heirloom. Before anyone could do anything, it crashed next to me, and I let out a terrible scream, covering my head.

I was in a dream… I was in a dream… it was a dream! Pieces, and specks, of stone hit my hands covering my head, and after all the sound, no one else made a sound, and I lay on the floor helplessly.

I was doomed.

I took my arms off my face, and saw the sculpted Alpha completely shattered.

"Emily!" John roared, and I shook hard.

"It was an accident." I cried out immediately, and he crossed over me to bend, and pick the pieces in his hands.

"What have you done?" He asked, looking like I had killed a person. His eyes watered, and my lips trembled. I had done something completely horrible.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I…"

"Damn you! Do you know how much it will cost to fix this? Do you know all the things I'd have to do? All the places I'd have to go to complete this!?" He asked, looking at me furiously. His large eyes filled fast with tears, and his breathing came out noisily, while his lips trembled with anger.

"John, I'm sorry, I swear I…" I was saying, but he got up quickly, and dashed to the large TV, bending to pull out a drawer. Even the stranger was staring at the shattered Alpha on the floor in shock.

John's hands searched the drawer frantically, and finally, he brought out a large book, and flipped through the pages. Then he came back to me.

"See how old this is?" He asked, and I nodded, looking at the old, worn leather book, with thicker leather binds. "In here, it states that if someone else apart from the heir breaks the heirloom; the person will serve the heir with their everything, and will devote three years of their lives to the heir, if incapable of paying the amount needed. You and I know you're nowhere capable of paying the amount it will take to sculpt this. Not to talk of the other procedures after the sculpting is done." He said, and my eyes snapped from the book to his face.

"Now, three years of your life has been given to me." He added, and it seemed like time stopped, and I couldn't hear anything else.

He was serious.

What? I had to give him years of my life?