5 Chapter 5: Exposed
He’d never met anyone like her in his life. Who the hell was this woman and what was she doing to him?
He must have been hallucinating. There was no way she followed him down dark dangerous streets, threatened him and then called him a coward, no less to his face. No one had dared call him a coward in all the years he’d spent being human. No one.
Who was she to pester him in this way? He felt untapped anger simmering just beneath his skin, but there was another emotion mixed in with his fury. One he had only experienced a handful of times: desire.
Sure, he was on edge today and perhaps he provoked her a little, but that still didn’t account for her stubbornly stupid and fearless attitude. Didn’t she realize he could crush her like a bug with one fist? Zane took a deep breath.
Against his better judgement, he scanned her delectable curves. He felt the beast inside him purr with pleasure at her alluring scent, the fire sparking in her magnificent though unnatural eyes. He had to admit, he was intrigued.
If he was being honest with himself, he’d felt a pull to her the second she walked into the diner, but never in a million years had he expected her to actually pursue him like this.
What was different about her? Sure in the past, he enjoyed the carnal pleasures that humans willingly offered him, but this…felt unique, consuming in some unknown way.
What did she want?
He saw how she stared at him when he lost his temper with that customer—he’d realized in that moment she would never look at him as anything other than some unruly riffraff that wasn’t worthy to kiss the ground she walked on. Typical human.
And then Keeli had come dancing into the kitchen to tell him Sera Hastings was a Godforsaken socialite. ‘The best of the best! A goddess in human form!’ she’d yelled with delight. How utterly ridiculous.
Zane felt his temper once again soar at his own pointless musings.
“What did you say?” He waited for her to back down, to whimper in terror.
But she did no such thing.
“I called you, a coward,” she repeated, mesmerizing him with those hypnotic eyes and full lips that he had the sudden urge to bite down on.
His lust and rage sizzled through his body, reaching a melting point. Just as he was contemplating how best to drive her away once and for all, her eyes filled with wonder and then satisfaction.
“I knew I wasn’t seeing things!” She was looking particularly justified, studying him as if he were an exotic creature locked up in a zoo.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he snapped, staring at her with unwanted wonder.
He let himself breath in her air. She smelled like lavender and honey—the scent was so strong it overtook him completely. Zane suddenly found himself imagining how she'd taste.
“Wow,” she murmured curiously, her eyes alight with intelligence.
Some wild instinct deep inside of him stirred with longing. Before he could stop her, the maddening woman reached out and stuck her finger in his mouth. She quickly pulled her hand back and continued to observe him.
“Strange…they look much sharper than they feel…”
Zane ran his tongue over his teeth. His canines felt normal.
He could taste her sweat and flesh, every atom of her being was racing across his lips. When was the last time he tasted anything so sweet? He couldn’t remember…
Zane tore himself away from her as fast as he could. His heart racing as his eyes immediately snapped down to his hands. They were human as well.
“Those are some serious claws,” she commented warily.
His mouth parted slightly at her words.
“And that’s new too, isn’t it?” she questioned, pointing to the sleeve of his shirt. “The tattoo, I mean.”
Zane lifted his shirt, exposing his defined abdomen. The large black tribal markings that used to take up the entire right side of his torso and upper arm were not visible. Though he could feel his skin burning where the rest of his tattoos used to be.
He stared at her in shock.
His hands flew next to the space right above his collarbone. There were no slits there, the ones that once allowed him to live both on land and in water. He hadn’t felt them in 40 years. God damn how he missed the water. His home. Deep anguish filled him to the point of insanity.
He was hardly aware of her gasp as he pulled out a small knife and made an incision on the inside of his arm—his blood ran red.
“Why is it black?"
He lifted his head and looked into her eyes.
“You can see me?” he asked quietly, unable to believe what was happening.
“Yes,” she insisted, taking a tentative step forward. “What are you?” she asked, her eyes wide, her lips parted with sweet anticipation.
Zane was thoroughly pissed to hear that her voice was not laced with one ounce of fear.
“What does it look like?” he snarled.
Before he could contemplate this most extraordinary occurrence, she was once again rapidly speaking.
“You didn’t notice, did you?” she asked, moving closer to him as if she’d love nothing more than to dissect him under a microscope.
Zane backed away, suddenly wary.
“This is who I saw today when that customer treated you like crap. I knew I was’t imagining it. I’ve been waiting for this moment for years,” she finished, more to herself than him. “Wow,” she repeated, her voice filled with amazement.
No wonder she overreacted at his outburst this afternoon. He laughed without humor. She continued to stare at him.
Zane could not detect one note of disgust in either her tone nor her eyes. How many times in one night was she going to shock his system? He needed to calm down.
His natural form hadn’t broken free, so why could this random woman see what he could not—his true self. His body hadn’t changed in 40 years, neither with age nor back to its original form. This had never happened before…why now? Why her? What the hell did it mean?
He was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn’t notice that she crept closer until she was once again inches from his face. He relished all of the nasty quips he could hurdle her way, or better yet, scare the curiosity out of her with one swipe of his claws. Claws he could neither see nor feel. It infuriated him.
But then she did something that had Zane’s heart nearly exploding out of his chest. She reached up and touched his face. Her fingertips were smooth against his cheek. He was frozen, unable to break her penetrating stare. Anxiety and dread threatened to overwhelm him. She knew his secret. What now?
“Calm down,” she carefully directed. “Breathe.”
He did as she said. They stayed like that for several moments, staring into each other’s eyes. Finally, after what seemed like decades, she pulled her hand away with a small smile.
“There.”
Sera blinked.
Zane watched her intently as she looked down at his hands.
“Normal again.”
She checked his teeth.
“Also normal.”
He didn’t bother lifting his shirt, an instinctual part of him knew his tattoos disappeared from her sight as well.
“Your anger seems to be a trigger,” she mused, stepping away from him.
Zane suddenly felt empty without her touch. He realized in that moment he wanted, no craved, more.
“Why can you see me? No one can see me…I can’t even see me,” he questioned out loud as he ran a hand through his messy hair.
Sera looked away with a blush. He was undeniably, physically perfect. Though she still couldn’t understand why her body reacted to such a small gesture.
“I’m not sure…” she admitted. “I’m just as surprised as you are. That’s why I followed you. I wanted to know if I was losing my mind or if…what I saw was real.”
“Just forget it,” he insisted, shutting her out with a cold glare. “Go back to your perfect existence and forget everything you saw.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “How do you possibly expect me to do that? I told you, I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet a…” she trailed off looking sheepish.
Zane felt his temper threaten to surge once more. He pushed it down and swallowed hard.
“Call it like it is. A monster.”
The way the word slid off of his tongue should have been illegal. Serra fought against the desire that now pounded down her chest and made its way towards her core. He was too alluring for her own good.
“A monster...” she echoed, looking thoroughly ruffled.
Did she find him as perplexing as he found her?
Zane forced the smirk away from his lips and huffed with annoyance. “And if that’s what you thought I was, then what the hell were you thinking following me? Don’t you realize what someone like me could do to you?”
Her eyes widened in surprise, as if she hadn’t considered the horror he was capable of unleashing.
Zane realized, in that moment, he was intrigued by her telling facial expressions, her inability to hide the truth.
Sera fixed herself with resolve, brushing off his ominous statement.
“It was worth it. At least now I know I’m not crazy,” she explained patiently.
He let out a bark of laughter, “I wouldn’t rule it out.”
She ignored his jab, her mind already onto the next course of action. “Can we talk?”
She was full of surprises. He’d give her that.
He scoffed at her, “Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?”
“I mean somewhere a little more private.”
His lips lifted with wicked promise.
“Trying to get me alone?”
His words wreaked havoc on her composure, but she did her best to stay steady. Sera huffed with irritation, the blush once again creeping up her neck. Zane felt the blood pound in his brain as he imagined running his mouth down her delectable flesh. He shook his head clear.
“I’d like an explanation,” she clarified, “where we won’t be overheard.”
“Why does it even matter? You don’t know me, I don’t know you. Just go.”
She shook her head stubbornly. “I can’t.”
Zane gritted his teeth in annoyance. “If I agree to this ‘talk’ will you leave me the hell alone?”
“That depends.”
Zane let out a sigh of frustration. So be it. The quicker they got this over with, the quicker he could go back to living his miserable human life and forget about the woman who caused all sorts of physical reactions in him.
Though he had to admit he was curious…what was with this human? How was it that she was able to see the real him? Perhaps she had information that could help him.
After all, it was odd that she mentioned waiting for this moment her whole life. What did that even mean?
Zane lifted his eyes to her hopeful, violet orbs. He knew he would regret this in the morning, but that didn’t stop him from once again wrapping her thin arm in his strong fingers and dragging her back in the direction from where they came.
“Thank you, Zane,” Sera offered as she trailed after him, her voice alight with adventure.
Zane rolled his eyes as he subconsciously rubbed his thumb over the smooth skin of her wrist. He could feel her racing pulse. A shudder of unexpected pleasure ran down his spine.
“Don’t thank me yet, Sera.”
