Chapter Sixty-Seven

Sneaking home that night is surprisingly easy, which I am grateful to discover considering how exhausted I am from the evening's events. A few hours after the Shadow Traveling incident, Serene taught me a bit more about the basics of metaphysical things and even a few spells, making sure to keep the lessons low-energy so that I could actually focus on retaining the information. We end up having to intersect our doubles at the restaurant that they took Syaoran to eat, managing to sneak inside to meet them in the ladies’ room before they disappear into thin air. As strange as it is to see still, I’m grateful to know that this method of distraction works fairly well. Syaoran doesn’t suspect a thing when we return to the table instead of our doubles, dressed in the same clothing. As promised, Serene pays for the meal and we head back home in Syaoran’s Audi, leaving Serene’s Jeep parked at the back of the building to retrieve later with her girlfriend.

We drop Serene off at her dorm first, leaving just Syaoran and me to drive back to my townhouse, where I can sense Adrian waiting for us. I glance over at Syaoran as he guides the SUV up the mountain that leads to the community, wondering vaguely if he also stays in one of the many homes within it. Other than being a bit gullible, he seems like a nice guy. Syaoran doesn’t say much on the way home, leaving most of the talking to Serene and me. Now that she is gone, though, I’m left wondering who Syaoran really is, other than being a Grunt in my Mate’s pack. He remains rigid around me, almost as if he’s afraid to speak to me and say the wrong thing, worried about evoking Adrian’s anger or something. Knowing that someone of Syaoran’s stature is concerned about crossing Adrian makes me feel even worse about going behind his back to practice my magic, but I try to convince myself that I’m doing it for the right reasons. It does little to ease my guilt.

As it turns out, Syaoran does live in the community with us because the gates swing open for him without requiring the code to be entered into the keypad first. He pulls his vehicle into my driveway without needing to ask which home is mine, which I soon realize is because Adrian is already waiting outside for us on the porch. As soon as the SUV comes to a stop, he is at my door opening it for me to exit, his eyes scanning me over as I take his hand and step down, out of the warmth of the cabin and into the cold. The driveway is shoveled I notice, even though it was covered in the snow earlier this morning on our way to school.

Despite the injuries I saw on his body a few hours ago, Adrian seems to be in the best condition ever as he pulls me into a hug, inhaling deeply. His embrace is so warm compared to the freezing temperatures outside, the breeze cutting through my trenchcoat like a knife. I hold my breath as he breathes me in, willing my heartbeat to remain even as I wait for his reaction. Even with all of the precautions Serene and I took, a part of me is still terrified that he’s going to find out where I really was. After a long moment though, he puts me out of my misery and pulls back to look at me, his expression soft as usual. He smiles and tucks some hair behind my ear, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “You smell like that Witch,” he mutters, turning to guide me into the house. “Go wash up while Syaoran and I bring in your shopping bags and we’ll wash those clothes too. I don’t want the whole place smelling like magic.”

The warmth of the townhouse greets me as Adrian guides me through the threshold, the familiar scent of coffee and Adrian lingering in the air. Though we’ve only been living here for the past few days, almost a week now, it has already begun to feel like home to me. After the night I’ve had, nothing sounds better than a hot bath and satin pajamas. Adrian allows me to hold his arm for balance as I kick off my boots and shed my coat, taking them from me like the gentleman he is. I really don’t understand why he insists on making his Pack fear him when he’s actually such a nice person. I think they would respect him just as much if he allowed them to see this side of his personality. Hopefully, one of these days I’ll be able to make him see that kindness is not a weakness, but strength of its own.

I pause to look up at him, glad to see his unscathed face. I reach to touch his cheek, marveling at the softness. He has no signs of the injures he bore before, which gives me hope that Jasper is equally as healed since their fight. Those hands that are strong enough to force that beast that Jasper was into a submission hold me so gently as if he’s afraid I might break like fragile glass. His dark eyes search my face, trying to figure out what I’m thinking. “Did you have fun?” He asks, pulling me closer to him by my waist.

I smile, feeling tired but content to be in his arms again. All of the worry that was building up in my chest flees all at once at his touch, seeing that Serene was right; I had nothing to worry about with their superpower healing abilities. I remember the look in his eyes while he was in the body of his wolf, searching the treeline for me as he stood so solemnly beneath the red sunset, fading into night. He knew that I was nearby without even realizing it, but he doesn’t seem to remember anything about my involvement now. “Yeah, I did. I might have gone a little overboard with the shopping though,” I admit, recalling the stacks of bags and boxes that were piled into Syaoran’s back seat and trunk. There was hardly enough room for Serene to sit. Luckily, my double seemed to have retained my taste because of what I could see, none of the decors were particularly horrible.


Adrian gazes down at me with those soft eyes of his, making me want to kiss him. He reads my mind and takes my chin in his fingers, grazing my bottom lip with his thumb as he speaks. “Don’t worry about that, I’ll take care of it,” He leans down and presses his lips against mine, leaving something lingering in my lower belly. When he pulls away, the glimmer of his earlier promise is in his eyes as they scan me from top to bottom before returning to my face. “Go take a bath. I’ll join you in a moment,” He instructs, his brow quirking the lightest bit.

I can hardly hide my grin as I pull away to follow his directions, turning to glare playfully at him as I feel his gaze on my butt. He meets my look with a simper before he turns back to the door to help Syaoran bring the shopping inside, and no doubt collect a report of the night's events from him. I wish I could remember if anything abnormal happened on the shopping trip, but I silently hope that it went smoothly as I glide up the stairs, heading for the bedroom. Since there are no windows in my room that look out into the front of the home, I can’t tell what the two of them might be talking about.

I sigh and decide it’s best not to worry about that, focusing instead on the promise on Adrian’s lips of joining me shortly. He said that he’s going to make me repay him for allowing me to go out without him, so I’m holding him to his word on that. I strip my clothes off and leave them on the floor by the foot of the bed, standing in front of the fireplace for a moment, gazing into the flames as I think about the night’s events. I hear the front door open and two male voices as Adrian and Syaoran bring in the first load of items, which brings me out of my thoughts. I shake my head and peel myself away from the warmth of the fire, high-kneeing my way into the bathroom to avoid the cold floor against my bare feet.

I locate the modern-style tub tucked into a corner by the shower and plug it up, turning the hot water on to allow it to fill up. The bathroom fills with steam in a matter of seconds and I reach for the remote that controls the lights, turning them to a sexy shade of red. I don’t find any bath salts hiding anywhere, so I take a bottle of body wash from the shower and dump half of it into the bathwater as it fills, creating a generous amount of bubbles. I leave the door open as I sink into the heat of the bath, sighing from the pleasure that the scalding water brings my numb skin. I take the moment of alone time to soak in the silence, grateful for the solitary moment. As soon as Adrian joins me upstairs, I know that I’ll be awake for at least two more hours as repayment for my playtime with Serene, though I would hardly call it that. I push all thoughts of Jasper and the night’s events from my mind, filling it instead with fantasies of what the rest of the night might yet bring.