Chapter 3. A Stalker

Her eyes flew open. By the time on the digital clock on his nightstand, she hadn’t been asleep for long.

He had his back turned to her as his body rose up and down in tandem with his even breathing.

He was asleep. Fantastic.

Now was the perfect time for her to leave and never look back.

She couldn’t afford to stick around. Not when she was still being hunted by his kind.

She snuck out of the sheets and began putting on her discarded garments as quietly as she could.

“Hmm.”

A small moan emanated from his mouth as he stirred in his sleep, causing Cinnia to halt her steps just as she was about to grab her shoes.

After making sure he was still asleep, she hastily picked up her shoes and purse and padded to the door.

Softly, she opened the door and with one last glance at his sleeping form which was illuminated by the moonlight from the floor-to-ceiling windows, she whispered, "Goodbye."

Then softly, she closed it and made her way across his living room.

She would have taken the time to properly admire the furniture and the beauty of the place had she not been in a hurry.

On getting to the elevator, she hoped and prayed that the eye scan was just for entry only.

Fortunately for her, her prayers were answered.

Once she was out of the building and into the cold, breezy, moonlit night, she put on her shoes and found her way to the main road to hail a cab that would take her back to the motel she was staying in.

She needed to leave as soon as possible.

However, her heart kept nudging her to go back. To be with the man she had left behind.

It took everything in her to ignore the bond that had cemented between them, the pull that kept urging her to be with him.

Against what her heart wanted, she pulled open the door of the cab and got in.

“Monterana motel, please.”

She didn’t look back. She couldn’t bear to. If she had given in and looked back, then she might have just turned the car around and headed back to his place.

She didn’t even know his name.

…

He didn’t know her name.

Denzel had woken up to find her side of the bed empty and cold.

There was no note. No explanation.

She simply disappeared.

He wondered if he had done something wrong to make her leave the way she did.

“I couldn’t have imagined the mate bond, could I?” He pondered.

It was real. He had acknowledged it and so had she.

“She did say she wasn’t sure if it was a good or a bad thing though. Fuck!” He muttered to himself as he paced around his room.

His light caramel skin glistened as the moonlight streaked in from the gap in his curtains.

He hadn’t even noticed how much time had gone by. He had been completely and utterly enveloped in her overwhelming presence.

“Would you like me to find her, sir?” His head of security asked through the intercom.

The security team had seen her leave but assumed their boss had sent her off as he sometimes did with the others.

This time was the first they had ever seen their Alpha so deeply worried about the whereabouts of someone he had brought home.

For a minute, he wanted to say yes. He wanted his team to leave no stone unturned in finding her and bringing her back to where she belonged—by his side.

“No,” He said instead. “Let her go.”

She left for a reason. If she wanted to stay then she would have.

If he had marked her as his, then he would have been able to track her to at least be sure that she was safe but he hadn’t.

The marking was more intimate than the mate bond or even sex.

It meant that they were yours and you were theirs for life. The pull was stronger and more innate than the mate bond.

It was something to be done when both parties were fully aware of the decision they were making.

The mate bond could be rejected by either party but once a wolf and she-wolf marked each other, then it was sealed for life.

They could not reject each other from then on.

Therefore, it wasn’t something he could bring himself to do to her without her full consent.

Though she shouldn't have been able to walk away so easily because of the bond, if she wanted to come back to him, then she would.

…

Two months later.

West Volken. The birthplace of her parents and the state with the largest population of supernatural beings.

It was the first time Cinnia had ever stepped foot there.

She thought she would feel something, perhaps a sense of belonging or family, once she stepped on home soil but there was nothing.

She didn’t feel connected to this place her parents had once called home.

The air smelled clean and fresh, filled with the scent of humans.

She could only catch whiffs of the scents of a few werewolves.

Her parents had told her that much. The wolves and witches preferred to mostly mind their business and keep their abilities a secret from most of the human population.

That was the agreement they had made with the human governing powers so they could all live in relative peace.

The wolves lived beyond the woods of Lunar Crest, a thriving and bustling city famous for its magnificent coffee, delicious cuisine, and iridescent nightlife.

Lunar crest, its woods, and lands beyond was home to the Nightfall wolves, the largest and most powerful of all the werewolf packs.

Her father had been Alpha of the pack and Alpha King of the twelve packs of West Volken but had been deposed following his romance with her mother.

Cinnia had been warned by her parents to never return because the wolves and witches weren’t even the main threats.

"They won't be the only ones to come for you. Don't ever look back."

But she was done living in fear.

They would not expect her to come to Lunar Crest so she could be safe for some days or weeks.

In the meantime, she would dedicate most of her time to finding out whether the big, bad threat was real or if she had been running from a phantom.

Cinnia weaved through the busy crowd with nothing but her purse containing her phone, passport, a bit of cash, and her cards.

In all her five years of running, she had learned to carry only the bare necessities.

She could always buy clothes, shoes, and accessories wherever she went but carrying them with her would only slow her down if she need to leave a place ASAP.

Meanwhile, a hooded figure followed Cinnia at a respectable distance, making sure to not catch her attention.

The moment she stepped into a clothing store on a less crowded street to purchase a fresh outfit and make some inquiries, the hooded figure followed her in.

The figure let her pick out an outfit while they took pretended to browse through the vast sections of clothes.

Their eyes remained fixed on Cinnia wherever she went.

Until the opportunity came.

Cinnia stepped into the changing rooms to test her outfit and in turn, the figure followed her into the changing rooms only to be met with a pocket knife aimed at their jugular.

“Who or what are you?” She asked, trying to sound as threatening as possible.

“You already know what I am. I have been searching all over for you, Cinnia.”

The figure took its hood off, revealing a youthful face and cascading blonde hair.

“Somno.”

Before Cinnia could say another word, a strange-smelling powder was blown into her face causing her eyes to roll back into her head with her knife clattering to the ground as the blonde woman caught her limp body with surprising strength.