Chapter 9
The next morning, Rowan found one of the pearls under my pillow.
He held it up between two fingers and stared at it for several long seconds.
Then, with a flat expression, he threw it straight out the window.
I blinked at him.
He buried his face dramatically in my shoulder.
“This is bullying,” he complained. “I never said he couldn’t come see you. But climbing through the window in the middle of the night? Using hypnosis on me? Absolutely shameless.”
I went still.
“You knew?”
He lifted his head and looked offended. “He’s a siren. Hypnosis is one of the few things they’re actually good at besides causing problems. And no matter how hard he tried to mask himself, that fish smell was obvious.”
I stared.
Then stared harder.
“The white wolf…”
Rowan groaned and covered his face. “Yes. Your weird new neighbor. Your tragic little midnight pearl delivery service. Same person.”
The comments immediately started mocking him.
Smart fox, dumb in love.
He exposed his own rival.
Rowan looked like he wanted to fight all of them.
Then he turned back to me, and all the teasing in his expression vanished.
“If he comes back,” he asked quietly, “do you still want me?”
The question hit me harder than it should have.
Because for all his smooth words and playful flirting, Rowan had never once asked for reassurance before.
And suddenly I understood.
He had chosen me.
Bought his own freedom and put his hand in mine and stepped into my life willingly.
And now the first beastman I had ever brought home had returned to complicate everything.
I cupped Rowan’s face in both hands.
“Of course I want you,” I said.
His eyes lit up so fast it made my chest ache.
Maybe foxes really did have something of dogs in them after all.
Later that day, I walked out into the yard and found the white wolf standing across the fence again.
His gaze dropped instantly to my neck.
To the red marks Rowan had left there.
His eyes reddened at once.
And for some reason, instead of pitying him, I felt a wicked streak rise up in me.
“Still want to be my beastman?” I asked.
He looked startled.
Then hopeful.
“Yes.”
“Fine,” I said sweetly. “You can be the second.”
His whole chest started rising and falling faster.
Faster.
His face went pale.
Then the tears came.
Pearls struck the ground one after another.
I folded my arms and watched him.
“You asked. Why are you crying?”
His voice shook with fury and hurt. “Can every furry beastman come home with you? A hundred of them? A thousand? But not me?”
I sighed and turned away.
“Cry all you want. Come back when you can talk like a normal person.”
Behind me, Rowan emerged from the house carrying a bowl.
“Ellie, dinner’s ready,” he called casually, then glanced toward the fence and added with cutting sweetness, “And if the mystery creature by the gate wants to mourn dramatically, could he do it farther from our property?”
The comments went feral.
Fox hits below the belt every time.
Siren is one insult away from drowning the county.
That night, I did not sleep deeply.
So when cold arms slid around me again and a familiar mouth crushed hungrily against mine, I was ready.
I blocked Adrian with one hand.
He froze.
Then started backing away, eyes wide.
“Keep running,” I said quietly. “Run this time and I’ll never speak to you again.”
He stopped.
In the dim room, he still wore the wolf disguise—white ears pinned awkwardly over his siren face, as if that somehow helped.
His eyes were enormous.
“You knew it was me,” he whispered. “And you still played with me?”
I sat up slowly.
“And you?” I said. “What exactly are you doing? Leaving. Coming back. Kissing me while I’m asleep. Turning into a fake wolf and asking to be my second beastman?”
His face tightened instantly.
“He stole you first.”
I almost laughed.
“You left first.”
That wiped the fight out of him for one painful second.
“I had my reasons,” he muttered.
I lay back down.
“If you don’t say the reasons, they don’t exist.”
On the other side of me, Rowan—still half under the aftereffect of hypnosis—curled his tail tighter over my legs as if even unconscious he was marking his place.
Adrian’s eyes dropped to it.
Something raw flashed across his face.
The next thing I knew, he had picked me up and thrown me over his shoulder.
I hissed in outrage.
He carried me right out the window and into the neighboring house.
The comments nearly caught fire.
Kidnapping arc.
This village is unbelievable.
If one locks her in a pigpen and the other in a chicken coop, I won’t even be surprised.
The moment he put me down, I slapped him.
Hard.
The sound cracked through the room.
He just stood there blinking at me, eyes instantly filling.
“If you’re not going to explain yourself,” I said, “then stop wrecking my life.”