Chapter 15

After what had happened to Eleanor in the past, Lorenzo decided it would be best to stick around after dropping the girl off. He lingered, wanting to make sure that she was safe before driving away. But this was of course purely to protect his investment, not because he cared about her personally…

He watched the window that he knew was hers, only to find that after easily five minutes, no lights had been turned on. Strange, even in an old building with a slow elevator Eleanor should have been home by that point. Lorenzo decided to case the building, make sure things were okay and that’s when he saw two figures running down the alley. He was taken by surprise when it was Eleanor that came running into him, but when he came to his senses and realized what was happening, his wolf went into a frenzy. Anger took hold of Lorenzo, his control slipping away entirely.

With Eleanor in his arms, a terrifying howl tore itself out of Lorenzo’s throat. The alpha’s dominance instantly forced the stalker to the ground, and the force of his howl threw the man off balance. Lorenzo let go of Eleanor and tackled the stalker, kicking and punching him relentlessly. He landed blow after blow to the man’s face.

Eleanor's POV.

I had never seen Lorenzo angry. Even facing Cruz's bullying five years ago, he never showed such rage. He was always calm and restrained, but now he seemed to have lost his mind. Is every alpha's howl this terrifying? I didn't know.

As Lorenzo let go of me to attack my stalker, all I could do was tremble and watch. A deep-rooted fear awakened within me, almost instinctively making me want to kneel. I had never heard a howl so powerful, I had only heard stories of how the lycan king’s howl was different than others. But this was Lorenzo, a former poor boy, maybe he had learned secrets as an alpha but he sounded so unfamiliar to me.

I shook myself out of my trance of fear because I knew I had to stop Lorenzo — I couldn't let him kill someone. I risked getting myself injured and ran up and hugged him from behind, hoping that human contact would help.

"Stop, Lorenzo! I'm okay, you saved me, it's okay. You can't kill him!" I yelled over the noise of the fight. Lorenzo's fists halted mid-air, then he exhaled sharply. My stalker laid unconscious at our feet, bruised and bloody. Lorenzo turned to me, heavy breaths puffing from his chest. With bloody knuckles, a sheen of sweat on his brow, and his hair slightly out of place, I couldn’t help but find him handsome. His face softened and he pulled me into his embrace, stroking my hair.

"Good thing I didn't leave right away..." he said softly, I could tell there was a hint of “I told you so” in his voice, but the main emotion I could detect was relief. My racing heart calmed in his embrace. I was safe.

Minutes later the police arrived at the scene; Lorenzo’s assistant must have called them when he heard the howl. The police soon took the stalker away, and as they lifted up his body I realized it was my sleazy debt collector Craig Little. I gasped at the realization which got Lorenzo’s attention, and I told him everything.

“Do you know who your creditor is?” he asked suspiciously. I could only shake my head, Little had been the only person I ever interacted with when it came to money. He was always the one pressuring to pay, but at this point I didn’t even know what I was giving him money for. Lorenzo gave me a wary look then offered to take me inside.

As we arrived at my apartment, I opened the door and we both peered into my tiny and desolate studio apartment. My room looked so sad, especially after the events of tonight and the contrast to the beauty of The Royal Grand Theatre. Lorenzo gave me a look and seemed about to say something.

“I know,” I said, already reading his mind. “I’ll move out, I know it’s not safe here for me anymore.”

“Glad you finally came to your senses, that’s the right answer,” Lorenzo replied as if I finally got a question right on an exam. I was taken aback by his decisiveness, he didn’t even give me an inch to refuse and before I could say anything more he was heading back towards the elevator so I took that as my opportunity to retire for the night.

The next morning there was an unexpected knock at my door and I instinctively tensed up at the thought of Craig Little coming back to get me. I hesitantly opened the door to find three men in moving company uniforms staring blankly at me. Without a word, they pushed past me with boxes and packing tape in hand, immediately getting to work disassembling my room. I could only stare in shock until I felt someone move into the doorway next to me.

Lorenzo leaned against the door frame wearing his signature coy smile, acting as if I had no right to be surprised. I gaped at him in disbelief.

“Oh don’t give me that look, I’ve already found a place for you,” he said in a teasing tone and I had no choice but to comply and watch as the movers packed away my things. As Lorenzo went to supervise, a distressing thought popped into my head.

“Wait, you’re not making me move into Black Moon territory are you? After all, I am a werewolf from Blue Moon,” I asked, preparing for the worst.

“Of course not that would be unorthodox, the apartment is simply much closer to Black Moon,” Lorenzo said. It was obvious that he was leaving out his true intentions: the apartment would be closer to him. I gulped and nodded, unsure of how to respond but then one of the movers interrupted us, holding up an old box.

“Ma’am, would you like us to pack this as well?” the man asked and my eyes widened — the box contained gifts Lorenzo gave me at 18, mostly handmade, including a doll he sewed for me.

It was always hard to imagine someone like Lorenzo putting time into such meaningful crafts, but each gift was a beautiful memory, and I couldn't bring myself to throw them away after we parted. Even though Lorenzo had rejected me, the happiness I had received was so real. But under no circumstances did I want Lorenzo to find out!

As the mover was about to hand Lorenzo the box, I hurried over to snatch it but accidentally dropped it, spilling an old doll. Before I could hide it, Lorenzo picked up the doll.