Chapter 36

Olivia

My childhood friend’s face was pale and his eyes were wide.

"Olivia," he said, his annoyed voice melting into concern, "who said those horrible things to you?"

Instantly, I felt myself soften beneath his worried gaze. I wished all of a sudden that I hadn’t said anything at all about what Angela said to me during my appointment, as now I realized that all I accomplished was making Nathan worried for me.

"Um… Forget it," I said, taking a step back. "It’s nothing. I think I’m just tired, and blowing things out of proportion."

Nathan’s frown deepened. "Tell me the truth, Olivia," he replied as he closed the gap between us again. "Who said that to you? I want to speak to them."

I swallowed. Nathan’s face was too intense for me to ignore it, and so I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep the truth from him any longer.

"It was… Angela," I replied, staring embarrassingly down at the floor. "She was the nurse at my appointment this morning. She said some really awful things, and made me take several STD tests. And she wanted me to take a paternity test, but I refused."

Nathan’s eyes widened. "Angela said all of those things?" he muttered. "Why? You two haven’t spoken since—"

"Middle school, I know," I replied quietly. "I don’t know exactly why she seems to hate me so much. All she said was that I was tainting our Alpha’s bloodline with my bad genes, and that I stole you away from a girl who would have made the perfect Luna."

A silence hung thickly in the air between us. I slowly looked up, and as I did, I saw that the look on my friend’s face had shifted from concern back to anger. But he wasn’t angry with me anymore.

“I’m going to talk to her,” he said, his voice so low it was almost a growl. “Don’t worry, Olivia. I won’t let anyone talk to you like that.”

There was something else about him, too. He was rolling up his sleeves absentmindedly as he ground his teeth together, revealing his sinewy forearms. He exuded the energy of an Alpha, his determination radiating outward in every direction.

At that moment, something shifted within me. I caught myself staring almost dreamily up at him, my eyes widening as I noticed how attractive he looked, how his Alpha nature seemed to overtake his boyish features.

A blush came across my cheeks, and I instantly felt embarrassed as I wondered if he noticed it.

Nathan did notice my reaction. He paused for a moment, looking at me, then narrowed his eyes slightly in concern. "What's wrong?" he asked.

I shook my head as I tried and failed to dismiss my own thoughts and feelings. "It's nothing, Nathan," I mumbled, avoiding his gaze as I stared down at the floor. "I'll just find a different doctor. You don’t need to confront anyone."

But he didn't seem to believe me.

Without a word, Nathan closed the little bit of distance that was left between us.

As he towered over me, the scent of grapefruit salt filled the air and overwhelmed my senses. I could feel myself being drawn to him in a way that I hadn’t felt before; a magnetic attraction that made some sort of unfamiliar feeling for my childhood friend stir within me.

It almost felt as though my wolf's instincts were awakening in response to Nathan’s Alpha presence.

“Olivia,” he murmured, towering over me, “let me handle this. You don’t need to worry when I’m around.”

I felt my knees weaken at his protective words. “Nathan, I…”

My voice faltered. Somehow, I felt the overwhelming urge to kiss him right then and there. I couldn’t tell if he felt the same, but he stood so close to me, and didn’t move away when I slowly started to lean closer toward him on instinct.

Our bodies brushed up against each other. I felt a shiver run down my spine as Nathan just stared down at me, his eyes fixed on my face.

“Are you alright?” he repeated, his voice soft and somehow commanding at the same time.

I bit my lip as my mind scrambled with a million different things to say.

But it was all too much. The intensity of my attraction made me feel dizzy, and panic started to stir inside of me. My heart pounded as Nathan’s overpowering scent took over my body.

I couldn't allow myself to be consumed by these feelings. We were just friends…

With a sudden surge of strength, I pushed past Nathan and ran up the stairs.

“Olivia?” he called after me, his voice echoing down the hall as I ran. “What’s wrong? Where are you going?!”

But I didn’t answer. I couldn’t face him, not when I felt such an odd attraction to him. Could he tell how fast my heart was beating? Could he see how my face turned red as I cowered under his looming shadow?

I spent the rest of the day in my room, only coming out briefly to scrounge up some dinner from the kitchen and scurry off again. Nathan seemed to get the hint, and didn’t talk to me after our strange encounter on the stairs.

As time passed, however, I couldn’t get the image of him standing over me out of my mind. He was so much taller now, so much more muscular and attractive. He smelled sweetly of grapefruit, and yet at the same time he had an undeniably manly musk about him.

I couldn’t explain away these feelings.

“Maybe it’s just pregnancy hormones,” I whispered to myself as I laid awake in bed that night, unable to sleep. I stared up at the ceiling for a long time, trying to justify my unprecedented feelings in my head as I pulled on my hair.

Eventually, sleep overtook me. I dreamed about wolves — my wolf and Nathan’s wolf. I dreamed about Nathan and I together, doing things that friends should never do with one another.

And when I woke up in the morning, I quickly came to the realization that my panties were wet from my night full of dreams.

I groaned softly as I rolled over onto my back, then sat up and rubbed my eyes.

I felt a little bit better now. Maybe it was just hormones after all; a night of sleep, and those dreams, got it out of my system.

Something eventually caught my eye as I sat there in bed, processing my fading emotions. Something slid under my door: a little scrap of paper. I looked at it curiously from where I sat on my bed for several minutes before I heard the door downstairs open and shut, and I heard Nathan’s car start in the driveway.

Furrowing my brow, I climbed out of bed and padded over to the piece of paper. I picked it up, and felt my heart sink a bit.

“I’m going out for a bit,” the note read. “My mom is coming to bring you some soup.”

I sighed as I crumpled the note and tossed it in the wastebasket. It was kind of Nathan’s mother to bring me soup, but…

She and I had never really gotten along, and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to an awkward conversation. Especially not after I had just spent the night having wet dreams about her son.