Chapter 26: Their Other Side

Michael’s POV

The drive back to my apartment passed in silence.

It wasn’t due to a lack of thoughts. No, it was actually quite the opposite. In fact, my mind was preoccupied with the supermarket scene, which played vividly in my memory.

I had noticed Emerald almost the moment she walked in. But she, on the other hand, had noticed me first.

The instant her eyes landed on me, she quietly changed direction and disappeared into another aisle.

A faint smile touched my lips as I remembered it.

She believed she was avoiding me, but what she didn’t know was that I had seen her clearly and had no need to follow her.

A Primogen’s senses stretched far beyond those of an ordinary werewolf. Even with several aisles separating us, I always knew where she was.

There had been more than one opportunity to walk over, but I chose not to. Whatever reason she had for avoiding me belonged to her.

It would have taken me less than a second to look into her mind and find the answer, but I didn’t.

Every human deserved the privacy of their own thoughts, even when I had the power to take that privacy away.

"You’ve become unusually considerate." Draxen’s voice broke the silence.

"I’ve always been considerate," I said to him.

"No, you’ve always been disciplined. There is a clear distinction."

I said nothing in return. After several moments, he spoke again. "You saw her the moment she entered the supermarket."

"Yes, I did," I admitted.

"You knew she was avoiding you and yet you pretended otherwise," he deduced.

"There was no reason to embarrass her. I couldn’t let her careful efforts go down the drain," I explained, already picturing the corners of Draxen’s voice lifted ever so slightly.

"So, you waited until the checkout."

This time, I didn’t respond right away. The traffic light ahead turned red, so I smoothly brought the vehicle to a stop.

"You interfered twice," Draxen continued.

I rested one hand on the steering wheel. "Mmh."

"You made her bank card fail."

"Yes."

"And when she reached for her phone..."

I completed the sentence myself. "I drained the remaining charge from the battery."

Silence persisted. Draxen let it sit before prompting, "Why?"

I watched the traffic light change from red to green, then drove on. "Emerald Hugo would never have accepted having a stranger pay for her shopping."

"No."

"She would have insisted on returning the money immediately."

"She did."

"If her phone had remained on, she would have transferred the money before we even left the checkout."

Draxen didn’t respond this time. I honked at a red car in front of me before overtaking it. "I merely postponed the inevitable."

A quiet chuckle echoed in my mind. "For someone who created the opportunity himself, you do have so many explanations."

I didn’t deny it. There would have been no point.

---

By the time I arrived at my apartment building, the city had already disappeared beneath the glow of evening lights.

After parking, I took the lift to the top floor and unlocked the front door. The apartment greeted me with its usual stillness.

I loosened the cuffs of my shirt as I walked into the study. Only after placing my phone on the desk did I finally hear Draxen again.

"Lucien."

The sound of my real name made me pause. He rarely used it. Not unless he intended to remind me of something I would rather ignore.

"She is our mate."

I looked out through the glass wall overlooking the city. "No. You’re wrong."

"You know what I sensed."

"I know what you claimed."

"I did not claim it. I recognised her."

I slowly folded my arms. "Emerald Hugo is human."

"So she appears."

"There is no ’appears.’" I turned away from the window. "I have lived for centuries, so I know the laws that govern our kind. A Primogen’s mate is a female werewolf. Not a human."

Draxen did not argue at once. When he finally spoke, his voice had grown quieter. "Lucien... I have never mistaken our mate."

The words lingered heavily in the room, and neither of us spoke again for a few more moments.

That was precisely why I refused to believe him. Draxen had never been wrong. Not once. Yet everything about Emerald Hugo contradicted what he insisted was true.

She carried no trace of werewolf blood. Her heartbeat was human, and her scent was human. Everything about her was human, so none of it made any sense.

Slowly, I released a breath. There really needs to be another explanation to this. Whether Draxen agreed or not, I neither knew nor cared. At least, that was what I told myself.

Quietly, I raised my hand. The room remained dark, with no energy evident around me. Only an invisible supernatural thread responded to my command, vanishing just as easily as it had been woven.

The bank card would function normally again. So would the phone. Satisfied, I lowered my hand.

Draxen broke the silence. "Though you respected her mind, you still altered her circumstances."

I glanced towards the darkening skyline beyond the windows and admitted, "I did." Slipping my left hand into my trouser pocket, I walked towards the kitchen.

"When do you plan on texting her?" Draxen inquired.

I didn’t answer immediately. Instead, I reached for the transparent glass jug on the counter and poured myself a glass of water. Only after lifting it to my lips did I reply.

"No rush."

Draxen was quiet for a brief moment, then he said, "I know what you’re planning."

I took another sip before setting the glass down. "Do you?"

"You want to keep her waiting." His voice stayed calm. "You know she will be expecting your message. You want the anticipation to linger with her a little longer."

I rested one hand lightly against the countertop. "If you already knew my intentions," I said evenly, "why did you ask?"

This time, Draxen didn’t answer straight away. Several seconds passed before his voice echoed through my mind again.

"You’re bringing out our other side."

My fingers loosened around the glass. A faint smile appeared on my face, almost too small to notice.

"Start getting used to it."