Help

"My heart... feels like it will explode. There's only a limit on what my heart can take. Don't kill me like this."

After Hugo uttered those words, we stayed silent and in that same position until we reached the inn to stay for the night. He avoided me since then and let his friends take over. I spent the entire dinner with the twins before they bought me clothes to change and some snacks, just in case I get hungry in the middle of the night.

Now, those words kept repeating in my head like a broken record. I couldn't sleep because of it, staring at the low ceiling with the lamp on my bedside as the only source of light. Unlike the inn we stayed in Clayburn, this inn was smaller and old. Understandable, since we didn't have the time to look for a good place. Not that this bothered me, though.

"I am already glad I can lie down after sitting the entire day," I murmured, pulling the quilt up to cover the lower half of my face. "According to them, werewolves' body temperature shoots up whenever they feel overwhelming emotions. Be it anger or happiness, they have to release it in a way — be it in howling or growling; anything that would work on them."

A shallow breath slipped past my lips, thinking about how complicated it was to be a werewolf. During dinner, I asked for a lot of things, and Kieran and Cyran explained the 'basics' to me. One of them was their body temperature.

"Does that mean Hugo means it when he says he feels like his heart will explode?" I wondered under my breath, batting my eye ever so slowly. I pressed my lips into a thin line as its corners turned up.

It felt... strange.

Hugo, the man who was so proud and blunt, hid his face on my shoulder so I couldn't see it. I giggled as I recalled how he looked a little adorable in that brief moment. It was hard to imagine that someone like him would act something so... out of character when overwhelmed by emotion.

"I shouldn't anger him, though." I nodded in determination, seeing the clear line of where I shouldn't cross. Because werewolves were more like instinct and emotions, and animalistic desires on fulfillment.

My mind drifted to the thoughts of werewolves and how different they were in nature until my eyes felt heavy as they closed. I blinked weakly, catching the light from the lamp dancing as the night breeze slipped through the gaps from the broken window.

I blinked once more and caught a figure standing on the side of the bed, staring down at me.

The light from the lamp went out.

My heavy eyelids instantly popped out of their socket, alarmed by the sudden presence of an intruder. But before I could scream, he covered my mouth with his large palm, muffling my screams.

I flung my hands and feet on instincts, sensing the sense of danger that suddenly let itself known. But the man pounced on top of me, pressing his knee on my thigh while pinning my wrist above me with his other hand. I didn't even know how he did that, but he restricted me on the bed.

'Hugo...! Help me!!!' My breathing grew ragged, staring at the pair of glowing rubies hovering over me. Fear instantly crept into my heart. I couldn't mistake this dangerous aura as I felt it before; back there in the woods when that vampire tried to devour me.

No matter what I do, I couldn't move anymore. The pain in my thigh as he pressed his knee against it made me wince in pain.

'I'm dead!' I panicked internally, feeling helpless right at this moment. 'I can't die here...' but even though I said those words, I couldn't overpower him.

My mind finally broke when the man grinned, revealing his long, sharp fangs. That very second, my entire body froze as my hands and feet went cold. Before I knew it, his palm covering my lips slowly crawled up to my nose, pressing it to suffocate me.

I struggled on instinct, but it didn't take long when my vision blurred and I felt weak. All I could hear were my trailing thoughts, the creaking of the bed as I struggled, and my muffled cry for help.

Slowly, my eyes closed, but before I completely lose my consciousness, I saw another figure, clad in a cloak, inside the room. I didn't see his face with the hood covering the upper half of it, but I saw the diabolical smirk plastered on his lips.

'Hugo...'