Another Love Story

Chapter Nine

Another couple of months passed before Lucas was ready to talk about how his grandfather had died. He could've told Delilah when she'd asked about it in the café on the day of the funeral, and he would have if it didn't mean he'd have to confess his biggest secret. If he had told her the truth on that day, he feared she would've reacted badly. It was a risk that Lucas hadn't been willing to take at the time, but now they'd been living together for for months, and the two of them had grown a lot closer. Keeping the secret from Delilah was killing him. It was currently seven in the morning, there was a gentle knock on his bedroom door. He knew it was Delilah, she always knocked on his door at the same time each morning.

"You can come in, Dee."

Now, with Lucas' permission, she walked into his room, going over to the window and opening the curtains. Sunlight filled the room. Delilah turned to look at him, smiling happily. When she saw him patting the space on the bed beside him, she walked over and sat down.

"Delilah, I need to tell you something. I've been keeping this from you since we met but I can't do it anymore. You need to know."

His words confused Delilah, but she just kept quiet, allowing him to say what he needed to say.

"The morning my grandfather died, he and I had gone for a run in the woods. We used to do it every day actually, ever since I was a kid... The two of us would always leave the house early in the morning and follow the same route. However, on this particular morning, I suggested we take a different route. I just thought it'd be fun to change things up, you know? God, I should've known it was a bad idea. The path we took that day wasn't safe, we ended up being chased by a group of hunters. They were relentless. We couldn't escape. In the end, my grandfather and I were surrounded, all of their guns were aimed at us..."

"Wait, I don't understand. Why would the hunters chase you and surround you like that? It's not their job to hunt humans. It doesn't make any sense. Unless..."

"Unless I wasn't human. If that's what you're thinking, you're absolutely right. I'm not human, not completely. That's the secret I've been keeping... In our other forms, my grandfather was larger than I am. As the hunters opened fire, he shielded my body with his, he bled out within minutes. The hunters just left, probably assumed I was dead too. He died protecting me. All of it was my fault."

Delilah shook her head.

"That's not true. You couldn't have know that the route you took would be swarmed with hunters. You didn't force your grandfather to protect you. He did it because he loved you."

Lucas looked at her with a thankful smile, she seemed to always know just what to say in order to make him feel better.

"How can you be so calm? I've just told you that I'm not human, you don't know what I am, yet you're completely relaxed and being so kind. I really don't get you, Delilah. I don't get you at all."

"Did you think I'd be scared if you admitted you weren't human? Well, I'm not. So, what exactly are you, Lucas?"

He sighed and grabbed his phone, showing her a photo of him... in his wolf form.