Silver Rain

Chapter 15

Olivia needed a run.

She needed something that could get her blood pumping and clear her mind of the overwhelming thoughts swirling around her. She needed the sweat so thick on her brow that it stung her eyes and left a gritty feeling on her skin. She needed her lungs and legs to scream and ache.

It had been only a few days since her discovery of the shadow bodies. A few days since whatever happened between her and Felix in the lab. The line that she needed to draw between the two of them was blurry and undefined.

A few days of her being stuffed up in the pack house.

Since the discovery that the shadow bodies were multiple beings and not just one, Calvin and Felix had basically put her under house arrest.  Making it their personal mission to watch her at all times. They were convinced that the shadow bodies posed a significant threat to her safety, and they weren't taking any chances. Olivia understood their concern, but she couldn't help feeling stifled by their constant surveillance.

Their belligerent had become suffocating, a constant reminder of the danger lurking just beyond the pack house walls. Olivia bristled at their attempts to control her every move, resenting the way they treated her like a helpless child.

The small library had been her haven for escape while she was under surveillance. She studied for the MCAT and did homework assignments.  When she was done with those, she'd find a book from the stacks and lose herself in its pages, immersing herself in stories that transported her far away from the chaos of her current reality. But even the solace of the library couldn't fully satisfy her restless spirit.

Most of the time, Calvin watched over her.  He hardly offered much conversation unless Olivia initiated it.  But when Felix would stand guard, Olivia found it difficult to focus and often felt a palpable tension between them. Felix's presence, while comforting in some ways, also served as a constant reminder of... the sparks.

I sound like a hopeless romantic, Olivia brought her hands to her cheeks and smacked them just enough to sting.

In her temporary room, she pulled on running clothes that Mira had lent her.  While they shared the same height and size, Mira had curves for days and Olivia felt she was nothing but a box.  The clothes hung off of her slender frame, a stark reminder of the stark differences between herself and the werewolf women she had encountered. Another difference between her and the creatures around her.

As she laced up Mira's running shoes, Olivia's mind drifted back to Felix, his unexpected presence still lingering in her thoughts like an echo.  She couldn't shake the memory of their encounter in the lab, the raw vulnerability that had passed between them in the aftermath. It was a vulnerability she wasn't ready to confront, a truth she wasn't ready to acknowledge.

She had never been one to believe in love or feel the kind of love that came from others, not in the way she had seen portrayed in books and movies. To her, love had always seemed like an abstract concept, something that existed outside the realm of her own experience. She had never felt that deep, consuming passion that others spoke of, never felt the pull of desire or the ache of longing.

So whatever had occurred between her and Felix was strictly out of instinct or circumstance, she reasoned. Their connection, if it could even be called that, was born from the chaos of their current situation, not from any genuine emotional bond.

Even if Felix and his pack believed in that kind of stuff.

But even as she tried to convince herself of this, a nagging voice in the back of her mind reminded her of the undeniable.  That Felix was the most gorgeous man she had encountered and his touch had ignited a fire within her that she hadn't known existed. It was a dangerous temptation, one she knew she needed to resist at all costs.