The Temptations of a Hybrid

Chapter Three

The ladies were right. Rhydian Brine was a looker and it seemed as though he would look better with fewer clothes on, but he still looked dazzling in his black tuxedo. It was as though the tux was a bit too tight as it hugged his every muscle. He had light brown hair that was styled to perfection and a face that could rival one of Aphrodite's demigod children, or even herself. He had a jaw that would cut me if I ran my finger across it, lips that were naturally plump and dark pink. And one last important factor that sealed the deal for me was that he was taller than me. For the majority of my life, I had either been at men's height or taller, looking down on them. Seldom was I shorter and when I was, it was just by a few centimeters. Nothing against short kings, just their ego.

I snapped out of my mental droning and stood up. His eyes followed my every movement and when I was standing at my full height, even with the stilettos, he was still taller than me.

Rhydian's eyes seemed to devour my whole being and when he finally looked me in the eyes, there was this indecipherable glimmer in them. It looked as though hundreds of emotions were running through him, but only two were running through me. Apprehension and fear.

My siblings were not the only ones who were afraid of rejection. I just needed to hold up a strong front for them, so all in all that pretend strength became my real strength, until now.

He too froze, took a deep breath, and choked on it. His eyes widened and looked at me with surprise, then with happiness, as he assessed me wholly one more time, as though he was unbelieving of who I was. That threw me completely off guard.

Through all that, I had not noticed that there was a party going on around us. I had turned a deaf ear to the sounds of Dillon Francis and Martin Garrix. I was unaware of my family looking at us with eyes filled with pride for me. I had not noticed we had moved closer with each breath taken. Close enough to feel each other's breaths on our faces. I was too overwhelmed.

"My, my," He spoke in a soft voice. If we weren't as close as we were, it would have been difficult to have heard him. "It seems as though the Beta Female of this pack was, after all, attending the ball this year. I was close to giving up you know."

He spoke the last line so casually and with ease, but he took a tentative step forward, hugging me. I mimicked him. Rhydian put his arms around my waist slowly, as if waiting for me to step back.

In all honesty, I was ecstatic. I took his willingness to even touch me as a good sign, him presenting me with that title was an even bigger and better sign.

I weaved my arms around his shoulders and let my fingers take comfort in his hair. My face in the crook of his neck, I inhaled his scent. He smelled of petrichor and the light scent of flowers. I did a double-take and sniffed him again. My arms tightened around him and I removed my face from his neck to look up at him in his blue-grey eyes. The smell of petrichor was ever so familiar.

"You're a Lycan?" I asked, my voice stained with suspicion. What was Lycan doing in a werewolf pack? I questioned myself. "I thought you guys stuck together." Strength in number or did they operate by quality over quantity?

"Mhmm," he mumbled, looking me in the eyes. His eyes hardened before shimmering again. I could not look away, but it's not like I wanted to anyway. "I'll explain later, though. Not here. I want to know why I have not seen you here before. Did you run off from something mandatory?" A perfectly shaped eyebrow lifted itself.

Once I remembered the question at hand, I looked down and felt my face warm up. That was another thing about my appearance, I always seemed older than I actually was and I found that embarrassing for some reason.

"No," I said, suddenly shy, "I'm not that type of a trouble maker. I just turned of last year in October and I couldn't make it last year."

Rhydian nodded in understanding and started to smirk, "Not that type of a trouble maker?"