An Eye For An Eye

Trente-Huit

As soon as we reached his house, I helped to take all of the things out of the back of the car and into the house before being pointed in the direction of the guest room where I would be staying. Tamika and Charles helped while Tasha disappeared off to find her fiance.

The house was on the edge of town, surrounded by woods. There were no neighbours, the only house nearby was apparently falling apart and practically abandoned but there was a ‘for sale’ sign in their front garden.

After setting my things down in my room, I headed downstairs and sat on the sofa.
“You have a nice house,” I said to Deuc as he sat in the armchair with a cup of tea in his hand.
“Thank you,” he said as he drank his tea. “Could you get me a coaster, please?”
“Sure.” Spotting the coasters in a fancy wooden holder in the centre of the table, I leaned forward and passed it to him. Deuc thanked me before placing the coaster on the glass table and then the cup on the coaster. He seemed to really like fancy glass coffee tables.

“I need to head back to my apartment, I need to get my stuff and pay the rent and figure out where I’m living,” I said. There was a lot to do. And for once, none of it involved hunting and it was a relief. “Where am I living now?”
“It’s up to you,” he said with a slight shrug. He leaned back in the chair and relaxed. I ended up lifting my feet onto the sofa and curling up. My eyes were sore and I was tired. But I didn’t want to head up to the guest room. I hadn’t slept alone in a while and I didn’t really feel like starting now.
“I don’t know where I want to live.”

As much as I loved my apartment, I had been planning on trying to find somewhere else since the main road made it far too loud to concentrate sometimes.
“You don’t have to decide now, you have to give them some time before you leave, right?”
“Yeah, a 30 day notice,” I said. I had a month to decide on whether I was staying in the apartment or if I was moving in with Deucalion.

“You can use my car to drive there if you need to,” he said as he leaned forward and reached for his cup of tea again.
“I might,” I said. “I’m still not having your car.”
“I know,” he said with a smile on his face as he sipped his tea. “You’re being rather stubborn about it.”

“Because you’ve done a lot more than you realise for me,” I said, trying to hold back from yawning. “You’ve let me stay with you for half a month and eat your food and everything without paying.”
“Because you don’t need to pay me for that,” he said, shaking his head as he set the cup down on the coaster.

“And you saved my li-”
“I’ve already said you don’t have to thank me for that,” he said, cutting in. He sounded a little annoyed, probably because we had a similar conversion earlier in the car
“It feels like I should,” I said with a sigh. “Thank you just doesn’t seem to do it justice.”
“Being alive is more than enough, Liza. I like you and I couldn’t sit by and watch you die,” he said. I stared at him, he really meant it.

“I still feel bad and are you sure you won’t take anything for the penthouse?” He shook his head. “Or the food?” He shook his head again.
“No, Liza. You’ve helped me cook and you’ve taught me things I would have taken a lot longer to find out otherwise. That is more than enough for me,” he said.

He motioned for me to move over to him and reluctantly, I stood up and walked over to the armchair, wondering what he was doing. His eyes glowed red for a moment and then he reached out and held my hand.
“You do not have to thank me for saving your life.”
“Okay,” I said softly, not sure what else to say. I’d have to push those thoughts out of my mind and try to forget about them.

I rubbed my eyes with my free hand and yawned.
“It seems I’m tired,” I muttered. Everything was a little too serious so I figured I’d attempt to lighten the mood a little. “Surprising after driving for eight hours, don’t you think?”
He laughed. “Very surprising indeed, I can’t think why driving for eight hours might possibly make you tired.”
“No idea,” I said while grinning.

“Perhaps you should sit down,” he said but didn’t let go of my hand.
“Where do you suggest I sit if you’re not going to let go of my hand?” I asked. He was smirking.

And then I ended up sitting between his legs with my back resting against his chest. I leaned back and looked up to my right to look at him. I never thought this would have been an outcome of that walk I had taken to his penthouse. I had watched the sunset and had expected to lose my sight, or at worst, my life. Or even torture.

But I never thought that after a month or so, I’d be in his house, his actual house and not just the penthouse. I had never expected to like him so much and hate Gerard so much. I never thought I’d be a werewolf or enjoy kissing an Alpha who until recently, I thought had given my uncle the Bite.

“You weren’t like this, when I first met you,” I said, letting my fingers trace along his jawline. “You were a little scary, and so obviously angry.”
“I’m still angry,” he said.
“I know,” I said before yawning again. “But you haven’t been like that towards me since, you even said goodnight.” And I hadn’t replied that first night.
“I saw no point in being cruel to you.”

“It goes beyond just that,” I said, laughing a little. It went way beyond that, his Beta had wanted him to claw my throat out and he didn’t do that. He didn’t hurt me at all, except for when I asked him to. “You even remembered I was lactose intolerant afterwards, next to no one remembers that. And… and just… I wasn’t expecting you to be so nice to me. I expected you to be cold and maybe shout a bit and just generally distrusting.”

And instead that had been my father. He hadn’t trusted me, he had been cold, unforgiving and definitely loud.

“But you weren’t, Gerard was. He must like projecting his personality on other people or something,” I rambled. I knew I was rambling and I knew I was desperately trying to procrastinate going to sleep in the guest bedroom, if that was even where I was sleeping. But I carried on talking anyway.

“And you weren’t the killer I had thought you to be,” he said honestly. “You never have killed anyone, have you?”
I shook my head. “No, I couldn’t bring myself to.” Gerard thought I was weak and Kate thought I had too much empathy.
“And you weren’t rude to me, you didn’t treat me like an idiot.”
“Because you aren’t,” I said before he could carry on.
He chuckled. “I’m glad you think so, a few people might disagree since I met with Gerard.”

“I don’t, you were just hopeful and naive to who he is. I was too,” I said before kissing his cheek. “But we’re not now.”
“Let’s not talk about him,” he said and I nodded as I yawned. Gerard Argent was not who I wanted to think about. “How long is it going to be before you admit defeat and go to bed?”
I laughed. “I don’t know, I just don’t want to be alone.”
“You say that a lot, actually,” he said softly. He sounded sad and it hurt a little, I didn’t like hearing sadness in his voice.

“I’ve lost a lot of people, I’m just scared to be alone, I guess, in case it stays that way,” I admitted. Mom was gone. I couldn’t talk to Kara or Chris, I couldn’t argue with Kate. I couldn’t talk to Gerard, not that I wanted to. “It’s probably stupid or something but yeah, I’m just a little scared.”
“It’s not stupid,” he said and I smiled. “And I’ll be here for you. And I don’t care which room you sleep in or if you want me to sleep with you, you can just ask, my love.”

I couldn’t stop smiling. He really couldn’t be angry at me, could he? Maybe he couldn’t blind me because his anger was directed at Gerard and not me.
“Can I sleep with you tonight then?”
“If you can give me a few minutes to finish my tea then yes, happily.”