Forbidden Lies

5

Selena awoke suddenly. She sat up straight and looked around. She saw green and yellow fields and nothing else. The sky was dark by now and only the moon and the car's headlights illuminated her surroundings. She messaged her sore neck and moved her limbs around trying to stretch.

"Sorry about that, I went a little too fast over that bump. We still have an hour left. You should go back to sleep." Callum shrugged his shoulders and then gave her a friendly chuckle. Selena rolled her eyes in annoyance, but she didn't argue. She wanted to continue her dream so she forced herself to sleep for the remainder of the drive.

Soon the dream came back, but this time Selena wasn't looking at the two figures by the frozen river. Now they were both in a dark room, its ceiling dripping cold water. The white-haired woman laid out on an old mattress with a thick blanket over her body. To Selena's curiosity, the man also laid in the same bed, hugging the woman. They looked like two carved statues that had melted together in perfect synchrony. Color had returned to the woman's face, making her look almost human. The woman suddenly groaned and began to move around. Her eyes opened wide and she sat up straight.

She became alarmed as she took in her surroundings, including the naked man next to her. She grabbed the blanket and stood up immediately, covering her own naked body. Her heart felt like it would explode, and she fought internally to calm her heart rate. She looked down at the man on the mattress momentarily before looking away, embarrassed by his nakedness. She searched the room for her clothes and found them in a corner. She quickly retrieved them and searched for her weapons, but she couldn't locate them.

The last thing she remembered was falling and hitting ice. Her limbs had been heavy with fierce coldness. Now she felt warm and flushed but had no idea how she came to such a state.

"If you're looking for your weapons, I have taken them." The man's sleepy, husky voice startled her. The woman whipped around and went straight for the door, but before she could reach it the man stood in front of her and grabbed her arm.

"Don't. There are monsters out there." He warned her.

"Who are you?! How did I get here!" She pried her arm from the man and took several steps back.

"I know this looks bad, but you were ice-cold when I found you near the river bank. I had to warm you up somehow, and I had no other heating source except my body. Don't worry, nothing else happened. I didn't touch you. Not all of us are savages." The man grabbed his jeans and began to put them on. The women ignored his naked body. She wasn't used to the male anatomy being that exposed, but then again, she was good at overlooking such details. As a matter of fact, she had avoided such scenarios as if they were the black plague.

"The river bank?" The woman's mind was racing as she remembered her attack. "A werewolf bigger than I have ever seen attacked me." She said in a trembling voice.

"Yes, I will deal with him later. For now, you are safe." The man continued getting dressed, stretching in between, his muscles flexing in the dim light, "You don't have to avert your eyes. Nakedness in our species is normal. I am sure it is the same with yours?" he made a suggestive inflection.

The man had only peeked at her interest, but now he had her full attention, "Who and what are you?"

"My name is Cassian. I'm a werewolf, and you appear to be a Vampire. My mortal enemy." Cassian chuckled at the absurdity of his response. His mortal enemy stood in front of him naked and vulnerable, and instead of killing her he had saved her.

The woman's eyes flashed wide open and in a second she had him pinned against the door.

"Why did you bring me here!" She growled.

"I saved you from the frozen river. Not all werewolves desire to kill vampires. This isn't my war." He growled back. In another flash, he took her arms and crossed them in front of her and then he spun her around. "You should get dressed, and you're welcomed by the way." He released her and pushed her towards her clothes.

It was only then that she realized the heavy blanket that had covered her body now laid on the concrete floor in front of her. Instinctively she crouched down to try and hide as much of her nakedness as she could.

"Have you not been naked around men before?" He mocked before releasing a long sigh, "If I knew vampires were this vulnerable when naked, I would just have charmed the women out of their clothes for a quick kill,"

At this, the woman stood up with her head high, challenging him. No one had ever seen her in such an exposed state, but she would not let her nakedness distract her from the fact that she was a trained killer. She took a couple of steps forward with her shoulders back and her head high.

"You think because you saved my life I will not kill you?" She countered in an ominous tone.

" From the appearance of the weapons I confiscated, I have no doubt you would be more than willing to kill me. It's clear you are one of the Creed." He reached down and walked forward with his hand out, offering her clothes back, "But I hope you will not. I have seen enough c*****e to last a lifetime."

The woman snatched the clothes from his hand and, without taking her eyes from his, she got dressed. He was disappointed as the woman put her clothes back on. Such beauty, he thought.

"So what's your name?" Cassian asked curiously, "I mean I did save your life. You could at least give me that." The woman narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips in defiance. She zipped her black leather suit up and as she put her boots on as she contemplated if she should tell him. If she befriended Cassian, she could gather some intel for the coven.

The woman studied the man for a long moment, taking in his full stature. Tall and brawny, with a muscular build and square jaw, long mopy brown hair and striking black eyes. Cassian appeared to be in his mid to late 30s, with a perfectly sculptured figure. He was more handsome than the average individual or any other wolf she had seen.

"Ana." She finally answered.