Page 29 of Taming the Beasts

“Titan, please…” my voice trailed off as he stepped right in front of me. My whole body was shaking as he leaned forward to get eye-level with me.

He growled again, even lower than before.

He hadn’t shifted, but I remembered his face perfectly from when he had. His sharp teeth. Spittle flying as he growled. It was all I could see in my head. Titan was going to kill me if he shifted. And all semblance of his control was gone.

I shoved him back again and screamed at the top of my lungs.

“What the hell is going on out here?” Otto asked as he stepped outside. He took one look at Titan and froze. “Zoey, go inside. Now.”

Otto didn’t need to tell me twice. I ran inside and Otto slammed the door shut to keep Titan out of the house and safely away from me. The entryway was bathed in darkness. I couldn’t see a thing. For a moment all I could hear was my own heart beating. But then I heard a louder growl from behind the closed door.

I turned around and ran toward the stairs. I hit my shin hard against the first step but bit back the pain. I put my hand on the railing and ran up the steps. My feet hit the landing, but I didn’t realize it, and I fell onto my knees. My stomach churned. I’d been seconds awayfrom death. Surely. I took a deep breath, but it didn’t help. I stayed on my knees as I tried to take more slow breaths. My heart didn’t stop racing, but my body final stopped shaking.

I put my hand on the wall and slowly stood up. It was dark up here too, but my eyes were adjusting. I’d never been upstairs here before. Most of the doors were closed. But there was one door ajar and light was flickering through the doorway. I looked down the dark stairwell. There was no way I was going back downstairs. So I walked over to where the light was flickering and peered inside.

There was a fire in the stone fireplace on the far side of the room. The stone stretched up the wall until it hit the ceiling. The beams in the ceiling were showing. And the dark wood cascaded down one of the walls, creating an accent wall behind the bed. It was one of those low, modern beds that looked very easy to collapse into after a long day.

There were some clothes strewn around the room. An empty coffee cup sat on one of the end tables. The bathroom door was ajar and there was a towel just sitting in the middle of the floor. I smiled. It was a little messy but a whole lot homey. The smell of the fire permeated the room and I had no doubt in my mind that this was Otto’s room. I’d always thought that Otto smelled like a roaring fire on a cold night. This was why.

Even though I had no idea what was going on outside, Otto’s smell helped my heart stop beating so quickly. All I wanted to do was crawl into Otto’s big bed and forget about what just happened.

The guys said they’d gather up some of my things for me, but I didn’t see any of my bags or a suitcase anywhere.

I peered out into the hallway again. I didn’t hear any more growling in the distance. Hopefully Otto had gotten Titan to calm down. And it didn’t seem like anyone else was awake. I pressed my lips together and turned back. I walked over to the dresser and pulled open one of the drawers. Boxers would definitely not help me. I closed the drawer and opened another.Perfect.I lifted one of Otto’s t-shirts and closed the drawer with my hip.

I peeled off my boots, leather clothes, and undid the clasps of my lingerie. I pulled on Otto’s t-shirt and smiled. Even his clean clothes smelled like him.

I reached into the front pocket of my pants to make sure the coin was still there. The feeling of it in my palm calmed me down even more. I folded my clothes and put them down on a chair that was near the fireplace. It looked like a chair you’d read a good book in by the fire. But there weren’t any books in sight. And I wondered if Otto just stared at the fire. I could easily picture snuggling and relaxing this way together.

But it didn’t seem as fun alone. I wasn’t sure when Otto would be back, so I crawled into his bed to wait for him. I took a deep breath and his familiar scent was all around me.

Titan had almost shifted right in front of me tonight. While the two of us were alone. I knew that. And maybe he’d shifted now. He could be loose, terrorizing the town.

But for some reason, I felt safe in Otto’s bed. I reached out and ran my fingers along a deep gash inOtto’s headboard. A gash that didn’t look at all like something natural to the wood.

No, I really shouldn’t have felt safe here. I pulled the comforter up higher and closed my eyes tight.

***

I felt something on the side of my cheek. I sat up with a start, pushing myself away, and almost fell off the side of the bed.

“It’s just me,” Otto whispered, and gently touched the side of my face again.

The room was dark. The fireplace was only glowing embers. But I’d recognize Otto’s voice and touch anywhere.

Thank God he was okay. I threw myself into his arms. “Did Titan shift?”

“No, he calmed down.”

“And you’re okay?” I pulled back to see him. I put my hands on his cheeks and then his shoulders as my eyes scanned for any sign of injury. Like a huge gash that matched the one on Otto’s headboard.

“I’m okay,” he said. He grabbed my hands and lowered them to his lap. “What happened out there? Titan rarely snaps like that.”

Snaps?I envisioned Titan snapping my neck in half. I forced myself to shrug instead of shudder, even though I knew what made Titan snap.I lied. He caught me. And we fought about it.But I didn’t want to say any of that. Every time I tried to talk my way out of this, I just made things worse. Tomorrow I’d talk to Emma and we’d figure out our plan. Until then, I just wanted to sleep.

“I don’t know,” I said. Lying to Otto was the hardest.

He must have mistaken the look on my face for fear instead of guilt, because he lay down and pulled me into his arms.