5

We drove around for hours. In the meantime the sun had risen, but everything around us seemed gray and it kept raining a little.

"Are you hungry?" he asked as he stopped at a rest area and I nodded silently, without even glancing at him. "Would you like to eat something in particular?"

"No," I said, slightly pissed off, bending my legs to rest my head on my knees while still staring stubbornly out the window.

"Do you need anything else?"

"You know what?" I was getting annoyed at his stupid questioning. "Put your food and whatever else where! What I really need is my home and if you can't give me that, then I don't want anything else!!!"

I glared at him angrily, gritting my teeth menacingly as his expression went ice cold.

Without saying anything, he got out of the car angrily and slammed the door behind him. I looked after him and immediately noticed that other women who were standing here at the rest area were all looking after him, which, despite my dislike for him, made me mad with jealousy. My wolf growled in my head so loudly that I slumped it back to my knees in frustration as more rain pelted the car roof.

In that silence, my thoughts carried me to Gloria, who was probably pacing the kitchen sick with worry, calling all sorts of people to ask about me, which was making my heart ache. She had taken care of me all my life and never gave up on me, no matter how complicated and exhausting I was most of the time. And now she had a life of worrying about that idiot... It was so unfair!

The car door opened again and I curiously watched him get in. He ran his hands through his wet, jet-black hair, which fell slightly over his face, and then turned to me.

"I didn't know what you wanted," he said calmly and got all sorts of things out of a white bag. Among them were chips, chocolate, Fanta, water and also some croissants and pretzels.

He put everything back next to me in the middle seat and looked me in the eye for a few moments longer before he buckled his seat belt again and started the engine.

My eyes kept falling to the chocolate, which with its nuts was even one of my favorite sweets, but I would certainly never tell him that, if only because I couldn't bear his arrogant grin.

I grabbed one of the pretzels and kept ripping off small pieces to pop them in my mouth in frustration, noticing him keep glancing back at me out of the corner of my eye, but I kept my gaze stubborn the window and watched the rain, which seemed to get heavier and heavier.

"Can you turn up the music?" I asked quietly when I heard thunder outside and looked forward at him uncertainly. If there was one thing I was really afraid of in life, it was thunderstorms. I hated the sound of thunder and also the glaring flashes, so I always listened to loud music at home when a thunderstorm raged above me.

"Sure," he replied calmly, turning it up louder so that I tried to calm myself and stared at my hands anxiously, which I guess he noticed.

"Are you all right?" he asked, and just as a blinding flash of lightning brightened up the gloomy fog around us, I winced and looked outside, wide-eyed, biting my lip nervously.

"Here," I heard Keno's voice, glancing at him nervously as he handed me the handcuff key, which I uncertainly accepted, using to free myself. My wrist was already a little sore and it was a faint blue colour, but with my genes it would surely go away soon.

"Come forward if you're scared."

"I'm not afraid!", I defended myself and heard a loud clap of thunder above us, which immediately drove me frantically into the front passenger seat. As soon as I sat down and bent my legs, Keno reached past me and yanked at my seat belt to buckle me up. Then he reached back for his black down jacket and put it over my legs so that I could lay my head on it sideways and wrapped my arms around my legs.

"Your mate's smell can calm you down. Did you know that?"

He looked over at me questioningly, then quickly turned his face back to the road.

"No. Basically, I only know what's written in books about us," I admitted sadly and eyed him for a while, during which he only looked thoughtfully out of the windshield.

"Where are we going anyway? So, I mean, do you live with a pack or do you live alone like me?"

He took a deep breath and glanced over at me several times.

"I live with a big pack. There are no normal people among us."

Curious about this topic, I raised my head a little and looked at him intently.

"Are there also female wolves with you?"

"Only a few. We are about 500 in the pack, including many old ones. I estimate we have 20 female wolves of mating age at the moment."

I stared at him thoughtfully and when he caught my gaze he smiled at me and raised one of his eyebrows.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked and I just shook my head in embarrassment.

"Nothing, it's okay."

"No, tell me, please."

I felt absolutely ridiculous because firstly it was none of my business and secondly it shouldn't interest me at all, but my she-wolf almost forced me to ask him with her howling.

"Do you have a partner? Or already offspring?"

He seemed pleased with my question and grinned stupidly to himself while I slapped myself for it.

"No and no. Of course I had sex, but I don't have a permanent partner and I can only father offspring with you anyway," he explained and I literally felt my cheeks heat up and my stomach start to tingle at the same time.

"We're almost there now, by the way."