Caleb clenched his jaws. The gardeners loved to shape the hedges in forms of bunnies. He was sure that the man must have run to the jungles to hunt for a bunny and present it to his wife. It was a common fetish amongst werewolves—to hunt a bunny and feed their wives. But he had to explain to his wife who was simply out of her wits and was thinking that she was imagining because he knew that she would encounter more such instances in the future. Wait, did he just say wife? The thought was welcoming.

"Elize, there's something you have to know dear," he said as he looked at her without blinking his eyes.

​​

She raised her eyebrow and looked at him with a face gone pale as if he was about to say that this whole thing was true, as if he was about to say that Twilight movie was based on true events. She gulped as she focused on the words he was about to speak, ready to faint. She poised herself to listen to him.

"What you just saw wasn't a hallucination," said Caleb in a breathy voice. "It is the truth. We— I mean, we Silvers— we—" he was not able to understand how to break it to her. "We are—"

"Lykaes? Werewolves?" she completed the sentence for him because she was too irritated by his fumbling.

He nodded knowing that she would faint or puke or would want to flee. Sigh… he understood her feelings.

"Oh. My. God!" she said in staccato. Her eyes were wide. She couldn't believe it and found herself getting intrigued by the prospect that Caleb was a Lykae?

Anytime soon…

"You mean you can change into a werewolf?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper so that no one listened to what she said. She was scared that others in the house might freak out and may not react like the way she had. She was bloody excited!

"I can," he replied with a frown at her expressions.

"Can you— can you— shift now?" She stared at him as if he was a puppy for her beck and call.

Caleb's mouth fell. He didn't know what to say to this girl who he had thought would faint at the idea considering her fragile state, but she reacted just the opposite. "I don't think you would want me to shift just like that. Shifting is more of emotion based. It normally takes place when I am overwhelmed with emotions and my wolf wants to come out."

"Wow!" she said and sank back in her pillows while still staring at him. A moment later she patted the next to her and said, "Come here."

Everything about this girl was… different. He assumed that she would be running to the hills, but she was looking exact the opposite. Was it something to do with the mate bond? Was she supposed to get attracted to him? He moved to sit next to her. Dragging a few pillows, he lay next to her. Turning to the side, he rested his head on his hand and looked at her with his black eyes. His wolf was calm now that his mate was accepting him slowly. One step at a time. Daryn had charted out the steps to him in the study. At that time it seemed like a gargantuan, almost impossible task, but now… he was ready to spill everything to her. Maybe she would survive…

"Caleb, you should speak softly about your shifting," she suggested as she squinted to look at him. Her voice was hoarse again.

"Why?" he asked with a frown.

She swallowed her saliva and with efforts said, "Others would listen. It's not safe."

Caleb burst into a fit of laughter. "I think you missed the word, 'Silvers'."

Elize jerked her head back. When realization dawned upon her, she pressed her mouth with her hands and gasped.

He looked at her fondly and then brought a hand to her cheek. Brushing it with his thumb, he said, "You are so adorable."

"What about Dawn? Does she know?" She couldn't believe that Dawn didn't know.

"She knows," he added but didn't give her more details. Maybe later...

His palm was so warm that she found herself leaning in its comfort and relaxing at the same time.

Over the next half an hour, Caleb told her about the Silver Clan and the Lore and she was… fascinated. It was as if she had woken into a dream world. It was almost evening and she had sunk further into her pillows. Caleb had covered her with the blankets on all the sides and tucked her in. He knew that she was getting tired. "Would you like to sleep now?"

She turned towards him and looked at his chest. So inviting. She licked her lips, but didn't dare to take a step to snuggle in his broad frame, in those muscular arms, in that warmth… She closed her eyes and nodded. A fraction of a second later, she found herself comfortably wrapped in his arms, next to his drool-worthy chest. And she snuggled up to him. Before she completely drifted off, she said, "You are so handsome…"

Caleb's lips stretched from ear to ear as his chest swelled with pride. His woman found him handsome. She lay in his arms, asleep like a log. Unlike the last times, she didn't have a fitful sleep, which was good. But Caleb remained awake. He had to talk to Daryn more about his magic skills. Gently removing his blanket, he got out of the bed making sure that she wouldn't wake up and tiptoed to meet Daryn.

Daryn was with Cole looking at the website where they had announced about Starfish Refineries. He walked up to them and peered at the computer screen.

"We must start figuring out a strategy on bidding for this," said Cole. He appeared too enthusiastic. Ever since he had found his father's Rolex, he had worn it constantly.

"I am sure Dawn has some plans," said Daryn as he navigated through the site.

"What is the deposit amount?" asked Caleb.

"About ten million!" replied Daryn, narrowing his eyes.

"Woah! Are you bidding for a gold mine?" Caleb remarked. "That's a lot of deposit money."

"Why do I feel that this is one of the antics of the Mayor?" said Daryn. "The government is trying to keep this as exclusive as possible." He looked at his brother and mentally said, "Talking about the gold mine, Caleb, Arc of Orinico needs a solid change in Management."

His older brother as usual ignored that statement.

"The Mayor was a pain in the ass!" Cole said breaking their reverie as he got up. "I don't like him."

Daryn was about to sit in his chair when Caleb intervened, "I have to talk to you urgently."

Daryn whipped his head to see Caleb. "Is Elize fine?"

"Yes, yes! There's something else I have to tell you."

"Sure!" Daryn got up knowing already that Caleb wanted to talk in privacy.

They walked to the study. Caleb closed the door behind him and said excitedly, "When I told Elize about werewolves, she absorbed the information pretty well!"

"Really?" Daryn was stunned.

Caleb nodded vehemently and narrated him everything.

"That's awesome!" said Daryn. "You must take this forward and tell her more about us."

"I have, but she slept midway. Tomorrow I am going to tell her more about it. Also—" he paused to put a finger on his lips. "I want to meet Canton!"