One hour later, Lydia sat on the edge of her bed, now wrapped in a fluffy robe, staring at the spot where Maxwell had vanished into thin air.
"What kind of human is this man?"
Her hands trembled slightly as she replayed every impossible moment.
The way he'd appeared and disappeared without walking, moved faster than her eyes could track, spoken of murder as casually as offering coffee...
The supernatural speed, the inhuman strength, the eyes that had flashed from dark to blazing red.
The answer to her question whispered through her mind like ice: *He wasn't human at all.*
Lydia buried her face in her palms trying to process what she had just witnessed. This Maxwell Salvador had been seconds away from killing Amanda.
"No!!!"
"Don't you dare!" She had yelled, her nostrils flaring up in desperation, managing to stop Maxwell before he could turn the doorknob.
The man had turned sharply at her, his brows furrowing in utter confusion as if he couldn't comprehend why she would stop him.
"Allison, what's going on in there? Do I need to get the spare keys and open the door myself? Is there no maid in there to open this door?" Amanda had snapped impatiently from outside.
Lydia knew delaying to open the door had definitely raised suspicion and if Amanda should open it from outside, how would she explain the unconscious state of Rose and the maids?
Her best option was to send the man away first.
"Leave now!" She had whispered but spelt out the words through gritted teeth and Maxwell's face had fallen at that. It was as if she had beaten the man to the point of breaking into tears.
Lydia didn't have time to wonder why her rejection of his supposed protection would make him look like a defeated soldier because Amanda persistently knocked on the door.
"I need you to leave!" She had repeated and Maxwell's expression went from defeat to fury, his jaw tightening but he didn't say anything. Instead, he had simply vanished, and the curtains had blown wildly as if something powerful had disturbed the very air.
Lydia heaved a sigh of relief at his disappearance then quickly spoke up:
"I'm still bathing. Give me some minutes, M... Mother."
The word 'Mother' tasted bitter on her tongue and she gritted her teeth.
"Mother? Since when did this girl start calling me that?" Unknown to Lydia, Amanda, ever witty had sharply picked up the inconsistency in her daughter's speech.
The woman reluctantly walked away and Lydia could finally breathe well again.
Afterwards, she had paced the room, her heart in her hands as she waited for Rose and the maids to wake up.
Now that the storm was over, Lydia couldn't get the thoughts of this mysterious man out of her mind.
"You belong to me now. And I protect what's mine." This possessive declaration of his was sending conflicting shivers through her body.
No one had ever wanted to protect her before.
But the casual way he had spoken of violence, the predatory grace in every movement, the supernatural abilities he had displayed without explanation... it all screamed danger.
How did he even know her? Why was he hovering around her like some dark guardian angel?
Those questions rang in her mind but she couldn't find any answer.
Lydia couldn't shake the feeling that she had crossed some invisible threshold. Whatever Maxwell was, wherever he had come from, their encounter had changed something fundamental.
She could still feel phantom traces of his touch on her skin, still taste the dangerous promise in his kiss.
And the most terrifying part wasn't his inhuman abilities or casual violence...
It was how much she had wanted him to stay.
"What's wrong with me?" Her brows furrowed in confusion.
~~~~~~~~~~
Maxwell appeared through the floor-to-ceiling windows of his bedroom in his penthouse, fury radiating from every line of his powerful frame.
The lights of the city stretched endlessly below, but he saw nothing except Lydia's face as she had ordered him away.
His woman. His mate. Rejecting his protection and sending him away like some unwanted suitor.
He couldn't understand it. Why wouldn't she let him eliminate the threats surrounding her? Amanda Lowell had been within reach, one quick snap of her neck and Lydia would have been free of at least one tormentor. Instead, she had chosen to protect the very people causing her pain.
This made no sense to Maxwell Salvador.
In five centuries of existence, he had learned that the quickest solution to any problem was usually the most permanent one...
Remove the obstacle, claim what belonged to you, and move forward without looking back.
But Lydia had looked at him like he was the monster.
The irony wasn't lost on him. He was a monster, had been one for longer than most countries had existed. But everything he had offered to do had been for her sake, to free her from the chains of family obligation and manipulation.
He was pacing the room, gritting his teeth when his phone started ringing, the loud sound cutting through his brooding thoughts.
On the third ring, he snarled and snatched the device from his desk.
"This better be important, Dickson. Whatever crisis you're calling about at this hour had better be worth interrupting me." He snapped into the phone.
Dickson was his personal assistant and the call was about work but Maxwell wasn't in the mood for that.
Lydia's rejection was burning in his chest like acid.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The following morning, Lydia was still deep in exhausted sleep when she felt something heavy settling over her body like a warm, living blanket.
She opened her eyes slowly, expecting to see sunlight streaming through her windows. Instead, she found herself staring up at a naked man stretched across her body.
Lydia almost jumped out of her skin.
"What the hell..." She gasped, but then her eyes landed on his face and recognition hit her, her eyes widening.
This was the other stranger. The one with the molten gold eyes, the one she had been with after Maxwell, though the memories were hazy and dreamlike.
"Who are you?" She shouted, her voice pitched high with shock and confusion.
His head lifted to look at her and a warm smile spread across his face, this made her chest unexpectedly tightened.
"My angel, I'm yours. Completely." He murmured, his eyes holding hers with startling intimacy.
Lydia scoffed, pushing against his shoulders even as her body responded traitorously to his nearness.
"That's not what I meant. I want your name." She stated.
"Jason Cruz..." He replied. Settling more heavily against her and somehow managing to radiate warmth that seeped through her cotton nightgown, he added:
"And you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in the morning light."
The sincerity in his voice made her breath catch, but she forced herself to push harder against his chest, making him hover over her as he rested on his arms.
Her body didn't want to move him, every cell seemed to be singing in response to his touch but her brain insisted on creating some space between them.
That was the most sane thing to do in this situation.
"So, Mr Jason Cruz... why are you here? In my room? In my bed?" She demanded, trying to ignore how his nakedness was affecting her in ways that made no logical sense.
Her core seemed to be heating up.
"I needed to make sure you weren't in distress." He said simply, as if breaking into someone's bedroom was the most natural thing in the world.
Lydia stared at him, completely bewildered by his casual explanation.
"That doesn't... By the way, why are you naked?" She finally blurted what was eating her up.
Jason's expression turned almost boyish, innocent despite their compromising position.
"I was running all night, trying to find you. When I shift back, clothes don't usually survive the process." He told her.
"Shift back? Shift back from what?" Lydia's brows furrowed.
Jason's mouth opened but no word came out as he contemplated how much to share with her.
"No, let's not scare her, it's too early." He said inwardly to his wolf then his lips curved into a small smile.
"Angel, I believe the question should be why I was trying to find you..." He began in a very gentle voice that seemed to tickle Lydia.
She gulped, trying to focus on what he was saying.
"It is to protect you. There are dangerous things in this world, my angel. And you're far too precious to let anything happen to."
"I'm at peace now seeing that you're perfectly alright, but you should let me know if there's any problem so I can take care of it for you, immediately." He concluded with a blink, not tearing his gaze from her eyes.
Lydia swallowed hard before she could find her voice, his gentleness was mesmerizing.
"Why do you care if..." She was saying but a sharp knock on her door interrupted her. She tensed up immediately, her head turning toward the sound.
As if he had read her mind and knew she wanted him to leave, his hands came up to cup her face tenderly and he said:
"I should go, but I will be back later so you can get to know me better. So we can figure this out together."
Before she could respond, Jason moved with an inhuman speed toward her windows. But instead of standing upright, he dropped to all fours and bounded across her room like some wild animal.
Lydia watched in stunned silence as he leaped through her open window and disappeared.
The knock came again, more insistent this time.
"Lolo?" Rose's familiar voice called through the door.
Lydia pulled her robe tighter around herself, her mind reeling from yet another supernatural encounter.
What kind of world had she been reborn into?
"Lolo?" Rose called again, cutting through her thoughts. Lydia jolted to reality and slowly stood up to open the door.
Rose entered the room with an unusually brisk efficiency, her eyes sunken in as if she had seen something dreadful.
She was holding a small piece of paper stained with blood, in one hand and a damaged phone in another.
"Lolo, we have a big problem!" She announced in a shaky voice.
Lydia's heart skipped a beat, a terrifying thought consuming her whole being...
Was she going to have peace of mind in this new life?