Chapter 68 – Taste
–LIA’S POV–
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I stared at the phone for a moment after hanging up on Zane.
When did my life turn around like this?
I used to be a nobody, a nerd who kept her head down and tried everything in her power to avoid trouble. I was a girl bullied by the popular group of boys for sharing a birthday with their leader and accidentally spilling juice on him ten years back.
Now those same boys looked at me with respect and admiration. They bowed down to me, lowered their heads before me as though I were someone superior to them.
How could all this happen so suddenly?
The boy I was too afraid to stand close to was now my first kiss and the first boy I ever spent the night with, even if everything was completely innocent.
I was too moved by the care Zane and his friends had showed me the previous night. The way they had all protected me, fought for me, endangered their own lives to safeguard mine.
Zane’s blood was somehow running through my veins.
Maybe that was why I felt different? Why my senses felt
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Chapter 68 – Taste
sharper? Why I could hear the spikes in his heart rate the previous night and smell the delicious burgers Mom was cooking downstairs right now?
My stomach groaned with hunger.
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Whatever was going on, I would figure it all out later. For now, I had to get some food. I was starving.
My mind was stuck on Zane the entire time I had lunch with my family. They noticed my absentmindedness, but blamed Blake for it, and were awfully cheerful about it.
After lunch, I returned to my bedroom and checked my phone, hoping to have received calls or messages from him.
But instead of Zane, I had received multiple missed calls from Blake Walker.
An odd taste spread in my mouth.
I had a flashback of the way he’d reacted to Zane’s closeness to me a few times.
What would he do if he knew we kissed? If he knew we spent the night in my bed?
I didn’t have the energy to deal with him. I wasn’t going to call
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him back.
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I wasn’t upset with him because he’d left. I believed he did what he could to protect me. But I could not deal with his tantrums at the moment. Not while I was still healing. Not while I was still figuring out what I felt for Zane.
Did I love him already?
It sure felt like it.
I hadn’t been able to get him out of my mind for even a second. I could still feel his kiss against my lips, smell the scent of his cologne, and feel his accidental touches on my arm.
I took a deep breath, lying down in bed.
The sun was almost setting already. I’d slept too long.
But nightfall filled me with an odd sense of excitement.
Nightfall meant danger, and danger now meant Zane to me. Previosuly, it used to remind me of The Hounds. But now, danger simply reminded me of Zane alone, not because he made me feel unsafe, but because I knew he’d always be there to protect me from it.
As though on cue, my window rattled softly, and Zane climbed in, making me quickly sit up.
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Chapter 68 – Taste
“Hi.”
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I tucked my hair behind my cars, offering him a small smile. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
“I still can’t leave you alone for the night. Have to make sure you’re safe,” he replied, casually walking up to my bedroom. door and locking it.
Somehow, the action made my heart skip a beat and my stomach twist with excitement.
“The Order is still out there?” I asked.
“For now.” He nodded, returning to me. He took a seat on my bed, right beside me.
My heart started to pound for some reason.
Zane frowned, smiling. “You alright? Your heart is beating really
fast.”
Heat rose to my cheeks. “I’m fine,” I muttered, looking away
from him.
Zane leaned forward, eyes narrowed. “Are you sure, Lia?” he whispered. He took my chin and forced me to meet his stupid, beautiful blue eyes. “I think you’re nervous.”
I took a deep breath. “I am not nervous. Why would I be
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Chapter 68 – Taste
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nervous? I kissed you last night and then we spent the night together.”
“Hm, I wouldn’t call that spending the night together,” he replied, and winked at me.
My cheeks flamed. “That is the maximum you’re getting, Zane
Adams.”
“We’ll see about that, Lia Snow. I bet, never in a million life. times, would you have expected to kiss me.”
I huffed. “Can’t argue with that.”
“Good.” He lightly pinched my cheek. “You shouldn’t argue with someone smarter than you.”
I scoffed. “You wish.”
Zane laughed. “Goddess, it’s adorable how quickly you get offended.”
I rolled my eyes. “What are you doing here, Zane? Even if The Order is still out there, couldn’t you just have a couple of your wolves watch my house?” I asked. “There’s no reason for you to be in my bedroom again, is there?”
“There absolutely is, in fact,” he replied. “But it isn’t what you think it is.”
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“Then? Care to enlighten me?” I raised my eyebrows.
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Zane smiled, and leaned in closer to me, gently cupping my cheek. My body reacted to his touch, tingles filling my entire face.
“It’s simple, Lia. Once I’ve experienced sleeping beside you, I can’t sleep on my own. I need to breathe in your scent to relax. I need to hear the rhythmic beating of your heart, as well as the way it paces. every time our skins so much as brush. Once I got a taste of you, I only want more and more now. Can you blame me?”
I released a trembling breath, goosebumps covering my skin. “Little bit, I can.”
“Well, that’s unfair. You should’ve thought about all of this before you let me kiss you.”
“Technically, I kissed you.”
“Exactly. So you’re at fault. Now be a good girl and get to bed with
me.”
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