Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 354: A coward.

Zevran.

For a couple of awkward seconds, I simply stood there with my eyes open wide, watching Leilani as she writhed and grunted, whilst crying for help that was nowhere close to coming.

My hands twitched with a desperate need to help her, but whenever I stepped any closer to her, and felt that strange surge of energy emanating from her, I would step back in fright, which brings me to the jarring realization that:

I AM A COWARD.

A big shameless coward.

Never in my life— not even for once— have I felt so hopeless, lost and maybe a tinge of stupid; And this hopelessness stemmed from the fact that I was confused and unable to help Leilani especially now that it looked like she needed me the most.

The night was cold, exceptionally cold in a way that sent chills spreading across my skin; But it wasn’t the chilly air that I found most unnerving.

It was her.

Leilani.

It was her loud screams and painful cries. It was the way her eyes shone so brightly, so ethereally, she looked like something that had stepped right out of a fairytale.

Her silver hair glowed strangely in such a way that it now reflected a weird shade of golden pale light. Which was scary, I know. However, I also knew that if I was sensible enough, then that should be enough reason for me to run for the hills.

But I was not sensible.

Hell, I wasn’t even sure my brain was functioning properly at this point because my legs moved even before I had time to rethink my actions.

I found myself slowly reaching out to her, my voice soft as I whispered; "Please let me help you back to your hotel room."

At my words, she whipped her head around to face me, and in that moment, I couldn’t help the way my breath hitched in my chest. She looked scary. Very scary. But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to leave.

"Leilani, can you hear me?" Now, I was pleading— begging if that was the word. I clasped my hands together as I slowly moved towards her, taking it one step at time in order not to overwhelm her.

When I got so close, my body brushed against hers, she moved away quickly. "No, gooo!" Her voice sounded so robotic that I didn’t know when I took a step back until I had done it.

And that... that action made her face drop. I noticed the way the light slowly left her eyes, noticed the way her confusion soon morphed into something darker. She bared her teeth at me... and again, I realized that I should go.

But I didn’t. I couldn’t.

I was feeling bad for her. I felt like a piece of shit. And for this reason, I scooted closer. "Please. I do not know what is happening to you but I need to get you out of here!" I said so slowly, one would think that I was talking to a kid. But her eyes only met mine for a second before that wildness creeped back in.

She snarled; "Go."

"Why?"

"Because I fear that I am shifting and you shouldn’t be here."

Her words, so carefully said, were what snapped me out of whatever trance I’d been in. My eyes snapped to the sky and when I saw the full moon playing a game of peekaboo from behind the large clouds, I froze.

"Can you still not control when and where you shift?" I asked and she shook her head.

"No." She whispered and I cocked my eyebrows. "...I have never fully shifted before. I don’t know why this is happening!"

The sharpness on her tone put me on alert, and usually, this would’ve been the part where I forcefully tried to get her into my car. This should be the part where I looked for a way to get her to safety; But seeing her like this, all confused and all ready to pop with the sounds of her breaking bones filling the air, I didn’t do any of the things above.

Instead, I slowly began to shed my clothes, one piece after another, ignoring the way she stared at me like I was mad.

"Zevran..." she began to say but I waved her off with a flick of my wrists.

"Strip!"

My voice was commanding and sharp. It made her balk and bat her long lashes at me, a flicker of confusion crossing her face before she took a step back.

"Why?" That word sounded like she had forced it out. Like she was grunting rather than talking.

Something akin to pain twisted my guts as the thought of the amount of pain that she must be going through.

I stepped forward until I was so close, her heat scorched through my sweater and until her sweet sugary scent filled my nostrils. And after dragging in a lungful of Thai intoxicating scent into my lungs, I sighed and whispered; "You are about to shift... and I want to help you."

My words made her eyes widen slightly. She stared at me as if quite seeing me for the first time in her life; but as if suddenly deciding to just let go and follow my lead, she slowly began to take off her clothes one after the other, blessing my eyes with a view of her beautiful slender back.

She whispered; "Okay."

I too returned to taking off my clothes and when I had successfully stripped down to my birthday suit, I took a step back, lowered my head to hide the stupid stupid blush creeping up my face and called out through gritted teeth;

"Let yourself go."

She stopped, turned to me and quickly averted her eyes when she saw that I was absolutely naked.

"Zevran..." her voice was raw with tension, thick with emotions that were too strong to name.

"I know you haven’t seen many cocks in your life: I doubt you’ve ever seen one before... but for now, ignore it. Ignore me... and channel all your attention to the pain searing through your body."

My words were supposed to calm her down, it was said in an attempt to make her be just as flustered as I was, but instead, they ended up making the blush on her cheeks spread even to her neck and the tips of her ears.

She lowered her head as if ashamed to look at me and I... I was also too embarrassed to say the right words. So I settled for the wrong ones. I drawled; "Do you want me to go away?"

"No," she answered quickly— a little too quickly. "I just need to stop seeing your... your... penis."

Those words made my cheeks burn and I looked down just in time to see why she was so flustered. Hell, even I would be flustered if I were her.

Why?

Because for some reason, I was turned on, extremely turned on, and it was glaring for the entire world to see.

I cursed; "Shit!" And then turned away to grit out from under my breath, "ignore me and shift!"