“You know that won’t work out, right?” He asked.

I turned to him, crossing my arms. “Excuse me?”

“You two, trying to conceive.”

“Were you stalking us?”

He huffed. “Please, I was merely standing here. You two weren’t exactly discreet.”

I wasn’t sure if he told the truth. I didn’t see him standing there when we left. Did I overlook him? Sounds impossible to me. But he also didn’t appear to be the person to hide in bushes to listen to conversations.

“That has nothing to do with you.”

He arched a brow. “You are wasting your time!”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, but it doesn’t change that it’s none of your business!”

He frowned but didn’t say another word. I took the chance to walk away from him. I had no interest in discussing my sex life or family planning with a stranger.

Naively, I thought he would back off, but the crunching steps behind me proved otherwise. I sighed and turned to him again. “Do I have to call security for stalking me?”

He raised his hands in the air, a baffled look on his face. “I only want to talk to you.”

“But I don’t want to talk to you.”

He nodded. “I can see that. But you won’t get rid of me until you speak to me, and you know calling security won’t help.”

I bit the inside of my cheeks. I expected an answer like that. He would try to find a way to speak to me because if an alpha wants to talk, you talk. I wanted to prove him wrong, to make him realize that the human world wasn’t the wolf world. But I realized it would be a very exhausting process and might cause situations I wouldn’t be able to explain to George.

“Fine. Talk,” I bit out.

He shook his head. “Not here. Let’s go somewhere more private.”

Panic crawled over my skin. “What? I’m not going anywhere private with you!”

His eyes widened. “Relax, just the bungalow. The pups are playing outside, and I’m supposed to be there when they come back. We can sit in the garden.”

I nodded slowly. The garden was probably safe enough. Worst case, I could still make a run for it if things get funky.

He passed me, and I followed him in silence. When we reached the bungalow, he pulled a chair out and offered it to me.

Loud barks echoed through the air and I shook my head. “You let them be wolves here?”

He dusted off a chair and settled down. “We do that in all kinds of places when we are on vacation. Nothing happened so far. They look more like dogs than wolves at this stage, anyway. Besides, we always choose compounds like these, so we are more to ourselves and close to nature.”

I wouldn’t risk it, but I wasn’t their alpha. If things go wrong, it was his problem to deal with, not mine.

“So, what do you want to talk about?”

He leaned forward and searched my eyes. “Help me understand what you are doing here. Why aren’t you in a pack, and why are you with a human man?”

His concern took me aback. I expected him to start the conversation a lot more aggressively, but he appeared calm. Just perplexed. But I had no intention of sharing my life with him, anyway. He had invaded my personal space yesterday and stirred up old memories.

“I don’t see why I would have to explain myself to you.”

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “You’re a lone wolf in my territory. In a way, it has a lot to do with me. I can’t simply ignore you, and you know it.”

I gripped the armrests of the chair tightly. “Did you not listen the last time we were talking? I am not a wolf!”

He shook his head. “Nonsense. You are a wolf.”

“I lost my wolf eight years ago,” I said, my voice trembling slightly, and I hated it. I didn’t want to feel weak in front of him or, even worse, show it.

“What makes you think you lost her?”

I stared at him. Trying to figure out what his end goal was. What was his plan after he found out the truth? What will he do with me? I didn’t want to talk about my past, because talking about it made it real. As long as I didn’t share my feelings with anyone, I could still pretend it wasn’t true.

My chest tightened, and I swallowed a few times to get rid of the lump in my throat. “I don’t feel her and I can’t change. Besides, you have seen my eyes, right? They had this crazy white color since my wolf left me. I think that’s evidence enough.”

He pulled his chair a little closer to me. “Yes, something is off about you and doesn’t feel quite right. But I’m certain your wolf didn’t vanish. I felt it yesterday, and I saw your eyes flash in an amber color for a moment. Besides, I can smell you from a mile away. Your scent is everywhere.”

I wanted to believe him. To grip onto this little shred of hope to feel complete again. If he was lying, why would he be able to name my eye color? No, it must have been the reflection of the afternoon sun. I knew the truth better than he did. “Let’s say what you say is true. What would you have to do with it again?”

“Again, you are a lone wolf in my territory, and you either have to leave or submit to me. You know the rules.”

My mouth dropped open at his declaration. Of course, I knew the rules, but my case wasn’t normal. I hurt no one or had contact with wolves in any way. “I had been living here for almost eight years, and now you tell me I have to leave?”

“When we didn’t know about you, it was easy not to care. But now we know, so it’s hard to ignore,” he said, his voice dropping low.

A flicker of his wolf coming to the surface made me shiver.If he was trying to scare me, he succeeded.

“But I’m not a wolf! I only want to live a normal life, get married, have children, and die from old age.”

He tilted his head to the side. “You aren’t a normal human, and you won’t ever be able to have children with that man.”

I jumped up. “How would you know?!”

We were already desperate enough, and I didn’t need people like him to plant more doubts into my head.

He sat up straight, but remained calm. “How long have you tried to conceive? Weeks, months?” I stared at the ground, biting my tongue. “Possibly years. Doesn’t that ring a bell? I’m sorry to say this, but you two aren’t compatible.”

Tears pricked in the corner of my eyes, and I wiped them away quickly. “It’s not unusual for couples to need some time with it. We have to try longer.”

I hated the little voice inside me saying I was wrong, and he was right. Deep down, I knew it wouldn’t work out because of what I used to be. But I didn’t want to give up on George, on a family. On us.

“Amalia, I know I sound like a douchebag, but you have to face the truth.”

I took a step back. “How do you know my name?”

He dropped his eyes to my chest and gestured towards it. I looked down, seeing my name tag. I forgot I was still wearing it.

“Besides, your little boyfriend introduced you two. When exactly do you plan on telling him you can shoot better than him, by the way?” A cocky grin spread over his face.

Heat crept up my neck, to my face, and up to the tips of my ears. Was it that obvious? I always thought I would be good at hiding it.

I cleared my throat. “That’s beside the point. I’m not a wolf. Hence, I don’t need to follow your rules, and I would appreciate it if you would leave me alone now.”

I turned around on my heels and planned to stomp away when I spotted pups running in my direction a bit too late. Before I could sidestep, they crashed into me, bringing me to the ground.

I winced when I tried to get up. A sharp pain radiated from my wrist up to my arm. The pups fell to the ground, their heads lowered, small whines escaping them.

“It’s okay, don’t worry,” I said and patted the head of the closest pup to me. The fur was soft under my fingers, reminding me of the times when this was normal for me. Before I had lost everything. I pulled away and got up.

“No, you aren’t a wolf, of course not,” the alpha scoffed from behind me.

I glared at him. “Shut up.”

The pups moved to their alpha and continued to whimper, waiting for some sort of reaction from him. “She will survive. Play a little longer.”

They looked at me warily once more before running away. I watched after them, wishing I could follow.

“Let me look at your wrist,” he said and approached me, but I stepped away from him. I didn’t want to be involved with him any longer.

“No, thanks. I’m leaving now!”

He shrugged, smiling. “Fine, I will let you leave for now. But remember, you can’t outrun me.”

I placed my healthy hand on my hip and raised a brow. “I can sure try.”

He laughed, and I stared at him. It was an honest and loud laugh, nothing I would have expected from him. “My name is Gun, by the way.”

“Gun? What kind of name is that?”

“Short for Gunnar.”

I nodded and remained silent before turning around without another word and walking back home. Gunnar surely was a unique name, and he probably might not be as bad of a person as I thought he would be. But I still hoped I would never meet him again.