At present
Olivia's pov
The man remains as calm as I never imagined as I scream at the top of my lungs, his cold, piercing eyes locked on me, sending a shiver down my spine. My screams only grow louder, but he doesn’t flinch at all.
Though it's just a moment, it feels like I've been yelling for an eternity. He doesn't move at all, doesn't even blink—just keeps watching me with those icy blue eyes of his.
“Who are you?” I manage to ask, bewildered and shaken by the fact that I’m lying naked beside a stranger. My hand instinctively reaches for my neck, relieved to find that at least he didn’t mark me.
“I think I should be the one asking you that question, so tell me who you are?" His husky voice is so cold and fam.
He drags his icy blue eyes all over me and when his gaze rests on my face, I shiver slightly as the room seems to get colder. His gaze is filled with raw, cold power that envelops me like an invisible cold fog.
“No, I should be,” I whine back at him nervously.
“You are in my room. You're naked and sleeping on my bed." I wring my hands together, trying to hide the anxiety that threatens to take over me.
I try to remember what happened and how I got there. The room is a mess.
The man's towel hangs on the window railing while Kiara's gown is crumpled at the foot of the bed. My pants and bra are on the opposite part of the room and the bed itself looks like it has survived a third world war.
“My name is Macro,” he hisses at me, as if he thinks what I just said is ridiculous and doesn't make any sense.
“Who are you?” he questioned.
As he speaks, his fingers elongate into sharp, claw-like shapes, and he casually snaps his knuckles. The slow, deliberate motion is unsettling, radiating danger with each calculated flex.
“My name is Olivia,” I manage to squeak, my voice shaking as I stare at his monstrous hand.
“This is my room. I was at the bar last night, got drunk, and came back here to sleep.”
“You lie,” Macro suddenly barks, his voice cutting through the tension like a knife, making me flip out of fear.
“I’m not!” I insist, my voice barely steady. “I’ll show you my keycard to prove it’s my room.”
He considers the thought for a few seconds before letting me go. I am awed and scared by his domineering ambience and search round the room trying to find the keycard that Kiara gave me the previous day.
He watches me closely, probably wondering what game I was playing. I breathe in relief when I finally find the keycard. It is crumpled and rough, and tossed in a corner of the room.
Excitedly, I fetch it from the floor and march triumphantly to the bed and stretch the keycard to his face. His gaze shifts from my face to the keycard and I glance at his face.
He is even more handsome as the morning sun casts a bright warm glow on his skin. I find myself staring at his body, wondering how such a handsome, hot man can have such a cold, expressionless gaze.
“Is this some kind of trickery or game to you?” Marco asks, staring at the keycard as though it is the greatest joke he's seen all his life.
“What do you mean by that?” I stammer, caught off guard by the deep growl in his voice.
“This is room 410,” he states coldly. “And your keycard says 401!”
“What?” I gasp, my mind refusing to accept his words. There's no way I'm the one in the wrong.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked hoping it was all a joke.
"I don't joke," he says flatly and tosses the keycard toward me. If I had any wolf abilities, I could have caught it with ease. Instead, I fell awkwardly, almost tripping before managing to grab it. Mortified, I risk a glance at him, but he’s still glaring silently, unimpressed. Clearing my throat, I finally look at the keycard.
“4...O...1” I slowly read the number of the keycard. "This can't be right," I murmur, confused at the uncomfortable situation I am stuck in. “I..how...what…”
I walk towards the door but his cold voice stops me, “And where do you think you're going to?”
“To check the number on the door obviously,” I reply solemnly while earnestly hoping that the door says 401.
“You are naked, dummy,” he scoffs and I look down, remembering that I am naked. The thought of waking up beside a naked person. The ruckus of waking up beside a stranger has made me forget that I am still naked. I dash to the bed, wrap the blanket around me and run to the door immediately.
“Holy shit…Gosh!” I gasp, immediately hating myself. I walk back to the room, wishing that the floor will open and swallow me.
I am really the intruder.
“Now spill,” he says coldly. That seems to say that he's caught me red-handed and there is no point lying.
“Who sent you?” he asked.
“ Is it Eric? Lily? Joseph?"
I stutter, trying to explain myself out of a terribly awkward situation, pleading, “I don't know those people you just mentioned,” I stutter as fear overwhelms me.
“I swear on my life this isn't some setup," I stammer, anxiety creeping into my voice. “I came here with my sister for my 18th birthday. I caught my boyfriend... in bed with someone else, and I needed a drink. But after just one drink, I started feeling dizzy and hot, and since my sister already got a room for us to pass the night,I came up here and tried to sleep it off. But I must have stumbled into the wrong room.”
I pause, the weight of yesterday's events crushing my chest. The memory of what was supposed to be a special night flashes painfully—Bryan and I were meant to be together for the first time, he was supposed to be my first.
I waited until I turned 18 for this, but instead, I found him with someone else. I never even saw her face.
“I wouldn’t... I wouldn't use my virginity to seduce you,” I whisper, tears brimming in my eyes as I meet his gaze. “It’s just... a misunderstanding.” The last words barely make it out, my voice fading into a sob.
He reaches his hand up and toward my face, grabbing it with force. I flinch, closing my eyes, and trying to take in a steady breath to calm myself down.
Suddenly, his grip on my face softened and his body stilled.
I open my eyes, and that moment I realize a single tear has escaped from my eye and is running down my cheek; it lands gently on his hand. He takes a step away, looking down at the teardrop on his hand.
Marco suddenly turns his back to me,
“You should leave now,” his voice softens and his posture is very rigid. “Don't forget the keycard.”
I am very much surprised by how much softer his tone is. I nod and hastily get dressed. I hurried outside, hoping to get to my real room and call Kiara that I am in trouble.
I freeze at the sound of their voices, my heart pounding in my chest.
“Olivia!” Kiara and Bryan shout my name in unison, their voices cutting through the air like knives.
I turn slowly, my breath catching in my throat. “Kiara? Bryan?” I whisper, unsure of why they are here. Together!
Kiara’s face is hard, her eyes cold as steel. “What are you doing here?” she demands, her tone so unfamiliar and icy that it sends chills down my spine. She’s never spoken to me like this, and I feel a knot of confusion tightening in my stomach.
“I…I... I don’t…” I stammer, but Kiara cuts me off sharply.
“What are you doing in a hotel room?” she repeats, her voice laced with accusation.
Bryan joins in almost immediately, as though they’ve practiced this confrontation. “Yeah, Olivia, what are you doing here?”
I feel cornered, my mind racing, trying to grasp what’s happening, but I can’t find the words to explain. Something about their attack feels wrong.
“Did you have sex with another man? Huhhh” Kiara asked.
“She obviously did,” Bryan replied immediately.
“Look at how tired her eyes are and how messed up her hair is. How can you do this to me? To your boyfriend that loves you so very much?”
“How can you betray Bryan like this, my little sister? The most powerful wolf in the pack stoops so low to date you and this is all you do? Cheat on him?”
“How could you?” Kiara is yelling so loud that she is attracting other guests in the hotel.
From the corner of my eyes, I see a fat old man that I recognize step out of room 401, the room that is supposed to be mine. He's always told me he likes me, but I can never see myself dating him.
The moment I saw him, it all made perfect sense. All the clues that I have conveniently ignored, and pushed away from my thoughts, come swimming back into my memory.
“He loved you, protected you, cared for you,”Kiara is yelling, waving her hands wildly as she gesticulates how much Bryan loves me, and that is when I see it.
The same wristwatch that I saw in the hands that the girl Bryan was smashing, the same wristwatch that Kiara has supposedly thrown away; that same wristwatch is sitting smugly on her wrists, and I know beyond doubt that Kiara is behind it all.
The way she urged me to drink so much alcohol the previous night and that foul liquid she practically forced down my throat; it is all her.
“So..It was you,” I murmured to myself, unable to believe it.
“How could you do that to me?” Bryan says, faking a sob.
"Do what to you?" I asked, bewildered by the stark betrayal.
My mind reeled as if my world were collapsing once more. First Bryan, now Kiara. The notion that everything could change so swiftly was beyond my grasp. I felt an unbearable weight of fate’s cruelty pressing down on me.
Tears ran down my face as I struggled to understand the wreckage of my life. The betrayal from Bryan and Kiara felt like a crushing blow to my very spirit. To make matters worse, I had just given my virginity to a stranger, and the reality of it all was too overwhelming.
“Look at her!” Kiara shouted triumphantly, drawing the attention of the onlookers who had gathered. “She's crying because she's caught in her lies.”
I wanted to protest, to defend myself, but the only thing I could manage to do were silent, sorrowful tears.
Bryan began to speak, but his words were drowned out by the sudden, jarring noise of a door slamming. Marco stormed out of room 410.