One Night

Chapter 111

Audrey & Edwin

Audrey’s POV

My feet felt like they were made of lead as I trudged into work that morning.

Silver Star… That strange phrase from my nightmare echoed in my mind, bringing with it a sense of deja vu. I had heard it before, multiple times, and the realization had hit me like a slap to the face earlier as I had been dressing for the day.

I had heard it twice before, to be exact: once when I hit my head in Edwin’s apartment and passed out. And the second time had been when I had found that strange book in the library ages ago.

I had almost forgotten about that night, when those words had appeared on the page. The book had recounted the story of the ‘Silver Star’, a figure from legend who was said to possess magical abilities.

Strange, that I would hear those words in my dreams like a vision from a past life: “Silver Star, remember who you are…”

As I waited for the elevator, however, I shook off my lingering uncase from last night’s nightmare. It was just that: a nightmare. That was it.

In fact, by the time I reached my floor, I managed to convince myself that it was just my subconscious playing tricks on me; I was stressed from everything, and apparently the words I had read in that book all those months ago had implanted themselves in my mind.

Nothing more.

As I approached my desk in the quiet design department, I noticed a small piece of paper peeking out from under my keyboard. Frowning. I pulled it out and unfolded it. My heart sk**ed a beat as I read the handwritten note:

“Need to talk. Utility closet, 18th floor, 5 pm. -E”

E: Could it be from Edwin? But why would he want to talk all of a sudden? And why so secretively?

I glanced over at Linda, who simply smiled and waved at me from across our cluster, her expression sickeningly sweet.

“Good morning. Audrey,” she said, her voice dripping with false friendliness. “Sleep well?

My eyes narrowed. Of course. This had to be another one of her cruel tricks. Perhaps she knew to some extent about Edwin, or the “E” was just a lucky guess on her part. Either way, I wasn’t falling for it.

“Just fine, thanks,” I replied coldly.

Making a point of maintaining eye contact with Linda, I tore up the note into microscopic pieces and tossed it into my trash can. Linda watched me with a **ked eyebrow, but said nothing the whole time. When I was finished, she simply shrugged one shoulder and returned to her work.

I sighed and settled into my chair after that, determined to focus on my project and not let Linda’s little games get to me.

As I booted up my computer, however, I couldn’t help but wonder what she was hoping to achieve. Did she really think 1 would fall for such an obvious ploy? I shook my head, biting back the urge to say something

Keep your head down, Leo had said. For the sake of my internship, I intended to do just that

Thankfully, the day passed without a hitch. I lost myself in my design for my second project of the summer, hardly noticing as my coworkers came and went around me. Linda kept to herself all day, and before I knew it, five o’clock had rolled around and there hadn’t been an incident.

1/3

Wed, Sep

Chapter III

C

With a satisfied sigh, I closed out of my tabs and shut down my computer, gathering my things for the day. Linda was already gone; likely she was waiting for me in the utility closet, probably with scissors or maybe even tar and feathers.

I shook my head as I grabbed my bag and strode out of the design department without so much as looking in the direction of the eighteenth floor.

Yeah, right, I thought to myself with a wry smirk as I strode out of the building.

As if I would be dumb enough to fall for Linda’s dirty little tricks anymore.

Edwin’s POV

I knew I shouldn’t be doing this. Meeting Audrey was a risk I couldn’t afford to take-not just for my sake, but for hers as well.

But after seeing that behavioral note in her file and speaking with her mentor, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something

was wrong.

“Miss Thatcher started off her internship by verbally harassing another intern,” her mentor had said. “She also came unprepared to a meeting and, in her haste to prove herself, she scribbled all over our whiteboard with permanent marker.”

That wasn’t like Audrey; she was never the type to attack someone else unless they deserved it, and she was always prepared

-sometimes even to a fault.

knew, then, that we needed to talk. Perhaps she was upset with me over everything that had happened, and rightfully But if 1 could just talk to her, explain everything, then maybe….

“This is a terrible idea,” I muttered to my wolf as I paced the small utility closet. The smell of cleaning supplies and musty mops filled my nostrils, making me wrinkle my nose. “What am I even doing here?”

My wolf growled in response: “I think you just want to see her. You miss her

1 pursed my lips at that. My wolf was right; I did want to see her. I needed to talk to her about her behavior, yes, but…

These past weeks had been like walking through a fog. I could hardly sleep, hardly eat, and focusing on anything other than missing her was like pulling teeth,

1 had told myself over the recent weeks that this was for the best, that Fiona would ruin Audrey’s life if I disobeyed. I had been a perfect, obedient little minion for Fiona, following along with this whim of hers in order to keep Audrey safe.

But it was destroying me.

So, yes; this covert little meeting in a utility closet on the eighteenth floor of my building wasn’t just to figure out why Audrey was having behavioral problems at work. It was for my own sake as well: because I needed to see her, touch her hair, smell her perfume… even if only for a few minutes

Even if I could never do it again.

But Fiona couldn’t find out. Hence why I had secretly asked her to come here, like some kind of spy in a bad movie.

I felt ridiculous, but it was the only way. I checked my watch for what felt like the hundredth time: 5:15 PM.

She should have been here by now. I leaned against a shelf, trying to ignore the growing knot in my stomach. Maybe she was just running late. Maybe she got held up with work. Maybe.

“Maybe she’s not coming at all.” I said out loud, the words echoing despite the small space, almost as if they were mocking

me.

13:00 Wed, Sep 18 D

Chapter III

My wolf chuckled, although it was a humorless sound. “We tangled ourselves up real good that day in the woods, didn’t we?”

The memory of that day hit me like a ton of bricks, the warm air, the sweet scent of sweat on her skin, her little white skirt hiked up around her waist…

Yes. We sure did tangle ourselves up. Goddess, what was becoming of me?

With a sigh, I leaned back on a nearby crate and folded my arms across my chest. I had had plenty of h**ups before with no emotional entanglement, and yet. This human girl had changed that. The hold she had on my heart was like a fist made of pure silver-weakening me. bending me to her will…

No one had ever done that before.

I didn’t dare to say the word ‘love and yet..

Here I was, staring at the inside of a utility closet door, hoping that each shadow passing by would be her coming to see me. Hoping that, despite her anger, she couldn’t bear to be apart from me that she, too, needed to see me just as much as I needed to see her.

And yet, the minutes ticked by agonizingly slow and the figures passing through the hallway eventually waned, and none of them were her.

With each passing moment, the hope that had been building in my chest deflated just a little bit more. I found myself straining to hear footsteps in the hallway, hoping against hope that each sound might be Audrey approaching,

But no one came. T

By 5:30, I had to face the truth: Audrey wasn’t coming.

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