The hotel Liam has chosen, Echo Hotel, is a massive, white building made completely out of marble. It's a weird choice of stone, I'll admit, but it makes the place look extremely lovely, especially at night. The moon drops glisten on the outer walls of the hotel, as if the building is sweating.
My lip quirks and I smirk up at Liam even though he's not looking at me. His gaze is transfixed on the lobby in front of us, his eyes hazy and damp. I know he's thinking about the flash between us, but I need something to get it out of my mind. We have more important issues to be worrying about than a mere explosion of light, even if it is unexplainable...for now.
"Did you pick a five star hotel again?" I deadpan, reaching for my backpack.
Quickly, Liam pulls my bag out of my reach, grinning down at me, and suddenly, he's back to the same charismatic and overconfident Liam. His eyes are clear and bright with mischief, his lips glistening with a wicked smile.
"Yes, I did," he says matter-of-factly. "I'm not allowing my best friend or myself to sleep in anything less."
"It's expensive, Liam," I say dryly.
"I have the money to pay for it, Adhira," Liam mimics the tone of my voice, moving his hand like they're mouths. "Relax, Adhi. I'll pay for tonight."
"That's not fair," I grump, dragging my feet on the velvety carpet that rolls through the lobby and stops at the silver elevators. "How am I going to pay you back?"
"With your love and affection," Liam replies cheekily, winking at me. I glare at him, but before I can give him a well-deserved punch to the gut, we've stopped in front of the reception desk, and I have to be on my best behavior.
You aren't a child, Adhira, I scold myself. Stop acting like one! We're on an important mission! This isn't something to be taken lightly!
As an internal conflict rages in my head, I think about the game of chase Liam and I had played earlier. It was only yesterday, but already, it felt like days ago since we last had that much fun with one another. Granted, it has been years since we'd played chase, or any other game for the matter, but, as I told myself, I had to stop acting like a child. I wasn't one anymore, and neither was Liam. We had our own families, our jobs, and our own problems to deal with. Playing with one another like stupid little pups wasn't something we should be doing, despite how much fun it was.
"I don't remember the last time I had so much fun," I murmur, dragging my thumb along the middle of my bottom lip.
"Hm?" Liam looks down at me from the reception desk. His eyes darken ever so slightly, zeroing in on my movements, and his lips part. "What do you mean?" He asks, his voice shaking a little.
I shrug. "Playing chase," I explain. I feel my cheeks heat up, and I'm sure that it's not from the blazing heat outside. "Remember when we played chase with one another yesterday? I haven't had that much fun in years, Liam."
Liam gives me a rueful grin. "Neither have I," he says, collecting the keys to our room from the particularly red attendant and wrapping his arm around my shoulders, leading me towards the lobby elevators. "it was fun, don't you think?"
"Yes," I flush, knowing what's going on inside that woman's mind. I clear my throat in an attempt to compose myself, running my thumb over my sweaty knuckles. "But it won't happen again."
"What?" Liam's finger just barely brushes over the up arrow on the elevator panel. He turns to look at me, shock evident in his dilated eyes. "Why?"
"Because we're adults, Liam," I say as if that's the obvious answer. "We aren't pups. We shouldn't be playing around like them when we have important work to do."
Liam scowls. "We may not be pups, but that doesn't mean that we can't have fun every once in a while," he says as the doors ring open.
"We made fools of ourselves!" I hiss, stumbling to follow him as he steps into the elevator. "We looked like mindless wolves chasing after one another!"
"So? Let people look." Liam's hand brushes my shoulder, tingles running down my spine at the sudden contact. "Adhi, you have to understand that people are going to have their own judgements and opinions. We can't change that. But we can't live our lives on what other people think, right? We have to live our own lives, or else we aren't living!"
I sigh. "I know -!"
"No, you don't." Liam steps out of the elevator, holding the doors for me as I get out. He gestures towards the left, walking briskly down the blue and green checkered carpet and towards the room all the way at the end of the hall. "Adhi, if you knew, you wouldn't be this worried over what people think of us and what we do."
"You're the Alpha King, I'm the Beta," I say. "We have to keep our image strong."
"Yes, but we're allowed to have fun too," Liam snaps. His jaw is clenched tightly and his eyes are narrowed condescendingly. "Why can't you understand that?"
"I..." I falter, unsure of what to say. I mean, he has got a point. We aren't truly living if we keep focusing on what other people think of us, but what he doesn't understand is that we have an image to uphold. Scandals would ruin us - bury us in the dirt and kick us for good measures.
Just to end the night on a good note, though, I decide to change the subject, talking about one of the topics Mabel despises the most, at least, as of recently.
"How's Casey?" I ask and judging by the way Liam is looking at me, he knows that I've diverted the topic, yet the sigh that pours out of his lips makes me aware that he's given up on convincing me on our previous argument.
"The same," he replies, fishing for the keys in his jean pocket. "The cyndicie's settled in her lungs, so doctor's are having to keep a close eye on her.
"Oh," I murmur. "That's not good."
"It isn't," Liam agrees. "That's why I'm hoping to find the cure soon."
"Hopefully Nero has it," I say sympathetically, placing my hand on his thick arm.
He smiles warmly at me, finally locating the keys and inserting it into the lock. "I hope so too," he says, but with the way his eyes dart from me to the carpet floor, his lips pressed in a grim, uncertain line, I know deep down in my chest that he's lying.
~***~
When I wake up, it's dark.
I suppose it would be dark, after all, since it's well past midnight. A tingling sensation floods between my thighs and I jerk up in bed, gasping and brushing my hair out of my eyes. I look to my left, where, on the opposing bed, Liam is snoring soundly. His baggy hair covers his relaxed eyes, and for a moment, I just stare at him, observing how peaceful he looks. When he's awake, he's always tense and alert, ready for action. But when he's asleep, he's a whole other man. One that's vulnerable and sensitive, just enjoying the moment.
I would have continued to stare at Liam forever, just admiring his sleeping face had the tingling between my legs stopped. Grimacing, I fling the covers off my body and rush to the bathroom, sighing contentedly as I relieve myself. The tingles disappear, and all that remains is a flooded rush of heat as I berate myself mercilessly for watching my friend sleep. It's just creepy and weird, and I definitely wouldn't want to wake up to find Liam, or anyone else, staring at me while I sleep. It would be worse if it was Liam, though, what with his glowing, beady eyes and ridged posture - he'd look like a serial killer ready to strike!
Once I'm sure that I've got nothing else to do awake, I return to my bed, laying down on my back and pulling the covers above my legs just to my kneecaps. I try to close my eyes and go back to sleep, but unfortunately, sleep only eludes me.
After about an hour of tossing and turning restlessly, trying to get some shut eye, I decide to look on my phone a little - maybe text Mabel or Lia and ask how they're doing. I know they won't reply quickly - it's still night at the pack and they're probably sleeping, but at least I'll have something to wake up to in the morning.
I check to make sure that my alarm is set and after scrolling through some gossip apps on my phone that Lia had installed years ago, I stop suddenly when I hear loud voices echoing from...somewhere.
Frowning, I set my phone carefully down on Liam and mine shared bedside table. Silently getting up from my bed, I tip-toe around Liam's bed and peer out the window, craning my head to look below us.
Creating a small circle around the front doors of the hotel is what seems to be a gang of teenage boys, all of them sharing cigarette lighters and shouting cuss words at any person that passes by them. I roll my eyes with a sigh, cursing them under my breath, and I'm about to pull my head back out of the window when a gunshot fires through the blanket of silence.
I wasn't expecting that shot, and when the bullet just skims past my ear, I scream. I scream and scream and scream, jerking away from the window and tumbling backward into Liam's bed.
Immediately, like a rocket, Liam shoots up, awake, his glowing golden eyes focused and alert. Below us, I can hear police sirens and the boys screaming racial slurs, but their footsteps fade away with every warning shot the police fires.
"Adhira!" Liam is at my side in a flash, his hands gripping my shoulders. The light to our room flickers on and I peer at him through the gaps my fingers make. He's staring intently at me, his eyes laden with worry, and slowly, I peel my hands away from my face, my heart thrumming in my chest and ears.
"Are you alright?" Liam asks, checking me over with his eyes as his hands massage my arms gently, almost unintentionally. "Those bastards didn't get you, did they? They didn't hurt you?"
"N-No," I manage to muster, biting my quivering lip. I take a deep breath. "The bullet just skimmed my ear, that's all."
"Let me see," Liam says and he's already brushing my hair behind my ear, his fingers daintily touching the shell of my ear, fingering my earring.
"Well...?" I ask breathlessly.
"All good," Liam replies, pulling away from me. He meets my eyes, and it's just then that I realize the close proximity between us. The air becomes thick, but it's not unbearable. In fact, it's comforting and soothing, like a nice blanket.
"That's good," I whisper, smiling gently at him and blinking what I called the "sleep dirt" out of my eyes.
"Yes, it is," Liam agrees, his voice equally as soft as mine. He stares at me for a long time, just stares, and his eyes captivate me. They're like beady orbs, so intense, but when they look at me, they soften incredibly, so startling that it's almost unbelievable.
"Liam..." I murmur, tilting my head. My mind is screaming something to me, but it's incomprehensible noise, so I'm not able to make out what it's saying. My heart is thumping louder and louder in my chest as Liam leans closer to me, his lips just brushing against the tip of my ear.
"Get ready," he whispers. "We're leaving for Chennai, and we're leaving now."251Please respect copyright.PENANAPyze1UlnBj