Chapter 49: Wherever he wants
Vivian Grey’s POV
Luke was in the middle of chatting with Courtney when his eyes abruptly flickered to silver and stayed that way. The sound that came next wasn’t his, it was a deep, guttural growl that reverberated through the room and yanked everyone’s attention toward him. The energy in the air shifted instantly. I caught the subtle way Mark inched closer to Hannah, his posture tense but ready, just in case things got out of hand.
But the second he registered the silver sheen in Luke’s eyes, his head bowed low. The others followed suit, all of them submitting without hesitation.
I felt it before I heard it. That familiar gravity, that specific shift in pressure that meant him, like the air itself knew Zaliver was present and rearranged itself accordingly. My chest tightened. My wolf lifted her head.
"Having a nice lunch, Vivian?" Zaliver’s voice rumbled through Luke’s mouth, too calm, too knowing.
My eyes locked on Luke’s, and even though the voice was his and the power behind it unmistakable, it wasn’t him. It wasn’t the same as seeing those piercing blue eyes in front of me, or feeling his overwhelming presence fill a room. Still, my chest ached just hearing him.
Everyone else was quiet, their heads dipped in respect. It felt like a spotlight had been thrown onto me.
"Uh, yeah," I mumbled. "So, what’s going on?" My voice came out awkward, uncertain. I had spent the whole day missing him, feeling his absence like a wound, and now that he was here in a way, I didn’t even know what to say.
"I just landed," he said, his gaze sweeping across the table. "Wanted to check in and see what you were up to."
I blinked. "And you couldn’t just call?" I asked, one brow lifting. I didn’t mean it to sound rude, it was more amused than anything. Though I did worry that Luke might not be thrilled with being turned into a human speakerphone.
Zaliver smiled faintly. "This is me calling."
I let out a soft, disbelieving laugh and shook my head. "Well, thanks for the heads-up. As you can see, everything’s fine. Now maybe let Luke have his body back?"
His eyes narrowed slightly, and for a second, I wondered if he’d growl something proprietary and unpleasant. But then he just growled under his breath, quiet and annoyed. I realized he probably didn’t love being in another male’s body when it came to me.
"Fine. I’ll call later," he muttered.
And then, just like that, the silver vanished from Luke’s eyes.
The air in the room shifted again, everyone let out a collective breath. Shoulders dropped. Conversations resumed, if only briefly.
I picked up my fork again and started poking at my half-eaten food, trying not to look too shaken.
"Nice," Luke said after blinking a few times. "Second time that’s happened."
"Sorry," I said, sheepish. "I’ll ask him not to do that anymore."
"No! No, seriously, it’s fine. He can take over my body whenever he wants! Wherever he wants!" Luke said, a bit too enthusiastically.
The silence that followed was deafening.
And then Johnson let out a snort, and chaos erupted. Everyone burst out laughing.
Luke’s face turned beet red as the words replayed in his head. That’s when the rest of us completely lost it. Even Mark, who had managed to hold it together for approximately two seconds, gave up entirely.
"Really, dude?" Mark choked out. "He can take my body whenever, wherever? Man, you sound like you’re offering yourself on a silver platter."
Courtney didn’t skip a beat. "Wow, Luke. If I knew you were renting yourself out, I would have booked you weeks ago. How much do you charge? Do your parents know?"
Luke muttered something about needing the bathroom and bolted from the room. Poor guy. I genuinely felt for him, even as I was laughing so hard I had to set my fork down.
Once the laughter finally died down and Luke had returned to his seat looking like he was considering a career change, Mark turned to me with a curious glint in his eye.
"So, Vivian. What’s it like being mated to the scariest wolf in existence?"
I gave him a small smile and shrugged. "Still figuring that out," I said honestly. Because truthfully, I was. Every day brought something new with Zaliver, some moments thrilling, others confusing, and some that left me aching in ways I hadn’t known I could.
We ended up spending the whole afternoon at Hannah and Mark’s place. It felt good to be surrounded by laughter and casual chatter, to feel almost normal again. I even promised to visit tomorrow, even though I had no actual plans.
Eventually, I asked Luke to drive me back to the pack house. He obliged without complaint, though he was suspiciously quiet the whole drive, and I strongly suspected he was replaying the afternoon’s events in his head and doing some serious personal reckoning.
By the time I made it up to Zaliver’s room, everything felt quieter. He wasn’t here. And he wouldn’t be for a while.
I stood by the bed, staring at his side of it for too long. It felt too empty without him. The ache in my chest was sharp and familiar, the same hollow feeling I’d woken up with that morning, the one that had followed me through lunch and laughter and garlic bread and all of it.
I slipped out of my clothes and into one of his shirts, tugging the soft fabric around me like armor. It smelled like him, clean and powerful and something underneath that I didn’t have a word for yet, the specific scent of someone who had decided you were theirs and wasn’t changing their mind about it.
I curled into the bed and pulled the covers over my shoulders, and closed my eyes.
It was only three in the afternoon. But exhaustion had its hands around me and I didn’t have the energy to argue with it. I’d think about everything else when I woke up. The trip, the mark, the deal we’d made, all of it could wait.
For now, I just let his familiar smell wrap around me like a second blanket, and let myself finally rest.
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