Wolf

Chapter 16: Home?

I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom. Wanting a drink, I headed downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water and drank the cooling liquid while staring out the windows. It was facing the side gate and suddenly, it opened to reveal Kirishima entering the premises with his men following behind.

He looked different in the darkness.

He was wearing his battle face and a sense of foreboding filled me up slowly. I had never seen him look like that before. It made me freeze, like as if I wasn't supposed to be there and then, my eyes caught sight of the bloodied mess on his torso including his hands.

Did he kill someone?

I tried to shake off the feeling and emptied the cup before I left the kitchen, heading back upstairs to the bedroom. I walked along the corridor quietly in the darkness as I had already memorised the route a million times during my stay here and I was able to navigate easily.

I stopped walking when I felt bloodlust hanging in the air. My hands curled up into fists – unconsciously readying myself for a fight. Someone was on the staircase behind me, and he was threading so quietly that I couldn't hear him at all.

"Who's that?" I asked.

The bloodlust disappeared. "Amelia, what are you doing there?" he asked.

It was Kirishima. I took a shuddering breath as I turned around to see the faint outline of his figure below. "I went downstairs to get a drink of water," I explained, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "You're late. It's two in the morning."

"You shouldn't wander around like that," he scolded as he climbed up the remaining steps to take my hand. "It's so dark you could trip. Let's go back to your room."

He tugged me forwards – wanting me to climb up the remainder of the stairs but I remained unmoving. I wanted to understand the sense of foreboding I had felt earlier. I wanted to know why he held such bloodlust on his person.

"Were you going to kill me?" I asked. "You thought I was an intruder."

I didn't know what his reaction was because I couldn't see his face in the darkness and the grip on my hand didn't change – it remained strong and steadfast.

"I wouldn't do that," he said.

I didn't know if I believed him at all. "You're very dangerous."

"You are too, Amelia," he pointed out flatly. "Nobody walks around the mansion in total darkness and completely quiet too. I thought it was a highly skilled intruder who managed to get pass my security."

"I'm a combat sniper," I said defensively. "I'm trained for this. It's habit."

He held my hand tighter. Almost desperate. "At least switch on the light next time," he pleaded. "Or bring a torch with you."

"But I don't want to," I argued. "It's so troublesome bringing a torch around. I like the darkness."

I didn't know what his expression was but he began playing with my hand, swinging the arm around as if he wanted me to change my mind. He was playful today. He grabbed both arms and tried to swing my left arm too but it hurt too much.

"Stop!" I yelled as I kicked him repeatedly, and tried to pull my left hand off.

"Are you going to change your mind now?" he teased playfully as he pulled me to him, grabbing my waist.

"No!" I laughed as he tickled me, making me squirm in his embrace and wanting it to stop, I kicked him in the groin, earning a grunt of pain before he collapsed to the ground in a thump.