Lexia, an ordinary human, catches the eye of a werewolf who tries to force himself onto her. In order to save her, she’s placed into a mate bond with a pure-blooded werewolf who could never possibly love her. At least, that’s what he says. But when lines blur and feelings become a bit too real, he knows he’s in trouble.
“This is not a good idea.”
Lia rolls her eyes at me, her fingers gripping my forearm as she pulls me down the dark street. I’m not sure what time it is right now, but it’s most likely after midnight already. Luckily, I told my father I would be sleeping at Lia’s place tonight. Otherwise he would have been furious. It was already a struggle to convince him to let me stay at a friend’s house, and hopefully he won’t get so drunk tonight that he forgets he gave me permission.
Although, I’m pretty sure he’d be livid if he knew where we are, well, heading to right now. I’m not sure why, but I let Lia convince me to let her take me to the tattoo studio downtown, and now, as we near the studio, anxiety creeps in and wraps itself around my bones.
When we finally stop in front of the studio’s entrance, I pull back, grabbing Lia’s attention. “This is really not a good idea, Lia. My father will kill me, and you know that I’m not exaggerating when I say that.”
“Look, let’s just have fun for once. You’re always bailing out on doing things because you’re afraid your father won’t approve,” she says with an exasperated sigh.
I can’t help but stare at her with wide eyes. But then again, how can I expect her to understand when she doesn’t know my home situation? All she thinks is that my father is strict.
“We can get it done somewhere where he won’t see. Problem solved.”
“I don’t know, Lia…” I trail off, pursing my lips in uncertainty.
“Come on. Just this once, Lexi.” She practically begs, staring at me with pleading eyes. Sighing, I nod in defeat, and she cheers, knowing that she’s always had me. She gives me no chance to even think of changing my mind because she pushes open the door and pulls me inside. The studio is exactly what I thought it would be—a simple desk at the front with pictures of tattoo designs littering the walls. The arms of the woman at the front desk are littered with tattoos, and she’s wearing obsidian black contacts that covers the entirety of her eyeballs, as well as a medusa piercing and gauged ears.
I swallow when her dark orbs focus on me. It may be presumptuous of me, but her appearance makes her look scary, so I’m hesitant to walk forward, but Lia nudges me, pulling me from my thoughts with an unimpressed look. I let her do all the talking, avoiding having to look at the woman by staring at the tattoo designs on the walls instead.
They’re all so detailed, with intricate lines and strokes. Most of the designs look like they require a lot of space, and I’m not about to let a stranger fill a big part of my body with ink. The woman leads Lia and me to a back room and knocks on the door twice before leaving us. A rough voice mutters out a throaty, “Come in,” and she pushes open the door, revealing a room with a similar look as the front of the studio.
A man sits on a roller chair, and I’m almost immediately intimidated when he twists around to face us. There’s not much difference in his appearance to the woman’s. However, I think it’s the fact that he’s much bigger physically that scares me. He looks like he can crack my skull open with his bare hands.
“Take a seat,” he says, gesturing to the leather seat beside him. Lia eagerly sits and produces her cell phone from my pocket. She shows him a picture of what I’m assuming to be the tattoo that she wants. It seems like she’s been thinking about this for a while now. The entire time the tattooist does her tattoo, I look away, the mere buzzing sound of the machine making me feel anxious.
I’m not sure how long I remain standing there, and it’s only when I hear Lia call out to me that I finally bring my attention back to them. My eyes immediately find her tattoo. It’s a simple tattoo, three birds fluttering their wings on her collarbone. It reminds me of a tattoo I saw in a movie once. The tattooist gestures for me to sit down when Lia stands up, and I swallow, hesitantly sinking into the leather seat.
“What do you want today?” he questions, peeling the black latex gloves off his fingers. His question has me stunned. Everything’s happened so fast. At the beginning of tonight, getting a tattoo was the last thing on my mind, so now that he’s asking me what I want permanently inked onto my skin, I’m at a loss for words. “If you don’t have a specific design you want, I can show you some that we have available.”
I nod at his suggestion, not having a clue about what to get. He takes a thick flip file from the table into his hands and places it on my lap. I flip it open, and Lia is by my side as we flip through all the pages. But just as I’m about to flip to the next design, a drawing at the bottom of the sleeve catches my attention.
It’s a simple design, with a glittering silver moon and a tiny black wolf howling beneath it. I’m not sure why, but I immediately feel drawn to it. It’s almost as if the drawing speaks to me, and as if fate, the voice in my head whispers to me This is the one.
