Adam loved Anna. Maxwell had no doubt about his brother's feelings. Ryan told him things that he knew were the behavior of a man in love. His contacts in Chicago told him everything that happened, and his brother never acted like that with any woman. Perhaps if he had told Anna what was happening with Adam, she wouldn't be there, snuggled in his arms, snoring contentedly. And if Anna had decided to leave with Adam... Now he couldn't allow that to happen. He couldn't give up on her and his son, Ian. And she had a card up her sleeve for such an event, which she hoped she would never have to use. She had made a mistake by lying with him. She should have let him get on with his life and his relationship with Geiza. Now it was too late for regrets. There was no going back and no longer longing for her like someone lost in the desert longs for water.
And although her secret couldn't be revealed, one day she would be a creature of her own kind. But he would allow her to live as a human, since she didn't seem to know she was a mist until she was thirty. Then he would talk to her about his secret, and there would be no turning back. She would have to become like him.
He was repeating his brother's mistake when he left her without a choice, but not only did love demand selfish behavior, his secret demanded a choice. Be one of her kind, or die.
And he would never let her die.
...
Maxwell got up as soon as it was light, but first he watched Anna all night. Gently, he touched all of her soft skin. He now knew every corner of that body. It was all stored in his memory. He had to use all his willpower to get up and move his hands away from her body. He frowned. She didn't even have a single scar. He thought he would find the marks of the caesarean section, since the werewolf baby had left her womb and taken her ability to regenerate with it, it didn't make much sense for her body to regenerate itself. Perhaps, because she was a mist, she had acquired that ability, but he had never seen anything like it. He knew that Adam shouldn't leave her bed and yet he seemed to be lying with a virgin. She had no hymen, but her vagina remained firm and tight like that of a woman who had never felt a man inside her. He knew it wasn't natural. Adam was a werewolf and his wives usually found the elasticity of their sex compromised after lying with him. But not Anna.
Anna grunted in unconscious protest when he had to remove his arm from under her head, but remained asleep. Her protest was enough for any man not to resist, and to stay all morning, savoring that body. But he wasn't just any man. He wasn't even human. And perhaps, the day she discovered his nature, she would be repulsed. He forced himself to get up. He showered, got dressed for work and went to the kitchen. The maid hadn't arrived yet. He took a deep breath and decided to try making the coffee himself. He just didn't know where to start.
To his relief, the nanny entered the kitchen still in her pajamas, and was startled to see him. Maxwell couldn't help but be amused when he saw her flushed face and wide eyes.
"I'm sorry... I thought you were still asleep. I just came to make some coffee..." She stammered and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Maxwell ordered. "I need a coffee too. And really, you've fallen out of the sky. I don't know where to start..."
She turned to him again and stared at him, still blushing. It was obvious that she had a secret crush on him. Maxwell had always known this. He had never nurtured it. But girls had a strange habit of falling in love with powerful men.
"Do you want me to make coffee now, or would you rather I changed first?" she asked shyly.
Maxwell looked at her somberly. What was happening to women? Was it a virus? Why were they acting so strange? He smiled at her. A little flirting wouldn't hurt him and would brighten up the poor girl's life.
"You can do it now, please. I like what I see." He said with a smile and sat down at the table to watch her prepare the coffee. He couldn't help thinking that just then he discovered that he couldn't remember her name. That was embarrassing. But he pushed his thoughts aside and realized that it was very simple to make coffee. She just added water to one part of the machine and then three measuring spoons of coffee powder to another. Next time, he wouldn't be so lost. The coffee came out hot in the glass carafe, and she poured it and took one for herself and dared to sit down with him at the table.
Maxwell looked at her in a good mood and forgot about the sleepless night. There was a need he urgently needed to fill.
"I don't want you to be offended... But what's your name?"
"Helen." She replied, blushing again.
"Didn't you go to college? You're old enough to have a profession."
"After graduating from high school, I abandoned my studies. I knew I wanted to work with children, and a school wouldn't train me for that."
"Of course it would. You could be a children's teacher or a pediatrician..."
"That's not how I like to look after children. It's exactly children like your son that I like... I just wasn't so attached to them before..."
Maxwell looked at her thoughtfully. Had she really become attached to the child, or was it just the hope of living out a romance with him? It didn't matter. He didn't need to ask, he'd know in a few minutes.
Maxwell stood up after looking at the time on his cell phone screen.
He approached her and made her stand up too, holding her by the shoulders. Maxwell felt her tremble in his hands and it was delirious for him.
He stared at her lips.
"Are you afraid?"
"No." She hastened to say as she offered her lips to him.
Maxwell held her sweetly by the waist, and lowered himself to her neck.