#Chapter 117: Not a Monster
Nina
As I looked down at the rotten, smelly mess of tomato guts on the front of my white shirt, the people around me. began to laugh hysterically.
“Werewolf-fucker!” the girl who threw the tomato shouted, laughing maniacally. “You’re protecting a monster!” another guy yelled.
The crowd erupted into a mixture of mocking and angry chatter, and all I felt was Enzo’s arm wrap around mé. He began to usher me toward the hockey arena, shielding me from a barrage of other items being thrown. I had never expected it to get out of hand like this.
We rushed toward the arena. Enzo flung the door open and helped me in, shutting it firmly behind us. I could still hear the muffled sound of the rioting crowd outside, and I hoped that my friends got out before anything bad happened.
“Why did you do that?” Enzo asked, turning to face me. I felt my face get hot. “I don’t know,” I said. “I just sort of did it. You’ve done so much for me… Taking a rotten tomato to the front of my shirt was the least I could do.”
Enzo sighed, running a hand through his curly hair, then gestured toward the locker room. “Come on,” he said. ” Let’s get you a clean shirt,”
I followed him to the locker room. Once we were inside with the door shut, the muffled sounds of the protesters faded away completely, leaving us with a welcome silence. Enzo walked over to his locker and dropped his duffle bag on the floor. I followed, then watched as he retrieved an extra hockey jersey with his number on it out of his locker.
“Here.” He held it out to me, then turned his back and folded his arms. Just before he did, however, I could see that his cheeks had turned slightly red, and I wondered if he turned his back to hide his face.
“Thanks,” I said. I pulled my dirty shirt off over my head and tossed it in the trash, not even wanting to bother with trying to get the rotten tomato smell out of it in the wash. Even if I did get the smell out, I would probably not be able to wear it without remembering the sickening scent and gagging.
I slipped the jersey on over my head. It was huge on me, and almost reached. my knees. The sleeves alone, which were supposed to be short on Enzo, came down to my elbows. I felt silly wearing something so oversized, but at the same time, it was oddly comforting, it smelled like him. That sweet, woodsy scent that I had become so accustomed to
“You can turn around now,” I said. Enzo turned. His brown eyes widened momentarily as he looked at me, but then, a smirk spread across his face. I pouted and folded my arms across my chest, which made him smirk even more
“Don’t make fun of me,” 1 pleaded. He shook his head, making his curly mop of brown hair fall into his eyes a bit. “I’m not making fun of you,” he murmured, averting his gaze to the floor. “You look cute.”
My heart skipped at his words. My embarrassed pout turned into a slight smile, and looked down at myself Suddenly, Enzo seemed to stiffen. I looked up to see him staring intently at me, his eyes glowing red. There was a hungry expression on his face, and he subconsciously licked his lips before stepping toward me. As he closed the distance between us, I dropped my arms from where they were folded across my chest and back to my sides, looking up at him with my brain scattered. He had just told me that we couldn’t act on our impulses, but now, he was pressing me up against the locker again.
I felt like his prey again, but at the same time, it made my panties wet. A low growl rumbled in Enzo’s throat as he towered over me, pressing his palm into the lockers above my head. I tilted my face up to look at him, and for a long moment, our lips hovered tantalizingly close to one another. I pictured him lifting up the hockey jersey he loaned me and running his hands along my body, eventually pulling down my jeans just enough and thrusting himself into me….
But then, the door opened. Enzo quickly seemed to come to his senses. The glow in his eyes faded, and he jumped away from me before anyone saw.
The team flooded in, chattering to each other about the protesters and the upcoming hockey game, but the throbbing feeling in my panties and the feeling of my heart leaping in my chest remained.
“Man, someone’s gotta do something about those protesters,” Matt said. I glanced over to look at Enzo, who now had his back turned to me as he rifled through his locker.
“I know,” Bryce replied. “Enzo, are you gonna say anything about it at the hockey game tonight?” Enzo shook his head. “Nah. They’ll get over it. Campus security will take care of it if they get too out of hand, and besides: there’s no convincing these people.”
Suddenly, I chimed in. “Actually, my friends and I were rallying for werewolves we actually got a few people to put down their signs and join us. There are more people who are supportive of werewolves than it seems.” As I spoke, the entire team jumped and turned to face me, almost as though they hadn’t even realized I was there. I quickly came to realize that I still had myself pressed up against the lockers, and stepped away.
“Thanks for that, Nina,” Matt said with a smile, but then looked down at the jersey I was wearing and furrowed his brow. “But… Why are you wearing Enzo’s jersey?”
“There was an incident with a rotten tomato,” Enzo interrupted. Then, turning to me: “Would you mind leaving the locker room now, actually? We’ve gotta get changed.”
I felt my face go red and nodded sheepishly, scurrying off to the door. My heart still pounded from my interaction with Enzo, and as I headed for the back door of the arena, I couldn’t get away from the dizzying, mouth-watering scent that was on hist jersey.
More importantly, however, I needed. to understand why he had suddenly been so aroused by me just a few minutes earlier, only for him to suddenly stop and look at me coldly as he asked me to leave the locker room. I had a pretty good reason as to why.
“You released that scent again, didn’t you?” I asked Mina internally as I stepped out of the back door to the hockey arena and was relieved to find that there were no protesters there.
“…Yes,” she replied. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t control it this time. The scent on his jersey made me unable to resist.” I sighed. The scent on his jersey made me unable to resist, too — but he had a fated mate already, and that was final. When I got home, I would have to take his jersey off. Tonight was the next game in the Half- Moon Tournament, and I had to be clear headed as the team doctor….
But even more importantly than that, I had to accept fate and move on from Enzo Rivers.
