"So, this is the Big Bad Wolf's bedroom. Cosy." Etienne breathed in deeply. "Huh. Doesn't even smell like wet dog."

I snorted, leaning against the doorpost as I watched Etienne wander around my bedroom and taking in the sight that was my messy bedding and the pile of laundry beside it.

Etienne leaned down, picked up a crumpled shirt from the pile, and perched it on his index finger. "Have you no shame?" he asked with a grin. "Taking your hot date into your disgusting bedroom?"

"I'd call you more of a lukewarm date, vampire," I replied, though I wasn't nearly as composed as I pretended to be.

My heart thrummed in my ears as Etienne hopped on my bed and leaned back, supporting himself on his elbows. He smirked. "Then heat me up."

"Cheesy. You can do better than that." Without ever taking my eyes off Etienne, I crossed the room and stopped at the bed.

"Alright." Etienne's smile broadened, revealing sharp canines. "How about stop talking and put that mouth to better use, wolf?"

With a chuckle, I leaned forward, planting my hands on the mattress on either side of Etienne's face. "As you wish," I said.

"Good." Slipping his arms around me, Etienne pulled me down for a kiss.

It was terrible.

Absolutely terrible.

Unfortunately, I didn't mean the kiss. I wished I meant the kiss. This would've been a lot easier if Etienne and I turned out to not have any chemistry once we'd finally started making out. But here in my bedroom and on my bed, it was only even better than downstairs.

Of course, Etienne's cool skin had to be smooth as silk beneath my fingertips as I slipped a hand under his shirt. Of course he had to send my heart into overdrive with soft sighs and moans in my ear and sharp teeth grazing my neck. Even without all that, I was pretty sure had already single-handedly ruined being intimate with anyone else with only his amazing scent filling my nose.

When I felt Etienne's hand brush against the front of my jeans, I stopped kissing him for just a moment to look at his face.

Etienne's gaze bore into me, his lips slightly parted and his face tinged with a faint blush. His eyes darted down to his hands. When he looked up at me again, his expression changed in a way I'd already seen a couple of times before. He visibly closed up, switching from turned on to tense and scared.

Etienne moved his hand to my chest, and I didn't resist as he pushed me away from him. "I'm... I'm sorry. But I can't do this," he said.

Etienne averted his gaze as he shifted to the side and got off the bed.

The change in his behaviour was so abrupt I was stunned for a moment. I didn't know what to say. Nothing added up about this. Etienne's aroused scent in my nose, stronger than it'd ever been, and what was pressing against my hip just a moment ago told me he really wanted me to go on. He could change his mind, but just a second before he was totally fine and eager, even reaching for my pants.

"Of course," I said, taking a step away from the bed and Etienne, who stood with his back facing me and balled fists at his side. "Was it anything I did? I'm sorry."

Etienne let out a humourless laugh. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. I did."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Truth be told, we were both definitely doing something wrong by being in a bed together with a pending criminal investigation that could lead to catastrophe in the very nearby future between vampires and werewolves. But I had a feeling Etienne wasn't talking about that.

Etienne didn't reply. He turned around, but kept his face turned away from me as he passed me on his way to the bedroom door. "I'm going to take a shower. They can't smell you on me at the meeting."

The door slammed shut, and I was left stunned and confused on the bed. Not to mention incredibly turned on. That last feeling was dissipating quickly, however, as Etienne was no longer in the room with me and his scent was no longer spurring me on.

The vampire was right. His scent was too subtle to really rub off on me in a noticeable manner. But at the meeting, neither the werewolves or the vampires would be amused by smelling me on Etienne. The sun was gone, so I expected a phone call from Ivana any moment now, telling us we needed to head to the meeting place.

When water started running in the bathroom, indicating Etienne was definitely not going to come back, I let myself fall back on my bed.

I stared up at the ceiling as Etienne took his sweet time cleaning himself thoroughly. He stayed in that shower a really long time. Kept the water running too while I could hear he was no longer in the cabin. I let Etienne take a moment because from the few days I had lived with him I knew (and smelled) he used all kinds of hair products and face products—he was honestly kind of vain. It obviously worked because he looked beautiful, but it also took a lot of time.

When five minutes passed, however, I got up and walked to the bathroom. I knocked on the door. "Etienne?" I called through the door. "Turn the water off if you're doing your hair or you'll be paying my huge water bill next month."

There was no response. I closed my eyes and listened closer, only to realise that the running water was the only sound coming from inside.

Cursing under my breath, I stepped back, took a deep breath, and rammed the door. The wood cracked and gave way easily at my weight being thrown against it, and I stumbled into an empty, steamy bathroom.

The window was wide open. Shit. The bathroom window was one of the few that wasn't squeaky in this house. I'd only worried about the windows in Etienne's bedroom for escape attempts.

After turning the shower off, I walked up to the window I looked outside. I almost jumped when I saw Etienne standing on the road. His hair was damp from the shower and he just stood there in the middle of the road in plain sight. Almost like he was waiting there for me.

"Etienne?" I called out.

Etienne slowly looked up at me.

"What are you doing?" I called out again. "Why are you standing there?"

I heard Etienne breathe in and out deeply. He let his eyes fall shut. "Boris," he said. "Don't follow me. Please, don't follow me."

Then he turned around and ran into the night.