Celeste texted Raymond back that she agreed to meet him tomorrow afternoon. But she insisted the location was for her to decide.
Raymond had suggested she go to his place, saying that he could show her more about werewolves and werewolf hunting. Celeste shivered at the thought of the latter and denied it without hesitation.
In the end, they decided to meet up again at the café last time. The café didn't have too many customers, which made it a good place to talk. And it was also busy enough as a public place to keep Raymond from doing anything sinister to her.
Raymond pondered for a while before he agreed.
Celeste wondered if she should give Jeremy a heads-up about her upcoming adventure. After all, they were twins, and they had promised never to keep secrets from each other. Well… at least the deal was that they didn't keep big secrets.
Celeste snorted at the thought. They had made that promise when they were kids, and she didn't know if it was still valid. As far as she was concerned, Jeremy had been running away from her for about two weeks with his big secrets. Wasn't that a violation of their deal?
Annoyed as she was, she understood this was different. This was about her safety. And if Jeremy found out about it, he might be very pissed off. And she would hate to deal with that side of him.
She picked up her phone and found Jeremy's name. But when she was hit by so many unanswered messages sent to him by her, her face sank. She knew the man had his own shit to deal with, but she was still unhappy when she was ignored again and again.
Or maybe she was a little … hurt?
Celeste shook her head. The asshole was so good at being silent. Why would he care if she told him she was going to meet that vicious, cunning, dangerous hunter?
Celeste rolled her eyes. Okay. Deep down, she knew Jeremy still cared about her. She could even see how he was going to stop her from meeting the hunter.
The idea to get Jeremy to talk was tempting. It would be sweet revenge. It would be very good.
Well, too bad, Celeste thought she hadn't become that desperate for his attention.
And she hadn't figured out how to talk to him. She wasn't sure whether she would be capable of thinking straight when his voice rang in her ears.
The feeling of his weight and heat against her body tickled her skin again, and the breath against her neck… She shivered, shaking the memory from her brain.
She was far from ready to talk to Jeremy.
She walked back and forth. Her finger hovered above his number, and then she went to the message. She typed a few lines before deleting them. She texted again and deleted it again.
In the end, she huffed and slammed her phone against the bed in irritation.
***
The second afternoon, Celeste showed up in the café as agreed with Raymond.
Byron had suggested giving her a ride, but she refused in case the hunter caught her getting out of his car. So, the Alpha followed her all the way to the café and parked on the street that was not too far.
The moment Celeste stepped into the café, she noticed something off. Raymond was already waiting for her at the table they had claimed last time. But apart from the two of them, there was not a single customer in the place. Even the waiters and waitresses were nowhere to be found.
The café had been busy even during working days. Why was it so quiet all of a sudden?
Celeste was alert. Raymond must have done something.
"Where are the customers?" Celeste walked to Raymond and folded her arms across her chest.
"Hello to you too, pretty! So you came here alone?" Instead of answering her question, Raymond looked at the door.
Celeste shrugged. The hunter was indeed cautious.
"No need to look at me like that! I'm just surprised your brother didn't drive you here. Don't get me wrong. Now, would you sit down, please?" Raymond pointed at the seat in front of him, smirking.
Celeste noticed two cups of drink on the table. She frowned and stared at him in question.
Raymond chuckled, "Oh come on! Why the long face? That is what you ordered last time. I hope you don't mind me ordering for you this time. Please have a seat. My neck is getting sore if I have to keep looking up at you all the time."
When Celeste was still standing and glaring at him, Raymond raised his hands in surrender. "Okay! Okay! Actually… My mother may or may not own this place…"
Celeste almost bit her tongue. She hadn't expected that.
"Would you sit down now, please?" The smirk on his lips deepened. "Come on! What are you so afraid of? The chair won't trap you in it for the rest of your life."
Celeste had a bad feeling about this. She wanted to turn around and leave. But at the thought that her leaving would only raise more suspicion, she gritted her teeth and took the seat. "I don't understand. Why do you bother to take that part-time when your mother has owned this place already?"
He shrugged. "That's my mother's business. It has nothing to do with me. Besides… Turns out that there are more surprises when you work somewhere else." He winked at her.
"If the café has nothing to do with you, how did you manage to send everyone else away?"
His face darkened at the question. But in a blink of an eye, Raymond had that smirk back in place again.
"When there's a will there's a way! I prefer having privacy when you and I can finally spend some quality time together." With that, he ran his gaze all over her.