21 Awkward

Alpha Eros didn't say anything.

And I felt as if my mouth had been stapled shut with at least 7 staples.

I couldn't get a word out in order to 'break the ice', not like I wouldn't be a stuttering mess in front of a handsome man—werewolf—like him.

Under his intense scrutiny, I shifted from foot to foot while sweating bullets.

Eventually, I shuffled over to the table prepped with delicious looking food and took a seat on the cushioned chairs.

It was too awkward just standing there being analyzed by his predator-like gaze.

In the end, I decided to try to stuff my mouth full of food so that I wouldn't have to converse with him.

Which was a terrible and rude idea but it was the only one I could come up with.

Just as I reached over to grab a fork to pick at the steak, he closed the book and dropped it onto the table with a rather loud resounding clunk.

I didn't dare glance up due to my nervousness, but I can clearly hear the sound of his footsteps coming closer and closer.

My heart was this close to beating out of my chest.

Just as I thought he would take a seat across from me, the sound of his footsteps came to a sudden halt right by my chair.

I shakily grabbed the fork with my left hand before reaching for the knife with my right hand. It took everything I had to not look back up at him.

There was this annoying feeling that gnawed at me, telling me to look up.

It was almost like an instinctive need that I refused to submit to.

I don't know if I was imagining it or not, but I could feel his breath flutter the hair at the crown of my head.

His every inhale and exhale brushed against my temple as if he was leaning down towards me.

He blocked the light with his body and a shadow to cast upon my face.

It didn't look like he was going to move away anytime soon so I ended up obeying the call of impulse.

I tipped my head back and looked up at him.

I originally wanted to glare at him but just seeing his face made me recoil into myself.

All I really wanted to do was scratch his eyeballs out and flee like a frightened animal, but that was improbable.

From this angle, he looked much taller and scarier, yet I couldn't get myself to look away and I had no clue why.

"What is your name?" Eros asked me.

I was actually tempted to just let him wait it out before finding out that I will never tell him.

But that icy look on his face made me decide otherwise though.

"Asuka," I blurted out after choking on my spit.

The stern look on his face made me verbally vomit again.

I have no idea why I gave him my co-worker's name instead of my own.

It just came out on its own accord.

Before I could even think to correct myself, his long fingers gripped my chin with a slightly tense hold until my head was angled upwards to stare him directly in the eye.

I vaguely noted that his hands were very warm and that there was a strange tingling sensation that remained on my flesh from where we touched.

Just at the notion of what that could mean, my heart sped up to an abnormally fast pace.

The fork in my hand clinked against the porcelain plate when I dropped it to grab his hand in case his claws decide to sink into my flesh.

I don't want to bleed out at the dinner table, that would be far too impolite.

"I can smell your lie."

The animalistic glint in his eye made my stomach churn uneasily.

I knew from research that with their enhanced hearing, werewolves are the closest possible living version of the lie detector.

They can hear the change in heart rate and smell the acrid scent of nervousness and sweat that is expelled when a person is lying, no matter how good of a liar they are.