Chapter 64

64 Maya’s First Love

Maya often thought that shifting into a wolf was the only thing that made her a werewolf. She had a timid character and a small body since birth. When she was eighteen years old, she was merely 5 feet and 2 inches tall. It did not surprise her when her wolf was also small with average strength.

Her family members and good friends all told her that she was special in her own way. And that she was really cute. Not all werewolves had to be big and buff.

Maya always forced herself to smile and agree with them because she knew that they said it out of love. Truthfully she believed that she was useless. If a war happened, then she would not be able to contribute. If anything, she would be a burden.

These negative thoughts corrupted her mind day by day, until one day it became too suffocating to stay within her pack.

To console herself, Maya went with one of her cousins to South Bedford City. Her cousin was a museum curator who was always on the look for new aspiring artworks to add to his museum’s collections.

Every year, South Bedford City held an Annual Art Exhibition where unknown artists were encouraged to submit their artworks for public viewing. Art critics, art collectors, museum curators, and even common folk who did not understand art at all were among the visitors. Unexpected opportunities for the artists might just emerge out of nowhere.

Maya knew nothing about art. Sure, she thought that some paintings were pretty and exciting, but she was never able to immerse herself in the perfect balance of colors that took the artists a long time to achieve. She failed to capture the beauty of every artwork, the minuscule expressions on the painting objects that spoke louder than any words.

Since her cousin was busy reviewing artworks for his job, Maya was left wandering on her own. She wandered from corridor to corridor, chancing upon sculptures and paintings of various forms and sizes.

And then she saw a painting that truly captured her heart.

.....

It was a painting of two wolves in nature. One with an orange coat and one with a black coat. The two wolves were cutely nuzzling each other by a lake.

It was not the only painting that depicted wolves, but most paintings portrayed wolves from their fierce sides. The eyes were always sharp and the pose intimidating. This one painting on the other side was brimming with warmth and had mysterious healing properties. Maya could look at it for hours.

And so she did.

Until someone came and took it away. The painting was sold to a couple who thought that it would be a wonderful decoration piece for their son’s bedroom.

Maya was utterly disappointed. She remained standing in front of the empty wall, gazing at the spot where the painting used to hang.

The exhibition center employees felt sorry for Maya, so they talked to the artist of the wolf painting, who was none other than Lucien Clearwater.

They asked him to coax Maya. She looked too pitiful.

Lucien approached Maya and introduced himself as the artist of the wolf painting.

The moment Maya gazed upon Lucien, fireworks lit up in her heart. She had never seen someone more handsome than Lucien. For the first time in her life, the timid girl had enough courage to ask Lucien for his phone number.

In the following months, Maya texted Lucien a lot. She was graduating from high school and she had yet to decide on her major in university or college. Whatever she ended up studying, Maya already made up her mind to study at South Bedford City ages ago.

When Lucien told her that he was going to be an art teacher at South Bedford Art College, Maya told him, “What a coincidence! I plan to enroll in the college as an art student!”

In the present time, Ronan pinned Maya with a cold glare.

“So,” he said in a chilling tone, “Lucien was the reason why you even decided to study at the South Bedford Art College.”

Timid Maya nodded nervously. She honestly told Ronan the whole story, but why was Ronan glaring at her as if she had done something unforgivable? Sure enough, Maya might skip the part about Lucien setting off fireworks in her heart if only she knew about the past affair between her Alpha and her first love.

“What else?” Ronan asked, drumming his fingers against his arm impatiently.

“That... We talked a lot, but it was nothing important. I found out that his favorite color is white and that he likes sweets...”

Nothing that Ronan did not know. He was just pissed that someone else knew about these tiny things. If Ronan could, he would imprison Lucien in a dark room so Lucien would only be there for him. Ronan hated it when other people gawked at Lucien.

“Is there a place that he likes to go to when he’s upset?”

Maya thought for a while but she then shook her head. “Mr. Clearwater is a very private person. He doesn’t like to mingle much with people. When he’s in the college, he is either in the classroom or in his studio. Otherwise, I don’t know where he goes in his free time.”

Ronan perked up.

His studio.

Now that was a place worth investigating.

“Thanks, Maya. You can go.”

Ronan turned around and marched into the dean’s office.

The poor dean did not expect the CEO of the Silverback Corporation to be disguised as an art student in his college. Even then, he refused to open Lucien’s studio for Ronan.

“Mr. Silverback, a studio is an artist’s oasis of inspiration, a safe place for the birth of great artworks.”

Lucien Clearwater was one of his best teachers. The dean had a lot of respect for the young man.

It was not until Ronan informed the dean about Lucien’s disappearance that the Dean begrudgingly agreed to unlock the door.