Roderick acted as if he hadn't heard her and continued striding toward the car.
Catriona was confused, watching the tall figure of the man. "Why aren't you speaking? I said I haven't taken my bag yet."
Roderick suddenly stopped, turning back to look at her with sharp eyes. "The bag? I prepared many."
"What..." Before Catriona could respond, Roderick opened the front passenger door for her, letting her in, and even leaned down to fasten her seatbelt.
The sudden closeness made Catriona pause.
"You..."
"Come with me to a few places." Roderick closed the car door and got into the driver's seat from the other side.
Catriona quickly asked, "Where is Cedric?"
"At the old mansion." Roderick started the car, his gaze fixed ahead, his tightly pressed lips clearly indicating he didn't want to discuss it further. His profile became increasingly sharp and defined; when he was silent, he resembled a cold statue.
Catriona straightened in her seat, falling silent.
But after the car had driven for a while, she suddenly became alert. Roderick couldn't be planning to take her somewhere to lock her up, never to see her son again, could he?
She swallowed hard. "How much longer? Are we leaving the city?"
"What if we do? Are you scared?"
"Who, Who's scared?" Catriona pursed her lips. "I haven't eaten yet, so don't go too far."
"Heh..." Roderick laughed softly, sneering. "Catriona, remember, don't lie in front of a werewolf."
Catriona was taken aback.
Then Roderick said, "The food smell on you can't even be masked by flowers' fragrance."
Catriona felt awkward; how could she forget Roderick's keen sense of smell?
She had just eaten with her friends before returning to the flower shop.
She extended her sleeve and leaned down to sniff; yep, there it was.
But wait, this wasn't just about the food smell!
She took a deep breath, frowning. "Where exactly are you taking me..."
"We're here."
In the silence, Roderick spoke up indifferently.
Catriona held her breath, quickly looking out the window as the car drove through a large gate, revealing a villa slowly coming into view.
"What is this place?"
The car pulled up in front of the house and stopped.
"Get out," Roderick said.
As soon as Catriona got out of the car, Roderick took her hand and pulled her inside.
"Hey! You..."
Roderick led her through the villa as if it were a museum, finally asking her, "Do you like it?"
"Huh?" She frowned, not quite processing it.
"Don't like it?" Roderick seemed to understand something and started to pull her away.
Not long after.
They entered a riverside mansion.
She knew that all the residents here were prominent figures.
Roderick pulled her through the residential area, asking the same question, "So, what do you think? Do you like it?"
Catriona started to catch on. "What does it matter if I like it or not?"
Roderick fixed his gaze on her, his eyes dark. "If you like it, we'll live here."
Catriona's eyes widened, and she jerked her hand away from Roderick. "I don't like it; no thanks."
What does this mean?
Was Roderick having second thoughts? Did he still not want to let her and her son go?
Roderick stared at his hand, now free, his gaze darkening. "It's fine if you don't like this place; I have plenty of houses."
He grabbed Catriona's hand again to get back in the car.
This time, Catriona refused to get on the train.
"I don't want to see anymore. I don't like any house; I just want to go back to my own home. Roderick, do you really want to have second thoughts?"
Roderick stared at her. "What would I be having second thoughts about? I'm just showing you some houses."
"Just don't have second thoughts; thank you for your kindness, but I'm going back." Catriona glared at him, then turned and walked away decisively.
As night fell, the lights came on, and the city began to awaken.
Roderick stared at Catriona's back as she strode away, so resolute, so decisive, without a hint of hesitation, not once looking back—as though she were leaving his life altogether.
He clenched his fist, taking a deep breath, and suddenly, the large ears atop his head sprang out, followed closely by the massive tail behind him...
And he lost control completely.
Bones cracked, and eventually, his form changed into a terrifyingly large pure black wolf.
He let out a low growl.
Catriona was taken aback.
Then she quickened her pace, sensing something, and soon, she started to run.
She was still wearing her leather jacket, the leather skirt, and thigh-high boots, the heels clacking on the ground in a chaotic, awkward rhythm.
But she had forgotten.
In front of a beast, running signified weakness, and that would utterly awaken the beast's instincts.
Moreover, in front of a wolf that was abnormally large.
She had just taken a couple of steps when a fierce wind blew by, and she felt a blur before her eyes as she fell into a furry world, completely enveloped in softness and warmth.
In that moment, her heart was filled with fear, yet her body felt as if it had sunk into a cloud—so contradictory.
"Roderick... are you crazy?!" She knew he wouldn't hurt her, so she shouted, "This is the city center! Do you know what will happen if people see you like this?"
The giant wolf let out a light roar, as if to say: Whatever, he didn't care.
"Calm down!"
"Ah!"
Catriona was grabbed by her clothes and tossed onto the wolf's back.
"Wait!!" Catriona shouted. "Let's go see the house, I'm coming! Hurry and change back! But I won't live there."
The black giant wolf paused for a moment. In her panic, Catriona reached out to touch its back. "Calm down, hurry and change back!"
The giant wolf remained silent for a moment, then shifted forms. Catriona had never dismounted from him before. The man transformed into an upright stance, his large ears and tail exposed, while she, who had once clung to his back, was now cradled horizontally in his arms.
As she looked up, she saw that big wolf mouth.
"..."
To be honest, it wasn't very attractive.
She immediately averted her gaze and moved to get down. "I'll go and see, but I'm not living there, got it?"
Roderick tightened his grip on her, opened his wolf mouth, and spoke human words: "Let's go take a look first."
"Then let me down."
Roderick turned around, facing away from the car, and looked at the awakening city. "Catriona, I'll take you to leap across the rooftops and see the view."
He wouldn't drive.
He wanted to hold Catriona like this and leap across the city rooftops to look at houses.
"Hold on tight."
Catriona:"Hey! You..."
The next second, Roderick was running and jumping, stopping abruptly on the second-floor rooftop, then leaping again to the fifth floor.
In the rushing wind, Catriona closed her eyes, nearly wanting to scream, gripping tightly to Roderick's back.
When Roderick stopped on the tenth-floor rooftop, he paused for a moment.
Catriona slowly opened her eyes. In the night breeze, the orange-yellow lights by the river, along with the various colored streetlights, storefronts, hotels, and bars, all flooded her vision.
So... beautiful.
"Don't be afraid, I won't let you get hurt," Roderick said.
Catriona looked up and saw that big wolf mouth again, pursing her lips and turning her gaze away.
"Catriona, the nights in your human world are like a galaxy," Roderick began leaping skillfully across the city rooftops. At first, Catriona was scared, but later she got used to it and wanted to see a different Capital.
It was truly beautiful.
She had never imagined that she would be leaping across the rooftops of Capital like this; for a moment, she thought she was dreaming.
Beneath them, the streets were bustling with traffic and chatter.
They passed by fast food restaurants, BBQ places, and jumped over food streets, the smell of bouillabaisse sauce wafting up.
She heard Roderick say, "I don't understand your purely human food. At first, I thought you had a habit of eating carrion."
Catriona: "..."
He must be talking about bouillabaisse sauce, right?
Finally, they stopped in front of a mansion.
It was smaller than Luna Palace, yet much larger than a villa, with a circle of rose bushes at the corner and several rows of roses planted on either side of the house.
It was beautiful.
"Cedric's kindergarten is just ahead," Roderick said.
He was about to jump down when Catriona pressed her lips together and said, "This is enough, Roderick. I won't be living here."
Roderick was silent.
"I put some things inside."
"What kind of things?"
Then...
Catriona was stunned at the sight of the living room filled with beautifully packaged boxes.
Roderick picked up one of the boxes and said, "I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I bought every bag I could find that had a name, all the colors and styles, even the limited editions."
Catriona froze.
"I've noticed that humans often pursue their mates this way," he continued.
"There's a helipad here. Would you like to fly in a plane with your name on it?"
Roderick's tail swished lazily, his great wolfish mouth held steady as he gently clawed at the box with his wolf paws. A white leather bag slowly emerged, but he didn't look at her. Quietly, he pulled the bag free.
Catriona watched him, finding this werewolf at that moment awkward, almost grotesque. It was hard to believe such a thing could exist in the human world. He was still wearing his black office suit, the fabric straining at the seams, bulging and about to burst open at the edges.
The image of those wolf claws holding a bag was too surreal.
But what was wrong with her?
Not only was she not afraid of the scene, but she also sensed the sincerity and helplessness of this clumsy, ugly werewolf.
Even Catriona realized that she seemed to have rejected Roderick several times.
That night.
He said, "Catriona, don't go."
As for her, she said she was sorry.
...
Half a year passed, and Catriona began packing all her clothes and cleaning her room.
Outside the gates of Luna Palace, a dozen cars were parked discreetly; Sylvaine hadn't really brought a hundred cars after all.
