Roman~ June 9

I felt my heart rate spike. "What? Why?" My panic was escalating.

"Yea, I kept saying I was worried since you're never this late and how you hadn't called in sick or called for time off. So boss finally said I could have a 1-hour break to come check on you since I kept messing things up at work." Kane rambled on over the phone.

I turned around and stared at the blood that was still smeared on my hardwood floors and all the medical supplies just thrown about. "Kane, wait! You don't need to come over!" I told him as I tried to pick everything up quickly. I just threw everything into the box, picked it up and took it to the bathroom. Shoving it under the sink, I turned to the shelves that held all of my towels and grabbed a few before rushing back to the front room and throwing them down.

"Roman, what's going on?" Kane's voice suddenly became serious, and I paused in my hurried attempts to wipe up the dried blood.

"What? Nothing's wrong." I tried to say with a casual voice, but it was way too high. Kane could always see through my lies. If I can't lie to him, then I need to stall till I get this cleaned and this guy hid.

I grabbed one of the towels and ran to the kitchen to get it wet. I spun around the kitchen as I walk and saw the trail of blood still on the floor. I turned on the faucet and put the towel in the sink.

"I know your lying to me, Roman. Why won't you tell me whats going on? Never mind, I just turned onto your street. I'll be there in a minute." Kane hung up before I could protest any more.

"Kane? Kane! Shit!" I yelled. I tossed my phone onto the counter then turned back to the sink. I rung out the towel as best I could before returning to the living room and flopping it onto the floor.

"What's going on?" I new voice spoke behind me. I screamed as I whirled around to face the person. The guy who had been sleeping on my coach was standing behind me with his hands raised and eyes wide in surprise. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." He apologized as he stepped back a few paces.

I glanced at my front door and then back to him. "Did you really mean what you said about not wanting to kill me?" He quickly nodded his head. "Good. My friend is going to be here any second, and I can't let him see you or all this blood." I explained as I motion to the dried mess on the floor.

His eyes widened, and his jaw opened slightly. "uh, okay."

"Don't just stand there!" I snapped and tossed him one of the dry towels at my feet. "Go get this wet and wipe up the blood in the kitchen!"

He scrambled to catch the towel and then looked at me with confusion but did as I ordered and rushed to the kitchen nun the less. I turned my attention back to the mess in front of me and got on my hands and knees so I could scrub the floor better. Just as I got the majority of the blood wiped up, I heard a car pull into the driveway.

"He's here!" I glanced around for any more blood I might have missed as I scooped up the towels and ran into the kitchen. My intruder was spinning around in the kitchen, his head snapping back and forth.

"Uh... I think I got it all." He said as he stopped to look at me.

I opened the washing machine and deposited my dirty towels into it. Turning back to him, I reached for his. "Awesome!" I said as he handed it to me, and I stuffed it in with the rest before closing the lid and turning the machine on.

I turned back to face him and ushered him down the hallway to my room. "Come on! I've got to hide you before he comes in." I grabbed his shoulders as I steered him in the right direction.

He suddenly stopped, his body tensing. "He's at the door." He said, most likely talking about Kane. Almost as soon as he said that I heard the front door open.

"Honey, I'm ho-" Kane's voice cut off before he could finish. "Roman! Where are you?" His voice sounded worried. I felt my panic escalate even more. Did I miss some of the blood? Was there something left out that would make him worry? I pushed the thoughts away and pushed my intruder farther down the hall before I ran back to the living room. When I turned to go through the walkway, I nearly crashed into Kane.

He grabbed my shoulders to stop us from colliding with each other. "Woah! Roman, are you okay?" Kane asked once again.

I jerked my head in a quick nod. "Yeah. Fine!" I said as I tried to push him back. He gave me a stern look and pushed past me down the hall. "Kane! Wait! Where are you going?"

He ignored me and headed straight for my bedroom. I managed to get in front of him and block the door. "Kane! Everything is fine. I'm fine. So you can go back to the hospital and tell everyone I just overslept." He didn't listen to anything I said. Turning his ice blue eyes to me, I felt a shiver run up my spine. His normal cheerful demeanor was gone. Replaced with a look that only had malicious intent behind it.

"Really?" I flinched at how cold his tone was. "Then why does your house reak of a stranger, blood, and fear?"

My brows drew together in confusion then. "What?"

Kane grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the way with little to no effort and swung the bedroom door open. He stepped in, and I followed.

My intruder was currently standing at the window with one foot hanging out. He froze in his attempts to escape and turned his head to look at us. His gaze zeroed in on Kane and his eyes widened in terror. He yelped and quickly tried to climb through the window again.

I jumped when I heard a growl rumble beside me. I looked over at Kane and gasped when I saw his eyes glowing bright red.

"K-Kane?"

Kane moved forward faster than humanly possible, jumped over my bed and grabbed my intruder by  the back of his shirt, pulling him back inside. He yelled as he tumbled to the floor.

"Kane! Stop it!" I shouted.

The man scrambled to his feet but before he could run Kane grabbed him again. Kane spun the man around to face him before his fist collided with the man's jaw. Letting go of him, the man fell back onto my bed, and Kane loomed over him. One hand wrapped around his neck and the other ready to smash in more of the man's teeth.

"Who are you?" Kane growled, His voice was deep and thrumming with power.

The man under him growled back as he struggled to free himself. He managed to get his foot up and kicked Kane away. Kane stumbled backward till his back hit the wall while the man rolled off the bed and ran towards the door and me.

Kane recovered quickly and was behind the man in seconds. He grabbed the mans wrist, twisted it behind his back and slammed him into the wall beside the doorway. The man cried out in pain for a moment before he started to snarl again.

"Kane!" My mind wasn't entirely processing what was happening, but I knew I had to stop Kane. I rushed forward and tried to pry Kane off my intruder. "Kane, Stop! Let go of him!"

Kane shrugged me off and twisted the man's arm more until his snarls turned to a whine before he was screaming for Kane to stop. Without thinking, I balled my hands and punched Kane in the face. Kane froze. His grip on the man loosened and he slid down to the floor while holding his arm in front of him.

I held my hand as pain flared through my knuckles while I watched Kane who took a step back and slowly turned back to look at me. His eyes - still glowing bright red - were wide with shock. He slowly raised a hand and touched the stop where my fist had connected with his face.

"Roman?"

He seemed to come back to his senses as he looked from me to my intruder sitting on his knees with his head resting against the wall.

"I-I'm sorry," Kane said slowly. His gazed hardened again as he looked at the man. He started towards him, and I stepped in his path.

"Enough, Kane." I barked at him.

Kane glared at me for a minute before peering over my shoulder at him. "I won't hurt him this time." He told me without looking at me. Without waiting for my reply, he pushed me aside. Grabbing the man by the arm, he jerked him up onto his feet. Kane turned him around and pinned him against the wall with his forearm pressing into the man's collarbone.

"Who are you?" Kane asked again. The man held his tongue and glared up at Kane. Another growl reverberated from Kane as he leaned closer to the man. "Start talking or I'll break your fingers one by one till you do." The man's eyes widened for a minute before he looked away and shifted his feet around.

"Kane," I warned.

Kane ignored me and continued with his interrogation. "Let's try this again. Who are you?"

The man cast a few wary glances at Kane before finally answering, "My name is Owen." He said quietly.

Kane leaned back slightly, seeming satisfied with his answer. "Why are you here?"

Owen took his time answering again before saying, "Hiding."

"From who?" Kane asked, not missing a beat.

"I don't know who they are. All I know is they were using me as a test subject."

Kane paused. His gaze softened slightly, and he let go of Owen, stepping back to give him some room. "Show me your eyes." He said after a minute of silence.

Owen straightened up and closed his eyes for a brief second then opened them again. They changed from hazel green to that bright yellow once again.

I clenched my jaw as I watched my best friend and intruder stare at each other. I'm dreaming, I told myself. That's right. I came home last night, went straight to bed and now I'm dreaming.

My eyes shifted over to a poster that hung on my wall beside Owen when I remembered that saying that you can't read in dreams. My lips pressed into a thin line as I realized I could read the poster just fine.

. . . Shit.