Page 18 of The Wolf

“The original one.” He arches his brow at me. “I can shift into anything I want. This—” he points at himself “—is how I used to appear to humans on earth, but it’s not my true form.”

“Are you really him?” I ask, unable to help my nosiness. “I mean, like,theLucifer?” A shiver runs down my spine as I utter the name. I can’t help but feel both awed and intimidated.

He gives me a smirk, and he’s honestly so fucking perfect, I’d sin for him too.

Not now, of course. Now I have my Alex.

“That’s never been my name,” he replies. “The mistranslated and spined verse you’re referring to is directed at Alexander’s great-great-great-grandfather who was the king of Babylon at the time before the curse struck him. But I suppose that’s how most of the humans know me today. No wonder they are so lost since they can’t even interpret the book correctly.”

“Is the book accurate then?”

“Some parts of it are, though it’s mostly twisted to fit whatever narrative they wanted to enforce with religion. The truth is still kept away to this day.”

“What’s the truth?”

“You’re not ready yet.”

“Don’t patronize me.” I cross my arms over my chest.

I did not just talk back to Satan himself!

He’s visibly amused. “I see that Alexander wasn’t lying when mentioning how spunky you are.”

“Tell me,” I coax.

He approaches closer, and I realize he’s even taller than Alex’s human form—I’m talking, like, NBA tall here. His skin is almost translucent looking from up close, and I’m no longer the palest one around. He appears human… but doesn’t.

He sits down on the grass and I follow him as though I were hypnotized. He makes me nervous and at ease both at the same time, and I honestly wasn’t this confused even when I first saw my wolf-man.

“I was what you people call an angel, sent on earth to keep the garden safe. Never to speak, never to touch, only to watch over. Then my father created them… and he wantedmeto bow tothem!I was his most perfect creation and they were nothing but a filth made from the dust of the ground!”

Wow, someone has a strong opinion.

“But,” he continues, “when I saw her, I knew that I’d risk it all for her.”

“Eve?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Eve came from Adam. Before her, there was another one, created equal to him in my father’s image. And she shone the brightest. That weak man couldn’t handle her light. He needed a mate who was below him, so he could control her. But even Eve couldn’t be subdued.”

“You tricked her,” the words slip from my mouth.

His expression changes as he angrily furrows his brows, and his narrowed eyes turn pitch black. “I showed her the truth!” His defined, angular jaw tenses, and his nostrils flare.

Okay, so he has a temper—noted.

“What happened to the first one?” I ask softly, a bit scared of him, but also too invested in the story.

“Seduced by her beauty, I taught her charms and spells, and all the cosmic secrets. I believed she was my mate, but I was just a fool, and our punishment was severe. She was banished from Eden, long before Adam and Eve were cast away, and in spite, her heart hardened, and her beautiful light darkened. She became the first witch, the mother of all monsters, and later, the queen of demons,” his tone has no emotions but pain fills his eyes.

I gasp. “Lilith?”

“Or Inanna, Ishtar, Isis, Venus, the Queen of Heaven, King of Hell, you name her! She’s the goddess of all names.”

“Wait, King of Hell? Isn’t that supposed to be you?”

“You’d think,” he snarks. “Lucifer, or rather Morning Star, is simply Venus. It was alwaysher. As it began with Adam, Lilith is the reason why human men carry such deep-rooted hatred toward women. She was more powerful than he could’ve ever been, even if he stayed in Eden, and she made herselfthegod of this world.”

His words hang in the air like a heavy fog, I can hardly fathom their meaning. That’s not what I expected in the least.

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