I huff. Fine. I don’t mind a bit of delicious hate sex, if he doesn’t. But images of him curled up in my lap, scared and trembling, flash through my mind. He sought comfort from me then. Needed an alpha then. He could be upset and confused right now.
Hell, I’m upset and confused right now. But I can’t even begin to untangle my conflicting emotions. So how on earth can I help him with his? Sighing, I close my eyes. I should probably leave him alone. Let him try to gather his thoughts. While I try to gather my own. It’s for the best.
But my treacherous arms feel empty without him. My wolf wants to go find him. It’s going to nag me all night and I can just tell that I won’t get any sleep. Great. Just great.
Chapter nineteen
Ihaven’tseenFitzall day. It’s disconcerting. I’ve gotten used to him being at the periphery of my vision, or just there whenever I turn around. His alluring scent is becoming so familiar that its absence feels like a loss.
He hasn’t returned to my room, and that feels like a rejection and I hate how much it stings. What did I do wrong? Why doesn’t he want a repeat? But at least until today he was following me around. Surely that means he feels something. So why has he stopped? Have his feelings for me dried up?
My wolf wants to whine and go looking for him. I grit my teeth and ignore it. My wolf does not rule my thoughts, nor does my cock. I have no reason to seek the omega out.
What I need to do is go to my room and shower and change for lunch. I’ve been digging a new vegetable bed and I stink. That’s the only thing that needs to be on my mind right now.
Fitz is going to be haunting me again in no time, I’m sure of it. I should enjoy the break. I should encourage this break. I should make sure it is permanent.
Next full moon I’ll need to ensure his shifting ability is working as it should. He hasn’t had any more accidents, so it’s looking good. After the moon, I’ll have no reason at all to have anything to do with him. I just need to stop his stalking nonsense and I’ll actually get some peace. My chest tightens at the thought. What the hell is wrong with me? Who the hell enjoys being stalked?
As I open my bedroom door, my magic flashes a warning at me. I hit the deck and I’m not sure why. My heart is hammering like it wants to escape my chest but my bedroom looks completely normal. I can’t scent anyone or anything. No one is here.
Something flutters down to rest on the floor just in front of my nose. I stare at it. It’s a lock of my hair. A good finger thick. What the hell?
Stupidly, I clutch the top of my head. Yep, there is a chunk missing. Okay, this is alarming. I slide further into my room and then flip over onto my back. I’m ready to attack with my magic, but I can’t sense any spells. I stare at my doorway. Then I see it. A trap. A thin trip wire at ankle height and another thin wire at throat height, this one attached to a very sharp looking kitchen knife that is now embedded in my door frame.
I triggered the booby trap and the blade went slicing through the air. If my magic hadn’t warned me, it would have cut my throat open instead of getting a few strands of my hair.
Cold horror floods my guts. Surely not? Fitz wants me dead this much? I thought he was getting over it? I thought he liked me, at least a little. I thought that was what his stalking was about. But all along he was just looking for his opportunity?
None of this makes sense. He said the poison was to incapacitate, not kill, and I believe him. But this booby trap would have opened my jugular up if my magic hadn’t warned me. So, what, he hates me more now? That hurts. Unless he has been lying about the poison all along. My guts churn queasily.
My gaze runs over the trap again, and my blood turns to ice. Whatever was going on with the poison, this time he really, truly meant to kill me.
It’s thoroughly chilling. Cold, calculated, ruthless. Meticulously planned, down to memorizing my exact height in order to be able to set the knife perfectly. I swallow. This is the exact opposite of a crime of passion. This is pure evil. At any time he could have changed his mind and realized he didn’t want to do it.
With a roar I jump to my feet. Where the fuck is the little shit? The next thing I know, I’m running around the house like a madman, scaring everyone, but I don’t care. I find him by the back door, his stolen backpack on his back. His face pales as he sees me, as if he has seen a ghost. Which makes sense, he fully expects me to be dead right now.
He bolts out of the door. Fuck he is fast. I chase after him and the hunt is on. He shrugs his backpack off and lets it fall to the ground, I jump over it without slowing down. He darts behind Callum’s workshop and as I round the corner, I see he has scrambled up a tree. Clever little fucker. He has learned he can’t outrun me.
I run up to the base of the tree but I’m too late, he is out of reach. Scrambling to the very top where there is no way the branches would hold my weight. The fucking little shit. I shake the tree in frustration. He can’t stay up there forever. Suddenly I realize that this is the very tree I sat against while I held him. Comforted him, helped him. I’ve done nothing but try to help the murderer and this is how he repays me! How dare he!
Callum and what looks like the whole pack come join me around the tree.
“What is going on?” asks Alpha.
“This little fucker tried to kill me again!” I snarl and I shake the tree.
To my surprise, it moves a fair bit. It is a very young tree and not much broader than I am. Maybe I can push it down? Leaves fall all around me and the branches swoosh through the air. It actually moved, I felt it. I push it again. Fitz yelps.
“Jake!” warns Alpha.
I stop and stare at him. “Are you going to let him keep trying to kill me until he succeeds?” My words come out like a bellow but I’m far too furious to care.
Alpha’s eyes narrow. “Jake,” he says again.
“He is trying to escape so he can find his hunter friends and come back and kill us all, why can’t you see that!”
Why hadn’t I seen it? Why hadn’t I left him in heat in the alley? Why had I brought such a threat back to my pack? I have endangered everyone I love with my stupid decisions. They are all going to die because of me. I shove the tree with all my might and the wood groans as it moves, mounds of dirt appear by my feet, where the roots are coming up. Fitz yelps again and scrambles up to an even higher branch.
