Breath that she could feel now, against her cheek. Too quick, too harsh, she thought. But before she could process that, he gruffed words in her ear. “Hold on,” he said. Then he simply jumped. He whole ass jumped. No sliding down the tree. No climbing. Just straight down, so abrupt and so fast it felt like she almost ate her own stomach. She tried to scream and couldn’t, because her lungs were in her face.
She honestly thought she might die.
But of course she didn’t, because there was that hand on the back of her head again. The sense of him absorbing any impact, of him cradling her through it.
And cradling her afterward, too.
Because he didn’t let go right away. He just held her like that, one arm around her waist, one hand in her hair. Her body firm against his side, her legs still tangled around one of his. Plus he was staring at her so intently, with so much fierceness in his face—honestly, she thought he was going to fume at her. She prepared to hear him say,that was so reckless. What were you thinking?
But instead, she got this: “You really flew, god, you really did.”
And spoken so softly, so breathlessly, too.
While his gaze stroked her upturned face like a warm, soft hand.
So it only seemed natural to want to say something back. Something as heartfelt as she’d longed to say before, back at the house, when he’d said that thing about eternity so casually.I did it because I can do anything when you’re with me, she thought, and came so close to just letting it out. She could almost taste it on the tip of her tongue. Almost saw his reaction to it, already dawning.
But a millisecond before she could do it, there was a sound from the garden.
One she could barely hear, but knew was bad.
She knew it, because Sethimmediatelywhipped his head toward it.
Then he growled. He growledloudly. She saw his throat vibrate; he bared his suddenly sharpening teeth. He even took a step in the direction of whatever had his hackles up, seemingly and suddenly insensible of anything but that. She had to pull him back, just to get some answers.
Though he gave her none. He just told her to stay where she was.
As if she was ever going to be able to do that. The second he set her down and disappeared between the trees, she followed. And she only stopped when she saw that he wasn’t going any farther. He was just past the tree line, at the very edge of her garden. Sort of frozen, like he had seen something terrible. Then she stepped forward, she went to say something, and she saw it too.
And now she was frozen, just like him.
Because good god, it wasthem.
It was them. It was them. The stars of her every high school nightmare. The three members of the Jerk Squad, right there on the grass. Bold as brass and twice as terrible, in a way that almost made her run back into the woods. She had to remind herself that running was ridiculous, considering where they were. This washeryard. Outsideherhouse.
If anything,theyshould be the ones fleeing.
But of course they weren’t, and would probably never feel any urge to. Why would they, when they had quite clearly been planning this for some time? Because she knew now that they had. Itwas them she’d felt watching her. Watching the house. Watching her and Seth’s every move.
So they had to know she was no threat.
And even if they weren’t entirely sure—well, what did it matter?
They were just as strapping and sure of themselves as she remembered. Just as powerful, just as intimidating. Every one of them over six feet tall, bulging with muscle, and full to the brim with that lazy, careless cruelty she remembered so well. She even thought of it all now:
Letting a door slap closed in her face, then calling it an accident.
Tripping her, but blaming it on her clumsiness.
Then the taste of blood at the back of her throat. The memory of Seth’s face as he held a bag of frozen peas to her swollen lip.I’ll stop them one day,he had said over that. But of course that day had never come. Him being buddies with them hadn’t changed much of anything. And now here they were, again, even worse than they’d been before.
Much, much worse.
Because the thing was, they weren’t just jerks anymore. She knew they weren’t, immediately and completely. The same way you know it’s electricity shocking you when you stick your fingers into a socket. It was just there, blazing through her, burning everything away as it went. That knowledge, that understanding:
They were werewolves.
Somehow, they were absolutely and totally werewolves.
