Let him hit you so he hits himself, it suggested.
But before she could even try to do any of those things—before Jordan got even an inch closer to her—Seth lifted his hand. He drew it back, fast enough that everything else seemed to go into slow motion.
And then he just fuckingbeltedhim one. Oh, he hit him so hard she felt it impacther. That meaty thudding sound went right through her body, heavy as anything.
And the blow didn’t just knock Jordan off his feet.
It sent him flying across the garden. Farther than she could have imagined. Farther than any smack should have done. So far, in fact, that when she finally dared to peer around Seth, she couldn’t see Jordan at all. He’d barreled into the woods behind her grandmother’s begonias, like a fucking cannonball.
And now the only thing she could make out was the tunnel he had cut, through the trees.
That fat, velvety darkness, the hint of leaves stirring.
Then after what felt like a long, tense silence, he showed himself again.
Only he wasn’t exactly Jordan anymore.
He was a pair of eyes between the branches, bright and pale as the moon. Then more came, more terrifying than that. She glimpsed gray fur, slick and sickly looking. Shoulders so muscular they’d worn said fur to nothing, a set of teeth like knives. And all of it was followed by a growl, so low and heavy it took things from a ten on the terror scale to a ninety-seven.
It made her want to scream. To say to Seth that they should go.
But the thing was, she couldn’t do anything. She couldn’t move.
Not even when Seth tried to surreptitiously urge her in a certain direction.
Toward the house, she thought it was. Toward the door she didn’t even have to unlock. They’d left it open in their rush to try flying, and now it was just right there, easy as anything.
Though he had to know: there was no way she was going without him.
Jordan had him flanked on one side, Tyler was trying to flank him on the other. And Jason was stalking forward, under the guise of trying to calm things down. “Easy there, big boy,” he said. “We’re not looking for trouble. We just want her for a little while, that’s all. Just long enough to get what we need, spell-wise. And then you can have her back, good as new.”
But of course, Seth was having none of it.
“There’ll be no back.”
“Oh, how do you figure that?”
“Because there isn’t about to be a going.”
“I think there will be. Three of us. And you all leashed.”
“I’m not leashed when it comes to something like this.”
“And what might this be, exactly?” Jay asked, and cocked his head.
Like it was all just a big game to him. A high school prank, the same as before. Only this time, nobody laughed. Nothing humiliated her. Instead, everything seemed to go very still and quiet.
Then Seth spoke, into the darkness and the silence.
“Defending the person I belong to. And who belongs to me.”
And just as she looked at him, startled and full of questions,he turned, and took hold of her by the front of her sweater, and hauled her up off her feet. All in one motion, and so quickly the Jerks didn’t have time to do a thing.Shedidn’t have time to do a thing. She dangled there for a millisecond, his name still in the back of her throat.
Then he wound his arm back, andthrew her.
Hehurledher, the way you might a set of keys to someone waiting with an outstretched hand. Only there was no hand waiting. There was nothing, just the porch and the house and oh god she was going to crash through a window. She was going to smash into a fence post.
Why the fuck did he do this, her brain yelled.
