“You’ll remember when the time is right,” he says, brushing wet strands of hair from my face. I wish I had the energy to argue, because what the hell is that supposed to mean? I already know his name. What else am I not remembering? “All you need to know is that I’ll take care of it. Humans are easy enough to lead astray.”
I sigh and let myself get lost for a moment in the pressure of his body against mine. Small sparks of hope ignite in me before fading once more. I’m not good at asking for help. I’ve never had anyone to even ask for help from. If I’ve made my bed to lie in, at least he’s here to lie next to me—for now, before he disappears yet again.
His warm lips press against my neck, and his hand wanders up to my breasts. I inhale, releasing a moan as he grabs a handful and rubs his thumb over my nipple. A tingling spreads across my chest, and I grind my ass into him. His cock, already rock hard, presses into me. My stranger rolls me to my back and shifts his weight over me. My legs spread for him on their own, like my body was made for his.
His mouth slams to mine, and we’re a flurry of tongues and teeth. I greedily take his moans with each roll of his hips against mine. A familiar pressure begins to build in my core, and I’m desperate to have all of him. Desire and sadness mix inside me until they’re indistinguishable. I need him more than I’ve ever needed anything or anyone before him.
He lifts his head, and his arctic blue eyes rake over my body, but he pauses as he meets my eyes again. “We can’t,” he growls, squeezing his eyes shut. His body rolls off mine, and he gets off the bed. I immediately feel his absence as the warmth drains from my body.
“What?” I ask. The word chokes me. I don’t have the energy to put up a fight right now. My body is exhausted, and my mind is reeling from the constant rush of emotions today. Loneliness swarms over me.
“We can’t,” he says again, spitting the words at me. He rubs his face with his hands and murmurs something I can’t make out. I turn my head away, willing the tears forming to not come. I’ve already cried more than I have in years today, and I’m not going to give anyone, especially him, any more. My mind scolds me for thinking I could have this one thing, for thinking he would stay this time.
“Mattie, look at me.” The words sound far away. “Look at me.” His voice is louder now, but I still can’t bring myself to look at him. His hand grabs under my chin and snaps my head to him. My lips pull back, and I steel my gaze, staring into him instead of at him. My chest rises and falls with each heaving breath as anger finally snakes its way through my veins.
His eyes flicker between each of mine like he’s looking for something in them. “My little bug,” he whispers. “I can feel the darkness in you grow every time my skin touches yours. I can’t have it devour you before I figure out how to save you.”
I try to shake my head, but the resistance from his hand keeps it locked in place. I don’t understand. I don’t fucking understand anything about this situation I’ve found myself in with him. “Please. Explain it to me, because I don’t understand and I can’t fucking lose you again.”
He leans down and whispers into my ear, nuzzling and nipping at my earlobe. A warm fuzziness starts to spread through me, tingling through my body like each limb is falling asleep one at a time. “Sleep, Mattie. I’m going to do nothing but worship you once this is over, and I want you well rested.”
My body relaxes with his words, like he pulled a warm, heavy blanket over me. I try to struggle against it, but he kisses the top of my head, and my eyes grow heavy. Before I drift off to the place we all go to when we sleep, I hear him whisper again. “I will eat every soul on this miserable plane of existence before I let anyone have yours.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
ripp
I’ve never been fond of humans. They’ve always been merely a source to feed upon, but this sheriff who has Mattie so worried is more than a bug to crush. He hurt her, scared her, and I’m the only being who’s allowed to do either. I can smell his stink even from up in the trees where I’ve been observing him.
He has paced around the river bank all morning, contemplating out loud to himself. Every trivial thought, meaningless drivel, comes out of his mouth as though it’s the breakthrough he’s been waiting for. He considers himself to be above average when it comes to his intelligence, but he’s still yet to find the new clue I’ve hidden in the mud.
Mattie’s name has been mentioned more than once, and my self-control grows thinner each time. If I left him as a soulless sack next to the water right now, he’d never be able to say her name again. The only thing holding me back is the chance it might turn back on my little bug somehow. Humans are easy enough to deceive, though, so it shouldn’t take much effort to send his investigation in a completely different fucking direction—away from Mattie. According to his rambling, she’s his lead suspect only because she’s “the strange girl who lives alone in the Hellsmouth woods.” His assumption is correct, but his reasoning ignites me with rage.
One thing I do know about humans is that they’ll always default to blaming the vulnerable. They’ve never been kind to anything different from themselves, always ready to spit upon the poor and look down upon the female of their species. I should just snuff them all out now. However, I can use this asshole’s biases against him.
I wait for a pause in his obnoxiously constant stream of consciousness to send a whisper down from the trees.“A woman couldn’t commit this type of atrocity. The brilliance it would take, the strength. Could that tiny thing really be capable of all this?”
The sheriff cocks his head to the side and scratches his chin. He kicks the mud around until his boots are thick with it. Finally, the toe of one connects with the brim of a baseball cap. Mattie’s unwanted gift from the other night was useful for something. He won’t need a hat where he is now. As he kicks it free from its muddy prison, the sheriff’s disposition changes. Suddenly, he’s chatting loudly to whoever is on the other end of the radio and scrambling to bag his new discovery.
My short-lived victory wanes as he announces to the radio that he still wants to head to the roadhouse to question Mattie. A growl shatters through me, causing birds to break from the trees, and the sheriff stumbles backward, just barely catching himself before landing on his ass. His eyes are wide, and he looks around nervously before scattering like a roach back up the path.
Gravel crunchesas the patrol car rolls into the Foxfire parking lot, pulling me from my thoughts. I’ve been hiding here since he left the river, and I’d be annoyed at how long it took him to arrive if I didn’t have aneternity to wait. He flicks his cigarette and snuffs it out with his now-clean boot without bothering to pick up the remains. His sour soul taints the air around him as he strolls into the front door, not bothering to hold it open for the person behind him.
Mattie hasn’t arrived yet, but he doesn’t know that. I imagine he’ll order a light beer that tastes like piss and attempt to court Tally, who’s already bustling behind the bar.
I don’t have to wait much longer for my little bug to arrive. Her distinct scent drifts towards me as she steps from the car, and sharp pangs of need stab at my insides. I salivate at the thought of her desire coating my tongue, but at this moment, I need to push my urges aside to warn her.
Silently, I leap down from the trees and wait until I’m a few steps behind her to call to her. “Mattie,” I growl. She jumps and spins to face me, her chest heaving and her eyes wild.
“What the fuck?” she yells, her voice full of agitation instead of the fear that filled her just the second before. “You can’t just sneak up on me like that!”
“I can and I will, little bug.” A smirk tugs at my lips, and her eyes narrow. She wants to challenge me, and my cock twitches at the thought. “I came to warn you.”
Mattie’s shoulders drop like I’ve placed the weight of the world on them. A different emotion stirs in my chest. Sadness? Guilt? Do I actually regret saying something that caused her discomfort? “The sheriff is inside the bar. Arrived just before you did. I’ve been watching him, and…”
“Of course you have, you fucking stalker,” she interrupts, throwing her head back with a laugh.
A growl rumbles from me, and my hand twitches, ready to lunge for her throat. If she was any other human, I doubt I’d have control over the monster inside me. Instead of anger, though, the need to wrap my hand around her throat and squeeze is from the desire to suck that fire from her until my name is the only thing she screams. “If you’d let me finish, I’ve been watching him, and you were right. He suspected you at first, but I left him a gift, something that should have him scrambling in a different direction.”
