Page 110 of Trick Knot Treat

His whole body trembles. I frown. How does he know that?

I adjust my grip on his collar, and he takes off.

“Stairs in three. One, two, three, careful. There are sixteen of them.”

I count, and she is patient and doesn’t speak.

“Last step. Okay, now let Spectre lead.”

He drags me along a corridor until he stops, letting out an almost silent whine.

“There’s a door. Open it.”

I reach out and open the door, rage rising and making me forget everything but this space. The smell of him is potent, and suddenly, I’m furious.

“What’s wrong?” Khione whispers.

“What?”

“You’re not moving. What’s wrong? You need to go in and get a token out of the bowl. It’s right ahead of you.”

I consider it. Then I walk in, my hands up, feeling for it. As soon as my fingers touch the cold metal, I grab the bowl, take out my token, whirl, and carry the bowl out of the room. I feel immense satisfaction as I hurl it unceremoniously to the corridor floor, hearing the plastic coins bounce and roll everywhere. Knowing it will take them forever to clean up. So petty, but I feel better.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE ALPHAS!” I hear Lorelei scream.

Clint laughs.

But I go back into Felix’s room with Spectre and kick the door closed. I rip the blindfold off and the teeny tiny camera and chuck them out of the room.

“What are you doing, sweetie?” Khione asks with a purr.

“Mine,” I say in a red, pulsing rage. His scent is everywhere; they were going to let strangers into his room, his place. No, I won’t allow it.

“Oh,” she says with complete understanding. “That is adorable.”

I turn slowly. His scent is soaked into every inch of this room, it’s on the clothes, the books, the bedding. It’s in the wood, the fabric, the air.

I sit on the bed and lift his pillow to my face and inhale.

“Aww. We’re going to call today a forfeit, and I’m going to send Felix up to you now, okay, sweetie?”

I growl but don’t answer. Instead, I reach out, trailing my fingers over the notebooks and books on his bedside table. With trembling hands, I pull open the drawers and look inside.

There’s a shell and another notebook. I pick it up and open it.

I don’t want to be lonely anymore.

Seven words in the whole book. That’s all there is, and it’s somehow more powerful than if he’d written a novel. I stare at it blindly, wondering, thinking. Khione’s not staying.

None of us had intentions of staying together after she left. Did we? Do I want to stay here with Felix? I can’t imagine us together without her, but if I could…. What could it look like?

I rub my temples and put back the pillow and then the notepad, but I keep hold of the shell, turning it over and over in my fingers.

“Jace gave it to Clint.”

I lift my head and find him standing in the doorframe, staring at me.

“Jace gave it to Clint on their twentieth birthdays, and when they passed out, I stole it and pretended they gave it to me.”