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In place of an answer, I stand, balling my hands at my sides as I stride across the busy floor.

“Hey.” Ashen grabs my shoulder. The contact is broken with a simple shrug. He comes back, moving to stand in front of me. “Dude, what the fuck?”

“Move.” I try to shove past him, but he presses against my chest. Pissed, I stop, shooting my focus to him. “What?”

“What the hell are you doing?” He’s staring at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“What’s it look like? I’m going to kick his ass.”

Ashen glances over his shoulder at Sumner and Dax standing way too close to each other. “Bro, Sumner is fine. Go back to Siena.”

“Fine?” I almost want to laugh.

“You think she doesn’t see what you’re doing? Don’t be a fucking dick. Go back to Siena.”

I let my eyes fall back to the faerie. She’s sitting on the couch where I had been, knees pulled to her chest and focus on the floor. She’s upset I left, but how is that my problem?

“Siena will get over it. I’m not her fucking boyfriend.”

Ashen’s brows fall together like that statement had some effect on him. “And Sumner isn’t your girlfriend.”

This has me shifting from anger to a full-on rage. Of-fucking-course she isn’t my girlfriend. I can’t stand that spoiled brat. I don’t want her for me. I want her for no one. Sumner doesn’t get to be happy. Not when I’m still so mad.

My brother scans over me, pausing when he reaches my eyes. “Hey, how about we step outside?” The immediate change in his tone tells me exactly what he sees, and instead of frustration, his demeanor has flipped entirely to concerned.

I let him lead me to the back porch, needing the fresh air like it’s my lifeline. And right now, I think it is.

The exact thing Ashen saw, I feel. It tastes my anger, and it’s fucking feeding on it.

Siena makes her way to the glass door, watching as Ashen tries to rein me in.

Cedric follows us out, stumbling down the steps, buzzed and foolishly oblivious. “Wait up,” he calls, making his way beside us. “Did you guys see? Humans are into shifters. I totally knew it.” He laughs, placing his hand over my shoulder.

Turning, I grab his arm, twisting it. “She’s not into him,” I grit, walking us back. And just to make sure he remembers, I let him feel every word.

As my temper grows, so does something else.

A flurry rises inside my core. Crawling, devouring the violence. I grab him tighter, a dark shape fluttering across my vision.

“Shit. I’m sorry, man.” His eyes widen, panic flashing across his face. “Ashen, get him off.”

“Wait. Let him do it.” Ashen steps beside us. His attention is locked on me, but mine is somewhere deeper—on the shadow curling beneath my skin. Alive. Shifting like smoke in my bloodstream. It coils tighter with every breath. Aching. Reaching for freedom.

“What? No freaking way!” Cedric answers. His pulse rings in the back of my ears. Louder. Faster.

“He needs the practice.”

“Nah, fuck that. Let him practice on you.”

A hand presses against my upper back. It’s soft. Reassuring. “It’s okay, Rhenn. You’ve got this. Feel it, just don’t let it go too far. Then bring it back,” my brother urges, seeing the battle in me and trying to walk me through it.

It isn’t that easy though. It thunders inside of me, clawing at my insides, demanding release.

It hurts to block it out. To keep it in. I never fucking learned how.

“Bring it back, Rhenn,” Ashen tells me, keeping his hand on my back, grounding me. His voice is low, but there’s an edge of warning in it. “You’re not him. Remember that.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, biting down hard enough to taste blood, trying to cage the thing inside me.