Obsession

head full of pretty, blond hair. Nah, honey, your hair is beautiful and not just pretty,” Dex said, his voice a bit farther away from the phone.

“Anyway, just sort of wondering…”

I dropped my feet onto the floor. “Aw, shit.”

There was a deep, highly amused chuckle on the other end. “She’s up in the gazebo.

Funny that she’s there. You better head up before anyone else sees her. P.S. You suck at the whole babysitting thing.”

“Fuck off.” I was already at the door, throwing it open. I added, “Thanks, man.”

“Anytime.”

Son of a bitch.

I was going to strangle her. Better yet, I was going to strangle her and then lock her in her room. On second thought, I was going to skip the strangle part, go straight to the locking her in the bedroom and then tie her to the bed.

Hmm…that was a really good idea.

Damn it, Dex was right. I did suck at this babysitting shit. I should’ve expected that Serena wouldn’t listen or would try to make a run for it. Humans had this remarkable ability of making incredibly horrid, emotion-based decisions.

Not even bothering to maintain any normal sort of speed, I shot down the driveway and came to the main road. A strange sort of feeling descended. There was definitely anger balling inside, but there was another thing —a thing I couldn’t quite name. But I was definitely back to adding the strangling part into my evening plans.

I reached the pavilion within a frail, sluggish human heartbeat, and immediately felt the presence of others. They were close—close to Serena. And that little idiot was just sitting in the gazebo, with her head in her hands.

My chest clenched as I slowed my step, my eyes settling on the thick trees crowding the back of the lodge. I recognized the others; they were new to the commune and young, eager to prove themselves to the others. Their leader, a punk named Raz, drifted forward, more shadow than mass.

Take one more ssstep and it will be your lassst.

For a moment, I thought Raz was going to challenge me and I welcomed the idea of kicking some ass, but he drifted back. Seconds later, the little group was gone, but I knew that wouldn’t be the last I saw of them.

They’d been stalking Serena, and by the looks of it, she had no clue.

Strolling toward her, I watched her lift her head and wince when she spotted me.

Other than being a shade paler than when I last saw her, she appeared fine. The smattering of freckles across her nose—six to be exact—stood out.

Serena folded her arms around her. “I was going to come back.”

“What did I tell you?”

“Not to leave the cabin, but—”

“There are no buts, Serena. I told you not leave. This place is full of others like me.”

“I only saw one, maybe two.”

Struggling with my patience, I placed my hands on her shoulders, unable to not notice how they dwarfed her shoulders. “That doesn’t matter. I told you not to.”

“You shouldn’t just expect people to obey your demands,” she said, trying and failing to shrug off my hands.

A muscle started to spasm in my jaw. “Did you even know where to go when you hit the road? Well, let me tell you. If you take a right, it would have led you into town.

But it’s about thirty miles and it’s not a straight shot, either. There are mountain lions around here, even a few wolves. Not to mention the bears. And a few human males you probably wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. You know where taking a left brings you. This is a neighborhood of sorts, a very exclusive one, if you get what I’m saying. Others of my kind are here and they like to play with humans—and there were three of them focused on you.”

“What?”

“You were out here alone. That’s fair game to my kind. If I hadn’t come along, you really don’t want to know what would’ve happened to you.” The images that came along with that statement pissed me off. They would’ve played with Serena and she wouldn’t have enjoyed their game.

Serena’s shoulders slumped, and when she spoke, her voice cracked. “I can’t just stay here and wait for someone or something to kill me. I…I have to do something.”

“Do what?” Anger lashed through my voice, and she flinched. “Were you planning to make your way home? Is dying there somehow better than dying here, because you will die there, Serena, I can promise you that.”

“I’m…I’m sorry,” she said, her face screwing up. “I panicked.”

“I can tell,” I said dryly.

Her lashes lifted. Brown eyes with flecks of green met mine. “Mel’s never going to get any justice, is she?”

Caught off guard by the question, I leaned back. “No. Probably not.”

A sigh leaked out of her. “That’s not right. I can’t live with that.”

“Was that what you were doing? Planning to go back to Colorado to avenge your friend or something?”

Serena shrugged halfheartedly.

Now I really wanted to throttle some sense into her, but I could respect that, maybe even admire it. If Arum could understand anything, we got the whole need for revenge. But Serena was only a human. She would have no such revenge. And neither would her friend.

I looked away. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” But then Serena winced.

My fingers were digging into her shoulders. I removed my hands, eyes narrowing.

Watching her try to hold my gaze was amusing. Her little jaw was jutted out, brows knitted, but her lower lip was trembling. She opened her mouth.

I placed a finger against her lips. “Don’t.”

She leaned back and would’ve toppled right over if I hadn’t caught her. She glared at me like it was my fault. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t make up any more excuses for why you did this.” I pressed my finger against her warm lips again, mainly because I wanted to do it again. “I told you not to leave the cabin and you did. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

She swatted at my hand. “Hey! That’s not my fault. I think you damaged me when you tried to eat me.”

I almost laughed. “You are so clueless.”

“Oh really? And I guess you’re just so smart.” She rubbed at her eyes, but the slightly unfocused look was there.

“Yes.” I slid my hands under her arms and , as I stood, I hauled her onto her feet.

She swayed a little, so I didn’t let go. Keeping a hand on her arm, I led her away from the gazebo and back toward the cabin.

“Look, I apologized. You don’t have to be so pissy about it.”

I snorted.

Serena didn’t respond, and there must be some sort of higher being because she was quiet as we walked past the pavilion and hit the main road. During that blissful period of silence, as she stumbled along beside me, I realized that as furious as I was at her, I wasn’t angry with her now. I didn’t know how I felt. Annoyed? Yes. The rest I couldn’t decipher, which was new to me…and I didn’t like it.

I should’ve just let the others have her because that would’ve been one less thing for me to worry about.

“You don’t have to drag me all the way back to the cabin.”

I shot her a dry look. “Really, I don’t?”

She returned the look, but her version was a lot more hateful, and I tightened my grip on her upper arm.