CHAPTER 5
Zarreth
I wanted to see her face when she saw her stuffed dinosaur in her front seat, but I didn’t dare turn around.
She already saw my face at the bar the other night because I couldn’t stay the fuck away from her. She looked so damn sexy in that little dress. I almost pinned her against the wall and fucked her until she screamed my name.
Pacing the barn back and forth, I tell myself I’m only watching her to make sure she’s actually the threat we all perceive her to be. But, in reality, she has become my obsession. I want to consume every part of her. I want to pull her hair, exposing her throat so I can taste her. I bet she would be so responsive if I grazed my fangs against her sweet skin.
I shake my head, snarling. I need to quit being so fucking reckless and get this over with. The sooner she’s dead, the sooner we can return to our horde.
Ronin walks in, one eyebrow raised in judgement. “You didn’t do it, did you?”
I grit my teeth, shooting daggers at him. I don’t owe him a fucking explanation.
He huffs. “I’ll do it if you can’t.”
Before I realize what I’m doing, I grab him by the throat, pushing him against the wall. “You won’t fucking touch her,” I seethe. Adrenalin pumps through my veins at the thought of another male laying a finger on her.
Ronin pushes me off him, “What the fuck?”
I take a few steps back, interlacing my fingers behind my head, trying to slow my pulse. “Shit. I don’t know what the fuck is happening to me.”
“You got to get it together, man,” Ronin says.
“I know.”
“She has to die. Aradon can’t get his hands on her.” He reminds me for the tenth time, making my blood boil again.
“I know. I fucking know. I’ll do it tonight.”
“If you can’t do it…”
I cut Ronin off before he finishes his sentence. “I said I’ll fucking do it.”
I storm out of the barn and jump to the roof. I can do this. I’ve killed many beings in the six hundred years I have been alive. I can kill a half-pint, pipsqueak who has probably never even hurt a fucking fly in her entire life.
I watch Frankie from a distance. She’s perched on the porch swing with her bare legs tucked under her. I study the freckles scattered across her nose, the one curl swirling in the opposite direction of all the rest.
My skin grows hot, the fire inside me rising to the surface. I look down, noticing smoke emerging from under my fingertips. Jerking my hand away from the rooftop, I remind myself I need to be careful now that I don’t have those fucking binding cuffs on anymore.
If I could get my hands on a pair of those magical cuffs, maybe I wouldn’t have to kill Frankie. The cuffs would suppress her powers, and she wouldn’t be a threat.
I quickly disregard that thought. Ronin is right. We can’t take the chance of Aradon finding her. It’s too dangerous. She must die.
My mind wanders back to last night. Frankie was so inebriated, there is no way she remembered seeing me in her room. My skin buzzed with power simply by being next to her. She’s definitely started the change already.
It was a struggle not to touch her, watching her chest rise and fall with each breath. Breath I should have taken from her. I could have ended her then and there. It wouldn’t have been painful. I would have made it enjoyable.
But then she reached into the drawer of her nightstand, retrieving a small, pink bullet-looking device. Holding the bullet, she pulled up the bottom of her dress, sliding it between her legs. I nearly lost it when it started vibrating, drawing a throaty moan from her lips. I was so close to ripping the little toy from her hands and using it on her, but instead I jacked off like a fucking pervert.
I grind my teeth thinking about it, disappointed in myself. I should have fucking killed her.
Frankie picks up a rectangular contraption. I believe Ronin called it a cell phone. “Call Jess,” she says.
“Calling Jess,” it says back. My mind is still completely blown at this fascinating little contraption.
A female voice answers after one ring. “What are the police doing about Nate?”
Frankie huffs. “Nothing! They think Nate left town on his own because his truck is missing, but he left his freaking phone behind. Who goes days without their phone?”
“That’s bullshit! Did you tell them about dino?”
Ha! Dino must be the name of her stuffed dinosaur.
Frankie rubs her temples. “No. I was so mad when they refused to do anything about Nate, I just stormed out without mentioning the intruder.”
“Call them back and report it. Someone was in your house, Frankie. That’s scary.” At least one of them has some sense.
“If they won’t do anything about Nate, they definitely won’t do anything about an unknown person returning a stuffed animal to a grown-ass woman. I’ll just start locking my windows and doors,” Frankie says. “Maybe I’ll get a security system.”
I chuckle to myself. Like a security system could keep me out.
They chat more about some guy in a band, and a book Frankie is reading, before promising to check in with each other in the morning.
Frankie makes a few more calls looking for her brother but has no luck. She stands, stretching her arms overhead, and yawns.
Her t-shirt slides up, revealing her soft sexy stomach before she walks back into her house. What I wouldn’t give to sink my fangs into her perfectly smooth skin, marking her flesh so she knows she’s mine.
Fuck! I need to focus. It’s time to end this ridiculous infatuation I have with her and return to the home I haven’t seen in over twenty years. Tonight’s the night. Tonight, I kill her.