Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It took me a moment to find my courage and my voice under the intensity of Ever’s gaze.
“The police and my friend Sam watched the security footage from the library. He said Mr. Clint just deflated into a pile of skin. He swore that the recording wasn’t tampered with in any way, either.”
Her brow furrowed, and she looked away again.
“So, how are you hunting it?” I pressed. “Sam said he smelled death on the book I’d borrowed from the library. That’s how he knew to check there.”
“It only smells like death when it’s wearing someone else’s skin,” she said, her voice sounding a little hollow. “Without skin, it doesn’t smell like anything.”
“If you’re not tracking its scent, then how are you—”
The intense sense of betrayal and the need to protect cut off my words. In the silence, I heard the soft snarl erupt from behind me.
Sam.
Time slowed as Ever’s eyes widened.
The sound of tearing fabric drowned out the growl.
Something lightly hit the back of my head.
Sam’s anger spiked, and a blurred furball darted past me before I fully understood what was happening.
Ever pivoted and cleared the fence with inhuman speed.
Sam was a second behind her.
“Wait! Don’t!” I yelled. “Sam, please don’t chase her. I don’t want to be left alone.”
But they were both gone before I could finish.
I stared at the darkness on the other side of the fence, opening myself to what he was feeling. The anger bled away, leaving frustration, concern, and disappointment.
That last one hurt me the most.
Guilt and shame balled in my stomach. Not looking forward to the conversation I knew was coming, I turned to go back to the stands to wait for him, but stopped short at the sight of a familiar bit of flannel fabric at my feet.
Picking up the shredded remains of Sam’s shirt, I glanced at the other bits of material. Jeans. Wrecked boots. Socks.
Stunned, I turned back to look at the fence.
Was he chasing another girl while he was naked?
I recalled how her eyes had gone wide a second before something hit me and reached back to feel my hair. A piece of flannel was in it.
Quickly picking up everything, I knotted it together, tossed it in the trash, then joined my friends in the stands. The second half had already started.
“We were starting to get worried,” Jene said.
“She means Sam was getting worried,” Mirae said. “Did you see him?”
“Yeah. We need to leave early. If you stay until the end, will you tell Len we enjoyed watching the game?”
“Sure. Everything okay?” she asked, looking concerned.
“Girl problems,” I said.
“Ah.” They nodded understandingly, and I snuck away between plays and made my way to Sam’s truck.
He was leaning against the front. Barefoot, shirtless, jeans slung low, he wasn’t dressed for a chilly October night. Based on the sexy swirls of steam rising from his skin, I guessed that he didn’t care about the temperature.
“I’ll tell you everything, but before that, I need to know that she didn’t get to see you naked before me.”
My bottom lip wobbled a little, which was ridiculous but something I couldn’t help. The idea that some random girl might have seen more of Sam than me, his fated mate, was destroying me from the inside.
His hard expression melted, and I was in his arms, breathing in his scent a second later.
“I swear she didn’t see me naked. I shifted while still in my clothes. You saw them, didn’t you?”
Sniffling against his chest, I nodded and hugged him tighter.
“I threw them away. Did she see you like this?” I rubbed my cheek against his chest for emphasis.
His hand covered the back of my head, anchoring me as he made a pained sound.
“Clarity…”
“I know. You’re upset. We’ll talk. Promise. But first, I need to know. Did she—”
He tipped my head back and kissed the wet trail of my tears on my cheek. Then my eyelids. And finally, my mouth. It was gentle. Loving. Reassuring. And it helped calm the jealousy that was trying to eat me from the inside out.
With his forehead pressed against mine, he said, “I stopped chasing when you said you didn’t want to be alone. She didn’t see anything. Your friends might have if you’d taken any longer to find me.”
“I’m sorry, Sam.”
“For what?”
“For talking to that girl. For saying things you probably didn’t want me to say.”
“Why were you talking to her, Clarity?”
“Can we maybe have this conversation in the truck?” I asked.
It took him two seconds to get us inside.
Once again straddling his lap, I debated where to start. Did I admit to talking to her in the store first? To agreeing to meet with her?
I wrinkled my nose because I knew he wouldn’t like that I’d kept that from him. But I also knew I couldn’t continue to do so.
“She found me while I was shopping with Mom and said we needed to talk,” I said.
He closed his eyes and let his head fall back to the seat, exposing his neck. I stared at it, wondering whether distracting him would ease his frustration or add to it.
“Keep going, Clarity.”
“She said Mom and I were in danger, so I agreed to meet with her at the game, where I knew you’d be close and there would be people around.”
My common sense about the location didn’t even soothe a hint of frustration.
“Her name is Ever. Pretty sure she’s an Urbat. She’s not here looking for a job, but whatever killed Mr. Clint. It killed someone she knew.
“She wanted to know what we found in the library and what Mr. Clint had been like. You know…after. She knew he’d looked sick before I’d said anything, so I believe her. About it killing someone she knew. About following it here. That it’s not human, werewolf, or Urbat.
“She said it doesn’t have a body and is killing people to wear them. She didn’t seem to know more than that, though. I said that you might know more, but she wasn’t interested in talking to you for obvious reasons, I think.”
“If you were only talking, why did you get scared?” he asked, still not opening his eyes.
“When I asked how she was hunting something she couldn’t see, she gave me a look. Intense and…I don’t know. Just very hunter-like, if that makes sense. It made me nervous, not scared.”
He opened his eyes, pinning me with his gaze. The pupils were very dilated. I wasn’t sure what that meant.
“What you’re feeling right now? That’s nervous. What you felt before wasn’t.”
“I’m nervous because you look mad but don’t feel mad, and I’m worried I said something I shouldn’t have. She didn’t seem bad, Sam. She seemed like she wanted to help find whatever killed Mr. Clint.”
He sighed and closed his eyes again. His thumbs started rubbing little circles over my hipbones, rubbing away my worry and adding something else to the mix. I blamed my current position and his exposed throat. His Adam’s apple called to me each time he swallowed.
“Don’t apologize for talking to her,” he said. “I don’t want you to feel like I’m your keeper. And I doubt you said anything you shouldn’t have.”
That distracted me from his throat.
“Give me an example of something I shouldn’t say.”
“That you’ve been bitten and want her to kill me so you’re not stuck with a mate you don’t want.”
My mouth dropped open. I’d been hoping for something about what was killing people and wearing them.
“Stuck with you? You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Sam. You’re absolutely perfect.” I ran my hands over his chest for emphasis. “The way you look at me. Your smile. How you’re always there when I need you. How you looked in your grey sweatpants.”
Lust hit me hard a second before his eyes snapped open.
“I want you, Sam. From the second you introduced yourself, though, not the second you bit me. I just didn’t think you were in my league.”
He opened his mouth, but I covered it.
“You bit me. That means you’re responsible for me forever. I’m willing to take the next step.” I moved my hips forward, making the contact I’d been careful to avoid so far, and listened to the air leave his lungs. “Are you ready?”
He had my back against the seat a second later. I looked up at him. He was shaking and barely in control as he braced himself above me on the narrow bench seat.
The storm of emotions—lust, burning need, desperate yearning, fear—clawed at me. It hurt to breathe. The beat of my heart felt heavy as I struggled not to move. Not to rip his clothes off. Not to sink my teeth into his neck.
I blinked, trying to pull myself from what he was feeling, and gently caressed his cheek.
“Don’t say dumb things, and I won’t push at the boundary you set. Okay?”
He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, still locked in his silent battle. Slowly, the shaking stopped, and he opened his eyes again.
“I love you, Sam,” I said with a wry smile. “You’re stuck with me for life.”
The yearning intensified.
“You’re not helping,” he said.
“Sorry. Didn’t know I was supposed to. Does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore?”
He sighed and got off me, helping me sit up.
“I’m not mad. I’m worried. Something scary happened, and instead of telling me, your mate—the person you’re supposed to trust more than anyone—about it, you decided to deal with it on your own. What if she hadn’t wanted the truth, Clarity? What if she’d wanted you?”
“She didn’t strike me as being that interested.”
He rubbed his face. “That’s not what I meant. Urbat have a history of taking our mates before we complete the bond.”
“Oh.” I’d forgotten about that. “You’re right.
I didn’t make the best choice. To be fair, you’re my first real relationship.
I barely understand how human dating works.
Dating a werewolf is a bit more complicated.
Not complaining. Just asking for some time and forgiveness when I slip up.
Next time, I promise to go to you first.”
“Let’s hope there isn’t a next time,” he said, starting the truck. “Is there anything you’ve left out?”
“Not that I can think of.” We rode in silence for a minute. “Please don’t tell my mom what happened. She’s dealing with enough fear already.”
“I agree. But if you see Ever again, we'll tell your mom so she knows who to watch for, too.”
It was a fair compromise.