by Grace White
“I’m just so confused. He’s changing. I’ve seen it, felt it. My demon is wreaking havoc every time we’re close. We’re a bomb waiting to explode. What if it is wrong? What if Kai was never supposed to be the one?”
Heather regarded me for a second, her knowing eyes softening. “In your heart of hearts, do you believe that?”
No. I didn’t. He was the one; he had to be. This was all part of the test—just another obstacle to overcome.
“Greatness doesn’t come without a price, child. And you are destined for great things.” She patted my hand as if it might ease some of the torment raging inside me.
It didn’t.
“Is there anything else, Heather? Anything at all you think will help? I feel like the odds are stacked so high against me, it could all crumble down at any moment.”
“This isn’t something you can foresee. Not even the greatest seer could foretell what will come to pass. It is a journey to be traveled, and my money’s on you.”
My mouth dropped open, and I stared at the woman I’d come to see as a friend. What the hell did she mean?
“I wish there was more, but it is a path you must travel alone. Heed your mother’s words and stay safe.”
As with all our meetings, I sensed our time coming to an end. My hand moved to the pendant hanging around my neck, and I grasped it tight. “Thank you, Heather. And I really am sorry about Jezebel.” Before she could deter me, I launched myself at the old woman and hugged her tightly. Heather’s hand patted my back awkwardly. “Please, stay safe,” I whispered. The thought of losing her was almost too much to bear.
“There, there, child. None of that. I’ll be fine. No one has any reason to harm an old woman who knows nothing.”
She played the fool, but I had a feeling that Heather knew much more than she ever disclosed. And maybe she was keeping it to herself for a good reason.
“So what’s the plan now? I can’t stay here forever.” Devlin wasted no time when I returned from Heather’s and told them what little information I’d found out. I kept most of Mom’s letter to myself. Nothing in it helped our immediate situation, and I was still digesting it.
When neither of us answered, she added, “Come on. You must have a plan?”
“We go back,” I said flatly.
“Daiya?”
“It’s the right thing to do, Demi. I panicked. I was hurting. But I can’t keep giving people power over me.” I reached for her hand and entwined it with my own. “The protection spell still stands, and I’m going to talk to Isaac—”
“Are you crazy?” Devlin sneered. “He wants to kill us, and you’re running off trying to negotiate with him? Great. Just great.”
“Devlin, this isn’t helping.”
She barked out a sardonic laugh. “You’ve both completely lost it. I should get the hell off this train while I still can.”
Demi gasped. “You wouldn’t …”
“Watch me, sister, watch me.” She leaned back, folding her arms across her chest as if daring one of us to challenge her. We didn’t have time for this. She was either with us … or not.
“Maybe you should,” I said.
“Excuse me?”
“If it’s too much for you to handle, then maybe you should leave.”
My words punctuated the air. Her eyes locked with mine, steady and unwilling to back down. She was going to do it. Devlin was going to bail. But after a few seconds of silence, the words never came. Apparently, she was stubborn but not that stubborn. Her harsh glare slipped into a look of resignation, and she said, “Like I have anywhere to go. Besides, I like the campus. It makes feeding easy.”
Ignoring her, I turned to Demi. “Tomorrow, we go back.” I knew it was the only choice I had, but one more day wouldn’t hurt. There was still so much to wrap my head around, and I was tired—so tired of the back and forth, the push and pull. Being around this new version of Kai was exhausting.
“Great.” Devlin clapped her hands together and jumped up. “I’ll be getting ready to hit the bars then.”
We both shot her an irritated look before I turned back to Demi. “I’ll try to get Isaac to back off. Kai is confused, and he needs time. I’ll be careful, I promise.” Isaac had threatened me more than once, but he hadn’t made good on any of his words … yet.
My eldest sister nodded but didn’t speak, probably because she had nothing good to say. She was finally letting me make my own decisions.
I just hoped I was making the right ones.
KAI
She was gone.
Anger flared through me, coursing through my veins like lava. She’d been gone for three days. And each day, I’d grown more restless. Even practicing the meditation techniques Isaac had shown me wasn’t helping. Not when my mind turned to her.
Daiya.
She was like a disease under my skin, infecting my blood. I didn’t want to look at her, to be in her presence. She sparked something in me, something dark and violent. It was why I needed to stay away from her.
And the very reason I couldn’t.
I watched Poppy across the hallway. She smiled at something her friend said. Her friend who wasn’t Daiya. As if she sensed me, she lifted her head and held my glare. Hatred burned through her thick rimmed glasses like a laser beam directed right at me. Even though I didn’t appreciate her hate stare, it was justified. I could give her that.
“Hey, Kai.” Someone stepped into my direct line of sight to Poppy, and I let out a low growl. But it didn’t deter Tamara as she stared up at me, batting her eyes. “So I wondered if you had a date to winter formal yet?”
I ignored her, glancing over her shoulder. Dammit, Poppy was nowhere to be seen.
“Kai?” A hand landed on my arm, and I blinked down at her and glowered at her. “Don’t. Touch. Me.”
Her eyes widened as she visibly trembled. “Excuse me?”
A slow smirk cracked over my face. Tamara was used to getting what she wanted—and she’d wanted me for a long time. But after what happened at Laker’s, I was surprised to find her standing in front of me with desperation shining in her eyes.
Christ, she was pathetic.
“Give me a break, Tamara,” I mocked. “First, you try to stir up shit between me and Daiya, then you pull that stunt at Laker’s, and now, you think I want to take you to the dance?” I didn’t want to be anywhere near her. Her and her jerk of a brother.
A bitter laughter filled the space between us, and her lip quivered as she tried to formulate a response. A sick sense of satisfaction settled deep in my chest. She’d made Daiya feel like shit before … now, she knew how it felt.
“We done?” I barked out. If I didn’t move soon, I’d miss my chance to catch up with Myers. Tamara’s mouth opened again, but I cocked my head to the side, narrowing my eyes at her. No words came, just an exasperated sigh followed by a mumbled, “Screw you,” before she sauntered away. On to her next victim, no doubt. I checked the hall again. Poppy was gone.
But she couldn’t hide forever.
The gaudy floral headband came into view, and I pushed off the wall where I’d been waiting for the past five minutes. I’d skipped out of class early, determined to corner Poppy before she disappeared again. Nobody questioned me. As if they would.
“Where is she?” I dropped behind her, startling her.
She spun around, clutching her chest with a heavy frown on her face. “Crap, you almost gave me a heart attack, Stanton. A hello works just as well. You might want to try it sometime.” Poppy sidestepped out of the crowd, putting us next to the lockers.
I glared hard. I wasn’t trying to be friendly. She had information I wanted. “Where. Is. She?”
Her curious gaze swept over me, landing on my face. “Are you high?”
I rolled my eyes as irritation flared through me. “Do you know where she is or not?”
Poppy pushed up her glasses and turned to face me, inhaling a deep breath. “So let me get this straight.” She inhaled again as if she
couldn’t believe we were having this conversation. “You guys break up—correct me if I’m wrong, but it was you doing the breaking—and now, you want to know where she is? Huh. You guys get weirder and weirder.”
“Myers,” I growled, clenching a fist at my side. I didn’t have time for this shit. It was a simple question—a yes or no. I didn’t need this.
“Don’t you think if Daiya wanted you to know where she was, she would have told you?” Her thick eyebrows quirked up.
My glare hardened, burning into her. Kudos to Myers because she didn’t flinch—she didn’t bat an eye—she was going to protect Daiya at any cost. But she couldn’t keep her from me. No one could keep her from me.
No one.
“That’s what I thought,” she said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to get to class.” Her shoulder collided with mine, barging me aside. I growled, but if Poppy heard, she didn’t let on as she glanced back. “Daiya isn’t the kind of girl to play games, Stanton. She’s one of the good ones. You need to figure out what you want.”
Well, damn.
I hated that she was right, but what did she know about our situation?
Nothing. She knew nothing.
My fist slammed against the locker before I’d realized it had happened. A couple of kids stopped to look but soon scuttled off when I shot them a severe glare. I was losing my damn mind.
My eyes stared at her empty seat, one row in front and two seats across. If she had been there, she would have felt me as the heat of my stare burned into her back. But she wasn’t here.
I still didn’t know where she was, and I hated it. All kinds of destructive thoughts plagued my mind. Had she been with someone else? She had to feed eventually, right? Give herself to someone in order to devour his energy. Was that what she was doing right now?
The thought sickened me until bile rose in my throat, and I had to swallow hard to breathe over the disgust.
Daiya with a faceless guy. Touching him. Kissing him. I tried to block the images, but I couldn’t stop. Thinking. About. It. They played over and over until they morphed into something else. No longer was it Daiya with some faceless guy; it was Daiya and me as I imagined what it would feel like to feel her pressed against me, our bodies joined together. To hear her mewl and moan beneath me. My hand gripped the edge of the chair, curling tight around the plastic.
She was so delicate. So pure. A beacon of light in the darkness surrounding me. But it was a lie. The devil in sheep’s clothing. She had the face of an angel that disguised the evil that lived inside her. An evil I wanted to bend and break, devour and destroy.
Did she know how I felt? Could she sense my thoughts? Did she know what I wanted to do to her?
“Mr. Stanton, care to enlighten us?” Heads turned as people shuffled in their seats, and a classroom of eyes trained on me as I shifted uncomfortably. “Hmm … sorry, sir.”
The teacher rolled his eye with a dramatic sigh. “Sometimes, I wonder why I bother. Can anyone else, someone who actually heard my question, answer?”
A hand shot up, and someone answered, but I didn’t miss a couple of snickers behind me. I never missed a question. My grades were as good as my goal total on the ice. Dammit.
It was her.
I couldn’t think.
I couldn’t function.
I couldn’t switch it off.
Daiya Cattiva was ruining me.
“You seem distracted?” Isaac paced in front of me while I performed one of his poses again. I’d done some strange things in my life—like the time Coach had us try to slide raw eggs across the ice—but I had never meditated.
I felt ridiculous.
“Son,” he snapped. Clasping his hands behind his back, he stopped in front of me. “Something you want to discuss?”
“I’m good.”
“Do not lie to me.”
I was going to regret this, but I needed to know. “Did you do something?”
“You’ll have to be a little more specific than that.”
I locked eyes on him. “Did you say or do something to Daiya?”
He didn’t flinch, and his hard stare gave nothing away. “I have no idea what you are talking about. I thought you were staying away from her?”
“I am.” I didn’t hesitate.
“Kai?”
“It’s difficult. The pull, it’s strong.”
He signed heavily like I’d disappointed him. It bothered me more than I cared to admit. “Of course, her allure is strong; she’s designed to draw men in. To make them want her. But it isn’t Daiya; it’s the demon, son. Do not confuse the two.”
My arms slipped, throwing off my whole balance, and I scrubbed a brisk hand over my head.
“Has the meditation been helping?”
“I think so.” The lie just tumbled out. He didn’t need to know that Daiya still consumed my every thought.
“Good. Over time, it will get easier. You’ll see.” Something flashed in his usually steely glare, but as quickly as I saw it, it slipped away. “Kai, do you understand how important it is for you to stay away from her?”
“I already said I did, didn’t I?” I snapped a little harsher than intended.
“Okay. I think that’s enough for today.” Thank god. We’d been it at it for an hour, and for someone used to skating laps around the ice on a daily basis, this was like a mild form of torture. If Laker and the guys could see me now … no, I didn’t want to think about that.
Michael appeared; silent and brooding seemed to be his only personality trait. He leaned close and whispered something to Isaac.
“Go,” my father said, meeting my curiosity with a look that told me I wouldn’t find out what was happening anytime soon.
“Anything you want to tell me?” I threw his own words back at him, and he shook his head curtly.
“I have to go. But remember what we talked about. You need to be vigilant, son. Stay away from her and focus on hockey. I’ll see you soon.”
He didn’t look back as he followed Michael into the shadows, but something had been in his expression before he left. Something that told me that he knew more than he let on.
Something that told me he knew exactly what I’d been doing.
DAIYA
“Miss Cattiva, this is a surprise.” Isaac stepped out of the trees on the side of the house. “I thought you’d heeded my words and left.” Something in his expression suggested he hadn’t expected me to heed his words at all.
I hitched my bag up my shoulder and sucked in a steadying breath. “It’s over.”
“What is over?”
“Whatever is happening between Kai and me, it’s done. I’ll stay away from him, I promise.”
His lips quirked up. “You think me a fool?”
“No, I …” He inched forward, and I stepped back. “Look, we can’t just leave. We have nowhere to go. I have school, and my sister has a job, college.” I was clutching at straws, and we both knew it.
“I warned you.”
Panic clawed up my throat, stealing the air from my lungs. Surely, he wouldn’t hurt me, not here, right outside my house.
“I’m … we need more time. Give us more time.” I’d meant my sisters, and the seconds the word left my mouth, I realized that it sounded like I meant something else. Something that concerned his son.
“Insolent child,” he muttered under his breath. I half expected him to strike me, but he didn’t. Instead, he looked me up and down and said, “I’ll do what I can, for now. But don’t mistake this for a favor, Miss Cattiva. I don’t do anything without a price, and I will collect. Understood?”
I gulped, offering him quick nod. And then he was gone.
“New girl.” Poppy waved as I reached the parking lot, my heart still in my throat after my morning run-in with Isaac.
“We’re back to that?” I arched my eyebrow, and she threw her head back with a chuckle.
“Well, you keep coming and going. It’s giving me whiplash.” She fell into step bes
ide me, and we headed into school.
“I’m sorry, okay? My sisters dropped the trip on me last minute.” Lies. More lies. But they came almost naturally now.
“Sure, they did.” Her tone was light, but a hint of dejection there made the guilt I already felt multiply. “At least you’re back in time for winter formal.”
I stopped and whipped my head around to meet her amused expression. “You’re joking, right? That’s a joke?”
“Do I ever joke? Okay, don’t answer that, but yeah, I thought it would be fun. Now that you’re, you know”—she shrugged—“a free agent, and I’m as free as I’ve ever been, we should go. Friend date?”
“Friend date?” It was already hard enough keeping up appearances let alone trying to appease Poppy and her crazy suggestions.
“Come on; it’ll be fun. We can dress up, dance the night away, and most importantly, forget all about say what were their names again?” She waggled her eyebrows, that infectious smile of hers beaming at me. “Please?”
Ugh. How could I say no? Poppy had been the only constant in my life at Decker County, and I didn’t want to disappoint her. She was my best friend, no questions asked. So I found myself saying a non-committal, “Maybe.”
Her smile grew wider until she resembled the Cheshire cat. Brushing past her, I grumbled, “I said maybe, Poppy. It’s not a definite yes.”
“Whatever you say.”
As we made our way to my locker, I felt a sharp tug. I’d almost forgotten how strong it could be. I spun around and came face to face with Kai. The intensity of his gaze pinned me to the spot. If there was a name to describe the expression on his name, it would have been murderous.
Great. Just what I needed.
Noticing my line of sight, Poppy leaned in close and whispered, “Hmm, why does Stanton look like he wants to kill you?”
“Shh,” I hissed, tugging her around. “Don’t look over there.”
“But he’s looking over here.”
“Which is exactly why we need to go. Now.”
I wasn’t ready for this. For him. Being in his presence—no matter how much Kai made it obvious he hated me now—still affected me. Gripping Poppy’s wrist firmly, I guided us away. One painful step at a time. His hard glare followed, burning into the back of my head. I had to remind myself that it wasn’t him. That it was his hunter. But it was becoming harder because, with every day that passed, Kai—my Kai—slipped that little bit further out of reach.