"Put him down Dean."
Like a trained doggy, I did.
Chapter 26
Krista
Thump thump thump thump thump
My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might fly out of my chest.
It was over in two seconds. Luke wasn't ever in any real danger. He'd simply rubbed his throat and walked away.
A few minutes more though… Luke might have ended up in the hospital. Or worse.
Dean had almost killed him.
I pushed the thought aside. Dean wasn't like that. I knew him. He wouldn't hurt a fly.
Dean was harmless.
Even as I thought the words I knew it was a lie.
The old Dean would not have hurt a fly. The new Dean was something else entirely. Brooding. Aggressive. Lost.
He was just… different.
Dean's friend Chuck was smoothing things over so no charges would be pressed.
I was shocked by the violence that had come from Dean in those few moments. He wasn't himself. And when he looked at me, he had looked almost as surprised as I was.
Almost like he was afraid of his own strength. And he was strong. Unnaturally strong.
No human being could lift an adult man with one hand like that. And he hadn’t even broken a sweat.
He let go immediately when I touched him. He just stood there, staring me. Our eyes locked for a heartbeat. Then he sneered and grabbed my arm, pulling me down the stairs and out into the rain. I was running just to keep up with him.
"Dean—"
I tried to lean back and dig my heels in but it didn't even slow him.
"Dean! Stop! You're pulling me too hard!"
I stumbled as he stopped abruptly, turning to face me.
“Are you injured?”
I rubbed my arm gingerly. It was fine. He hadn’t hurt me, just startled me.
Well, that was putting it mildly.
“No. I’m okay.”
He ran his hand through his hair, staring at me with a dark look.
“I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t care about anyone else — just not you.”
“I know.”
“Tell me the truth then. Is that your new boyfriend? Did you hook up with him, Krista? Did you?"
He held my shoulders, not quite shaking me, though it seemed like he wanted to. His touch was gentle somehow, despite the desperate anger in his face. I realized I could have broken free easily. But I was too stunned to step away.
"No, I just met him. I swear."
"Don't lie to me! I've been going out of my head, and you just moved on. Admit it!"
"Nothing is going on Dean! Not that it's any of your freaking business."
His arms dropped. He looked hurt for a minute. Almost like I'd slapped him. Then he stepped in, so close he was almost touching me. I could smell the alcohol on his breath as it fanned my face.
Great. Robo-Dean was drunk.
"But that's not really true is it, Krista? You know that it is my business. Everything about you is my business."
He ran his fingertips over my cheek. We were both getting soaked as the rain started again in earnest.
"Whether either one of us wants it to be or not."
His fingers ran down to my chin. He gripped it, forcing me to look him in the eyes.
"Luckily for me, I'm happy to make you my business. Permanently."
He let go abruptly and turned, walking briskly towards campus. I stood in the rain, shivering and alone.
“Are you coming?”
I just stared at him, shocked by his admission.
He stopped and came back, taking my hand. He stared at my palm as he ran his thumb over the sensitive skin.
I shivered again, but not because I was cold.
Dean was such a contradictory combination of rough and tender. He had been acting like a lunatic less than ten minutes ago. His voice was husky as he murmured to me.
"Come on, you need to get out of the rain. I don't want you to get sick."
I said nothing. I let him lead me back towards my dorm. He opened the door and I stepped inside, just out of the rain. He stayed outside, letting the water pour down his face.
He looked so lost and alone in that moment, I had to stop myself from reaching out to him.
"What about you? Don't you have a big game coming up or something?"
He laughed, the sound surprisingly bitter. He held out his arms, letting the rain drench every inch of him. Then he tilted his head back and opened his mouth, drinking it in. He looked wild somehow.
Wild and untamed. Dangerous.
His blue eyes were practically glowing as he lowered his face, staring at me hard.
"Look at me. I don't get sick, Krista."
Then he stepped forward and kissed my mouth, hard and fast. I gasped at the suddenness of it. The heat.
Then he turned and ran off into the rain. So fast, he disappeared into the gray night before I knew it.
Just like that, he was gone.
Chapter 27
Dean
It was official.
I was going to hell.
I’d almost hurt her. In that moment, when I’d looked at Krista, I’d seen something to devour. Just for a split second, but it had been there.
Eat. Bite. Tear.
My conscience had reared up almost as quickly, telling me no.
Not her. Never her.
The horror of my ravenous hunger terrified me. I had to get away before I did something terrible. I had to get as far as I could from the source of all of it.
Krista.
I ran through campus, not returning to the athlete housing. I ran past the neat rows of townhouses and straight into the woods. I only stopped when I was miles from campus, out of breath, bent over and heaving.
I had never run that fast in my life, or been more afraid. Nothing scared Dean Westen. Why should it? My life had been charmed.
The strangest thing was, I had a feeling that was about to change. Had already changed. I was doomed, from the moment I met her.
I wiped my lips on my sleeve. My arm came away wet. The rain had stopped at least twenty minutes ago so it wasn’t water. It looked like I’d been drooling.
Jesus Dean, one kiss from a pretty girl and you start drooling?
I wanted to laugh at the joke, the idea was so ridiculous. But for some reason it just wasn't funny.
It wasn't funny at all.
In fact, at that moment, it was probably the least funny thing I’d heard in my life.
It took me over an hour to walk back to the edge of campus through the woods. I’d gone even further than I’d realized in my inhuman burst of speed.
Even my roommates were in bed by the time I crawled under the covers. I didn't shower, preferring to have the scent of the forest with me.
The woods had been so quiet and peaceful. There was no one to accidentally hurt, or call me a monster. And yet there was something wild and untamed about the deep, dark woods. Something that reminded me of what I was becoming.
That night, when I dreamed, I returned there.
Chapter 28
Krista
“Would you like some filet mignon?”
“Yes.”
I cut open the haunch of beef, watching as the juices ran freely to the cutting board. I placed a thick slice on the plate in front of me without lifting my eyes.
I could feel him there, staring at me. I recognized his voice and felt the pull to smile at him, talk to him. But I resisted.
I glanced up in time to see Dean turn away.
This was my fault. I should have asked for a different shift, a different service.
I could have asked to stay in the back. I should have. But I was too weak.
I couldn't help but want to see him, even if it was just across the lecture hall on Wednesdays. Or the dining hall every Monday and Thursday. Nothing had changed in that way. I still craved his nearness.
He was the one who had been stoically ignoring me for wee
ks now.
Until the party.
He'd been drunk. And dangerously angry. He’d gotten territorial over me. That was all it was, right?
I half-expected him to begin ignoring me again. If I was smart, I would hope that he would. Apparently, I wasn’t that smart.
I had been ready to tell him to go to hell when he'd dragged me out of that frat house. I might be small, but nobody told me what to do.
But then I’d seen the look in his eyes. Desperate and lonely. It echoed the way I always felt but never shared. And he'd let me see it.
So I kept my head down and worked, stealing an occasional glance at Dean.
When I looked up he was staring at me, a haunted look in his eyes. His gaze was traveling over my neck and throat, down to my chest and lower. I was wearing an apron so he couldn’t really check me out.
But Dean was making his best effort.
I gasped at the look on his face. I dropped the serving fork and took a step back at the blatant lust in his eyes. It was as if he could see through my clothes. I blushed bright red, feeling naked and exposed.
"Krista, do you need a break?"
Pam checked up on me now and then. She walked the floor, keeping her eye on everything. She ran a tight kitchen. She was a good boss. She didn't make them work crazy hard, but she didn't allow for slacking either.
She would definitely notice one of her servers standing like an idiot in the middle of the floor.
I shook myself, waking up from the trance Dean had put me in. I glanced at my boss, embarrassed.
"No, I'm fine."
Pam smiled at me, lifting an eyebrow.
“You sure?”
I nodded, feeling the red travel to the back of my neck. I could feel him staring at me. Still.
"Then get back to it."
I nodded my head dumbly and stepped back to my station.
Another group of players had just come in. I served them one at a time, trying to ignore the feeling of Dean's eyes on me.
When I looked up again, he was smiling humorlessly, rubbing his thumb across his lips as he stared at my mouth. I gasped, shocked at the sudden feeling that he was actually touching me, not just looking.
He lifted his eyes to mine. They were cold and hard but somehow full of fire. I swallowed, forcing myself to look away. I knew my cheeks were burning.
Dean Westen had a habit of making me blush.
Dean didn't leave until the dining hall closed that night, or the next two nights I worked. In fact, he did the same thing in English class. And then he followed me home.
But he never approached me or said a word
He just… watched me. And he waited. What he was waiting for, I wasn't sure. Maybe he knew I was mad at him. Maybe he was waiting for an invitation.
Well, I hoped he liked disappointment because it would be a cold day in hell before I took him back.
I wasn't sure exactly how I felt, to be honest.
On one hand, I missed him. I still felt goosebumps and butterflies around him. But I didn’t like the way he was acting.
The new Dean was way too alpha. The way he circled around me was exactly like an animal, marking his territory. It was insulting and reassuring at the same time.
But I also felt hunted, as if I were a small prey animal and he was a ferocious killer.
Not that I feared him exactly. It was more that I feared myself. Whatever it was inside me that leapt up to answer him.
It was a cruel joke.
I’d wanted desperately to see him again. Now it seemed that he had decided to stop fighting whatever drew us together. But he didn't approach me. He just watched and waited.
That's when the dreams started in earnest again.
Along with a bunch of other weird stuff.
Chapter 29
Dean
Running.
I was running. Tall grass brushed my belly as I raced through the soft sand. I knew exactly where I was. The dunes near my family's house.
The dunes that led to the water. I’d been here a hundred times.
A thousand.
But everything looked odd. The perspective was wrong. The angles of the earth and sky. It took me a while to figure out what it was.
When I did, I was horrified.
I was too low to the ground, running like an animal on all fours. I wasn’t a man anymore.
I was a beast.
Once I understood though, I moved faster. My limbs ate the ground as they moved in tandem. It was so easy, like second nature to me. Even though I’d never run on all fours before.
Something pulled me forward, despite my feeling of unease. I raced up the coast, traveling at an astounding rate. The scenery blurred past me as I picked up speed.
I stopped, realizing I was somewhere else. Someplace unfamiliar.
I crossed a thin barrier of sand. A stretch of land too narrow for buildings or roads. Then I was there.
Whatever had been drawing me was close. I could feel it. A rocky, impenetrable coast spread out before me. It ran in a circle, surrounding the small island completely.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard a voice whisper a name.
Darkstar.
A huge stone building stood at the pinnacle of the island, almost like an ancient fortress. It loomed, almost as if it was alive. As if the structure itself had bad intentions.
Something resonated inside me when I saw it. Recognition. Fear. Anger.
I knew this place.
In the dream I began to climb the rocks, full of fear and longing in equal measures. I had to get inside. It was the most important thing I could imagine. I was instantly obsessed, like I had been with Krista.
It was need that devoured me from inside.
I tried to grasp at the loose rocks that led up the cliff but my hands were clumsy and oddly shaped. I looked down on myself and saw something that frightened me to the core.
My hands — if you could call them that — the grotesquely misshapen hands ended in sharp talons. But that wasn’t the worst part. My skin was covered in fur.
I woke up covered in sweat and shaking from exertion. I cleaned myself up and changed my damp sheets. I lay on top of the covers as dawn lit up the sky.
I didn't sleep. I wasn't prepared to face the dreams again.
But I did come to a decision.
Something was happening to me. Something connected to Krista. I was used to the idea already. But now I had a glimpse of what I was becoming.
A monster.
I was done fighting whatever this was. It was pointless anyway. Whatever I was becoming, I knew it was too late to go back. I had already changed far too much.
And whatever role Krista played in it… well I was done fighting that too.
The time had come to claim her as my own.
Chapter 30
Krista
The butterflies were back.
Not in my stomach, but the real ones. Small purple ones that seemed to follow me wherever I went. I hadn’t seen them much lately, not since two summers ago, but I knew what it meant.
Even though I was still angry at Dean, even though I felt lost, I was happy.
Because he hadn’t given up on me.
A strange energy coursed through me as I doled out cocktails in one of the private boxes at the stadium. It was yet another fundraising event for high rollers. But for once, I wasn’t intimidated.
I stood up straighter, moved faster. My body was thrumming with barely restrained power and an eagerness to unleash it.
It wasn't my own power, but I felt it. And I knew where it came from.
It was his.
Dean was down there somewhere, getting ready to take the field. It was weird being here, watching him play, when we still hadn't spoken since that night. Not with words anyway.
But we both knew, there would be words. Lots of them. Soon. The silence wasn’t stopping anything that was happening. It was just making both of us miserable.
We had to talk.
Tonight, in fact.
In the meantime, I had VIPs to tend to.
I bustled around, serving food and drinks in one of the skyboxes, the super expensive seats that were high up in the center of the stadium. The views were ideal, not too close that you were on the field, but high enough that you could see the action on long plays and field goal kicks.
The best part of the deal in my opinion was that the boxes were temperature controlled. While the players and fans were out there sweating or freezing, important donors and guests of the university were in here, cool or cozy, depending on the season.
There were little TVs scattered around the room for close ups of the action. There was a private, fully stocked top-shelf bar with gourmet food service. They even had special uniforms for the servers.
I was wearing a starched white uniform with team color accents and a cute little apron with a pocket for tips. They hadn't even made me wear a hairnet, just a jaunty little white paper cap.
It looked kind of silly, but I pinned it in place without a word of complaint. I was excited. I couldn’t help it.
I wanted to be here for Dean. Watch him play. Maybe even cheer a little if he scored.
I didn't really mind looking silly anyway. I was just excited to watch the game. It was my first time working at the stadium, or coming to a game. Though the truth was, I’d known how well Dean was doing in the first few games of the season.
I couldn’t help it. Even if I hadn’t read the news articles, it was hard to avoid the topic of the new star player.
Dean was a sensation here. There was no doubt, he was going places. Maybe even all the way to the pros.
Plus, the gig gave me time to think about what I would do afterwards.
About Dean.
Forgive him? Or try and forget him?
Both had seemed impossible before today.
Everything had changed. After two weeks of longing looks and radio silence, he'd finally broken the heavy tension between us. Dean had texted me this morning to meet him after the game.
Original Witch (Dreamshifters Book 1) Page 8