CH 9 - Persefone
1506 Words
PERSEFONE POV
*Fake smile - Alan Warren and Salem Ilese*
By the end of the day, I felt wrong.
Not exactly sick... just like my skin had become too tight for my body overnight and nobody had bothered warning me.
Every sound scraped against my nerves. Every scent hit too strongly.
Okay not every scent.
Their scents.
Eden was pacing nonstop.
Restless.
Agitated.
And honestly? Same.
I slammed my locker shut harder than necessary and immediately regretted it when the metallic bang echoed straight through my skull.
Fuck.
A couple of human students glanced my way before quickly pretending they hadn’t.
Smart survival instincts. At least...
I shoved my books into my bag aggressively, trying to ignore the weird heat curling under my skin that kept getting worse whenever they were nearby.
Which was ridiculous.
Absolutely ridiculous.
I was not about to become one of those girls.
You know the type.
The ones who saw a tall asshole with trauma and suddenly decided they could fix him with love and questionable life choices.
Nope.
Not happening.
No pair of icy blue eyes could ever lure me to the dark side.
I won't be another clichè.
I was going to turn eighteen and find a wonderful mate, polite and thoughtful and caring... A mate like Richard.
Eden huffed in the back of my mind like she didn’t believe me for a second.
'boring'.
Of course, the only commentary she felt like offering right now was the one I absolutely did not need.
I turned the corner, ready to call it a day and be dragged home by an overanxious sister who needed “everything to be perfect” for our turning point—
—and stopped.
Thane was leaning against the wall near the exit doors, arms crossed over his chest, one boot pressed behind him against the bricks like he’d been standing there awhile.
Waiting.
And I hated the little spark of fire igniting in my veins at the thought he’d been waiting for me.
Stupid.
Deranged.
Delusional.
Reckless and a whole lot of bad things.
Bad Perse. Very bad.
The late sunlight caught against the silver rings in his ears and the loose strands escaping his man bun.
His blue eyes lifted slowly when he noticed me.
Locked on mine immediately.
No surprise.
No hesitation.
Like he’d known I was coming.
My heartbeat stumbled once.
Hard.
I kept walking anyway.
Because what the hell else was I supposed to do?
Turn around?
Run?
Please.
I was an Alpha, not a frightened bunny in a forest documentary.
Still… my pulse sped up the closer I got.
And Eden—
Goddess.
Eden went dead silent.
No pacing.
No growling.
Nothing.
That scared me more than anything else.
I walked past him with barely inches between us.
And then I made the mistake of breathing.
Fuck.
Wood.
Forest.
Cold air after rain.
Goddammit.
My steps almost faltered.
Almost.
I was better than that. RIght?!
I didn’t look at him.
Didn’t stop.
Just kept walking toward the parking lot like my entire nervous system wasn’t currently self-destructing.
Behind me, a low growl rolled out of his throat.
Quiet.
Rough.
Dangerously hot.
The sound slid straight down my spine and settled somewhere low in my stomach before I could stop it.
Absolutely f*****g not.
I clenched my jaw harder.
Bad boys and the good girl from the wealthy family.
What a cliché.
Penny would probably eat this s**t alive in one of her stupid romance books.
Not me.
Never me.
The evening air hit my face the second I stepped outside, cooler than inside the school but not enough to calm the heat crawling under my skin.
I tightened my grip on my backpack strap and headed toward the parking lot quickly.
Too quickly maybe.
Like I was trying to outrun something.
Or someone.
The lot was mostly empty already, shadows stretching longer between scattered cars while the sky darkened overhead.
And a sensation of deja-vu swept into my gut.
I registered movement with the corner of my eye, just near the bushes lining the fence.
I froze instantly.
A pair of red eyes flashed from the darkness.
Watching me.
Unblinking.
My breath caught so hard it almost hurt.
Was this happening for real? Again?
Eden surged forward violently enough that my claws nearly slipped out, and both of us inhaled deeply at the exact same time, trying to catch a scent.
Nothing.
No wolf.
No human.
No sweat, no dirt, no magic, no blood.
Nothing at all.
Which made absolutely no sense.
Everything had a scent.
Humans smelled different from wolves, witches smelled like herbs and smoke half the time, vampires had that cold metallic undertone that made Eden want to bite first and ask questions later.
But this?
This smelled like f*****g air.
Empty.
My stomach tightened unpleasantly.
A hallucination would’ve honestly been more comforting at this point.
Sleep deprivation I could explain.
Stress too.
But Eden was reacting now, pacing hard in the back of my mind, ears flattened and teeth bared in a way that made cold unease slide slowly down my spine.
She felt threatened.
And Eden didn’t scare easily.
I swallowed slowly, forcing myself to stay still while my pulse hammered harder against my ribs.
The eyes never blinked.
Never moved.
They just stayed there in the shadows like they were studying me.
Waiting.
For what, exactly, I had no clue.
A low growl suddenly rolled through the parking lot behind me.
Close.
Dangerously close.
And way too loud for a human school.
Every muscle in my body tensed as I spun around instinctively.
Thane was already moving.
Fast.
Toward whatever the f**k was hiding in those bushes.
Just cold focus.
Predatory.
His eyes were glowing, his wolf was right there beneath the surface, pushing so hard I could almost see the shift trying to rip out of him.
And before I could even process what was happening, He stepped directly in front of me.
Between me and the fence.
Like it was instinct.
Like he hadn’t even thought about it.
My breath caught stupidly hard.
“What the f**k is that?” I snapped immediately, trying to look around him.
His arm shot out instantly, blocking me from stepping forward.
The motion was so automatic it almost looked practiced.
“Stay back,” he said roughly, eyes still locked on the darkness ahead.
Excuse me?
My outrage flared immediately.
“I’m not a f*****g chihuahua, caveman.”
“Don't I f*****g know it.”
Another growl rumbled low in his chest.
Deeper this time.
Meaner.
Eden stirred violently at the sound, claws scraping against the inside of my skin while unease curled tighter in my stomach.
Wolves like him probably didn’t scare easily.
But he looked ready for blood.
The bushes rustled softly again.
And I swear I saw those red eyes flash once more between the branches.
Thane shifted his weight slightly in front of me.
Protective.
The realization hit me so suddenly it almost short-circuited my brain.
He was shielding me.
Thane f*****g Tartarus was shielding me.
“What do you smell?” I asked quietly this time.
“Nothing.”
That single word dropped like a stone in my stomach.
Because his expression told me he hated that answer just as much as I did.
“PERSE!”
I turned so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.
She came around the corner of the building grinning at me, curls bouncing wildly while she waved her car keys in the air like she hadn’t a single survival instinct in her tiny glitter-filled body.
Relief hit me embarrassingly hard.
Goddess, I loved her.
Even when she was annoying.
Even when she stole my hoodies.
Even when she kept trying to emotionally therapize me against my will.
I looked back toward the bushes.
Nothing there.
No eyes.
No movement.
No scent.
Just darkness moving softly with the wind.
Slowly, Thane lowered his arm.
But he didn’t move away from me.
Didn’t relax either.
His stare stayed fixed on the fence another few seconds before finally shifting toward me.
Sharp.
Unreadable.
“You shouldn’t walk out here alone,” he muttered.
And before I could even decide whether to be offended or concerned—
he turned and walked away.
Penny nudged my elbow the second Thane disappeared around the corner.
Hard enough to snap me out of whatever the hell that had been.
Her eyes narrowed immediately, bouncing between me and the direction he’d gone.
“…What the f**k were you doing with one of them?”
Good question.
A really good question, actually.
Because I honestly had no f*****g idea.
“Nothing,” I answered automatically.
Too fast.
Too defensive.
Penny’s brows lifted instantly.
Suspicious.
Of course they did.
I looked back one last time toward the empty corner where Thane had disappeared, my pulse still beating way too hard against my ribs.
Nothing.
It was nothing.
It had to be.
And I hoped with my whole damn soul that I was right.
- Writer
