Page 24 of Betrayed Pregnant Mate

“Just leave me alone!” I snap, turning to him, all the fear gone. His eyes move between me and Percy, widening. He’s been stalking me all this time. He surely remembers Percy from when the two of us dated in New York.

“Hey,” the stalker says, eyebrows shooting up, “you’re the boyfriend—”

“Veronica, who is this guy?” Linnea asks, pushing forward protectively.

“He’s been stalking me for years,” I spit, crossing my arms and glancing at Percy, who has a muscle ticking in his jaw. Annoyance rises in me at the fact that he could, apparently, feel that I was in danger, and that he stopped whatever he was doing to speed over here, like he has any claim to me. Like I can’t handle myself.

“You need to get out of here,” Linnea says, her nearly always-present friendly look slipping from her face immediately.

“Yeah,” Percy says, his eyes narrowing, his playful attitude gone. “If you even look at her again, I will make you regret it.”

“There’s a misunderstanding,” the man says, holding up his hands. “If we could just—”

“Get lost,” Linnea says, stepping forward and crossing her arms over her chest. “Do not make me call my husband.”

The stalker glances between each of us, then nods, backing up, his hands still held up in front of him, like we’re the ones bothering him.

At the end of the road, we watch him climb into an old black Mustang and take off down the street. We all stand like that until he’s out of sight, and then I whirl around, jabbing my finger into Percy’s chest.

He blinks at me, like he’s completely confused about this behavior.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask, narrowing my eyes on him. “I did not ask for your help.”

“I could tell that—” he says, his eyes darting over to Linnea and Daphne for help, but they’ve suddenly busied themselves with a poster on the clinic’s window.

“Don’t come riding in here like you’re the white horse, here to save the day. You lost that right a long time ago.”

I see Linnea’s head perk a bit, turning toward us, and I clear my throat, reminding myself that nobody else is supposed to know we dated in the past.

“I’m sorry—” Percy says, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, but even under the apology, there’s something dark in his gaze, something heated in the way he looks at me that makes a shiver run up my back. Once again, I picture him fully naked in my bed, wrapping an arm around my midsection and tugging me back so my hips were snug against his, him biting my shoulder lightly as he touched me, teasing, teasing, teasing but never finally giving me what I want.

I swallow, hard, against the thoughts, willing them to go away. Why now? For the past few days, I’ve had nothing but illicit thoughts about Percy, pushing into my brain at all times of the day, forcing themselves into my head like they belong there.

Unable to stand there any longer, the heat building in my core as I look at him, I push past him, stalking away down the street as fast as I can walk.

Of course, Percy’s legs are longer than mine, so he keeps up easily as I make my way down the sidewalk, dodging people who are putting up decorations and changing the downtown street signs.

Several of the shops on the street are altering their normal shop signs for the upcoming Halloween festivities—Derrick’s Barbershop is becoming Boo! Barbershop, Main Street Bread is now The Walking Bread, and May’s Flowers is now Wicca Wilds. It’s kind of mesmerizing to watch the transformation happen but annoying to weave through all the people out here on ladders, working to change them out.

Linnea explained that Halloween has always been a big deal in this town, with the supernatural elements of the inhabitants making the experience even more realistic to the tourists who travel all this way just to see it. The town gets a nice boost in money after the primary tourist season in the summer, and humans get a little taste of what it’s like to be around real werewolves.

“Veronica,” Percy says, reaching out and touching my shoulder. I jerk away from him.

“Don’t touch me,” I say, which I know must be confusing after all the touching we’ve been doing recently.

“Sorry,” Percy says, swaying on his feet a bit. I want, more than anything, to walk away from him right now, but the nurse in me can tell that something isn’t right.

“Percy,” I say, “what is it?”

“Nothing,” he says, putting a hand out to the nearest wall. “Nothing—I—”

The vampire venom is winning over in his body again. Down the street, back at the clinic, I see Aris and Ado walk up to Linnea, and I shout at them, waving my hands.

“Hey!” I say, as Percy slides down the wall. “Help!”

***

My arm stings where the needle is inserted, but Percy already looks better, that rosy flush coming back to his cheeks. Aris, Ado, and Linnea are standing in the room with us, watching as my blood flows into his veins. We’re back in the clinic, where Aris and Ado dragged us so Daphne could set up the line.

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