Page 29 of Snitches and Serpents

“Coming here, to our house, alone?” Shaking my head, I flash her a wolfish smile. “It would be so easy to kill you.”

Fear floods her features, and she once again glances at my housemates in terror.

I would never actually let any of them touch her. I’m not an animal. But she doesn’t know that.

Pushing off from the doorframe, I leave my spot in front of the hallway and instead start towards her. She takes an instinctive step back before remembering that Ian is standing there. After casting a worried look over her shoulder, she snaps her gaze back to me.

I keep the wolfish smile on my mouth as I advance on her. “After all, that’s what happens to rats. If they sneak into a house, they get killed.”

She bolts.

And God damn, she’s fast.

Sprinting forward, she manages to skirt around me and reach the hallway to the front door before I’ve even realized what’s happening. I throw my arm out to grab her, but she ducks underneath my hand while still racing towards the door.

Stunned disbelief rings through me, but I whirl around and start after her. I will be able to catch her at the door. She doesn’t know that I locked it, so she will try to just shove it open and sprint outside. When that doesn’t work, she will lose precious seconds in which I will be able to reach her.

And then, I am going to show her who holds the power now. Back in high school, she might have been the untouchable one. But here, I make the rules. I’m the one who can ruin her entire life with one sentence. So I’m going to make her grovel and beg me for mercy before I finally allow her to leave this house.

Anticipation ripples through my chest at just the thought of it.

A few steps ahead, Elle finally reaches the door.

But she doesn’t just shove down the handle in blind panic. Instead, she reaches forward with both hands at the same time. One hand grabs the handle. The other unlocks the door. And then she’s out.

I trail to a halt right inside the door and stare in shock as she sprints across the lawn and towards the road.

She anticipated my move.

Even in such a high-stress situation, she managed to think things through enough to understand that I had most likely locked the door.

Shaking my head, I watch her brown hair whip in the wind as she disappears down the street.

Fucking hell, I hate to admit it, but I am actually a little impressed.

11

ELLE

Dry grass crunches underneath my feet as I pace. Back and forth. Back and forth. Sun beats down from a clear blue sky, baking the lawn behind the dormitory building. I thought that a little fresh air would calm me down. But it hasn’t. So now, I’m both panicked and overheated instead of just panicked.

Forcing out a long breath, I move farther to the right where the building provides a bit of shade. Leaning against the pale wall, I rest the back of my head against the cool stones and stare up at the sky above. The moment I’m out of the blistering heat, the overwhelming suffocating feeling eases a little. But only a little.

It’s Sunday today, which means that it’s time for my weekly call with my parents. It shouldn’t be such a big deal. Just a quick phone call to tell my mom and dad about my week. Everyone does it. It’s normal. It’s a sign of love. A sign that my parents love me and want to know about what’s going on in my life. Except I always feel like they’re constantly assessing everything I tell them.

They never ask me if I’m happy. They ask if I’m doing well in my classes. If I have started networking with the right people. If I’m keeping up my exercise routine. If I always eat healthy meals.

And now, I have to call them and tell them that I have been arrested by campus police for possessing drugs and also that I, a legacy member, have been kicked out of my sorority.

The steel bands around my chest tighten further, pressing so hard that I have to throw out a hand to brace myself on the wall behind me.

I thought I could solve this. That I could somehow get campus police to realize that the drugs weren’t mine. That I could get them to search Tristan’s house and then clear me of all wrongdoing, and then that would persuade Brandi to let me return.

But I couldn’t.

After I escaped Tristan’s house, I wanted to run straight to campus police and tell them to follow me back to his house. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t dare to do it.

Back in that forest a week ago, Tristan said that he wasn’t going to kill me. And I wanted to believe that. But when he and his friends closed the doors, trapping me inside their house, I wasn’t so sure anymore. He sure looked at me as if he wanted to kill me.

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