Page 3 of Lyric

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Jinn

My hand shook as I signed the paperwork outside the courtroom. The clerk gave me a copy.

“It will be emailed to you, as well,” he said.

“Thank you.”

The paper in my hand felt flimsy, as if it had no power at all. But the words were law. The judge had ruled I fulfilled all requirements and proof needed to get this restraining order against Colt, the alpha who was stalking me.

Colt had been notified but had not bothered to show up for court. Once he was served, if he broke the restraining order he could be arrested. Colt would not be allowed to call, text, email, or approach within one hundred yards of me.

“I hope this works.”

“Good luck to you,” the clerk said.

When I got to my car, I sat in the driver’s seat staring at the paper. My phone chirped. I wasn’t even going to look. It was just more harassment from Colt. It wouldn’t stop until he got served.And even then—I couldn’t imagine a piece of paper stopping him. Colt did whatever Colt wanted.

What I needed to do was get a new phone and move somewhere far away. The problem was, I had no savings. My job paid my bills, but it was month to month. My family was no help, either. My dads had moved to a smaller place and worked seasonally. They never had extra money. Plus, neither of my dads knew about Colt. I didn’t want them to worry.

Even with this paper in hand, I’d never felt more alone.

I drove around for a while, then got myself Chinese takeout.

When I pulled into my apartment lot, I surveyed the area. It was an automatic thing I did now, looking for Colt’s car parked across the street. There was nothing.

I let out a huge breath and headed for my door.

Once I was inside my apartment with the door locked, I was afraid to turn on any lights. It was approaching twilight. What if he was out there and saw I was home?

When I’d left him the morning after a much-regretted one night stand I barely remembered, I thought that would be it. We would break all ties and go our separate ways. But that didn’t happen. Colt began showing up at my job with flowers and candy. When I sent him away, he began texting me about getting together. First it was stuff like:Jinn, Our night was magical. I can’t live without you. That evolved into:I bit you that night together. That gives me all rights to claim you as my own.

Then came the threats.

I will make you see you are mine.

You won’t like what you will force me to do.

I will claim you again and take you somewhere where no one can find you until I make you understand. You are mine.

That last text convinced the judge. Plus, I signed paperwork swearing I had never given consent for a bite or a claim and that we had never been in any relationship. Colt’s bite hadn’tbeen proper. It had broken the skin but had healed within a day leaving no scar. Not for one moment had I felt any psychic bond between us.

I muted my phone, turned on the TV and settled in for the night with my chicken lo mein and egg drop soup. Even with those great distractions, I still kept looking over my shoulder at my front door. I had it bolted but still kept expecting it to fly open and reveal Colt standing at the threshold, a cold gleam in his eyes.

I worried. Would the restraining order do me any good? What if it sent Colt over the edge? The way he’d begged me at first to let us try again had unnerved me. All the flowers at work, and me having to tell him to leave in front of my coworkers had mortified me. Then seeing his car everywhere I went, including being parked in front of my apartment complex at four o’clock in the morning nearly every day for two weeks. It was creepy.

Before bed, I checked my email. After erasing all of Colt’s unread messages, I found one from the court letting me know Colt had been served at seven p.m.

My stomach turned over, the muscles going cold.

This was it. He now knew he could be arrested if he came within one hundred yards of me, or if he ever emailed, texted or called me.

I checked my email trash and saw none of them had come after seven. Then I checked my phone. The texts had also stopped. Maybe this was going to work.

This had been the right thing to do. I needed to believe that.

The next day,I went to work, my breath held. No sign of Colt’s car anywhere. The relief spilled through my body like a wave of euphoria as I walked into the office building.

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