Page 309 of Blood & Betrayals

I sit up, staring at the dark screen in shock. Finally, I set the phone aside and start to get ready for bed. Undressing, I pull on one of Connor’s t-shirts, wash my face, and brush my teeth. The entire time, I am replaying the sound of rage in the stranger’s voice. There might be something really wrong with me because a dark, wicked part of me… liked it.

I just slipped back beneath the covers when my phone alerts again. I unlock it, and a live feed opens, showing an alleyway somewhere in what looks like Camelot. Through the gloom, I see a shifter leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. I am pretty sure his name is Jake.

Suddenly, he is jerked off his feet and thrown, smashing into the opposite wall. I jump and nearly drop my phone. I rest my hand on the pillow and watch in horror as an invisible entity beats him to within an inch of his life. His shifter friends arrive but struggle to help, given they can’t see the attacker. I look around, trying to figure out what I need to do. Should I contact the headmaster? He is off school grounds. Maybe I should contact law enforcement in Camelot. My phone vibrates again.

Incoming call:

Unknown.

I answer the call.

“It’s taken care of,” the stranger snarls down the line. I pull the phone from my ear and search TuathaToday. It looks like it has been wiped from existence. I can’t find even a trace of it.

“I… Was that… you?”

He doesn’t answer immediately, but then he growls, “The page is down.”

“Stranger,” I whisper. “It was you.”

He pauses for a long moment. “Yes.”

I expect to feel fear, disgust, and horror, but my stomach flutters, and my skin tingles.

“Are you afraid?” he asks darkly, and I swallow my moan.

“No.” I silently curse at how low and husky my voice sounds. Fuck. Stop it, Summer. This is dark.

“No?” he asks, a rumbling purr of interest edging into his voice.

“No.”

“What are you then?” he asks dangerously.

“I… Boundaries!” I know it reveals too much, but it is all I can muster.

“Oh. I should hang up, right?”

“Probably,” I grate out.

He doesn’t hang up, and neither do I.

I relax my hand on the phone when it creaks, unsure when I started holding it in a death grip.

“He had a video of you… changing,” he says, his voice furious and so damn sexy.

“What?” I hadn’t seen that on the page. How the fuck did he get that?

“He had more than was on the page,” he growls.

“Did you watch it?” I ask, unsure what answer I want to hear.

“No. I shattered his phone, skull, and then his hard drive. Once I saw it was your face, I couldn’t continue.”

“Oh.”

“I wanted to kill him,” he growls darkly.

I swallow, knowing that a shifter would heal from a broken skull, but damn, it would be painful and slow. “Because he made the page?”

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