Page 13 of Blood Moon
I was frozen. Any hope I’d once had to get answers dissipated. This person genuinely seemed like he knew me, but there was no way. It was impossible. I’d remember someone like him. “No,” was all I said.
He didn’t respond. He looked past me with caution in his eyes.
I followed his gaze again, and this time, further away, against a building in the shadows, I thought I saw someone watching us.
I ignored the tightness in my chest. “Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but you’ve got me mixed up with some other person. And just so you’re aware, because clearly you have no home training, it’s actually fucking rude to tell someone you don’t know to leave a place they’ve earned every right to be at.”
“Sure, keep telling yourself that.”
“Telling myself what?”
He shook his head. Almost as perplexed as me.
“God, must you be so condescending?!” I demanded.
A blink, and there was a flicker in his golden eyes. He took a pained step back as he pinched the bridge of his nose. With a deep exhale, his shoulders released. “Youdon’tknow?” he said quietly, fiercely. Quite possibly, it was the sincerest he’d been since the moment we’d met eyes.
“Knowwhat?” I snapped, and then, as if I weren’t there, he walked right past me.
I held my hands up in confusion as I looked after him. He skipped the sidewalk and cut straight across the large patch of grass where people played ultimate. He dodged the frisbee, catching it without even looking and throwing it to the other team. He cut past a tree, and I couldn’t help but notice how god-awfully fast he was. He was walking, but he cleared yards like he ran.
I finally dropped my arms, confused and irritated. What was his problem, and why was he telling me it wasn’t safe for me here? That alone would torture me. My safety had never been an issue, ever. Arguably, Lakeland was the safest place for me to be. Bobby could get here in less than fifteen minutes with his patrol car if he needed to.
Worse than that, I didn’t even get his name. He knew mine but would hardly answer any of the questions I’d had for him. Only, the look in his eyes said it all: There was something bigger and scarier I was supposed to be afraid of, and admittedly, I was terrified to know what that something, orsomeone, was.
CHAPTER8
Every face she wore was a cover to hide her own.
Article V, Lost Letters from Aadan the First
His voice was so clear inside me, it felt like an echo:It’s not safe for you here.
I chewed on those words as I strolled behind a group of students on the sidewalk in pure confusion about what had happened until I looked up to see Seven.
A slow smile formed on his face, his dimples piercing. He’d been talking to a group of people by a bench, laughing at some comment, until we caught eyes.
There was a thudding in my body, and I contemplated looking away from him, pretending I hadn’t noticed his presence, but the truth was that a small sigh of relief uncurled within me. Someone familiar. Someone safe.
Seconds later, he was waving and coming toward me, and I fixed a sure smile on my face, telling myself that what had happened earlier wasn’t that big of a deal. Everything would be fine. That guy was simply being dramatic … but even recalling the idea of him made my chest cave.
“Mirabella,” Seven said, a twinkle in those colorful eyes. He was so enthused to see me that he held his arms open for a hug. It was my hesitation that caused him to change his stance. “Ha, too soon?” he joked, scratching the back of his neck, his curls bouncing past the collar of his shirt.
The ordeal made me laugh, a feeling I craved so damn bad. “Hi, Seven.” I smiled, and it was genuine this time. “Miss me?”
He fell into pace with me on the sidewalk. “Is it that obvious?”
“You’re just about as subtle as a gun.”
Seven glanced away from me, his shoulders sagging as he mumbled, “Shit.”
I laughed, bumped him in the arm as we walked. “It’s okay. It’s good to see you, too. How’s life as the second-string quarterback?”
“You remembered?” Seven tilted his head in amusement and surprise. He had one of those smiles that hit me like a wave and pulled me under. I’d be a fool if I didn’t confess that it made me blush.
“It’s hard to forget. You’re kind of a big deal,” I said, knowing full well I was stroking his ego, but it felt good to be nice, to be somewhat human.
He shrugged his shoulders dismissively, though it was so clear how he ate up every word. “I mean, it’s going okay.” He sucked in a breath. “First day’s been kind of a whirlwind. I feel like the professors are going to be a bit harder on me because of who my dad is, which sucks, but that’s how these things go—at least that’s what my brothers said when they went to school here. Most of them have moved on now, so I have hope.”
