Page 69 of Misfit Monsters
Raze
Peri halts in her tracks at my growled words. When I glance at her, her eyes have widened.
A chill washes through the animosity stewing inside me. Did I sound like I want to hurther?
I don’t even want to hurt Jonah. Not really.
Only a little bit, nothing fatal.
Peri’s voice is unusually tentative, but not as frightened as I feared. “We were only talking. He didn’t do anything to me. You don’t have to worry—he’s always been kind.”
I can’t hold back another growl. My nerves are too on-edge, adrenaline racing through my veins from the hunt I’m returning from. The lingering flavor of raw flesh in my mouth brings out my most savage impulses.
I should have gone straight back to the school to cool down, but a cry I recognized as Peri’s caught my ears when I was passing the building. I had to dash over.
And when I peered through the shadows around the doorway?—
“He washoldingyou. He looked like he wanted to do a lot more than talk.”
My hackles rise, remembering the starved expression on the sorcerer’s face. As if he was seconds away from pushing her up against the wall and rutting into her. If he hadn’t let go of her…
Another trickle of cold cuts through my anger. What would I have done? Aimed my deadly basilisk sight at one of our teachers?
There’d have been no more second chances for me then.
Peri is still studying me. Now she looks puzzled. “I slipped and he caught me so I didn’t get hurt. Would it be a problem if he wanted something more?”
It shouldn’t be. I still can’t trust myself. All it takes is one bad moment?—
I spin around. “No. It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
As I leap into the shadows, Peri calls out my name. Ignoring her, I hurtle toward the academy’s reform building.
The trouble is, I’ve got nowhere to go except my dorm bedroom. Which is also Peri’s bedroom. And naturally my glowy roommate isn’t willing to let our conversation end there.
I crouch in the darkness next to my bed, balling my shadowy presence as tight as I can and willing the niggling nips of anger away. It’s only a few minutes before Peri walks in.
She turns toward me with her hands on her ample hips. The set of her mouth is determined, but her voice comes out soft. “Something’s bothering you, and it has to do with me. I think we should talk about it until we work it out. Otherwise it’ll keep upsetting you.”
Is there any chance she’ll give up if I simply don’t respond? She’s got too much stubbornness mixed in with the sweetness.
Maybe I should slink off the school grounds again, go someplace she can’t find me and where I won’t run into anyone else either. If the staff realize I’ve been roaming for longer than my allotted hunting session, I could get in trouble, but?—
Peri takes a step closer. “Please, Raze. I don’t want you to be upset with me.”
Her plea cuts straight through my resistance. My entire being shudders at the thought of her regretting the mistakes that are actually mine.
I can’t run off and leave her feeling guilty over something that’s not at all her fault.
Reluctantly, I push myself back into physical form. I solidify my body in a sitting position on the edge of the bed, my hands clenched on my lap. “I’m not upset with you.”
Peri’s brow knits. “What are you upset about, then? I told you, Jonah was only helping me. Whatever else could happen with him, I know he wouldn’t put me in danger.”
Even after that night in the forest, she doesn’t see. I grope for the right words, but eloquence has never been my strong point.
I can’t help sounding gruff. “I don’t want anything else to happen with him.Iwant you.”
Understanding dawns on Peri’s pretty face. “You’re jealous.”
