Sera pretends to be an ordinary, human girl to hide from the evil shifters that hunt her. Secretly working to take down the bad guys, she becomes entangled in the lives of two men who are strangely obsessed with her. Her mysterious next door neighbor, Bryan, keeps climbing through her bedroom window to hang out, and Crew, the captain of the football team, pursues her relentlessly. Confused by her growing feelings for both of them, Sera doesn't suspect the real reason Bryan never leaves her side or why Crew won't take no for an answer, but she will find out when she learns why she’s being hunted.
View MoreI’m never surprised when I spot a bad guy. They always show up eventually. Seeing the man who died saving my life when I was a child? Well, that made me look twice. Literally.
I was on my way to second period at my new school, Sonoran Sunset High, when I noticed him from the corner of my eye. I did a double take, and my eyes locked onto him in disbelief.
It felt like I was dreaming. My head turned to follow him in slow motion as I was transported into my very first memory—my boarding school being attacked, everyone inside killed, and the building burned to the ground. I only made it out alive because a teacher, Mr. Finn, shoved me out the door and told me to run while he stayed to fight. I assumed he was killed along with everyone else. Seeing him alive in the very hallway I was walking down was more than a shock.
It took me a moment to snap out of my stupor. I needed answers about what had happened that day, about the monsters that attacked the school, where he had been all these years, who I was—the list of questions was too long. I needed answers about everything.
First, I had to verify it was him. I turned to chase after Mr. Finn and ran right into a brick wall of muscle.
My school books went flying. I tumbled toward the floor. I braced for impact, but a strong arm caught around my waist and hoisted me up like I weighed nothing. Then it held me there, midair, my head dangling toward the floor.
“Whoa there. Are you okay?” the wall of muscle asked in a deep and smooth voice as I hung from his arm like a wet towel on a clothesline.
“Put me down,” I said, legs and arms flailing as I struggled to right myself so I could find the man who should have been dead.
My current rescuer took two steps to the side while maneuvering me to be vertical, tossing me around like I was a backpack. Before I had my bearings, he had me on my feet and pinned against the wall.
“You want me to go down on you?” he asked, feigning surprise.
What the what? I didn’t have time for this.
“Nope,” I answered, pushing against his firm chest. He didn’t budge, but his rock-hard abs flexed against me. “Get off me.”
“Oh, you want me to get you off. You keep misspeaking.”
“I said what I said,” I gritted out with a clenched jaw, defying the direction this guy wanted to take things.
“You must be new here.” His voice rumbled in his chest, sending vibrations through mine, and I could feel him adjust his posture to get a better look at me. “What’s your name, dollface?”
I gave him another useless shove, then finally looked up to glare at the meddlesome Good Samaritan. He was disarmingly attractive, with a chiseled, tan face framed by dirty blonde hair. I met his gaze, and suddenly, everything but him faded away. His bright, blue-hazel eyes seemed to peer into my soul, keeping me frozen in place. An invasive feeling overcame me like he was sensing my insides with his own. Then, suddenly, it stopped, like I had just been released from being trapped in stone, only to find myself floating in outer space with nothing to ground me.
Unnerved, I grabbed the necklace I wore under my shirt. I felt the familiar weight of the ring that hung from it in my hand. I had worn the necklace for as long as I could remember. Didn’t even take it off to shower. I always wore shirts with high necks to make sure it didn’t fall out. I had to keep it hidden because it had weird, ancient-looking writing on it, and I assumed that it would incriminate me to anyone who came looking for me, but I couldn’t not wear it. It was the only thing I had from my past. I couldn’t risk needing to bug out and not having it.
“I…need to…to go,” I said, coming back to my senses.
“I’m Crew Hanes,” he said like he was talking to a child. “Where do you need to go, doll face?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” I struggled against him again. I needed to get out of his death grip.
“What’s your next class?”
“Get off me.” I considered kicking him.
“I’m sure I’ll find your schedule in this mess of papers on the floor.”
“Room E-234,” I blurted. This guy was relentless.
“Advanced Calculus? Really?” he said, smiling. “This is E-234.” He tilted his head to the side, pointing to the door next to us. “Lucky for you, that’s where I’m heading.”
“Look, guy, I need to go.”
“My name is Crew, and you’re already here,” he said.
A student trying to enter the room bumped into us, and Crew finally released me. He bent down and picked up the books I’d dropped, and I stood frozen, unable to act. The hallway was nearly empty, and the bell started ringing. Crew put his hand on my back to lead me into the classroom, and finally, the spell broke.
“I have to go.” I swiveled away from him, clutching my necklace.
“Oh. You have to go. I’ll save you a seat,” he said, assuming I meant the restroom.
I didn’t respond. I didn’t even care that he had my books. I had to find the man who had saved my life ten years ago. I ran through the whole building, searching for him. The classrooms had windows, so I could see into the rooms, but he wasn’t in any of them. All the hallways were empty except for a couple of girls ducking into their classrooms. I had missed him, or maybe I had imagined him. Honestly, it wouldn’t be the first time. It just hadn’t happened in a long time. I ran back to E-234, my head spinning.
I walked into the classroom, and the teacher waved me in. He was going down the aisles, writing students’ names on a seating chart. I looked around the room for a seat and saw Crew waving me over to the only empty one, right next to his.
He had put my books on top of the vacant desk. I made my way over and sat down, out of breath.
“I covered for you, don’t worry,” he whispered to me. “Mr. Wright doesn’t ask questions when it comes to girls and that time of the month.”
I glanced over with a scowl. I had never been so angry at someone. I wanted to smash his beautiful face into his desk. He had ruined my chance to find the one person in the world who could answer my questions about my past. If the person was, in fact, Mr. Finn, and he probably wasn’t. I mean, he wasn’t. Of course he wasn’t. He couldn’t be. But Crew had definitely stopped me from knowing for sure.
“How’d it go in there?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” I mumbled, facing forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him look at me with a puzzled expression. He clearly didn’t get turned down a lot.
“You’re feisty. I like that,” he said.
“I think the word you’re looking for is repulsed,” I said, looking at my books. Most of them had shoeprints, so I started wiping them.
The teacher, Mr. Wright, arrived next to my desk.
“Name?” he asked me.
“Sera Frey.”
He scribbled on his seating chart and moved to the next student.
“Finally,” Crew said. “I know your name.”
“I can’t imagine you care much about girls’ names.” I had known guys like him. I steered clear of them. Nothing but trouble.
“Usually, I don’t have to work so hard to get them.”
“Well, you can forget mine.” I continued wiping.
“What if I don’t want to?”
“Do it anyway,” I deadpanned.
Mr. Wright called for everyone’s attention and began the class.
“You’re going to be fun,” Crew whispered with a predatory smile.
“So, do you like swimming?” Crew prodded. “I bet you’d look good in a Brazilian bikini.”I looked up at Crew. “I’m not a big swimmer,” I said. That was true. I hadn’t gone swimming since that day. “I hate getting out of the pool and being all cold.” He smiled. “Even better.”I rolled my eyes.“Because then I would get to warm you up,” he said innocently.“No. I’d do it myself.”“That’s no fun.”“For who? Anyone I care about?”“Touché.”“Oh. You speak French?” I asked him something in French, not expecting him to understand, but he responded in French. Good French. Probably, definitely, better than mine. I only got to use it in French class, after all. He had probably lived in a place where they spoke French in one of his father’s military postings. Or maybe he had a private French tutor with his family money. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that it had the intended effect. The subject was changed.We bantered back and forth until we finished our food. Then Crew slid out
The server walked up to our booth and served a mountain of food. Crew immediately dug in.“Anything else you need?” the server asked in a sugary-sweet voice as she batted her eyelashes at Crew.“Eat,” Crew urged me, ignoring her.“No, we’re good here,” I told the server. “Thank you.” She stared at Crew for another moment, then finally walked away. I picked up my utensils. “Okay, this waffle you ordered is delicious,” I said after one bite.“I knew you’d like it.”The way he was making love to his food, I doubted he cared whether I liked it or not.“So, what do you do for fun?” Crew asked after a few bites of syrupy goodness.“I spend my time doing homework,” I said between bites. “Gotta keep those grades up if I want to go to college. Pretty boring.” It was half-true. Researching was similar to homework, and most people would find it boring.“All work and no play makes a girl dull, and you are no dull girl. What else do you do?” “First of all, I disagree with your statement. Work
"I see you've trained your guard dog," Crew said when we met, his eyes on Bryan walking down the street. He turned his attention to me."He's my friend and a good guy, Crew, which are two things I can't say about you.""Did you forget that we had a study date?" he asked, ignoring my comment."Until you called my name, yes." I had no motivation to spare his feelings."Hmmm. I may have to better impress upon you the honor of being asked to study with me. I'm pretty important," he said."I think I perfectly comprehend the torture—I mean, honor—of hanging out with you." "This is why I like you. You're a challenge." His eyes had a predatory gleam."Boy, do I hate being right all the time," I mumbled to myself.A group of girls walking from the church to the school passed us. "Don't do it! He's a jerk! Just walk away!" one of the girls called out to me."One of your conquests?" I asked. "She seems unsatisfied."Crew chuckled, then reached for my hand. I backed away and gave him a look."J
Crew quickly caught up to me in the hallway. “Whoa there, kitten. How about retracting those claws?”“Do you ever talk like a normal person?” “I wouldn’t know.”“Ugh, for the love of—” I groaned. “Come on now,” he said. “I’m just having fun.”“Right. Well, I’m not,” I countered, pushing through the crowd. “Then let me make it up to you.”“You know, as you pointed out earlier, I’m off crutches now, so you don’t have to walk me to my next class.” I gave him a pointed look. We were coming up on my classroom.“Sera.” He stepped in front of me, pulling his signature move, blocking my way, and putting his arms out to control my movement. He leaned in, took a step, and pushed me backward with his body until my back was against the floor-to-ceiling window of my classroom. “I am not trying to upset you, and I appreciate the hard-to-get thing.” He leaned in closer so his face was an inch away from mine, and just like the first day of school, I no longer had control of my mind. My thought
I returned the crutches to the nurse’s office at the beginning of the fourth week of school. The morning I walked into Calculus without them, something happened. “Look at you,” Crew said as I sat at my desk. “Walking all by yourself. Must feel good.”“Sure,” I said indifferently. It did feel good, but I wasn’t going to give him fuel for conversation. Not that it ever stopped him.“And now you don’t have the crutches as an excuse not to hang out with me.”I winced. I had been dreading this moment. I thought Crew would lose interest by this point, but I was wrong. He seemed to love harassing me, and nothing I tried deterred him. He kept asking me out and wouldn’t accept a simple no as an answer. He finally relented when I used the crutches as the reason I couldn’t go out with him. It may have been the reason I kept the crutches longer than I needed them. “That means we’re hanging out soon,” Crew continued. He looked pensive for a moment. “Maybe today. Yeah. Today. Why delay the inevita
“You’re both new here?” Ella asked, looking back and forth between Bryan and me. Alarm bells were ringing in my head like sirens.“Yeah,” Bryan answered. “So you didn’t already know each other?” Ella asked, her light brown eyes darting between us in confusion. “It seems like you two go way back.”“Uh,” I started, hoping I didn’t sound as rattled as I felt. “No. We met yesterday when Bryan saw me inelegantly sprain my ankle. The Good Samaritan in him felt obligated to help. Of course, that requires he shadow me, so, here we are,” I offered in explanation.“You’re such a gallant giant, Bryan,” Ashley joked while Preeti nearly swooned.“Well, I couldn’t just leave her there on the floor,” he joked back.“That’s why you call him a boy scout,” Ella said. “Yeah,” I mumbled.“Now we’re on the same page,” Ella continued. “Bryan is a giant, gallant boy scout because he steps up when he sees a girl get injured. We should get him a merit badge. I’m sure there’s something for rescuing a damsel
“I guess that’s settled,” Ashley said, her green eyes going back and forth between Bryan and me. “Is it?” I asked hopefully. Maybe desperately.“Yeah. You’re a novelty. End of story.” She continued to study us, the pale, freckled skin of her forehead scrunching together. I sighed in relief, and Ashley glanced at Ella and Preeti.“I think we’ve made Sera uncomfortable enough for today,” she added when she realized her friends were having difficulty switching gears. “Let’s change the subject. Tell us about yourself, Sera.”Ella and Preeti focused on me, eager to get information.“There’s not much to know,” I said, grateful for the change in conversation. “I like to jog.”“Oh, and you’re on crutches,” Preeti said. “I’m sorry you can’t jog right now because of your injury.” “Thank you. I’ll survive.” I smiled. “What about all of you?”“Ashley does ballet,” Ella said, pointing to Ashley. “That’s where the long limbs and excellent posture come from. Unlike me, who stomps around ungracefu
“Oh my gosh,” Preeti gasped. She had been staring at Bryan but turned to me, her full lips making an “O” and her big eyes comically wide. “Are you the girl everyone’s talking about?”“Uh—” I looked back and forth between Preeti and Ella, taking in their eager expressions. “I think this has been blown out of proportion.”Ella’s head fell back, and her mouth dropped open. Then she laughed and looked at me. “I didn’t think we’d find out who the mystery girl was, much less eat lunch with her.”“There’s really nothing to this,” I said. Please let that be true, or let them get over this fast. I hoped their reactions didn’t represent the whole school. Though, it seemed like the rest of the school was doing all the messaging and spreading of the gossip. It looked like Ella had scrolled through a lot of commentary. I cursed. It was not good to be the topic of discussion for an entire school. Especially one this big. That’s how you get on the bad guys’ radar.“Oh, there’s a lot to this,” Ashley
True to his word, as soon as the bell rang to signal the end of third period, Bryan walked into the room. He let students clear out, then stopped in front of my desk and picked up my books. “Is this one of those better things you have to do?” Ashley asked after she looked him up and down. Bryan raised his eyebrows at me.“Bryan, this is Ashley,” I said, then picked up my crutches. “Ashley Abrams,” she said with a wave and a smile. “Bryan Farris.” He gave her a nod hello.“Bryan is my next door neighbor and a boy scout,” I continued, giving Ashley a look. “I thought I’d sprain my ankle so he could get his merit badge for charity.”“That was thoughtful of you,” Ashley laughed. “Helping out a boy scout.”“I’m not a boy scout. She’s making fun of me,” Bryan explained. He gave me a look, then turned back to Ashley. “I’m actually helping Sera so I can get out of class early.”“You two are a pair of comedians,” Ashley said. She stood up without losing her perfect posture. I don’t think a
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