In my head I’d thought my homecoming would have been emotional and eventful, but I should have known with a family like mine that was an illusion I’d created. Shoving aside those weak feelings, I latched onto my priority with renewed determination.
To find Chase’s weak spot.
I had a better chance at finding Victoria’s Secret.
Chapter 4
It took no stretch of the imagination to see that Chase Winters was in love.
Hell must have frozen over.
I’ll be damned. I couldn’t believe it. Chase…in love? What kind of girl fell in love with someone like Chase? She either had to be incredibly stupid or incredibly ballsy. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Never in a thousand years had I expected to come back home to this.
And at the same time, I think I had just found the Achilles heel I’d been looking for. Chase’s kryptonite.
Like every day since I’d been back, I watched from a distance. This newcomer struck me as someone who might be worth checking out. Call it hunter instinct.
She was pretty in a non-frills kind of way, so unlike Lexi, Chase’s cousin and Travis’s sister. This girl looked like she had a sense about her and didn’t like to be led astray. Her dark hair was loose and long, and it was apparent that she was quite friendly with the neighbors.
Odd.
The Winters weren’t very sociable. I would know. They normally kept to themselves and never mingled with humans. It wasn’t safe. Not all Divisa had the morals that the Winters were brought up with, but in the end it didn’t matter.
They were dangerous.
They were killers.
They were deadly.
And they deserved to die.
This girl had quite the interaction with my target, and at first I couldn’t put my finger on what their relationship was. Some days, I thought that she despised his guts, and then the next she looked like she wanted to shove her tongue down his throat.
I was puzzled.
And intrigued.
But in the end, I recognized their relationship for what is was…attraction. Combustible attraction. They were like a fuse and a match; one strike and they went up in flames. I was fascinated and utterly stupefied. This was not at all what I’d excepted when I’d come home. I couldn’t decide if this complicated matters.
As far as I knew, I was the only one who lacked the fear chromosome. I hadn’t met another human who wasn’t afraid of the half-demons. Actually, it was the one subject that the facility never even touched upon, because as far as they were concerned, it never happened.
Little did they know.
And trust me, I wasn’t about to enlighten them. I had been there long enough to know what the consequences would have been: a padded room and daily dissection of my brain, my body, and God knew what else. I would have become a lab rat.
A shudder ran through me.
If it had been a different scenario in another time, I would have liked to meet this mysterious girl. I had a slew of questions for her. Did she ever get that inkling of fear? Did she have the first clue what her neighbors where? How could she stand to be in the same room with Chase?
Currently, I was on a stakeout in the school parking lot of Hall High. It brought a twinge of regret being back at here at school. Those dreams I’d once had slowly came to the surface.
I scoffed.
“Get your head out of the clouds,” I mumbled to myself.
Dreams were not a part of my life now. I had bigger and more important things to concentrate on than something as frivolous as my old life.
Slinking lower in the seat, I listened as Chase and the girl named Angel approached my parked car. They passed by, and I held my breath.
That had been too close.
A small smile broke out on my lips. Being this near discovery was like living on the edge of a cliff. It made me feel empowered. Oh, how the facility would be proud that the skills they’d beaten into me were put to great use.
“Hey, you okay?” I heard Chase ask her, and I bit my lip.
Holy crud. They stopped right in front of my car. I tried not to panic. It was not in my plan to be discovered just yet, and it looked like I wasn’t out of the woods.
“Your face just lost ten shades of color,” Chase commented as if he cared.
Wow. He actually sounded concerned. That was new. I kept as still as possible unable to believe my luck. I’d never been able to get close enough to hear what they talked about.
“Angel, look at me,” Chase demanded. “Nothing is going to happen to you. Not while I’m here. I promise.”
Well, well, well, sounded like Chase’s new friend knew more than I’d counted on. If she and Chase were both worried about her safety, that could only mean one thing: Hell was nipping at their heels.
“You can’t be sure of that. What about when I’m alone?” Angel asked.